Hi Chris,

Thanks for the feedback. The cable is 6' long. It is actually a DVI to HDMI cable. It worked perfectly with my old Sony. I have made sure that it is not run near any power cords to try to avoid interference.

Thanks,

Chuck

Re: Antennas

Depending upon your location (if you are close to the towers, you don't have much to worry about it). I tried about 7 antennas with my previous tv and wound up with the Antennas Direct DB4.

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?main_cat=03&CAT=&PROD=AD-DB4

This antenna works great (mine is installed in the attic). Unfortunately, the tuner on the Vizio isn't as sensitive as my Sony. But, it's OK.

Re: Antennas

Depending upon your location (if you are close to the towers, you don't have much to worry about it). I tried about 7 antennas with my previous tv and wound up with the Antennas Direct DB4.

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?main_cat=03&CAT=&PROD=AD-DB4

This antenna works great (mine is installed in the attic). Unfortunately, the tuner on the Vizio isn't as sensitive as my Sony. But, it's OK.I am curious to know how the antenna should be oriented. Would it be possible to point me to a picture or take a picture of yours as mounted in the attic? Thanks!

Went to the local Costco this morning when they opened to non-business members with coupon in hand. Brought the brother-in-law's pickup and was ready to buy. I hoped that the reported "washed out" characteristic would turn out to be non-existent, or at least something subtle, something that I could live with considering the price point. Unfortunately, it was not. The whites of the nearby Phillips 37" LCD (the only other model close to the Vizio end display) were WAY brighter. Really made the Vizio look dull in comparison. I played around with the settings, trying some of those suggested in this forum, and improved the picture somewhat, but I was still disappointed. I thought that the ED Panny still had the best PQ for the buck in the store, even though it was more expensive.

Having said this, it wasn't a terrible TV. If you're not making comparisons with another set and have it placed in a somewhat darker room (than a warehouse store!), I think it would look OK. It certainly does have a great feature set for the money. However, since it would be the second HD set in our house, I think I'd be constantly reminded of its shortcomings. In the end, after 45 minutes of agonizing (in addition to the last 2 months!), I had to pass.

I guess i just dont see the washed out look on this set. This is the 3rd HDTV in my house, and it looks fantastic. My buddy has a 37 Vizio and he is taking his back after seeing my 42. In my eyes the 37 pales in comparison to the 42. Watching INHD via HDMI blows me away, they have a program on gardening and all the red, yellow, and green on the flowers just jumps off the screen..

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the feedback. The cable is 6' long. It is actually a DVI to HDMI cable. It worked perfectly with my old Sony. I have made sure that it is not run near any power cords to try to avoid interference.

Thanks,

Chuck


I was using a DVI to HDMI cable to test out this TV with an RCN HD/DVR box that I use for my TV in the bedroom, and it worked perfectly with the Vizio. Unforunately, the non-DVR version only has component output, so I'm stuck with components (which still look quite good).

Went to the local Costco this morning when they opened to non-business members with coupon in hand. Brought the brother-in-law's pickup and was ready to buy. I hoped that the reported "washed out" characteristic would turn out to be non-existent, or at least something subtle, something that I could live with considering the price point. Unfortunately, it was not. The whites of the nearby Phillips 37" LCD (the only other model close to the Vizio end display) were WAY brighter. Really made the Vizio look dull in comparison. I played around with the settings, trying some of those suggested in this forum, and improved the picture somewhat, but I was still disappointed. I thought that the ED Panny still had the best PQ for the buck in the store, even though it was more expensive.

Having said this, it wasn't a terrible TV. If you're not making comparisons with another set and have it placed in a somewhat darker room (than a warehouse store!), I think it would look OK. It certainly does have a great feature set for the money. However, since it would be the second HD set in our house, I think I'd be constantly reminded of its shortcomings. In the end, after 45 minutes of agonizing (in addition to the last 2 months!), I had to pass.

I have a darker room, so this TV is perfect for me :) . BTW, I got one this morning around 9:45 am and saw at least 10 of them sitting there. I chose the one with the latest serial no I could find in hope that this TV already got the bug fix, such as "automatic shut off problem" so I thought...

Haven't set it up yet and will report back in later on...

If you are saying there's no way in *ell you can compare these 2 tvs, you're right. The Panny costs more than twice as much. I got the Vizio because I thought that maybe the 50" Panasonic (it's their latest model plasma) might be too big. So rather than trade in the Panny, I bought the Vizio because of it's easy return policy. That's how I ended up with such different sets.

I was able to compare these 2 sets side-by-side in my home, both on HD. The Vizio was attached to my SA8300HD receiver and the Panny was tuned to an OTA broadcast of the same station. I also reversed these connections and found out 1 thing right off the bat: the Panny has a better OTA HD tuner. Stations that the Panny were able to pull in cleanly were pixelated sometimes on the Vizio. So if you want to use the Vizio to watch OTA HD, you might need a better antenna.

So how do the pictures differ? I thought the whites were very good on the Vizio; I didn't see any yellow that some people talk about. The Vizio had much more overscan than the Panny, so you're seeing less of the picture.

The biggest difference by far in these 2 sets is the black level. And that's why people, including me, describe the picture as hazy or soft. Blacks are BLACK on the Panny, but they're GREY on the Vizio. If I turn down the Brightness setting on the Vizio in an attempt to make the grey blacker, all that happens is that the whole picture becomes darker. Increasing the Contrast setting does emphasize the differences, but it still doesn't make the blacks black and it causes the whites to bloom.

Here are the best setting I could make on the brand new Vizio:
Brightness: 50
Contrast: 70
Color: 45
Tint: 50
Sharpness: 50

All in all it's not bad, especially for the price. But you'll never get the "pop" of a better set because of the inferior blacks. If I decide I like the 42" size better, I'll get the Panasonic. But then again, it's a lot more $ (but I'm worth it). :D

For those interested in the size of the box, it's length and height are smaller than 48"x36". It's width is 15".

I am curious to know how the antenna should be oriented. Would it be possible to point me to a picture or take a picture of yours as mounted in the attic? Thanks!
You simply point the bowties toward the transmitting towers. You can figure out where they are by using antennaweb.org.

I am in between Boston and Providence and sacrifice reception of the Providence stations for Boston, but tend to get both since this is a directional antenna.

Just picked up the set from the warhouse in Avon, MA... No time to unpack it, just dropped it off at the house, will set it up later tonight. BTW, they had a total of 4 sets, 1 demo and 3 for sale. I was at the store at exactly 10AM, no one else was there for a set, other than me. I also have the P50 in the Home Theater, so I am a fan of Vizio.

Mitch

There's plenty here in the bay area. My local san jose costco had 8 pallets full; stacked 4 on each pallet.

I just got 42" set up a few minutes ago. I have Comcast and am using the SA8300HD cable box. I can't get 480i or 480p to work with the HDMI cable. Tech support said there may be a handshake issue between the SA8300D and the set using HDMI. He suggested that I try the AV cables that came in the box. If it works I have to call back and get put on the list for some kind of fix that is supposed to take care of the problem. He couldn't tell me when a fix would be coming out.

:eek: I am schedule with Cox Cable to be hooked up with a SA8300HD tomorrow evening. I was planning on using the HDMI interface. I'll post what happens.

Onlookerdelay,

Thanks for your posts over the past few weeks. No luck for me. After reading what it seems like a thousand posts, I was so ready to finally get my hands on one. Sold my 32" CRT Toshiba on Sunday. No Sopranos :-( . Local warehouse in clt only had 10 (4 people must have bought early), got there at 2pm .. out of luck. More to arrive on thursday. Testing out the Phillips 32 LCD in the mean time. How are you going to hook yours up to your TWC box? HDMI or Component? How does the set look at home versus the store?

