E700i-B3 vs M702i-B3 (Vizio E vs M series)

Although both the E700i-B3 and the M702i-B3 utilize Full Array LED backlight, there is a difference in the number of the dimming (or "active LED", as Vizio calls them) zones. The E700i-B3 has 18 Active LED zones while the M702i-B3 has 36. On top of that, the latter employs the Active Pixel Tuning technology, which provides a software adjustment of each pixel brightness in correlation with the displayed content so that the contrast can be further enhanced and the blooming artifacts, which may appear as a result of dimming the LEDs, can be minimized. The absence of the Active Pixel Tuning technology from the E700i-B3 and the reduced number of dimming zones mean that it's slightly more susceptible to blooming artifacts in addition to having lower contrast ratio. The maximum panel brightness is 210 nits in case of the E700i-B3, while the M702i-B3 can reach 240 nits, which makes it more suitable for bright environments.

While Vizio does not specify the native refresh rate of the panels, it does provide an "effective refresh rate" figures instead. In case of the E700i-B3 it's 120Hz, and the M702i-B3 has 240Hz effective refresh rate. Both employ backlight scanning in order to reduce blur in scenes with fast action (and to achieve their effective refresh rate figures). Since the aforementioned technique can dim the image significantly, and introduce flicker (depending on how sensitive to noticing it you are), it can easily be toggled off (and on) via a menu entry (Motion Blur Reduction). The M702i-B3 has a considerably higher Clear Action rating of 720 vs only 180 on the E700i-B3, which is most likely indicative of the ability of the former to generate more intermediate frames and, thus, fast action would also appear to be smoother (provided you adjust the Smooth Motion Effect menu option on the M702i-B3 appropriately). The motion estimation motion compensation (MEMC) technology is also utilized for the purpose of suppressing judder that may otherwise emerge in a scene where the camera is panned.

Both are Smart TVs, so the VIZIO Internet Apps Plus platform is present on either of the two. However, only the M702i-B3 comes with a double-sided backlit remote, which has a QWERTY keyboard, while the E700i-B3 has a standard remote. Each of them has 4 HDMI and 1 USB ports, built-in Wi-Fi and an Ethernet port.