Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
41 of 44 people found the following review helpful.
Vizio has made a believer out of me
By PPK
I've purchased a number of HD sets for myself and for friends over the last few years. When my Samsung 46" DLP bit the dust (CPU) a few weeks ago, I wanted to replace it with Samsung 46" LED 3D set, but could not fit it into my wall unit or into my budget. I came across the Vizio sets in Costco and bought this set the day they were unpacked onto the shelves. The 42" fits perfectly into the 42" wall unit. The fact that it had speakers on the front of the unit and most plasma and other flat screens I looked at did not, also was a big plus given my space was a 3 foot deep box meant for a traditional TV. I actually returned a Panasonic and LG set of the same size for that reason.The extra $500 for this set was well worth it for the additional features that I use today and will use in the future. I bought it for the 480hz refresh rate and the built in WiFi and Bluetooth radios as well as the compatability with my wireless N router. It streams HD Video almost instantly with no buffer pauses at all. The universal remote/keyboard with bluetooth connectiviity is also a big plus. Setup was a breeze. My only complaint was having to spend an hour or so adjusting the picture settings to get the color and brightness just where I wanted it. Sound quality is good, but hooking the Digital Optical cable to your stereo makes for a very high quality experience. The Internet Apps are great. I hooked up my Amazon, Pandora, Netflix and Facebook accounts in a matter of minutes and I'm really impressed with how it handles them.My only real complaint is the lack of ACtive Shutter 3D glasses. The Real 3D ones you get in theaters do not work on any 3D broadcasts from DirecTV and I"m not about to spend an additional $200 for the Active Shutter ones to play with that technology. In a year, when it's more prevalent, I know I'll have a BluRay player with 3D titles and I also know Vizio supports all known 3D standards out there right now.A great set that keeps getting better with each day of exploration.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Awesomeness
By JasonC
First off let me say I have been looking at 3D tv's for a long time work with computers everyday and have an extensive knowledge on the technical aspects of any piece of hardware. This TV is truely bang for your buck. The refresh rate being at 480 pretty much future proofs your set and you can rest assure any format updates for hdmi or 3D technology will be able to be provided via firmware to the set. I love gaming and if you are a gamer like me that wants to expierence an awesome no ghosting picture on xbox 360, pc or ps3... I have sent this tv to the ringer and it has come out like Tyson in his prime. 3D will be availiable to this set through vudu which is full 1080p@24hz similar to current bluray players. All other formats are supported (like the ones you get from cable or streaming over youtube or downloaded videos and soon to be netflix.... these are usually called SBS or side by side, this set also supports over and under which is just another format of SBS all these formats are used in games or cable programs and the set performs top notch here keeping the resolution in HD range due to active technology.)To sum it up this set is at the top of the 3D market for a few reasons.1) Active technology running on 1080p@24hz as of now is the only tech that give you a full 1080p HD picture with no loss where passive interleves the picture cutting the resolution in half and this is a no go for most gamers.2) Active SBS technology takes that same 1080p signal and splits the images into two angles then recombines them to give you still an HD signal but closer to 720p than 1080p but has become the standard for most cable providers, netflix, youtube ect. due to the bandwith it saves. If your set is SBS passive then i feel bad for you cause you have 2 forms of loss happening now the first splitting that 1080p signal into two images then the interleaving for 3D effect..... giving you close to a 540i signal.3) LED TV!!!! And not only led but full array led. This means your blacks are darker and your colors are more defined crisp and sharp. There are litterally red green and blue leds in your set that can now illuminate to help the color portfolio of each pixel on your screen. Top of the line in LCD technology.3)PC 3d gaming can be done either by nvidia's solution or ATI HD3D and iz3d drivers. Nividia's setup is a bit simpler but performance is lacking and usually you have to scale the graphics down for the framerate to pick up. I've recently updated my video card to the ati HD 5670 and could not be happier. First off you will want to get the iz3d driver and make sure you chose the full install of the release canidate. Purchase the AMD 3DHD license which is half off. Make sure your LCD is connected via HDMI and in the catalist control panel select the 1080p@24hz resolution and scale it to 0 overscan. Enable the iz3d driver and you will be well on your way. Any other refresh rate will work great on the tv under normal circumstances but it needs to be running at 24hz to use the amd HD3D features.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
Vizio - I'm a believer!