Best Wishes,
ydhmailbox-chat

forgive me if this question has been brought up before but 25+ pages would take too long to read. i just purchased this tv and when i connect my direct tv w/tivo to the vizio there is a feedback type buzzing sound comming from the speakers....it wasnt there an hour ago when connected to my previous tv and its not there on any other input that have different devices connected to, only when the tivo is the source there is this annoying buzzing noise behind the normal audio. when i called the vizio tech support he mentioned that it may not be compatable. i find this kinda hard to believe but ya never know.

Has anyone ever heard of this or have any suggestions to fix the problem. Thanks for any help.

Well, I picked one up today. It will take a while to get it hooked up. I swear the set doubled in size when I got it home. :D

I got one today and it has the shut down problem as well. It's a G06 serial number. Trying the unplugged for 30 minutes method and will give an update later if it works.

Went to the local Costco this morning when they opened to non-business members with coupon in hand. Brought the brother-in-law's pickup and was ready to buy. I hoped that the reported "washed out" characteristic would turn out to be non-existent, or at least something subtle, something that I could live with considering the price point. Unfortunately, it was not. The whites of the nearby Phillips 37" LCD (the only other model close to the Vizio end display) were WAY brighter. Really made the Vizio look dull in comparison. I played around with the settings, trying some of those suggested in this forum, and improved the picture somewhat, but I was still disappointed. I thought that the ED Panny still had the best PQ for the buck in the store, even though it was more expensive.

Having said this, it wasn't a terrible TV. If you're not making comparisons with another set and have it placed in a somewhat darker room (than a warehouse store!), I think it would look OK. It certainly does have a great feature set for the money. However, since it would be the second HD set in our house, I think I'd be constantly reminded of its shortcomings. In the end, after 45 minutes of agonizing (in addition to the last 2 months!), I had to pass.

I had a similar experience a week ago. See my post above about a week ago.

Probably the 42-inch Vizio would look OK in a darkened room, just as video and film projectors require a dark room for satisfactory viewing. Otherwise they look washed out, just like the Vizio. I was concerned that the Vizio had another failing that even a dark room would not fix: poor shadow detail. I was unwilling to go through the trouble of taking the Vizio home, trying it out, and then lugging it back to Costco if it proved unsatisfactory.

Sometimes I like to watch TV during the day, such as sports, and the Vizio would be unsuited for that because I cannot darken the room enough, even with all the shutters closed.

If you browse through this thread you will see that many others had similar experiences and passed on this TV.

I ended up buying the Panasonic TH-42PX60U, a recently released 9th generation plasma. It has breathtaking picture quality. Deep blacks, almost as deep as those in my old Sony XBR. Very pure blacks and whites, without any hint of color. Excellent shadow detail and highlight detail. Smooth gray scale, without any stairstepping. Fantastic color gamut. I could not be happier.

Of course, the Panny costs 50% more than the Vizio. Is the superior picture quality worth 50% more? Yes, specially since my girlfriend paid for it!

I still wondering if the:

1) " Haziness "
2) " Washed Out Look "
3) " Okay blacks "

Can be corrected via adjusting, get in to the menus somehow
OR
Get fixed by professional calibration

IF SO, I will go back and get one for the bedroom as well:)

I will report back once I get mine hooked Up
I just got an Indoor Ant from RS-Rceipt sku or part # 150286, paid $49.99
Is this the one other have used
White, can be mounted inside or outside.

I got one today and it has the shut down problem as well. It's a G06 serial number. Trying the unplugged for 30 minutes method and will give an update later if it works.

didn't work. intermittent isn't the way to describe it, VERY FREQUENT (talking every 5-10 minutes) is the correct term.

Yes, that particular game was not in HD. Due to limited capacity on the satellites, equipment, HD trucks, etc, not every game can be in HD. CBS even added a blue background with the logo in the sidebars, I guess to keep people from being confused. This is what ESPNHD does as well with non-HD content. I much prefer it to stretching to fill the screen.

Commercials and other programs that aren't in HD appear in a pillarbox as well. Get used to it, we are many years off from everything being in HD.

Thank You for being the only person to answer my question.
Anyway, its Monday night and TV shows in HD is in one word....awesome

Went to the local Costco this morning when they opened to non-business members with coupon in hand. Brought the brother-in-law's pickup and was ready to buy. I hoped that the reported "washed out" characteristic would turn out to be non-existent, or at least something subtle, something that I could live with considering the price point. Unfortunately, it was not. The whites of the nearby Phillips 37" LCD (the only other model close to the Vizio end display) were WAY brighter. Really made the Vizio look dull in comparison. I played around with the settings, trying some of those suggested in this forum, and improved the picture somewhat, but I was still disappointed. I thought that the ED Panny still had the best PQ for the buck in the store, even though it was more expensive.

Having said this, it wasn't a terrible TV. If you're not making comparisons with another set and have it placed in a somewhat darker room (than a warehouse store!), I think it would look OK. It certainly does have a great feature set for the money. However, since it would be the second HD set in our house, I think I'd be constantly reminded of its shortcomings. In the end, after 45 minutes of agonizing (in addition to the last 2 months!), I had to pass.

I agree with this assessment 100%. I stopped by today after work to check it out and was really let down by how apparent the lack of color "pop" was, or as others have said - it looks like the colors are faded and washed out.

My local Costco had the P42 set apart from all the other sets, but even having to look ~15' over to the right to look at any other TVs I could very easily see the difference in color. I even used the preset VIVID3 - which was trying to be as retina burning as possible and it just didn't seem like the color had much richness or fullness.

That said, it's not a horrible set, especially for the price. If you had it in your house without any other plasmas around it, you'd probably be completely satisfied with the picture.


I'm still wow'd by the Vizio P50HDM, so I think that's going to be the lucky one come next week. :D

I got one today and it has the shut down problem as well. It's a G06 serial number. Trying the unplugged for 30 minutes method and will give an update later if it works.


I got a *******G06**** serial number and mine has been on for about 6 hours straight without issue. *knock on wood*

This is my first plasma and, I have to admit, I am loving it. HD only coming in via componant, atm. On the default settings, Fifth Element in HD via Comcrap was stunning (to me).

Picture great in HD, adequate with SD. My SD signal has suffered issues in the past, so this wasn't a surprise. DTV pulled pretty much no channels of use here in my neck of the woods. I have no issues with the surround sound (reverb options blow, IMO). Cosmetically, it is just fine. The remote is basic, but works real well with the Comcast Motorola Dual Tuner HD set top box.

Anyway, I am having no buyer's remorse with this as my first plasma purchase. I assume the more I read, the more I will nitpick. :P

I called and it appears that it's a common problem (they didn't admit it, but knew exactly what I was talking about without fully describing it). The resolution was that they are setting up an exchange (though it takes at least 3-5 days for the freight shipment) for the unit.

They are exchanging it by shipping rather than just having you take it back? Interesting. Good to know they aren't giving you grief on it though.

3-5 days, that isnt that bad. Atleast they are willing to help you. One question though how long did it take for your unit to turn off the first time? Was it after a few hours or was it almost right away?

3-5 days, that isnt that bad. Atleast they are willing to help you. One question though how long did it take for your unit to turn off the first time? Was it after a few hours or was it almost right away?

10-15 minutes

Stopped at Costco today and was disappointed. It's not bad, but it's shortcomings are evident when compared to the other plasmas there (which aren't that great either.) Still, a good value for the money but for me personally I'd be willing to pay more for better PQ.

So Beto3645 where did you get your new Panny? I didn't think those were out yet. It'll either be that or the NEC42XR4, which is 100% more than the Vizio, but amazing.

