The Best of Both Phone, and Tablet
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"A Great Product Despite the Lukewarm Review" on by Wadric
Pros: Great Color, Two Tuners, Great HDMI Picture
Cons: Only One HDMI and Needs Carefull Tweaking to Get the Best
Summary: The reviewer of this HDTV is a good example of pure snobbery instead of actually rating the item. He says that it is a good plasma for noncritical viewers (I.e., unsophisticated) and that real movie fans will look to more expensive plasmas.
Well, surprise! I AM a sophisticated viewer AND a real movie buff, but what has never occurred to the reviewer is that I don't have $2500 to $3000 to spend on an HDTV. I am well paid, but not as well paid as he is, evidently.
I bought this set on 03/20 and have been enjoying it a great deal. I immediately used my Video Essentials DVD to fine tune the picture and use the HDMI input for movie watching. It is a spectacular product for the price!
The reviewer's take is that it is not up to the Vizio HD50 plasma's quality. This is like saying that a Honda Civic is not as good as an Acura. People who drive Civics must not be as sophisticated as Acura owners.
Get real! If you can spend $3000 or more, you can get a better plasma than this. If you can't afford that, don't feel "unsophisticated", pick up a great CHEAP plasma!Updated
BTW, I bought the Vizio P42HDTV at Costco during the $300 off sale, which brought the price to a very reasonable $1500. -
"The best bang for the buck" on by cfunny
Pros: HDMI, intregrated tuner, lots of inputs, viewing angle
Cons: DTV 720P broadcast image is soft, audio is weak
Summary: Got this piece of gem at Costco, plugged in a regular UHF antenna and got great digital TV receptions, 1080i broadcast look stunning, 480i SD reception looks fine too, however the 720P broadcast are a bit soft and show some interpolation artifact.
I hooked up my Toshiba SD-K850 DVD player to the HDMi input of the TV, and the quality is stunning, the quality rivals HD broadcast, no kidding.
If you get this set, you may want to invest in a home theater system becaues the built-in speakers are barely passable.
The reviewer mentions the black level is not black enough, which is true, but there are plasma and LCD TVs costing much more with the same issue. DLP sets excels in black levels, but the viewing angle sucks compare to Plasma, where the display looks good no matter where you sit. -
"Really great!" on by zoydw
Pros: inexpensive, easy set up great picture
Cons: none so far
Summary: Just a quick opinion--I bought this March 24 with my raincheck after it sold out at 3 local Costcos. I also have a 42 in Philips with Ambilight. I've been using it for a bit over a week and it's really great! The black level is deep and rich as are colors etc. I get 27 digital channels, most in HD (I'm on the top floor in a 3 floor condo building) using my Terk TV5 antenna. After watching the Vizio and Philips (ambilight off to be fair) side by side the pictures were equal! I have not experienced any of the flaws in the picture that the CNET reviewer experienced. For the $1500 it's well worth it. Noting some videophiles are like audiophiles--they let price detrmine performance then yes this is not for them. As a recovering audiophile I used to be victim of price = perfomance as well.
Now I'm a bang for the buck guy and this really performs for the money!Updated
After using my P42HDTV for about 6 months now and felt I should provide and update to my original opinion. Within the last week it has developed one intermittent but signifcant flaw. After about 90 minutes or so of use, an 8 inch area in the upper left corner of the panel loses the ability to resolve complex colors and simply resolves gray/blue or what appears to be a loss of color when it should be showing say the varying greens of the grass of a baseball diamond or the skin tone of a person with light reflecting off their skin. If left on the 8 inch area slowly creeps out farther across the screen in variying lines of pixels. While watching live football the skin of Lovie Smith (the Chicago Bears coach) actually turned blue in any area light hit his skin. Mike Martz of the Detroit Lion's has white hair, well this flaw makes it an odd shade of blue/gray.
This occurs on all inputs and and from all sources from my HD DirecTV box on the component input to the off air antenna, to the HDMI DVD player input while watching movies. I've contacted Vizio tech support to hopefully get this resolved ASAP. I'll keep you posted.Updated
After using my P42HDTV for about 6 months now and felt I should provide and update to my original opinion. Within the last week it has developed one intermittent but signifcant flaw. After about 90 minutes or so of use, an 8 inch area in the upper left corner of the panel loses the ability to resolve complex colors and simply resolves gray/blue or what appears to be a loss of color when it should be showing say the varying greens of the grass of a baseball diamond or the skin tone of a person with light reflecting off their skin. If left on the 8 inch area slowly creeps out farther across the screen in variying lines of pixels. While watching live football the skin of Lovie Smith (the Chicago Bears coach) actually turned blue in any area light hit his skin. Mike Martz of the Detroit Lion's has white hair, well this flaw makes it an odd shade of blue/gray.