By Andrew S. Prihar
OK, well here goes. I've had this TV now for about 5 full days (got it right before Labor Day Weekend). Ordered it off Amazon and paid $3.99 for PRIME One-Day Shipping (This is NOT one of those TVs that Amazon has special delivered through a TV delivery service as it is super-thin and light [<50 lbs]).EASE OF SETUP [9 out of 10]Pretty easy TV to setup. I am using it primarily as a computer monitor, however the PC I have plugged into it has Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray 3D, and TV Tuner functionality, plus I'm playing a few PC Games on it, so I consume a pretty wide variety of content on this TV. The boxing was very well thought out. The boxing? What? Yeah I know its a weird thing to mention, but Vizio has a really neat box for all of their TV's (my Uncle bought a 55" Vizio last year with a similar box). Basically, you stand the box upright, remove four black tabs from the box, and then the entire box, with the exception of the base, just pulls right off. Then you can remove the styrofoam from the TV and you're good to go. No having to make it a 2-man job and having someone hold the cardboard box exterior while you tug a snug-fitting styrofoam shell out of the box. None of that crap.Got the TV out of the box. I didn't wall mount so I can't speak to that. Installing the base was a sinch. Just slapped it on (it did take a wee bit more pressure than what I would have imagined) and used the provided thumbscrew to secure the base to the bottom of the TV. Then, I just propped it up on a table (I live in a college dorm, so no room for an entertainment center), plugged in the standard power cable, and was just about good to go. That's where I hit a little snag.For some reason, I wanted to try it out by DIRECTLY plugging it into the cable first (my university uses a direct ClearQAM via Coax distribution system. No set-top boxes) instead of just plugging in my computer via HDMI and using my computer's TV Tuner. Vizio clearly intended to make the wall-mounted experience as seamless as possible and, as such, the ports (both HDMI and Coax) on the TV face DOWNWARDS (so that the cables can run PARALLEL to the TV, not stick out a few inches perpendicularly (which would be problematic for some wall mounters)). The only problem with that design is that the little indented area where you plug in the cable isn't very large and, as such, you have to use pretty flexible cables otherwise it'll be a PITA to plug them in. Well, the only coax cable I had sitting around was an old stiff one. Add to that that it was the style that you have to screw in, as opposed to just pushing in. I literally spent 15 minutes trying to screw in the coax cable but was unable to, as coax cables need to go on straight - an impossibility with a stiff cable and the small caveat where the cables are plugged in. So I decided to forgo the direct coax hookup and just use my computer's tv tuner via HDMI. I had a few non-rigid HDMI cables, and was able to get those setup without issue. I just want to warn that if you have very STIFF cables, you might run into some issues plugging them in the COAX and HDMI 1-4 ports.Once I got the computer plugged in, I turned on the TV and was able to whiz through the basic setup. Most of the setup steps didn't apply, as they were meant for setting up cable boxes or direct COAX connections or the like. For me, it was pretty much just (1) turn the TV on, (2) switch to HDMI 1, (3) boot up the PC. Once I got the PC booted up, I noticed that there were ~1.5" borders around the visable computer screen area. I was able to remove these and blow up my desktop to the entire area of the visible TV by adjusting the Size and Position settings (Hit MENU, then TV SETTINGS, then PICTURE, then MORE, then SIZE AND POSITION). That was when I was running my ATI RADEON 5770 Graphics Card. Strangely enough, I upgraded my graphics card to an EVGA NVIDIA GTX 560TI later that day, and then I only saw a portion of my desktop on the screen. At first I thought that something was wrong with the graphics card. But then I remembered that the image on the ATI was underscanned and I had had to compensate in the TV Settings. Sure enough, I reset the Vertical and Horizontal Size and - voila! - the desktop was the