Purchased the Vizio 42HDTV today.

All positive except for power shutting off intermittently. This has happened twice since setting up the unit. First time was soon after turning on. Second occurrence was after a couple hours. Turned the unit back on and still waiting ..........

I have all A/V equipment running through low power circuit (i.e., no appliances). Other A/V equipment running without power interruption.

Somewhat concerned.

It's funny because when I was at costco many people approached this set and said how nice it was. The Pioneer always looked bad to me. I could never find a good picture on it. The Panny is ok if you like pink flesh tones and boring colors, and, of course, the SDE. . The LCD's look great if you're standing directly in front of them. I don't think Costco is a good place to judge TV's. All of the Projection and DLP's look awful in that light.

Does anybody know the remote code for this Vizio 42" set? I am trying to program my Comcast DCT 6200 remote to power on/off the vizio set. Thanx. :)

Shut down again?!?!?! About 1 hour after last shut down. Turned back on and shut down 5 minutes later (whilst typing this post ......)

Is there a setting change or fix? Is this a common problem?

please advise.

I purchased the plasma a few hours ago at a nearby costco. I set it up and could not be happier so far. I have the XBOX 360 hooked up and it looks amazing, I was just watching the world baseball classic on ESPN and it looked great. I do agree with some of the comments about the blacks looking somewhat grey, it is not as deep as i have seen on other sets, but i can live with that. The set has a real nice fit and finish, with speakers on the bottom, something I was looking for to save space.
All and all, I believe this plasma is a great value for the money. I will keep you posted if my opionion changes. I plan on watching some DVD's tommorow.

Shut down again?!?!?! About 1 hour after last shut down. Turned back on and shut down 5 minutes later (whilst typing this post ......)

Is there a setting change or fix? Is this a common problem?

please advise.

Call support and see if they offer an exchange to you or swap it out at the place of purchase for another one is my advice.

I bought the unit today. Every ten minutes it was turning off. As I just read above...

Thank God for speaker phone. I rewired all of my components while 'waiting'. This was a sure sign of an epidemic (on hold for an hour). Guy comes on and offers to exchange, 3-5 days via truck.

I said no thanks. Returned the unit, with no wires/box/anything, to my local Costco store. Had a new unit in my car in less than 10 minutes (I'M SERIOUS). Swapped the unit for a newer serial #.

New unit not only works flawlessly, but I really think it looks better as well.

LOCAL HD... local HD is the bomb. FREE, beautiful, 5.1 digital output from the tv to the amp for surround sound. Note: indoor antennas are like playing with a satellite dish without a compass. Sucks big time.

CABLE... I ran cable directly into the tv, no box needed for analog. I'll buck up soon for the real deal.

DVD... Progressive scan DVD, looks great.

PIP... Very nice features, side by side feature, smaller box in corner feature, etc. local HD on one side CABLE on the other or component, etc.

REMOTE... not great, but after a lil while it begins to feel tolerable. The pip stuff being right there with easy buttons is a great feature. My Sony's pip buttons were behind a door :(

Yes the 42" will look about 25% larger once it's in your house. Yes it looks good and nobody should complain since it's so affordable for the next week or so. Ridiculous price for an HDTV with tuner on board.

Can anyone tell me how long to keep this thing burning while it's breaking in? nothing in the book of course.

These pics are not for gauging the picture, b/c they suck. The tv looks beautiful. in these pics the coloring is off big time, just b/c of the camera.

I just wanted to share these so people can get a visual of the tv in a home (since a lot of people hate the silver/black, due to the speakers). I have seen many post regarding removing the speakers... not gonna happen.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a279/iMryanmac/not%20car/s.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a279/iMryanmac/not%20car/rr.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a279/iMryanmac/not%20car/d.jpg

So Beto3645 where did you get your new Panny? I didn't think those were out yet. It'll either be that or the NEC42XR4, which is 100% more than the Vizio, but amazing.

I got it at Best Buy. You can also order it from Panasonic Direct, although delivery is currently a month away. Write me a PM if you want to know the details of the transaction.

There is a thread on the 9th generation Panasonics here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=652809

Went to Costco today to evaluate the set. I immediately noticed the "yellow" tint that everyone has talked about. Comparing it side by side with the Philips 42" and the a different brand 50" set, when the other two screens were showing what was obviously a bright white, the same color looked yellow on the Vizio.

In addition to that the picture on the Vizio was not as sharp or clean as it was on the Philips 42" set. The MSRP of $1799 for the Vizio is only $100 less than the MSRP of the Philips 42"; and I don't see Vizio comparing well at all given the picture I witnessed..

The Vizio was hooked up using component cables like the others. Hopefully the yellow tint is just a calibration issue. And the "washed out" look others have described can be due to a sharpness setting that is too high. Let’s hope that's the case. But that brings up the question of why would the other TVs be calibrated but not the Vizio; is it just a coincidence or was this the best picture the Vizio could produce?

I left my G062xxx (Feb, 2006) set on for 2 hours now and so far so good. I like it, but 2 things I don't like.

The biggest disappointment is the built-in tuner is a joke, I can not get any signals from 3 different attenas, but when I hooked up with my external HDTV tuner (LG) through component, everything is fine. With the same attena and everything. I can't get any HDTV channel from cable neither, even it works with my Fusion HDTV card. I might try to hook a HTPC to it.

Secondly the black bezel is way too wide, not only there is piano black outside, which is fine, there are another 1 inch black band inside the screen, ate away a lot of screen estate. I doubt it's 42" now.

One note, you DO NOT need to cut open the top, just remove the 4 plastic thinges and the box comes right off. Good design.

I returned my Vizio 37” LCD that I bought a few months ago because I wasn’t satisfied with it for several reasons and exchanged it for the Vizio 42” plasma earlier today. Here is a quick assessment of some of my pros and cons between the Vizio 37” LCD and the Vizio 42” plasma.

PROS of the 42” Plasma compared to the 37” Vizio LCD:

1. 5” more inches of viewing space
2. Richer, more vibrant colors
3. Stronger HD built-in tuner
4. Overall, picture just looks better

CONS of the 42” Plasma compared to the 37” Vizio LCD

1. Glare. I never had a glare problem with the Vizio 37" LCD. That’s one of the drawbacks of any plasma screen.
2. Picture doesn’t look as “sharp” or “detailed” as the 37” Vizio LCD.
3. Although burn-in issues with current plasma’s are quite rare, I found myself thinking about burn-in issues with the Vizio 42” plasma quite a bit and I will probably continue to do so for the next couple of weeks. I never thought about burn-in issues with the 37” Vizio LCD (although technically, LCD’s can also suffer from burn-in issues).
4. Appears a bit “washy” compared to the 37” Vizio LCD.

Overall, I’m more satisfied with the 42” Vizio plasma than I was with the 37” Vizio LCD. If the Vizio 42” plasma doesn’t give me any problems, I’m keeping this set for the time being this year.

One note, you DO NOT need to cut open the top, just remove the 4 plastic thinges and the box comes right off. Good design.

Yeah, I was so stupid in not noticing that. I was so anxious to try out the set that I just lifted the whole set straight out of the box. Lol.

i always wondered how these threads got so long... now I know.

do you guys bother reading the 26 other pages before posting the same questions on every page?

i always wondered how these threads got so long... now I know.

do you guys bother reading the 26 other pages before posting the same questions on every page?

