Wife and I got our tax refund and are on the market for our first 40-42" LCD HDTV. Has to be this size in order to fit our entertainment center. No plasma!
Looking for 1080p and a quick refresh rate and nice picture. Not sure what else is important. Is a built in tuner important? We have Comcast cable here.

Money might be factor, we will be buying in the future a DVD player and Bose surround sound theatre system.

Best bang for the buck or a step up would be great.

A friend said this is the place to come for great info!

Thanks!

We currently have an old 27" Philips/Magnavox (no stereo connections at all).

Do you have a Costco in your area? If so, and possibly the Walmart route, consider the 42" or 47" offerings from Vizio. Within your budget more than likely, and a very good picture for the cost.

It would help to know your TV budget. Costco is a good place to start.

Whatever you plan to spend on the Bose system, you can do much better. Bose is overpriced crap.

You might look into one of the Toshiba HD DVD players, before they are all gone. They do a great job upscalng and they play the few collectors item HD DVDs that are out there.

Nix the Bose.

Walmart, Vizio 46" or 47", Polaroid 46" in that order....all around the same price.

Costco, Vizio VU42LF

Sears, Vizio GV42LF


DVD Players

Philips 5982 less than half a Ben at BB.
Oppo 980

HD-DVD players are a complete waste of money, EXCEPT for Collectors edition DVDs and the Toshiba XA2 which has a fantastic video processing chip for SD DVDs, but those particular units are still rather pricey. Stick with SD DVD, wait for Blu Ray prices to come way down before going down that road.

The 2 DVD players I listed....one is dirt cheap and great and highly recommended, the other has a few more features that you may or may not use and a bit slicker integration/execution. They both have great video processing, connectivity, and format compatability. Oppo is a US company as well, like Vizio, both out in California.

Onkyo and Yamaha offer good/decent Home Theatre in a Box kits/solutions. The Receivers with these all in one solutions tend to be good, with the Speakers being only decent. I like to buy used and get deals that way on separates and choose my favorite sounding speakers....but that is somewhat of a project.

Good Luck!

It would help to know your TV budget. Costco is a good place to start.

Whatever you plan to spend on the Bose system, you can do much better. Bose is overpriced crap.

You might look into one of the Toshiba HD DVD players, before they are all gone. They do a great job upscalng and they play the few collectors item HD DVDs that are out there.

Budget is $1,500-$2,200.

At that price you can get a Samsung, better blacks and connectivity, contrast ratio, more features than Vizio.

Recommendations: top to bottom "better" to "worse"

Samsung 40" 40A550
Samsung 40" 4069 (similar to the 4061 but has 120hz processing)
Samsung 40" 4061 (last years model being clearanced)(These are plentiful and you can probably score one for under a grand if you look around.)
Sharp 42" 4264U
Samsung 40" 4065 (glossy screen watch out for reflections!)(last years model being clearanced)

The top one is this years model, the 40" 4069 may be more desirable if you fancy 120hz and motion interpolation.


The 2 UNIVERSAL DVD players I recommended will not be yesterdays trash, and will be useful far into the future. Highly recommended.

Amazon has all of the above model Sammys running from 1100 to 1300 dollars.

No highs...no lows....it must be Bose.

Budget is $1,500-$2,200.
For the TV alone, or for the whole setup? Big difference there!

Took the advice and got this today!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v73/Hassmeister/IMG_1703.jpg

Rep at Costco mentioned the Philips SOUND BAR as great theatre speaker system vs the Bose we were looking at. He also said to watch December time frame for Blue Ray to go down about $100 in price.

Thanks to all for the great info!!!

Cant recommend the Philips Soundbar, but congrats on the Vizio VO42LF purchase!

Cant recommend the Philips Soundbar, but congrats on the Vizio VO42LF purchase!



Thanks.

Nix the Bose.


Onkyo and Yamaha offer good/decent Home Theatre in a Box kits/solutions. The Receivers with these all in one solutions tend to be good, with the Speakers being only decent. I like to buy used and get deals that way on separates and choose my favorite sounding speakers....but that is somewhat of a project.

Good Luck!


The rep at Costco said to nix the Bose as well.

There's a section of the Forum that is for HTIB...home theater in a box. Head there to discuss the various options to getting you a decent sound system within your budget. Congrats on the Vizio, and enjoy your new set! Look at the various offerings by Logitech...decent stuff for less cost.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=30&f=109

Great advice Jim!

I like your Logitech suggestion, but see which sets they are recommending down in teh HTIB forum.

You might want to look at Klipsch as well, some of their computer Pro Media 5.1 speaker packages are pretty good.

Maybe buy a receiver separately. Still recommending Onkyo and Yamaha on that note, maybe with Klipsch Quintets.

Good Luck!

Thank you all!

Air Force One, I have the Vizio GV42LF and it is very similar to the VU42LF, and Im not sure but I think the VO42LF is very similar as well.

Try these settings.

Custom
Backlight 50
Brightness 49
Contrast 51
Tint 0
Color 42 (38 gets the skin tones looking perfect but I like a little pop in color)
Sharpness 1 or 2
R 128
G 128
B 119

Advanced settings

DNR - Strong
Black Level Extender On
White Peak Limiter On
CTI - Strong
Flestones Off (definitely always off)
Adaptive Luma On
DCR - Off (you have to turn this off to be able to adjust the Backlight level)

Remember each input (tuner, HDMI 1, HDMI 2, Component 1, Component 2, etc...) has its own independent settings, but the Advanced settings are universal)

Let me know how it goes.

Oh almost forgot.

