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"really hard to beat for the $....after about an hour tweaking" on by wbean
Pros: connectivity, out-of-the box to on in less than 15 minutes
Cons: angle viewing, not-so-black blacks
Summary: I spent an hour trying to mimic the color/picture of the 50" Sony Bravia sitting next to this TV at Costco today... not by choice. I had to return a Vizio 42" plasma as the screen had developed green and red specks (my kids called them the bees) in the black areas of the screen after about 18 months. Lucky for me that set was bought before Costco's return policy changed last year. Anyway, I was pretty wary of buying another Vizio, and was set to buy a 42" Panasonic Plasma (which was sold out) or possibly even a 46" 720p Sony that was the same price as the Vizio. Then I found this new model up front, but the picture left a lot to be desired as it sat on the shelf. I couldn't take my eyes off the picture of the Sony next to it, but at 50", it was too big for my space, and at $3K, twice what I had to spend. Anyway, after about an hour of tweaking, stepping back, tweaking, stepping back, etc, I finally had the picture at what I consider pretty darned close to the Bravia...which was reason enough to bring it home and give it a try here. So far, so good. The best part about it was that I got $130 back since what I paid 2 years ago was more than what this (bigger, nicer) LCD set is today.
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"Average Joe's dream TV" on by jdburdick
Pros: Excellent Value, 4 HDMI inputs, decent picture
Cons: Low black levels, weak audio, some motion blurring
Summary: At a price point of $1393.00, this is a tough value to beat. If price is not an issue AND you are a serious A/V person, this TV is not for you. The Pioneer and Panasonic plasmas or Samsung and Sony LCD's operating at 120hz crush the picture this TV can generate. We won't even get into sound.
BUT...
The Vizio is capable of handling an Xbox 360, PS3, Wii (you can see where my intrests are at), Cable or Satallite, surround sound (i.e. home theater in a box) and still not use all of the ports. For me, that means no seperate receiver and all of my sources go direct to the television giving a clearer picture and ease of use.
The black levels on the picture can hide some of the details - especially when viewing Blu-Ray, and the black bars on the top and bottom of the picture are not dark at all. However, the picture is very bright regardless of the amount of light in the room and the tv offers a good picture from all angles. The speakers are not great, but last time I checked, even the high end panels were not earth shaking.
I spent about $2000.00 on the Vizio, PS3 and a Panasonic home theater in a box (strictly for audio use). All items were purchased at Sam's or Wal Mart, so even if they break in a year, I can return or exchange them at no extra cost. That is a tough value to beat for someone who likes to watch the news after work, sportcenter, some cartoons with the kids and some movies and games on weekends. -
"No better deal for the dollars" on by jobyshokk
Pros: Picture, size, features vs. $$, great remote, extras
Cons: Speaker sound is a bit 'tinny'
Summary: After reviewing (in person & online) many, many brands & models of LCD TVs, my wife & I decided the Vizio VO47LF was the one to get. We purchased this last weekend for under $1400. The store's display of 'flats' had this Vizio w/ a S-brand 42" on one side & a P-brand 46" on the other. The P-brand was a definite 'NO'... My better half stated the S-brand had a better picture, so I grabbed the Vizio's remote & tweaked the picture, then asked her if she wanted to pay $600 more for less TV. We went home w/ the Vizio...
Our out of box experience was excellent! The included HDMI cable & cleaning cloth are nice touches. Setup took no more than 15 min. using the default settings. The remote was already programmed for the cable box! Had local cable turn on HD the next morning & all we could say was 'WOW!!' all day long.
Current attached items are;
Motorola HD/DVR cable box via HDMI
Panasonic HTiB (standard def DVD) via component in
Kodak HD camera dock via component in
Laptop via RGB in
To us & our friends, the picture quality is fantastic!! The black levels seem deep & the color absolutely jumps out at you! Even from side angles, we don't notice an unacceptable amount of picture degradation. We tested fast action TV by watching a few minutes of NASCAR & saw no noticeable ghosting on this unit. I'm sure some video aficionado would say it can be tweaked to look better, but as average homeowners, we're very satisfied with the picture as-is.
The menu is very intuitive & simple to navigate.
The overall look of the unit is very classy - all matte black. MUCH better than the silver speaker grill style on previous models. I also like that the bezel is not 'piano-black' as the shine can distract from the picture.
The included 'universal' remote is probably one of the best I've ever used. It's very sleek & has good grippy feel to it. Nice backlit pad. Cable box was pre-programmed OOtB - nice!!
The HD photo dock allows us to view 8.2mg photos in 720p & watch HD video taken w/ the camera. They look truly stunning on this TV.
The cable/DVR box is a newer model from Motorola, seems to work fine w/ the TV. All channel/DVR/menu functions work w/ the Vizio's remote.
The HTiB is an older Panasonic standard def DVD/VCR combo w/ 5.1 surround. Haven't quite figured out all the HTiB's button assignments to the Vizio remote, but had this issue w/ other univ remotes as well. No biggie...
Since we use a surround system, the built in speakers are moot to us. But we did try them out watching The Matrix. They were OK at normal levels, but became tinny as the sound was turned up. I wouldn't let this be a deal breaker as they were far from unacceptable.
This is our first flat panel TV & I will -without hesitation-, buy, recommend, sing the praises of Vizio. -
"Buy the extended warranty" on by okiepainter
Pros: great picture and price good looking TV
Cons: Had it a year and the screen went black while i was watching it. I think they want 400.00 to fix the problem. I didnt have the extended warrenty, if you buy one get the extended warranty you will need it. (power supply problem)
Summary: great picture, the sound quality isn't great, but overall it's a great and easy to use TV for the price.
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"Best Set for the money" on by zbodhi
Pros: Good Picture,Great remote,lots of inputs
Cons: Could be sharper,poor menu
Summary: I've tried 6 HD sets in the last year,all priced at around $1000. Most of them are below average for the money (Samsung Plasma,Toshiba LCD). The Panasonic had a great picture,but the blacks were always unclear. TheSamsung was a great LCD,but costs $400. more. Plasma's use too much juice and are too heavy. The samsung's all have headphone jacks.The menu on the Vizio is too small. But for $900. you can't beat it. And Costco extends the warranty to two years.
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