Apparently not - then they get antsy when people don't answer their questions (that have already been answered) :rolleyes:

To answer my own question above in case anyone else is interested, the tuner will decode both QAM64 and QAM256. It does it very well I might add. Got about 50 digital stations unscrambled, including my locals in HD and a few interesting stations such as TPN (The Pleasure Network... yes, it is what you think it is). My old CRT also had a 64/256 tuner so I knew what I should get and the tuner did not disapoint. I use my HD Tivo for OTA HD so I haven't needed to try out the OTA tuner. This set replaced a 57" CRT (top of the line Hitachi). It was fairly apparent that it wasn't as good as the Hitachi in terms of resolution, but at a far enough seating distance that didn't seem to matter. I thought the HD programming I watched last night was very good. SD was ok, not great. But then again, it is SD ;).

Pros:
1) Small footprint
2) QAM 64/256 worked well
3) I like the look
4) Excellent price!

Cons:
1) No firewire or RS232 control. Considering it has the internal QAM tuner, I was surprised at the lack of firewire. And RS232 seems to be somewhat common on other brands like the Maxent. Not a deal killer, just unfortunate.
2) Glare. Aie carramba! Time for some better curtains.
3) Lack of resolution clear at closer seating distances.
4) Internal speakers are fairly lousy, especially if you turn on any of the processing modes.

I'd also like to point out for anyone looking to order the mount, make sure you look through your paperwork and find the manufacturer's accessories offer. Would have saved me 10% if I'd read that first before I places my order.

After hours of tearing my old entertainment center down and patching together a makeshift stand for the Vizio, I finally got things going late yesterday afternoon. I only have one source of HD presently, and that is the games and downloaded video of my XBox 360. Nothing anyone has said... and I mean NOTHING could have prepared me for the jaw dropping awesomeness of how the XBox 360 games look over the P42HDTV.... I'm absolutely stunned at the quality! It looks like I could walk into the screen at Pinehurst #2 while playing Tiger Woods 06 :eek: :D

The DVD playback in 480p is also quite pleasing... easily surpasses what I was seeing on my SDTV in 480i. Keep in mind this is using the component video input of the Vizio. The 360 doesn't have HDMI capability.

I've got analog cable presently, and the quality of the SD programming was variable, as others have pointed out. I thought FOX News and MSNBC studio feeds looked better than what I would see on my CRT SDTV, but the Michigan/Notre Dame basketball game last night on ESPN was unwatchable. Odd thing is that when they went back into the studio during halftime, the quality was acceptable. Some commercials looked great, others lousy. These SDTV sets really bring out the flaws in the source though.

I picked up the nearest NBC affiliate OTA in HD, using nothing but a couple of wires as an antenna.... I thought it was very good. I'm going to buy a multidirectional indoor antenna today and see how it does. Antennas.org says that's what I need for my area. I'm also going to have digital cable/HDTV service installed as soon as I can arrange it. I'll be curious to see how digital cable will help with the SDTV material.

I'm very pleased with that I've seen of this set thus far. My wife is giving me grief about it because she says "this monstrosatie dominates" the decor of her living room... it's just way to imposing, IHO. She says it's gotta go upstairs in the rec room or back to Costco. I was really hoping to keep it in the living room because the environment in the living room is much more conducive to viewing and listening.

I left my G062xxx (Feb, 2006) set on for 2 hours now and so far so good. I like it, but 2 things I don't like.

The biggest disappointment is the built-in tuner is a joke, I can not get any signals from 3 different attenas, but when I hooked up with my external HDTV tuner (LG) through component, everything is fine. With the same attena and everything. I can't get any HDTV channel from cable neither, even it works with my Fusion HDTV card. I might try to hook a HTPC to it.


were you feeding the antenna to the DTV input or the analog input??

the analog input won't pick up any digital stations :)

I'm very pleased with that I've seen of this set thus far. My wife is giving me grief about it because she says "this monstrosatie dominates" the decor of her living room... it's just way to imposing, IHO. She says it's gotta go upstairs in the rec room or back to Costco. I was really hoping to keep it in the living room because the environment in the living room is much more conducive to viewing and listening.


I'm glad that after all of your research and waiting that you're actually pleased with the TV :). However, it really doesn't have to dominate your living room if you choose the right stand. Here's what my living room now looks like. I need to lower the TV a few inches on the rails, but that's more or less how it will be. You'll note that the silver speakers actually match perfectly with my decor.

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/6127/tv23sf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

After reading through this large thread, I finally purchased this TV. My overall impression of the TV is a good value for the money. However there are some things I did notice. Someone mentioned a yellowish tint to the set and for me it is there. Also, the colors on the set do not seem to be very vibrant. The last thing I did notice was a very poor picture with SDTV. I have Comcast. Some channels are not bad but others are unacceptable. Have read about SDTV channels not looking good but did not think it would be this poor.

After reading through this large thread, I finally purchased this TV. My overall impression of the TV is a good value for the money. However there are some things I did notice. Someone mentioned a yellowish tint to the set and for me it is there. Also, the colors on the set do not seem to be very vibrant. The last thing I did notice was a very poor picture with SDTV. I have Comcast. Some channels are not bad but others are unacceptable. Have read about SDTV channels not looking good but did not think it would be this poor.Regarding Comcast, I do notice one thing. Cable ready analog signals generally look good. With Digital Cable, using a box/DVR, some of the non-HD channels look bad, with some pixelation on edges, etc. It may have to do with the source, some sports events look really blurry, some look good.

Bought one in Cincinnati yesterday. I do not have cable. Have 2 rabbit ears antennas (amplified and just plain 2 dollars). To my surprise the one for 2 dollars works good. Picked up 17 channels. The picture is good. Even when they go to unconverted standard feed (during commercials and news) it is not terrible. DVD hocked up to composite looks very sharp and detailed. So I did side by side comparison to my old 27 Sony tube. It was properly calibrated with AVIA. The Visio has greenish. I played with controls for 2 hours and couldn't get it right. I can only make go from greenish to bluish. Not enough red. I do realize that I am comparing with Sony tube known for the red push but Visio is definitely off. Last night David Letterman had some guys making a panel from posted notes of different color. So I know what the color should look like. And they where coming in correct color on Sony. On Visio the light blue posted noted where coming as light green. And yellow notes where like a neon (glow in the dark) yellow. Using AVIA - the dark saturated blue comes OK but the lighter hue of blue are forced to green side. The pinkish faces (oversaturated in soap operas) shown as yellow. Changing controls did no good. If I couldn't figure out what to do - the set goes back to warehouse. Do you folks experience similar issues?
Odessit

Meltz,
I'd like some info on the stand you have. Are those tubes part of the cabinet at the bottom?
thanks for any info.

Paul

I agree that the picture looked washed out next to the Philips and larger Vizio plasmas. But I went back last night and bought it anyway, for the price and for the exchange on its predecessor, the Vizio P42HDe, which developed an increasingly nasty case of blue ghosting. I figured the new model had to be an improvement over that.

Interestingly, when I returned, the Vizio had been moved to a standalone display, out of the direct glare of the klieg lights. Even with a lousy composite hook-up to a cheap DVD player, the picture looked much richer. True, there wasn't any side-by-side comparison, but I could still A-B it against the LCD panels and rear projection sets in the aisle behind it.

Looks even better at home, where it's connected (to Comcast) with RF cable through the DTV port and via component to a Harmon Kardon DVD player. Colors are rich but natural. The picture is softer than the P42HDe, not as sharp, but I do have the contrast and brightness turned down for break-in. (The Sound and Vision review said the out-of-the-box settings are pretty dead on to 6500K, although the contrast default is something like 80!)

Anyway, I'm liking this set a whole lot. Am even learning to love the black lacquer finish and split silver speaker grills.

