VIZIO GV42L HDTV review (42" LCD TV)

Compared to the other Vizio, the GV42L's spec sheet claims twice the contrast ratio, but we couldn't see much to support that claim in either program material or test patterns. Black levels were nearly identical, although the GV42L did get a tiny bit darker, and its peak brightness was likewise a tad higher--but not enough to lend credence to the contrast-ratio claims.

We were likewise impressed by the Vizio GV42L's color reproduction after we'd made the adjustments mentioned above to its Custom color temperature mode. During the close-up on Taka's face, for example, as she hears Algren's moaning, her delicate skin looked natural and not too reddish as long as we kept the Flesh Tone control turned off. Primary colors were accurate with the exception of green, which was tinged a bit too yellow. We saw the effect, among other places, in the verdant hillside when Algren's shout of despair echoes forth.

Like many LCDs, the GV42L HDTV's uniformity across the screen was imperfect. Our review sample evinced slightly brighter areas in the upper-left corner and in a small irregular shape in the center of a completely black field; the brighter areas invisible otherwise. More noticeable was the GV42L HDTV's tendency to get washed out when seen from greater than about 45 degrees from dead center, which is average among LCDs we've seen but not spectacular. It's worth noting that plasmas look good from extreme off-angles, while on the flipside, their glass screens reflect more light than matte LCDs.

We noticed some signs of edge enhancement on the Gallevia, which appeared mostly as exaggerated whitish borders along lines. As Algren steps out of Taka's house, for example, the vertical slats and the edge of the silent guard's face appeared just a bit too sharp. Otherwise, details looked very good on this excellent disc, as evinced by the definition of the trees and hillocks on the distant mountainsides, the fine thatch in the village's rooftops, and the hairs on Algren's unshaven face. As we saw with the L42, there was a tiny bit more false contouring than on the Sony, but it was by no means objectionable.

Like its stablemate, the L42, the GV42L did a solid job with standard-def sources. There was one notable difference, however: the GV42L has a noise-reduction control. When set in the Off position, the noisy shots of skies and sunsets from the HQV disc looked awful, with inordinately high numbers of moving dots and motes of snowy noise. Turning the noise reduction to any of the other three positions cleaned up these images considerably in comparison (although not as much as some oher NR circuits we've tested), but at the cost of some image sharpness. In fact, it seems as if the GV42L's NR Low setting was about equivalent to the L42, which doesn't have adjustable NR at all. Despite the trade-off, we always prefer to have the option. We appreciated the quick engagement of 2:3 pull-down detection, and the Vizio did an above-average job of smoothing out jagged edges in diagonal lines.