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14 out of 14 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Big Bang for the bucks"
Pros: Display is as good or better then much higher price models
Cons: Remote really needs a rework - No HDM cables included
Summary: Okay, first off let me start by letting you know that as a professional System Engineer doing working, a major NYC TV brocaster, at Rockeffeller center. I am very keen on working with HD equipment needed for broadcasting.
I have been on the market for a couple of years now trying to pick a HDTV set for the family but never got around to doing it because of such a busy schedual. having an assitaint now things are better balanced now. So the first day I had off I fulfill that need of picking up a new HDTV set.
I went to two retailers to compare sets- Best Buy and Circuit city (looking for a 37 to 42 inch display) I saw some really beautiful models from Samsung, Philips, Toshiba and Sony - all of these (32-37 inch) models were the price of a GOOD SMALL USED CAR. I compared all of them and settled on getting either the Philips or Sony and at that point the Philips was ahead. It wasn't untill I was dragged along by my wife to our local Cosco for some shopping did I see this Vizio Model next to the exact 32inch Philips model I had settled on getting. There side by sided I noticed how the Vizio picture quality actually looked as stunning as the Philips display.
Both sets were connected to an HDTV feed off of cable in the store and both looked equally good. I then looked at the price and saw that the 42 inch Vizio was the same price as the 32 inch Philips. This was a no brainer. My wife found me at the check out counter with the Vizio.
Once home I opend the box and pulled out this very beautiful TV (the Paino black Ebony frame and silver meatallic speakers gave this set a good modern feel though not as attractive as some other sets).
I hooked up this baby to my cable feed with out the cable box as I wanted to test its ATSC tuner. I placed the batteries in the remote, which by the way I have to say the remote is really lousy as it's buttons are just to small to read any of its text < the backlight feature is nice on the remote but this really does not help when you can't make out the text on the buttouns>.
But this is no big deal as I plan to use a Logitech Harmony remote anyway which will run my DVD player and sound system.
Well the sets connections are a pain to get to as there are no side mounting inputs. All connections are in the back facing down but there are more then engough of them and once you set them up you should not need to get back there again.
Word to the wise use the HDMI inputs-there are two of them which really helps with cutting down on wires and eases the setup ( No HDM cables are inclued with the set but you should be able to get one included with a upscaling DVD player for 49 to 80 bucks).
Well, I was not disappionted the sets OSD (On Screen Display menus)were very easy to navigate. I scanned for channels( across my cable coaxial feed) and picked up 68 SDTV(Standard Definition TV) and 68 HDTV feeds.
Well I knew that we broadcast our morning show and eveing show in HD so I natually tuned in to see how this set handled our feed. Absolute heaven The Vizio captured our broadcast as good as the expensive models.
Yes, some tweaking was required in order to get it just right for me (since I deal with brocast feeds all the time I am always tweaking color and brightness Gamma etc....) but to the average veiwer this set is wonderful!!!
My wife right away commented on how beautiful the picture was.
I then tuned to PBS'HD feed and watched a NOVA program in stunning deatails. The sets picked up the local broadcast channels in HD like CBS,NBC, ABC,FOX, CW11, My9 PBS, as well as their Standard Def versions including the sub multicast channels that provide region specific(weather and local event calanders)programing.
Test 2
Hooking up to the cable providers box gave a so so picture even their HD programs looked dull. But knowing how cable operators Digital boxes process these feeds (I have the scientfic Atlanta box form my operator)
I hade to tweak the cable box to bypass its handeling of the feed and let the set do the work. in the cable box defense I was using composite connection from the box to the set and had the cable box set on upconvert option 1)
I switch from a composite connection to a HDMI and Wah La a awesome picture again.
The two HDMI(High Definition Multimedia Interface) inputs on this set are a real benefit.
Test 3
I connected a upscaling progresive scan DVD player into the second HDMI (told you it was a benifit)
Using the Video essential DVD I tewak the set some more (the way a normal person would and not a the way a brocast industry geek, like me, would < I could get the heavy guns out and etc.. but that would not help anyone reading this >
.
here are what the optimal settings for this set should be in order to get it as close to other big name brands or even over them.
Backlight 77
Contrast 68
Brightness 53
Color 52
Tint +2
sharpness 4
Color temp normal
The advance settings should all be turned off
After the tweaking I popped in Episode I of Star Wars and was really amazed as to how well this set displayed the movie. One thing I did notice was that this set needs a bit of back lighting to view so do not turn down the lights to low as the picture seems to suffer a tiny bit.
Test 4 sound
Sound from the Vizio's 10 watts speakers are okay but don't buy it for that. like most HDTV sets from other major manufactures sound is really lacking but that's okay most of us have Home Theather Systems we brought with out DVD players. My advice is to connect the sound from the DVD player and Cable box to the AMP of you sound system as this will produce the best results (use and optical cable for the connection if possible).
I appreciate the fact that the speakers and the TV stand that this model comes with are removable for wall mounting( the set looks absoultey Gorgeous mounted on the wall)
I think the guys at Cnet are looking at this set from their perspective as professionals who have developed that keen eye and see things that the normal Joes would not ever realize so take their review with a grain of salt ( I remeber the keen eye I had during the betamax and VHS wars Beta max was superior in display quality over VHS we Geeks could see it but to the masses they looked almost identical).
All in all I think the major brands need to look out for Vizio because for it's price it blows the doors off Sony, Philips, Toshiba Samsung, LG etc... These guys better take a note and match the pricing or they will not win the masses.
- 2 replies to this review
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Excellent review. I will set my TV to those video settings you suggested. Please review more stuff!
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You might want to try the Google Toolbar, specifically its spell-check.