The Visio has greenish. I played with controls for 2 hours and couldn't get it right. I can only make go from greenish to bluish. Not enough red. I do realize that I am comparing with Sony tube known for the red push but Visio is definitely off. Last night David Letterman had some guys making a panel from posted notes of different color. So I know what the color should look like. And they where coming in correct color on Sony. On Visio the light blue posted noted where coming as light green. And yellow notes where like a neon (glow in the dark) yellow. Using AVIA - the dark saturated blue comes OK but the lighter hue of blue are forced to green side. The pinkish faces (oversaturated in soap operas) shown as yellow. Changing controls did no good. If I couldn't figure out what to do - the set goes back to warehouse. Do you folks experience similar issues?
Odessit

I didn't have the exact problems you are having, but when I first hooked up my DVD player, I noticed that everything was very green. It turned out that my component cables weren't connected properly. Once I reconnected the component cables, everything was much better.

Meltz,
I'd like some info on the stand you have. Are those tubes part of the cabinet at the bottom?
thanks for any info.

Paul

Paul,

It's a Sanus Java Lowboy 60" stand and it does come with the vertical rails that you see. However, you do have to by a wall mount to mount the TV on the rails. Sanus says you have to get the VMPL or VMPL2 - I went with the VMPL which is a tilt mount.

If you want to see one in person, go to a local Cambridge Soundworks Store (which is where I got it).

I bought one of these when "the store" opened yesterday. There were two other people waiting before the store opened to buy them, too. They had a dozen on the floor and the guy working there said they had a bunch more.

I could see the "haze" that has been discussed here. It was slightly noticeable compared to all the others. IMO, it's not a big deal unless you are doing a side-by-side comparison, or you are very anal about such things. This is the best price-performance ratio I have seen yet. Either way, this is a big step up from the 20 year old monitor I had been using, that just died!

There was a 42" Philips next to the Vizio and, although the Phillips looked brighter, when watching content from DiscoveryHD, the colors were over-saturated on the Phillips, so I suspect part of this was adjustments. (The plasmas were too far away to reach the adjustments) Oddly enough, on the other side of the Vizio was a pioneer that was only showing blue and it it was flickering off and on. The guys were swapping it out with a new one. The best looking picture was on the 37" Vizio LCD.

I like the look of the TV. The actual pixel area of the screen measures 41.5". The speaker grill doesn't bother me, but it would have been nice if they were removable because I won't be using them. The quality of the speakers is fair... nothing special. I don't see why the speakers couldn't be covered with black grill cloth or painted. Another option would be to place a piece of custom cut glass over it with the back painted black. Either way, there is no way to remove the speakers... the frame goes all the way down to the bottom.

The OSD is nice and very functional. The only real complaint is that it is large and has a colored, framed, background. This makes it difficult to see the picture while you are making adjustments, especially with a calibration DVD (I have not had time to go through the whole calibration). After 6 hours of use, I put a black picture on the screen I could see the TiVo menu "burned in". That is to be expected with a new plasma. The "clean" function cleared it right up.

I really would like to do further picture tweaks. The "service port" is supposedly RS232 on a RJ-11 plug. Has anyone tried to hack that? It is hard to believe a manufacturer would go to the trouble of having such a port but not add the firmware for the end-user to control the TV through it.

Being that I am in the foothills, I can't get any OTA HD channels. I currently have DISH and basic cable. I hooked the cable TV up to the DTV and got a bunch of 480i channels (a lot are music channels). The channel numbers are all over the place. For some reason, when hooked up to the TV input I can get most of the channels I get over DISH. They must have left the filter off when I dropped Cable Internet access a few years ago.

I have a G07 serial number and the TV did turn off once unexplainedly. I had the remote in my pocket so I could have bumped it. Also, if the TV loses a signal, it sometimes turns off.


Overall, the Vizio is very nice and a lot of bang for the buck.

I am having a problem with my Vizio 42 that I have not seen addressed yet. I have had the set for a week, and from time to time a black block appears on the screen. The completely black block is about 10 inches high by about 30 inches wide and is located just a little below center of the screen. At first it appeared only on the HGTV channel on cable, but today it appears on the OTA channel for NBC. It lasts about 10 seconds and repeats itself about every 30 seconds. Anyone have any ideas what it might be?

Jay

mine is connected to an analog cable signals from Time Warner Cable. I noticed the screen was stretched if in wide screen mode or if it's in normal the image was in the middle. Is there a way to fix that or it's just the way like that in analog cable TVs. I don't see anyone has these problems with DTV, right? Also I watched DVD, if it's wide, then two black bars in both top and bottom, is it normal? What exact mode should I use for DVD viewing?

I also tested PC display by RGB with 1280x1024 60hz, the screen was stretched in wide mode or if in the normal image was just in the middle. Shall I use 1024x768 at 60HZ like the manual says?

A service port does not necessarily imply RS232 control. Believe me, I wish it did! It could simply be for firmware updates.

My new Visio has a 10A after the model number. Anyone else have this? 42HD10A

3 questions because I'm very interested in this set. First off, I know the 50" had excellent reviews. I assume this is the exact same TV, but in the 42" screen size. The review should be the same. Is this an accurate statement?

[EDIT]



Lastly, I want to mount this in the corner with an articulating arm so it appears to be suspended in mid air. Can someone recommend an articulating mount that would fit this Vizio?

Thanks for this great forum and the knowledge of the people in it.

My new Visio has a 10A after the model number. Anyone else have this? 42HD10A
Yes - mine did.

nygiants - PLEASE, no coupon talk. It's simply not allowed in this forum.

I don't believe it is identical. The 50" has a Faroudja DCDi, but the 42" does not. I don't know what the other differences are off hand.

My new Visio has a 10A after the model number. Anyone else have this? 42HD10A
Yes, mine has those same numbers.

Jay

I just got this set late last night. I managed to get it all set up and on the wall in my bedroom. Some quick thoughts:


1) The standard setting showed a "greenish" look to it. I haven't gotten to play with the settings but I did manage to get rid of some of it. What are your settings for it?

2) I was having problems getting my RCA DTC100 (directv) to work properly with it. For some reason the HDTV channels work fine but when I switch to SD channels, the screen would freeze or a small 6x6 frozen screen shot of the channel would stay there. I can flip channels but the TV does not display the menu's changing the channel.

What I did noticed while I was turning off and on the receiver, I could see the burn in spots which is troubling. I have a Panny down stairs and I don't rememebr notcing this. When you run the OSD's screen cleaner(?) it seems to eleviate most of it but I still could see some burn in.

hopefully it'll be gone when I try again tonight.

I just got this set late last night. I managed to get it all set up and on the wall in my bedroom. Some quick thoughts:


1) The standard setting showed a "greenish" look to it. I haven't gotten to play with the settings but I did manage to get rid of some of it. What are your settings for it?

2) I was having problems getting my RCA DTC100 (directv) to work properly with it. For some reason the HDTV channels work fine but when I switch to SD channels, the screen would freeze or a small 6x6 frozen screen shot of the channel would stay there. I can flip channels but the TV does not display the menu's changing the channel.

What I did noticed while I was turning off and on the receiver, I could see the burn in spots which is troubling. I have a Panny down stairs and I don't rememebr notcing this. When you run the OSD's screen cleaner(?) it seems to eleviate most of it but I still could see some burn in.

hopefully it'll be gone when I try again tonight.
It's not burn-in; it's image retention, which is different. There is an option in the menu that puts turns the screen white - this will clear it up.

I'm very pleased with that I've seen of this set thus far. My wife is giving me grief about it because she says "this monstrosatie dominates" the decor of her living room... it's just way to imposing, IHO. She says it's gotta go upstairs in the rec room or back to Costco. I was really hoping to keep it in the living room because the environment in the living room is much more conducive to viewing and listening.

