Vizio XVT553SV user reviews

Pros Picture is fantastic when it works. Customer service is very polite, but incompetent.

Cons When you first turn on the TV after being off for an hour or more there is bad pixilation and no sound. It is better after 1 or 2 minutes. Occasionally, the screen freezes and the TV turns itself off. Tech Support is a joke.

Summary After weeks of research I decided to purchase the Vizio XVT55SV TV because it was the CNET.com Editors Choice LCD TV of the Year. They don't rate the warranty or tech support on their though. I ordered this TV from Amazon.com on 12/3/2010 and it was delivered on 12/8/2010. I unpacked it and let it sit at room temperature for about 3 hours before turning it on for the first time. The picture quality is fantastic and the WiFi hookup is simple and quick. I was streaming Netflix in about 5 minutes. Don't get your hopes up for the picture quality of Netflix though. It's "okay", but not HD.

After about 2 days, each time I turned the TV on for the first time of the day I noticed screen pixilation and there was no sound for the first minute or two. After that minute or two the picture would get back to normal then the sound would crackle then finally get to normal. I tested the next morning by turning on the TV and using a different component(Blu Ray Player) in a different HDMI input. Same result. About a week later I got the first "freeze then shutdown". Yes, the screen literally froze in the middle of a football game, then went black, then the Vizio light blinked on and off about 6 or 7 times then the TV turned off. It was annoying.

Randomly there was a pink hue on the screen as well when first turned on. After seeing the pink I did the power cycle(unplug for 30-60 minutes) and I haven't seen the pink screen since, but the initial daily picture and sound are still messed up, plus it froze and shutdown again last night and today.

4 days ago I called Vizio Tech Support. They opened a case and asked me for details and I asked what the next steps were. They said they would send this to second level support. After hearing nothing back for 2 days I called them and they asked me to fax my proof of purchase so they could proceed with service. They got that and I asked what the next steps were AGAIN and NOW they said I needed to take a picture of the issue on the screen and email it to them.

This is where I am right now. At this point it's getting a little annoying. I don't like jumping through hoops after spending this much money. The people at Vizio are always nice, but so far I am completely unimpressed with how they respond to THEIR TV not working properly. I am giving them one week to get someone out to fix it or send me a replacement before I lose my patience and just return to Amazon. It's not Amazon's fault this TV is faulty

I truly want to believe in Vizio products and support so I can recommend them to everyone, but they are making it difficult at the moment. I will update once I hear back from Vizio.

UPDATE 12/23/2010: I got an email confirming they received my pictures. They gave me a few things to do to see if it would work. After doing a "Clean Storage" reset then reprogramming the TV the issue was still not fixed. I called Vizio back and the first-level support guy talked to the third-level support guy and guess what they wanted.....MORE pictures. At this point I told the poor guy how I felt about their support. I asked him point blank how he would feel if he just spent $1500 on a TV that wasn't working correctly and had to call their tech support over 8 times in 4 days JUST to be told I had to send MORE pictures to prove what I have told them since day 1? The poor kid said, "Yeah, that would suck." I asked him to have a manager call me back so I could talk to them. Within 30 minutes a manager called me and said after reviewing the notes on the case I was put through more grief than I should have been. At this point I told him I wasn't mad. I was disappointed that I couldn't go to bat for Vizio. I was counting on them to fix THEIR product, but in the end I couldn't take anymore hoop-jumping. I called Amazon to ask them to send someone to pick up the TV. I could have gotten a replacement, but I will not go through this again. Case closed. I am not bitter. I truly wanted to write a good review about this TV and Vizio as a company. I cannot recommend buying anything from Vizio because if something goes wrong they will not take the effort to make it right.

For the love of God. Please don't put yourself through this just to save a few bucks. There is a reason these TV's are as inexpensive as they are and I had to find out the hard way.

Updated on Dec 30, 2010

UPDATE 12/30/2010: I bought a replacement Samsung PN58C550 58" Plasma $200 cheaper than the Vizio 55" LED and LOVE IT! There is absolutely no pixilation like the Vizio, no pink screen like the Vizio, no need to call Vizio tech support ever again, and most of all it has a fantastic picture so I am VERY happy!

Pros Inky black levels. No blue tinge that I can see. Uniform picture. Accurate colors. No flashligting. Matte screen.

Cons Could use additional tweaking capability.

Summary I've owned the 53" set now for over two weeks and am extremely impressed. I was going to buy the LG Infinia, but did not like the reflective screen and higher price. This set has superb black levels. It also is uniform. No banding or flashlighting or hotspots. There is some blooming but I can only see it when the credits are rolling, i.e. a faint glow around white lettering on the black background. I don't see this with stars being displayed. This set is an excellent value for the money.

Just a note to others posting "reviews" here.......if you don't own the set, don't review it. You are just commenting and skewing the ratings. Thank you.

Updated on Sep 3, 2010

Meant 55"....typo

Pros Great picture. Does a nice job with SDTV (480i) as well as HDTV. Crisp color with deep blacks and bright whites. Very low power consumption. Matte finish screen has almost no glare and very wide viewing angle.

Cons Base does not swivel. USB ports???!!

Summary I've had it for a couple weeks and like it more every day. Setup was quick and easy. Connection to the internet was painless. I use MAC address filtering, so the quick setup didn't apply, but as soon as I went to custom setup the TV displayed it loud and clear. Apps and widgets are sufficient and seem similar to other TV's.

