Vizio – Part 1: The TV
One day I was at Target browsing the TV section for my next HDTV for my new apartment, and as I was leaving the Electronic section, something caught the corner of my eye. It was almost like seeing Santa fly by on his sled off into the night. I turned slowly to stare at what caught my eye and burst of light shot out at me and everything else around the end cap went dark. I even started floating slowly towards it, being sucked in by the beauty before me. It was almost Jesus-like.
Ok maybe I exaggerated a little bit, but it was damn sexy! Standing before me was a 37” Vizio 1080p LCD HDTV, Vizio 1080p Blu-Ray™ player and a set of two, 3’ Vizio HDMI cables. Whoa, what a package! (That’s what she said) and the price? $700! That’s not a bad deal if you ask me! Considering the Vizio Blu-Ray™ player alone is around $180 and the HDMI package was $60.
I checked out the specs of the Vizio LCD HDTV and Vizio Blu-Ray™ player for a couple minutes, then just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things I asked the person behind the counter if what I was seeing was in fact for real, and it wasn’t me being dehydrated in a desert witnessing a mirage of Mr.Pibb soda machines before me. After she confirmed it was not a mirage, I was happy to take the HD Vizio package home with me.
Later that night I was feeling antsy. I had this awesome setup, but I wanted more sound. Go big or go home right? So I took a little trip to Walmart® to see what they had to offer my HD Vizio package. I’m not really into the home theater systems that have 200 different speakers that have to hook up to an equalizer and a 5 disc DVD player…besides I have a brand new Blu-Ray™ player! The Bose systems are always nice, but completely out of my price range. I knew immediately I was going to look for a sound bar, and as soon as I turned into the aisle, I saw what I was looking for. The matching Vizio Sound Bar for only $128, and it was the last one!
After writing half of the review I realized there was way to much text for one post. So I decided to post the review in three parts. Part 1: The TV, Part 2: The Blu-Ray™ Player, and Part 3: The Sound Bar.
Part 1: 37” Vizio 1080p LCD HDTV Review
The first thing I noticed about the Vizio LCD HDTV was how incredibly light it is. Weighting in at only 37lbs, it made it easy to transport it from the store to my apartment and up a flight of stairs with no problems. The setup was simple, and the number of wires going into and out of the Vizio LCD HDTV was minimal, so it did not look like a mess of wires behind the TV. A coax cable from the wall to the cable box, and one HDMI cable from the cable box to the TV, and I was ready to start auto programming. The setup wizard and menus were very easy to understand and navigate which is important. You don’t want people to get lost inside menus and sub-menus, it can lead to a very frustrating first experience with your TV. Once the auto programming was complete, I immediately jumped to the HD stations and I was blown away by the clarity of the picture, it was stunning! It was like I was on the set of Cake Boss making cakes with him! The combination of 1080p, 50,000:1 contrast ratio and 120Hz Smooth Motion make the picture quality coming out of the Vizio LCD HDTV amazing. The audio coming from the Vizio LCD HDTV is also nice and clear because of the SRS TruVolume™ and SRS TruSurround HD™, which again could have made a bad first impression if the audio had been muffled or scratchy.
On a negative note, on some of the standard channels there seems to be some kind of pixel flashing on very top of the LCD screen (not sure of the exact name or cause – I will update the post when I find out what the deal is). They go away when you zoom or change the aspect ratio. It can be a little annoying but not something to write home about, simply just an observation I made.
One thing I did notice is that there are no controls on the Vizio LCD HDTV other than the abnormally large power button on the right side. This rather worries me because what if something happens to the remote control? Obviously, I have the cable box remote, but if I didn’t have it, and my Vizio remote control got ran over by a car, how would I change the channels or adjust the volume? Of course, I could just buy another universal remote but that is a major inconvenience and expense that I don’t want to procure. I’ll keep searching for a hidden compartment that has more controls on the Vizio LCD HDTV that I might have missed.
The Vizio remote control that comes with Vizio LCD HDTV is straightforward and simple to use. I’m a big fan of remotes that have a sleep timer button on them so you don’t have to go searching through menus to find it, so I was pleased to see it was on there. Switching between the different inputs is also much simpler, instead of having one input button that controls them all, there is one button for each type of input. However, I don’t like the power button. It’s made of hard plastic and hangs off the front a little bit, and I’m afraid that it might get ripped off. Overall, the Vizio remote control is very simplistic, and simpler is always better when it comes to remote controls.
I also like that there is no inputs or outputs on either side of the Vizio LCD HDTV, other than the one USB port. Unlike the Hannspree LCD TV I reviewed earlier (here), this makes wire control much nicer and you don’t have wires sticking out of the side so it’s not as messy.
Overall, I have no complaints about the Vizio LCD HDTV. The picture/audio quality and the easy menu navigation make this HDTV worth the purchase. What do you love about your HDTV? Tell me in comments!
37” Sony Vizio LCD HDTV Tech Specs and Features
Model SV370XVT
MSRP: $849.99
Slim Design only 2.2” thin
120Hz Smooth Motion technology
50,000:1 Dynamic Contrast
SRS TruVolume™ and SRS TruSurround HD™
Specs
Size: 37″
Viewable: 37″ diagonal
Tuner: ATSC/Clear QAM
Tuner Native Panel Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
Signal Compatibility: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i
Colors: 1.06 Billion
Computer Support: 1920 x 1080, 1360 x 768, 800 x 600, 640 x 480 via VGA/HDMI
Dynamic Contrast Ratio: 50,000:1
Brightness: 500 cd/m2 (typical)
Response Time: 5ms
Viewable Angle: 178/178 degrees (horizontal/vertical)
Pixel/Dot Pitch: 0.42675mm(H) x 0.42675mm(V)
SRS TruSurround HD™: No SRS
TruVolume™: Yes
SRS TruSurround XT™: Yes
Rear Inputs
HDMI with HDCP: 3
RF Connector for Internal Tuner: 1
Component YPbPr plus Stereo Audio: 1
S-Video: 1
Computer RGB: 1
Side Inputs
USB Ports: 1 (Multimedia and Service)
Outputs (Rear)
SPDIF Digital Optical: 1
Headphones: 1 (side)
Additional Features
Refresh Rate: 120Hz
Picture-in-Picture (PIP): Yes
Picture-outside-Picture (POP): Yes
Zero Bright Pixel Defect Guarantee: Yes
V-Chip: Yes
3D Comb Filter: Yes
3:2 or 2:2 Reverse Pull-down: Yes
ATSC with 8VSB & QAM demodulation: Yes
ATSC with MPEG-2 decoding: Yes
NTSC Video decoding via Video: Yes via RF or Composite
Video Progressive Scan Video: Yes, thru Component VGA or HDMI
Color Temperature: 5400K, 6300K and 9300K
Color Fine Tuning: Independent Red, Green and Blue
Speakers: Built-in 10W x 2 Speakers
Panel Lamp Life (typical): 50,000 Hours
Voltage Range: 100~240 Vac at 50/60 Hz
Power Consumption: 147 W <0.5W Standby
Universal Remote: VIZIO Remote Control
Related posts:
- Vizio – Part 2: The Blu-Ray™ Player
- Vizio – Part 3: The Sound Bar
- Hannspree 28″ HT09 LCD 1080p HD TV Review
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