They always say that. What did you have before this TV? If you had a smaller tv before, just tell her it is because she is used to seeing a cheap little TV there.

That is what I heard also after replacing a 27" CRT...."it's way to big for the room...no way" After I mounted it on the wall, hid all the wires, and put a nice little hallway table underneath with some picture frames, she couldn't be happier. She even thinks we could get away with the 50" now!

I had my roommate get it in the morning and we hooked it up in the evening. I had my OTA antenna connected to it and after I had acquired channels and was watching it, we heard a loud pop and saw a flash. It looked like it came from the antenna or behind the TV. I immediately turned it off and checked things out. No smoke or smell or anything. I turned it back on and it has been working fine and so have my other components. Scary, but maybe it was just some static electricity or something.

Anyway, I'm happy with it so far. I'm still working on OTA reception with an indoor antenna. I have the Terk HDTVi and can't get WBBM in Chicago, but I watched 24 and Medium in HD lastnight and they both looked pretty good. A little bit of pixelation at times, but not bad. DVDs also look good (component video input). I don't have any HDMI sources, so I have not been able to test that yet.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents as this site was helpful in my decision making. I originally did not like the design/look of the speakers, I like them now and the crease actually makes it look less cheap.

Hooked up via coax to Comcast digital (50 channels found)
regular amplified rabbit ears 0

Sound- man I was kinda amazed at the surround sound generated from the speakers, was watching in the bedroom and could swear I was hearing things beside me, more noticeable than my 5.1 Sony system with satelites. Reverb sounds pretty crappy.

Colors- I noticed last night a few instances where the blacks were not very black on on Letterman looking at Ice T's black hat, the top was under bright lights and had a greenish hue. Whites look great. No haziness to speak of. I have played with the settings but not done a full tune yet meant to do it with my media center while it was next to my other plasma but too anxious to mount it.

Tuner- I had noticed on Sunday's NCAA games once or twice a momentary freeze or blur on the picture, I assumed it was either signal or the tuner struggling to catch up, chalking it up to signal right now. Also channel change speed seems very slow compared to my comcast external box.

Other- When connected to my comcast SVideo hook up screen size was wrong too small, component looked fine.

No shutoff issues and I've had it on quite a bit since I got it on Sunday including NCAAs an hour or two while I wasnt there when returning to get my credit since I bought it on Sunday. Target carries a stand for 129 pretty decent with tilt. Costco Everett,MA had 1 left yesterday.

All said I had planned on buying a smaller LCD when I saw this I had to go with it, planning on keeping it unless I find something major.

I have both, they APPEAR to be similar, except:

The 50" has no OTA tuner, and in fact no STD tuner either
The 50" has dual HDMI inputs
The 50" has the Farouja motion deinterlacer

I like both of them, and I previosley had the P42HDe (which I returned to the club several months ago, to be able to get the new P42HDTV yesterday)

If you where a member of the "club" you would know about this deal, that's all I can say about this.

I don't think suspending an 85 # TV from an articulacting arm is a very realistic or practical idea. the "moment" of that swung out, would mostly likely rip the bolts out of the 2 x 4 stud, and you would have a pretty big mess on your hands.
There are wall mount brackets that tilt down, about 15 degrees or so, that's about all you can expect from this. Or, you could get a ceiling mounted bracket, that would also work, of course you need a good support in the ceiling, and would most likely have to cut your drywall open, put in some 2 x 6 re-enforcing supports, re-drywall, then install the ceiling mount...

Mitch

3 questions because I'm very interested in this set. First off, I know the 50" had excellent reviews. I assume this is the exact same TV, but in the 42" screen size. The review should be the same. Is this an accurate statement?

Also, people keep mentioning a "coupon" for this. Is this something you have to have in hand or do they honor the discount at the time of purchase. If it's something you need ahead of time...where would one get his hands on it.

Lastly, I want to mount this in the corner with an articulating arm so it appears to be suspended in mid air. Can someone recommend an articulating mount that would fit this Vizio?

Thanks for this great forum and the knowledge of the people in it.

Yes - mine did.


Mine, as well. Still working nicely.

Mitch..great information....thanks!

I didn't realize it was that heavy....says it's 75 pounds without stand. I recall reading in some other threads that people were mounting their TV's this way with no problems. Still, you have me nervous about doing this. However, I don't have an option other than the corner because of how the room is layed out (bedroom). I may opt for a corner stand of some sort but it has to be high enough.

Anybody mount a 70+ pound TV on an articulating arm?

Just got the Vizio yesterday and hooked up my Comcast digital via the digital coax input. Found over 100 channels, problem is the channel numbers are showing up as something like RF108-12. Do I need the comcast hd box to decipher the channels? Having a heck of time trying to find channels like CBS, NBC, FOX etc... No problems when I hook it up through the regular TV coax input as the channels show up normally like 2, 4, 5, etc...

I have no real HD source. I tried downloading the HD clips at the site below and played them on my laptop via the RGB connection (I also burned them to DVD at 720p and played the clips on my regular DVD via Component connection) and the video is just stunning on my Vizio.

{worldwideweb}{dot}microsoft{dot}com{fwdslash}windows{fwdsla sh}windowsmedia{fwdslash}musicandvideo{fwdslash}hdvideo{fwds lash}contentshowcase{dot}aspx

Pardon how I wrote the link....

I dont have the intermittent shutdown but this unit does shutdown if you tune-in to an input source with no signal. I thought this is normal and made to protect the unit.

I have no real HD source. I tried downloading the HD clips at the site below and played them on my laptop via the RGB connection (I also burned them to DVD at 720p and played the clips on my regular DVD via Component connection) and the video is just stunning on my Vizio.

{worldwideweb}{dot}microsoft{dot}com{fwdslash}windows{fwdsla sh}windowsmedia{fwdslash}musicandvideo{fwdslash}hdvideo{fwds lash}contentshowcase{dot}aspx

Pardon how I wrote the link....

I dont have the intermittent shutdown but this unit does shutdown if you tune-in to an input source with no signal. I thought this is normal and made to protect the unit.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo/contentshowcase.aspx

Thanks, z.mash! That helped.

mine is connected to an analog cable signals from Time Warner Cable. I noticed the screen was stretched if in wide screen mode or if it's in normal the image was in the middle. Is there a way to fix that or it's just the way like that in analog cable TVs. I don't see anyone has these problems with DTV, right? Also I watched DVD, if it's wide, then two black bars in both top and bottom, is it normal? What exact mode should I use for DVD viewing?

I also tested PC display by RGB with 1280x1024 60hz, the screen was stretched in wide mode or if in the normal image was just in the middle. Shall I use 1024x768 at 60HZ like the manual says?


anyone? thanks...

Just got the Vizio yesterday and hooked up my Comcast digital via the digital coax input. Found over 100 channels, problem is the channel numbers are showing up as something like RF108-12. Do I need the comcast hd box to decipher the channels? Having a heck of time trying to find channels like CBS, NBC, FOX etc... No problems when I hook it up through the regular TV coax input as the channels show up normally like 2, 4, 5, etc...


Im doing the same thing and i'm confused.. I just have standard comcast cable. When I plug it in the Cable side I get my normal channels 2,4,5,6 ect... When I plug it in the DTV, I pull alot of channels and i'm not sure why. On regular cable espn is channel 25 well on the DTV coax its channel 16-9. Anybody have any idea. I'm going to keep it on the DTV side becuase I get all my local channels in HD but then the channel numbers are goofed....

