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- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 46 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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17 out of 17 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Really great!"
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?