perfect size again. I also tested my Apple TV and Xbox 360 on this TV and their pictures are perfectly fit to the TV on default settings. So, basically, only SOME older graphics cards will have the issue I explained, and it can be easily remedied.Finally, I noticed the image seemed somewhat dark. Not unwatchable (at least by my standards), but bothersome. I remembered something I'd read about Vizio's Ambient Light Sensor, and went about finding where I could customize that particular setting. After I turned it off, the picture was damn-near perfect (To turn Ambient Light Sensor OFF, Hit MENU, then TV SETTINGS, then PICTURE, then MORE, then ADVANCED PICTURE, and finally hit ENTER once you get to AMBIENT LIGHT SENSOR and choose the OFF option). The brightness level seemed good (some may want to increase the Backlight and/or Brightness options just a smidge still; these can be found in the basic PICTURE settings; I ended up doing this myself). The image really needs no calibration after you turn off the AMBIENT LIGHT SENSOR IMHO.PICTURE QUALITY (2-DIMENSIONAL) [10 out of 10]The nice thing about this TV's brightness/color settings is their FLEXIBILITY. I was sitting on the couch with a couple of my roommates, and we each found a mix of color and brightness settings that we liked. My one roommate prefered it with more color, the other with less color, and I prefered it with a smidge more color and a bit more brightness. If you're super-picky or whatever, you will probably be able to find a mix of settings that you love - it might just take a while. But, this TV looks GREAT almost right out of the box. The LED backlighting really does make all the difference. I have an LCD TV/monitor (about 1.5 years old, 24", Samsung, pretty nice monitor when I got it) in the other room, and going back and forth between the two was like night and day. The LCD appeared overly dimmed, and its colors didn't POP. The LED backlighting, far from washing out the colors as one might expect (since LEDs lead to higher brightness levels), actually enhance colors, making them seem naturally vibrant. That's what I mean when I say that the colors POP. OK, enough about color and brightness --- let's talk about the elephant in the room - the 480 Hz Refresh Rate. Some insist that it's only "really" 240 Hz, but does it really matter? I mean, the difference between 240 Hz and 480 Hz is invisible to the human eye. Are you telling me that your eyes can tell the difference between frames flashed at it in 1/480th of a second (approximately 0.002 sec)??? Don't flatter yourself. However, the difference between the Vizio's advertised 480 Hz and the 60 Hz of a regular TV, and the 24 or 30 Hz of a standard film and TV broadcast respectively, is quite visible. Obviously, Vizio can't magically turn 24 Hz content into 480 Hz content. But it can attempt to smooth the motion by "guessing" at the frames in between. Noone can expect this to be perfect. Typical movies are filmed at 23.976/24 Hz. This TV has the ability to show content at 480 Hz. That means that between every two frames of Hollywood film, the Vizio has to "guess" at what NINETEEN other frames would come in between. And it has to do all this on the fly in a fraction of a second. But I must say, the Vizio handles the job very well. The question is not so much whether this "Smooth Motion Effect" WORKS, but moreso whether or not you like it. Me, I'm on the fence about it. For watching live action sports, or even playing games, I love it. For TV primetime dramas, it makes the picture look a little too real, I think. But I kinda like it in that application, depending on the TV show. For movies, I generally don't like it. There's something about the juddery-ness of film that adds to its genuinity, in my mind. Others may disagree. But the great thing is that, not only can you turn the "Smooth Motion Effect" on and off easily depending on your tastes, Vizio actually gives you a few options ("off", "low", "medium", and "high"). Last but not least, the picture has great color uniformity. Some may complain it isn't a FULL ARRAY LED screen, but I actually like the EDGE LIT LED screen, because EDGE LIT LEDs don't suffer from any image "blooming."PICTURE QUALITY (3-DIMENSIONAL) [9.5 out of 10]First thing you gotta know