Yes, what you are seeing is QAM 64 and QAM 256 channels. These are unscrambled digital channels that your cable company is passing through. They could scamble them all, but it adds to the overhead and say they gamble that most people won't have a tuner capable of getting them anyway. They are numbered like that because they are multicast channels with different subchannels (i.e. Channel 8 subchannel 1 would be 8-1). The same holds true for OTA by the way. There's lots of stuff on QAM around here. I wouldn't talk in specifics about any exciting channels you do receive, because they could at a whim decide to encrypt it on you.

You likely have a whole lot of channels that are blank. These are the scrambled digital channels and PPV channels. Sometimes you might even catch something on the PPV channels if your neighbors order a movie.

I think cable companies have to send the network channels in the clear. They can do what they please with the rest of them, though.

There's a lot of debate, but yes it seems like they are supposed to carry the local networks in the clear.

anyone? thanks...

Sounds like you aren't understanding the difference in aspect ratios.

HDTV is broadcast in widescreen format, known as a 16:9 ratio (16 wide by 9 high)

Standard TV is in fullscreen format, known as 4:3 ratio. That is why normal TVs are almost square shaped.


If you watch standard TV (square-shaped image) on your widescreen TV, you have two options:

1) watch it inside a what's known as a "pillarbox" with bars on the sides

or

2) use one of the different stretch modes to fill the screen. Everybody's preference is different about that.

DVDs can be very different. They can be in all different aspect ratios, that is up to the director of the movie. Some are in 16:9 so they will fill your widescreen TV perfectly, some are in an even wider ratio (2.35:1 for example) so you will have black bars at the top & bottom, even on a widescreen TV.

This has nothing to do with this TV is is just a misunderstanding of how aspect ratios work.

read this
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/aspectratios/widescreenorama.html

Sounds like you aren't understanding the difference in aspect ratios.

HDTV is broadcast in widescreen format, known as a 16:9 ratio (16 wide by 9 high)

Standard TV is in fullscreen format, known as 4:3 ratio. That is why normal TVs are almost square shaped.


If you watch standard TV (square-shaped image) on your widescreen TV, you have two options:

1) watch it inside a what's known as a "pillarbox" with bars on the sides

or

2) use one of the different stretch modes to fill the screen. Everybody's preference is different about that.

DVDs can be very different. They can be in all different aspect ratios, that is up to the director of the movie. Some are in 16:9 so they will fill your widescreen TV perfectly, some are in an even wider ratio (2.35:1 for example) so you will have black bars at the top & bottom, even on a widescreen TV.

This has nothing to do with this TV is is just a misunderstanding of how aspect ratios work.

read this
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/aspectratios/widescreenorama.html

Thanks, Chriš for the lesson :) yes I do have some trouble understanding those technical things and I'll have some readings to do. thanks for the link...

Hopefully I could replace my regular TV with HDTV in the very near future, so it won't disappoint my lovely Vizio :D

I'm confused. Without a cablecard slot, I'll have to get Comcast's set top box and get my HD programming through it (with the sole exception of over the air HD broadcasts that I can pick up with antenna). Is that correct? In other words, if I plug my coax into the tv, I won't be picking up any HD programming from any cable networks. I just want to be sure I understand the tradeoffs with purchasing this set. I understand that without the box I won't have access to on-demand programming and PPV but I don't care about that at this point.

HDTV is broadcast in widescreen format, known as a 16:9 ratio (16 wide by 9 high)

Standard TV is in fullscreen format, known as 4:3 ratio. That is why normal TVs are almost square shaped.

If you watch standard TV (square-shaped image) on your widescreen TV, you have two options:

1) watch it inside a what's known as a "pillarbox" with bars on the sides

or

2) use one of the different stretch modes to fill the screen. Everybody's preference is different about that.


I was watching some programming on an OTA antenna and the info said the broadcast was in 1080i or 720p, but I was still seeing bars on either side whether the TV was in wide or normal mode. It would not let me select zoom mode at all. Is this because the station is broadcasting an SD show on an HD channel?

You will if they are uncrypted QAM. I get 5 HD stations in the clear from Comcast in my area with the DTV tuner on this set, along with 45+ digital stations.

I was watching some programming on an OTA antenna and the info said the broadcast was in 1080i or 720p, but I was still seeing bars on either side whether the TV was in wide or normal mode. It would not let me select zoom mode at all. Is this because the station is broadcasting an SD show on an HD channel?
Yes, I believe that is the case.

You will if they are uncrypted QAM. I get 5 HD stations in the clear from Comcast in my area with the DTV tuner on this set, along with 45+ digital stations.
I get about 10 HD stations in the clear. I don't subscribe to the digital service, so I don't get any of those.

The HDMI interface doesn't work properly with my Comcast SA8300HD box. Some sort of handshake problem. It won't recognize 480i or 480p. Used component cable and it works fine. Will call Vizio and let them know to, as the Vizio tech support specialist said, put me on the waiting list for the fix to correct the problem. Right now it still looks better than the PIO that I bought from C*stco in Nov for for a lot more dollars. Will take the PIO back Fri.

The HDMI interface doesn't work properly with my Comcast SA8300HD box. Some sort of handshake problem. It won't recognize 480i or 480p. Used component cable and it works fine. Will call Vizio and let them know to, as the Vizio tech support specialist said, put me on the waiting list for the fix to correct the problem. Right now it still looks better than the PIO that I bought from C*stco in Nov for for a lot more dollars. Will take the PIO back Fri.


Man. Thats a hard one to hear. Wating for my HDMI <-> DVI cable from monoprice. :/ Please post what you find when a fix comes out (if it does).

Yes - mine did.
same here. Date code is G07. It would be interesting to see if people having the shut-off problem are not an "A" version.

Man. Thats a hard one to hear. Wating for my HDMI <-> DVI cable from monoprice. :/ Please post what you find when a fix comes out (if it does).


Just got off the phone with Vizio. They now take no responsiblity for any handshake issues. Was told to call Systems Atlanta and complain because the Vizio set isn't supported by them yet. The tech told me to email or call and ask SA to come up with a firmware update for their box to fix the issue.

Hello everyone. Been reading this thread for a while now, and decided to purchase the unit.

I got it on saturday and hooked it up and was up and running fairly quickly.

I too experience the 'shut down' problem. In fact, in the 5 or so hours i had it on Saturday, it shut down 2-3 times. On sunday, i had it on for a few hours in the morning (id say 4) and it shut down once. That night, while watching some sunday evening shows with family, it shut down twice in about a half hour. I grabbed a fan, to see if maybe it was overheating, didnt do any good. i placed the fan so that it blew across the whole back panel, it didnt shut down for the 2 following hours. We were about ready to go to bed, so i unplugged the fan, and we then decided to stay up another half hour or so, during that time, it shut off probably about 4 times, the last time, i had my hand on the remote and as soon as it shut off, i hit the power button, it clicked a couple times (like it was turning on/off) and then it wouldnt turn on AT ALL. tried hitting the power button on the TV, no dice. decided it was late, and would take a look at it in the morning.
The next morning, wifey woke up and the TV turned on just fine. She had the TV on from about 8am, til about 6pm when i got home. It didnt turn off ONE TIME. We went to the cable company to get the HD box (so it was off for about an hour) then came home, turned it on and it was on for another couple hours (about 4-5). Didnt shut off at all.

So, not sure why, but since the stint sunday night, it hasnt shut off.

Also, i think i have the g06 model, but not exactly sure how you are finding that build number? i looked through the threads here, but didnt see it. so i cannot confirm thats the one i have.

Also, i think i have the g06 model, but not exactly sure how you are finding that build number? i looked through the threads here, but didnt see it. so i cannot confirm thats the one i have.
It is on the back right above the serial number.