The picture on the TV is absolutely amazing for an LCD display. Local dimming and full-array backlight mimics Plasma for color depth. The matte finish on the screen gives almost zero screen glare. The preset picture settings seem pretty basic - I would recommend playing with custom settings. The display does automatically adjust brightness based on room light, but that can be quickly disabled if you want. (I've actually found it to be a nice feature) The "240hz" (we all know it is really 120) display has no noticeable blur when watching football or baseball. Judder also doesn't seem to be a problem with movies. Video gaming is smooth. My only complaint there may be that it is too good - my wife felt motion sick during a racing game. The "blooming" issue was something I looked for on movie credits, and when they were displayed against a totally black screen, I did notice just a touch of it. But really - who cares about a little bloom on credits. I have looked for and not noticed it anywhere else.

Sound is acceptable from the stock speakers. They do about as good of a job as anyone could expect for simulating stereo/surround from built-in's. As with all TVs, a decent home theatre system really enhances the sound experience.

I did notice that the manual said the USB ports were "for future expansion". I haven't tried them, but this seems like a simple thing to get going and a shortcoming for Vizio.

Finally - the "bang for the buck" category is off the scale for this TV. Most competitors cost at least $1000 more.

Regarding the couple reviews that got faulty units out of the box: Certainly this is a disappointment and a hassle, but all electronics have a potential for a bad uint. That doesn't mean this is a bad model. I would echo the recommendation for an extended warranty (I got one) with any product with a video display. Display failure is always a risk.

Pros Very Low Price
Nice Size
Alot of hookups for anything you can imagine
Widgets & All kind of cool features.

Cons That I have had two(one went back to store and other looks like it's going back as well and they have both been very faulty.
-Freezes Up
-Screen is scrambled on cold start
-MAJOR BLOOMING even when sitting directly in front of the tv12 feet away.

Summary It takes a lot of bad for me to give a one star review. I know that electronics can be faulty. I know that with every major electronics buy that you have roughly a 3% chance of the product being faulty in one way or another. So I will tell you my story. 6 Days ago I went to my Local Sams and purchased the Vizio XVT553SV. I've been wanting a new tv and did some internet reviews for weeks and finally decided to go with the VIzio. The reason I bought the tv is because every time I looked at what I wanted on reviews I always came back to this tv, and with the great reviews from Amazon & CNet I decided that I would roll the dice.

So I buy the tv bring it home take it to my man cave(finished basement)Plug it in and go through all the steps and hook it up to my PS3 via HDMI hookups.

TV looks pretty amazing. I watched SPEED RACER on bluray and wow I was stunned at the clarity. Within an hour I set the tv to CNET settings that the AVS forums guys reccomended using...went to bed happy.

Next morning went downstairs to see my new baby (the tv) turned it on and fired up the PS3.
WOE! Scrambling all over the place of picture..lights flashing all kinds of crazy stuff going on with the screen. I checked all the HDMI inputs wondering if I just had one that went bad overnight or something and that wasn't the problem..though hmmm wonder if my HDMI cable went bad so took the PS# and hooked it up to my 40" SAMMY LCD 650 series and it worked flawlessly...hmm not the HDMI cable.

Went back downstairs plugged PS3 back in to tv..same thing..distortion everywhere. I'm not talking light fuzz..I'm talking scrambled picture like when you're a teenager trying to tune in a cable channel that you don't get so you can see a glimpse of skin bad....actually worst.

Weird thing is...3-5 minutes later the picture would slowly unscramble and tune in and picture looked perfect...so I thought...my mind was going OOOOH CRAAAAP

My nerves calmed and I decided to throw in Inception (bluray)....OMG what happened or did I not notice it on Speed RACER because that movie is such a bright movie. It is the worst case of blossoming I've ever seen. I said that was it..I went to turn the TV off and BAM I can't. TV just froze on me solid. I actually had to hold the power button down on the sied for like 30 seconds to get the tv to turn off. So I thought to myself...wow, I must have just got a lemon. I called the Sams I bought it from told them what was happening and they said that I could return it and get another one but they were out of stock so the next closest Sams that had it in stock was 74 miles away. FINE.

Took the TV back exchanged it for another brand new one.

got it home took it out of the box and OMG scrambled to hell again..than warmed up and picture came in...but still had MAJOR Blooming...I'm not talking light blooming either I'm talking halo angel like effect in dark scenes.

That is where I'm at right now with this TV. I haven't taken it back because I have not had access to a truck and won't have access for another week and a half. But not too worried because I did buy Sams 3 year warranty for this piece of junk.

Now here is the deal. I've had two brand new TVs from two totally different sams club areas. Both were majorly messed up. I think that is pretty high odds. I don't know if they changed the electronics in these things or Vizio is playing panel lottery but I'm not a happy customer.

I did go to AVS forums and in the last 20 or so pages is starting to become a major recurring problem with these TV's. I think it's only a matter of time before CNET starts getting emailed telling them that this in no way can be a Editors Choice for 2010.

I will tell you this..some have taken pictures and put them on the site and are not having the blooming problems nor the startup problems that others are having. And believe me I'm pretty technical. I've tried everything...changing HDMI cables from 1.3 to 1.4, trying other electronics instead of the PS3 for startup. Tweaked calibrations...even freaking doing crazy things like messaging the screen like some have did for other TVs to help with blooming. What it boils down to is nothing has worked...

SO right now I have in my basement a 55" tv that has major startup problems, and rediculously bad blooming even sitting directly in front of the TV from 12 feet away.