about 3-D is this: if the 3-D image comes out looking bad on this TV, its more than likely a problem with the CONTENT that you are using, not the TV. Certain 3-D video games, and even highly compressed or bad;y converted 3D movies WILL have ghosting. What's ghosting, you ask? Ghosting is basically when you see a faint extra copy of an image, kind of like a full-color shadow, while watching 3D. For certain applications, ghosting can be quite annoying if it occurs. For example, playing video games, especially shooters, where there is severe ghosting is tough - because it makes it hard to know if you are shooting the opponent or his "ghost" image. Watching movies with high level of detail can be tough too, as ghosting can have the effect of making the image appear blurry. The other thing about 3D --- a lot of 3D content cannot be shown at full HD resolutions or at full frame rates. For example, 3D video games have a max framerate of 24 fps because of limitations in the HDMI 1.4a standard (this might get fixed via firmware update later on). 24fps PER EYE is good for watching film and for most gamers, but a lot of hardcore gamers feel uncomfortable playing a video game below 35-40 fps. And regarding resolution. Certain film/TV content (known as half-SBS content) that you can download from the Internet or watch on Youtube, is naturally going to be lower-res than its 2D bretheren. That's because, when you have a 1080p half-SBS image, each eye is only receiving a 1920x540 image, instead of a 1920x1080 image. Blu Ray 3D uses a proprietary technology called frame-packing to provide each eye with a 1080p FULL-SBS image, meaning both eyes each get a full 1920x1080 image. This is one of the reasons why, if you compare Blu Ray 3D content to other 3D content (shown on the same screen), the Blu Ray 3D will be noticeably superior. 3D Blu Rays also tend to have less ghosting. For the purposes of grading this TV's 3-D image quality, I used the highest quality 3D content only (in my case, a 3D Blu Ray for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition). I could have referenced how half-SBS or gaming looks in 3D, but that wouldn't have been an analysis of the TV's performance, but rather an analysis of the current mediocrity of these standards. The 3D Blu Ray looked superb. Please note that the Vizio's 3D is not so much pop-out-of-the-TV-in-your-face 3D, but more of looking-through-a-window 3D. There's a little POP, but not much (I tested using the NVIDIA 3dTV Play driver test image with 3d effect set to 100% and the image seemed to come out of the TV only marginally). But I actually prefer this 3D effect to the pop-out 3-D effect. This effect makes it look like there is a whole world inside your TV that you are looking into. There is great depth INSIDE the image. It reminds me of the closet that the Pensieve kids go into, only to find there's a whole freaking world in the back of the closet (Narnia). Kind of like the whole freaking world inside my TV LOL. The image clarity and 3D effect when watching a 3D Blu Ray is superb, and I didn't notice any ghosting AT ALL (though I did notice some while using lesser non-Blu-Ray-3D content). The Vizio obviously can't make ghosting disappear from content where its inherent, but it doesn't create any unnecessary ghosting or artifacts in high-quality 3D content that doesn't have any inherently.AUDIO [9 out of 10]Well, its a TV, what can you expect? Someone somewhere along the line got the idea that TV's should sound like they have a $300 surround sound system built in. That's ridiculous. If you want a 1200W speaker system, BUY a 1200W Home Theater Package, don't expect it to come out of your 2" thick flat panel TV that cost $750!! The Vizio's built in speakers are surprisingly good, though IMHO. They are LOUD. The highest level I've played them at is a 28 (out of 100). When you turn the volume up, speech is crisp, and there is no crackling. Does the Vizio make your house shake with bass? No, obviously not. However it reproduces sounds, minus the big-time bass, just fine for an immersive movie experience.VIZIO INTERNET APPS/INTERNET CONNECTIVITY/BLUETOOTH REMOTE [9.5 out of 10]Again, this is a TV. The Internet Apps are a nice touch, but if you really want a hard-core flawless