This occurs on all inputs and and from all sources from my HD DirecTV box on the component input to the off air antenna, to the HDMI DVD player input while watching movies. I've contacted Vizio tech support to hopefully get this resolved ASAP. I'll keep you posted.Updated
Follow up on my previous update.I heard back from Vizio's technical support about 3 days after my last post. The tech didn't try to walk me through any steps to correct the issue he simply asked me to provide the warranty related info and arranged to have a brand new unit delivered. The whole process took about 10 days. I was floored by the service. The delivery company called and gave me a 4 hour window(8:30-12:30). They arrived at 8:10-- 20 minutes early-- which was great! They unpacked the new unit packed the old one in the new box. They set up the new one following my directions for my home theater. They truly went way beyond what I expected. I was espeically impressed with the service for what is really a budget plasma! When they were done they carried away the old unit and box leaving me with only the receipt, included accessories and warranty info. The new Unit is working perfectly! The service I experienced makes this an even more incredible buy!!!!Updated
Following up on my last post. I was contacted by Vizio tech support about 3 days after my last post. The tech didn't try and have me correct anything or even tweak settings etc. He simply asked me for the warranty info and arranged for a new unit to be delivered. The whole process took about 10 days. When the delivery service called to arrange a time to deliver the new TV they gave me a 4 hour window, 8am - 12 pm. As usual I expected to be waiting on them most of the morning. To my surpise they arrived 20 minutes early. The delivery guys took down the old unit & unpacked the new one. They installed it and set it up following my directions for my home theater-they even programmed the new remote! Once complete they packed up the old TV in the new box and took it with them leaving me packaging to clean up. Aside from that new electronics smell I had hardly any evidence they were there! This level of service goes way beyond what I expected from a company that is manufacturing and selling budget plasmas. The service truly makes this a fantstic deal!Updated
This is late in posting but I wanted to get it added here...Problem solved. I contacted Vizio Tech support via email. They didn’t give me any run around or have me run through endless tricks to try and get the picture working again. They simply asked for me TV’s info (serial number etc) and arranged for the malfunctioning TV to be picked up and a new one delivered. This is based on the basic one year warranty that came with purchase of the TV. Within 7 business days I had a call from the delivery service arranging a date to deliver the new TV. The new one was not only delivered but set up (according to my system), and the old one packed up and taken away in less than 20 minutes. The service is fantastic. Just try and get that kind of service from one of the big shot companies like Sony or Panasonic without buying some ludicrously expensive extended warranty in addition to the higher cost of the TV itself. I stand by my original rating of 9/10. I’ve had the new one since September and had no troubles at all. I had the picture calibrated and it is fantastic. With service like this from Vizio why buy anything else?Updated
This is late in posting but I wanted to get it added here...Problem solved. I contacted Vizio Tech support via email. They didn’t give me any run around or have me run through endless tricks to try and get the picture working again. They simply asked for me TV’s info (serial number etc) and arranged for the malfunctioning TV to be picked up and a new one delivered. This is based on the basic one year warranty that came with purchase of the TV. Within 7 business days I had a call from the delivery service arranging a date to deliver the new TV. The new one was not only delivered but set up (according to my system), and the old one packed up and taken away in less than 20 minutes. The service is fantastic. Just try and get that kind of service from one of the big shot companies like Sony or Panasonic without buying some ludicrously expensive extended warranty in addition to the higher cost of the TV itself. I stand by my original rating of 9/10. I’ve had the new one since September and had no troubles at all. I had the picture calibrated and it is fantastic. With service like this from Vizio why buy anything else? -
"Great Picture + Great Price = VERY, VERY GOOD DEAL" on by LaneNem
Pros: Picture; ATSC tuner; Connectivity; Price
Cons: None so far
Summary: CNET's review is way off the mark. I guarantee it will be revised soon. The picture is absolutely wonderful. Anyone who says differently is: 1) not looking at the this model PDP (probably CNET); 2) an indecisive shopper who won't be totally satisfied with any tech purchase; or 3) a lurker.
The QAM tuner pulls down tons of HD channels and the connectivity options are outstanding for ANY price point.
SD (via analog cable) looks GREAT; DVD's look GREAT; OTA HD via QAM is off the hook!
GO GET ONE! Don't let the haters and the (supposed) videophiles get you down. -
"researched t.v.s for 2 years and decided the was the best for the price" on by 7foot1
Pros: great picture, unmatched bang for the buck
Cons: speakers, definitely needs a surround sound system to compliment the t.v.
Summary: I have been researching t.v.'s for the past 2 years and this one sold me. You can not beat the bang for the buck. I put this up against my fathers pioneer and sony plasmas and can't see a major difference. At $1500 why would you spend a $1000 or more for the same size plasma especially when technology gets better and better everyday. Down the road when its time to switch I am sure I will feel I got my moneys worth and move on without thinking twice. My only con is the speakers are really wimpy. I now have a surround sound system hooked up that compliments the t.v. very well.
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