Go to Audio section in the menus and turn off the simulated Surround Sound. Much clearer audio that way.

You can read up on almost everthing you ever would want or not want to know about your set in the LCD panel forum. Search for you model(Vizio VO42LF). If nothing pops up, try the GV42LF model or VU42LF model.

Oppo is a US company as well, like Vizio, both out in California.


U.S. company my a**.

"Costs are kept low due to the company's structure. Vizio employs only about 55 people in the U.S. and most of them work the customer support desk"

Vizio's are made where ever they are the cheapest, be it China, Taiwan, Viet Nam, or where ever.

I'm guessing those 55 people are very well paid management and executive types while the other thousands of employees make less than a dollar a day. Like you said, so much for being an "American" company :rolleyes:

Great info again. I just returned from a 5 day company meeting back East and set up the TV last night. The only problem I found was on some channels I get at the top of the screen a dashed black an white bar (it goes from the left corner to the right and is about a 1/2" in size). This bar seems to flicker (if that's the word). Not sure how to adjust to remove.
Other than that this TV rocks!!! Best $1,098 I have ever paid. Now I'm glued to the couch!

Pic of its temp location:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v73/Hassmeister/IMG_1705.jpg

And I will for sure make those setting adjustments!

BTW, I'm going back to Costco this week and getting their "22 for our bedroom. These are amazing TV's for the price.

You can read up on almost everthing you ever would want or not want to know about your set in the LCD panel forum. Search for you model(Vizio VO42LF). If nothing pops up, try the GV42LF model or VU42LF model.
Thanx TONS!

Air Force One, I have the Vizio GV42LF and it is very similar to the VU42LF, and Im not sure but I think the VO42LF is very similar as well.

Try these settings.

Custom
Backlight 50
Brightness 49
Contrast 51
Tint 0
Color 42 (38 gets the skin tones looking perfect but I like a little pop in color)
Sharpness 1 or 2
R 128
G 128
B 119

Advanced settings

DNR - Strong
Black Level Extender On
White Peak Limiter On
CTI - Strong
Flestones Off (definitely always off)
Adaptive Luma On
DCR - Off (you have to turn this off to be able to adjust the Backlight level)

Remember each input (tuner, HDMI 1, HDMI 2, Component 1, Component 2, etc...) has its own independent settings, but the Advanced settings are universal)

Let me know how it goes.
Thanks so much. I WILL let you know!

The only problem I found was on some channels I get at the top of the screen a dashed black an white bar (it goes from the left corner to the right and is about a 1/2" in size). This bar seems to flicker (if that's the word).

ive only seen this once, but Im on Over The Air Antenna. It freaked me out, but I think it was coming from the broadcast tower, some mix up of theirs, only on one channel.

Closed Captioning data isnt that big.

BTW, I'm going back to Costco this week and getting their "22 for our bedroom. These are amazing TV's for the price. -- AirForce


Check out the just released Vizio VP322 32" PLASMA at Walmart, $557. They offer a 90 day return policy if you dont like it, and they also offer a $58 3 year extended warranty that is rock solid. Great bedroom set. Or use American Express which extends the 1 year manufacturers warranty, to 2 years manufacturers warranty.

If you need cables, monoprice.com has good cheap cables and are a forum sponsor. You do have to pay shipping so buy a few extras, they are that cheap, in the inexpensive sense of the word. They also have wall mounts, most people have been pleased with.

As I remember, there is a vertical screen position adjustment in the menu, and that may be what you need to rid the jagged line at the top of the picture. Does it only happen when it switches to a commercial...I have that on one high def panel, and yes, it's annoying, although mine is only a few pixels high.

As I remember, there is a vertical screen position adjustment in the menu, and that may be what you need to rid the jagged line at the top of the picture. Does it only happen when it switches to a commercial...I have that on one high def panel, and yes, it's annoying, although mine is only a few pixels high.

It happens on all the Non-HD channels. Drives me crazy when trying to watch them.

Found out my "Comcast DVR box" was in stretch rather than 480i.

Was that what was creating the issue? Makes sense, it could "stretch" the closed captioning data.

although mine is only a few pixels high.

This is the size of closed captioning data, he was describing something that was 1/2" wide, not a few pixels.

Jim Hef's tip on the Vertical and Horizontal controls is a great one, to rid yourself of closed captioning data, if it pops up and is annoying. However, it should only be a few pixels wide, not a 1/2".

BTW, that you can see closed captioning data is indicative of 1x1 pixel mapping and zero overscan, which is a desirable/good thing.

dude that vizio that u bought is not the vo42lf, it is the vs42lf ;) lol BIG DIFFERENCE...jk

You are correct.

What are the big differences?

Was that what was creating the issue? Makes sense, it could "stretch" the closed captioning data.



This is the size of closed captioning data, he was describing something that was 1/2" wide, not a few pixels.

The Comcast box when set on 480i does away with the problem. When set to anything other it creates the problem.

I think there is a VS42LF thread in the LCD section. Its a new set and so the thread isnt painfully long yet. You could share your experiences and ask questions there. Co-owners are very enthusiastic and helpful.

Got the 22" for the bedroom.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v73/Hassmeister/IMG_1717.jpg


Sorry for the bad pic.... my battery in my cheapie camera was going T.U.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v73/Hassmeister/IMG_1723.jpg

Nice score on the 22" too, AirForceOne.

Here is a link to the VS42L thread.....owners gather and share information, help each other.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=986672&page=7

Nice score on the 22" too, AirForceOne.

Here is a link to the VS42L thread.....owners gather and share information, help each other.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=986672&page=7

Ah, Thanks!:)