internet experience on your TV, hook up your computer or dedicated box (Roku, Apple TV, etc.). Internet setup was a breeze --- pick your wifi network out of the list, type in the password, and you're good to go. The TV will even automatically update the apps bar when you connect to the Internet for the first time. The basic apps are pretty much Weather, Netflix, Twitter, Amazon VOD, Finance, Web Videos, and VUDU. IMO, the vast majority of people will just use the Netflix/Amazon VOD features. The Facebook App is well implemented - and I can see people occasionally wanting to update their status from the couch - but reading the news feed is a bit too cumbersome. The Netflix and Amazon VOD apps are well-done, and WORK. There are a few other apps you can download (like CNBC, which I like, and Soduko, which is also pretty good), but the Vizio App Library is overall pretty unimpressive. The Bluetooth Remote however, is quite the opposite. Reminiscant of a feature phone made for texting, the vizio remote control has a flip out keyboard. It also has a nice form factor, not to long like some remotes, but not too wide nor thick either. Its the perfect size remote IMO. The one thing they could have done to make it better was to add a backlight but hey, you can't have it all. Speaking more about bluetooth support generally, I think its a great idea. I live in a dorm room with two roommates, and I think it'd be great to obtain a 3.5mm-bluetooth adapter and listen to my TV on my Beats by Dre when my roommates are sleeping or studying. Haven't tried it yet, but intend to.STYLE [10 out of 10]Again, I have no idea what people expect a TV to look like. LIke something made by Da Vinci? You want Art, go to the Louve. You wanna watch the game, go to your TV. The Vizio looks plain, but classy, with an unobtrusive logo. Not to mention, I'm proud to have the VIZIO logo out there for everyone to see. If someone has a problem with me having a high-quality TV from an underrated manufacturer that actually keeps SOME of its jobs in the good ole U.S. of A. then they can just STICK IT!VALUE [11 out of 10]I picked up this TV for $750 on Amazon, plus $4 for ONE DAY SHIPPING. No Tax. Wouldn't have paid anything for shipping if I'd gone with 2-day, but, what can I say, I'm an impatient dude :). Plus, I got TWO PAIR of 3-D glasses for $25 (normally $85-$125 on Amazon) as part of a promo for this TV (Amazon's been running the promo off and on the past few months). So like $780 for the TV and 2-pair of glasses that got to me in one-day. That's a superb deal. If you want to get a good (120 Hz) non-3D 42" Class LED TV, you're going to be shelling out around $700 already. And, if you buy from a big box store in the good ole State of California (LA Area), you'll pay 9.75% sales tax on that AND a $10 monitor recycling fee. So basically, if I would have bought an INFERIOR TV (2D vs. the Vizio's 3D, 120Hz vs. the Vizio's 480Hz, potentially no Internet Apps vs. the Vizio's Internet Apps, etc.) at a brick and mortar store here in LA, I would have ended up paying around $779 [($700 * 1.0975) + 10] anyway. And, since I don't own a car, I would have had to inconvenience a friend to drive me to and back from said brick and mortar store (as I'm not too hot on the idea of lugging a brand new, boxed 42" HDTV through the streets of South Central Los Angeles). And when you compare the Vizio against TVs that are ACTUALLY IN ITS CLASS, that's when I really feel like I almost stole this TV. You want something like this, with a close-to-equivalent feature-set from Sony, Samsung, or Panasonic, you'lll end up dropping more than $1K, that's for sure. I'd estimate that the Vizio sells for $300-$400 less than what an equivalent set from the Big-3 costs. And the Vizio has exceptional picture quality. I don't see how you can top it, and I definitely can't see how, even if you could top it, you could top it by enough to qualify a $400 price premium. Unless the Sony, Samsung, and Panny wake me up in the morning and serve me breakfast in bed, there is no way in hell that their price premium is justifiable. No way.TOTAL SCORE: [68 out of 70] = 4.86/5 STARSVIZIO = EPIC WIN!
See all 70 customer reviews...
Not bad, but there are a ton of better options
Lit up my room for dark scenes