[QUOTE=agent2099]..In addition to that the picture on the Vizio was not as sharp or clean as it was on the Philips 42" set. QUOTE]

If price wasn't an issue would most people agree with this?. Be truthful :)

I'm simply looking for the best 42" I can get for under $2k. The Philips, Maxent and Vizio all appear to fall into this category.

Just got off the phone with Vizio. They now take no responsiblity for any handshake issues. Was told to call Systems Atlanta and complain because the Vizio set isn't supported by them yet. The tech told me to email or call and ask SA to come up with a firmware update for their box to fix the issue.


Thanks for the follow-up.

I, actually, have the Motorola DCT 6412 dual tuner HD set top box, come to find. :P I'll post if it has the same issues.

Thanks for all the posts on the Vizio.

But there is one thing I couldn't find in the manual or here:

What is the magic method or rationale that I must use to get my wife to let me buy one of these things before they go up $300?!!

I'd appreciate any help you can give.

Tom

Thanks for all the posts on the Vizio.

But there is one thing I couldn't find in the manual or here:

What is the magic method or rationale that I must use to get my wife to let me buy one of these things before they go up $300?!!

I'd appreciate any help you can give.

Tom

Chloroform

What is the magic method or rationale that I must use to get my wife to let me buy one of these things before they go up $300?!!
Logic?

i read on another forum that the remote might be the problem with the sudden shut downs. try putting your remote in another room if any of you have that problem. I, myself, have not experienced it.

The SA STB's are known to have handshake issues I believe. Some divisions of TWC don't even support HDMI in their SA boxes.

I just got my SA8300HD cable box hooked up by the Cox Cable guy and the picture looks awesome!! I got an HDMI/HDMI cable from monoprice for the hookup and the cable guy played around with the SA remote to set some stuff up for me. It seems to be working great so far. My cable guy was so impressed that he ran out the door saying he was headed to Costco tonight.

I would appreciate some input regarding this tv's HD tuner. I get ZERO OTA channels, whereas in my home, off the same splitter, I can get 2-4 OTAs in my downstairs HT, using an LG 3510 tuner into a PJ. I did switch from tv to DTV and ran a scan... zero channels. Any ideas? For OTA tv channels I have the usual 3-4 fuzzy suspects. I am in a bit of a valley and reception here is not great. Am now looking into cable. Any northern Atlanta (Roswell) people here? Which service do you like that includes HD channels and internet svc? My neighbor tells me Charter is all that's possible, but I suppose I could get a combo of Dish and Earthlink DSL.

2) I was having problems getting my RCA DTC100 (directv) to work properly with it. For some reason the HDTV channels work fine but when I switch to SD channels, the screen would freeze or a small 6x6 frozen screen shot of the channel would stay there. I can flip channels but the TV does not display the menu's changing the channel.



unfortunately, the DTC100 dumps out 540p when confronted w/ non-1080i content.
it appears that the p42hdtv (aka p42hd10a) doesn't like 540p.

it also appears that the p42hdtv won't accept the dtc-100 signal over the RGB
unlike my sony lcd 37" monitor.

i suspected this was the case when i emailed v inc prior to the set release
and got no answer.

about a month ago, i splurged a whole 80$ and got a hughes htl-hd on ebay,
just in case. (the htl-hd is the same internally as the lg-3200a and the sony 300HD
which command big bucks over at ebay). turned out to be a good move.

in the meantime, you could always make up a macro to switch between HD and SD
output on the dtc-100 and switch between component and one of the AV inputs.

I would appreciate some input regarding this tv's HD tuner. I get ZERO OTA channels, whereas in my home, off the same splitter, I can get 2-4 OTAs in my downstairs HT, using an LG 3510 tuner into a PJ. I did switch from tv to DTV and ran a scan... zero channels. Any ideas? For OTA tv channels I have the usual 3-4 fuzzy suspects. I am in a bit of a valley and reception here is not great. Am now looking into cable. Any northern Atlanta (Roswell) people here? Which service do you like that includes HD channels and internet svc? My neighbor tells me Charter is all that's possible, but I suppose I could get a combo of Dish and Earthlink DSL.go to www.antennaweb.org for info on your local reception area and what antennas work there as well.

anyone? thanks...

use 1280 x 720 @ 60 Hz.
the display will show 16x9 in that mode

I went looking for these today over lunch in Durham, NC (only store in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area) and the store people said they sold all of them Monday. :( They gave me a rain check good for 30 days :) and said more will be in on Thursday. :)

use 1280 x 720 @ 60 Hz.
the display will show 16x9 in that mode

I will try late thanks.

They always say that. What did you have before this TV?

A 32" CRT in a 30" wide, 78" tall entertainment center.

That is what I heard also after replacing a 27" CRT...."it's way to big for the room...no way" After I mounted it on the wall, hid all the wires, and put a nice little hallway table underneath with some picture frames, she couldn't be happier. She even thinks we could get away with the 50" now![/QUOTE]

She has more tradional ideas about what I living room is supposed to be about. "A living room insn't a place for electronic media (even though we have a computer in one corner and a surround sound system to go along with the 32" set we had)... I want to be able to close a few doors and get these electronic gadgets out sight... is what I'm hearing.

I think she'll warm to the idea bit once she sees one or two of her chick flicks in hi-def, but we'll see. She's really being stubborn about it for now though. It's a radical change for sure, I can understand her position, but I'm more technology and electronic entertainment oriented.

I went looking for these today over lunch in Durham, NC (only store in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area) and the store people said they sold all of them Monday. :( They gave me a rain check good for 30 days :) and said more will be in on Thursday. :)

If I had been 3 minutes later at the Charlotte location, I'd have toted home a rain check myself! The store had a carnival atmosphere that morning... it was really strange.

I have analog cable tv at home and was thinking if I could get digital signals thru QAM tuner... this evening I was luck enough to get HD Discovery channel after I used one spliter to separate the cable signals, one goes to NTSC and anothe one to ATSC. I did auto scan and found some, but the most impressive one is the HD discovery channel with 1080i... you can tell the picture quality is awesome. Must love my Vizio :)

Has anyone tried the Oppo DVD player with this set?

I posted back in the beginning of this thread... I was one of the first to jump on the set and purchased before the 20th to avoid the rain check debacle, and just wanted to add once more that you shouldn't have any problem at all going back to the Co. to get your coupon discount.

I purchased in San Francisco, yet was actually out of town and brought my receipt with me to get my 'rebate' from a San Diego store.

No issues at all. I don't understand how some of you could have gotten any lip from them - if they give you trouble, go crazy! They aspire to be a customer oriented type of place, so get your money back!

Hey ScottS,

Yes, I have the OPPO DVD player hooked up. It looks really good, but I have issues with "sparklies". I just order a new DVI/HDMI cable from monoprice.com. The old cable worked fine with Sony 30" CRT, but the Vizio seems to be losing some data. Hopefully the new cable will help.

Thanks Pats & Sox fan! I'll look forward to hearing if that solved your problem.

Anyone here using SD DirecTV? I still use SD along with HD OTA and am waiting for Verizon FIOS service to arrive and dump DirecTV. I have to say that the PQ with DirecTV is pretty bad with this set. It wasn't great with my Sony 30" CRT, but it was much better. In fact, I have an old 27" set using an RF connection that looks better than both HD sets I have.

Anybody else in the same boat?

Anyone here using SD DirecTV? I still use SD along with HD OTA and am waiting for Verizon FIOS service to arrive and dump DirecTV. I have to say that the PQ with DirecTV is pretty bad with this set. It wasn't great with my Sony 30" CRT, but it was much better. In fact, I have an old 27" set using an RF connection that looks better than both HD sets I have.

Anybody else in the same boat?

Yup, I noticed that too. The PQ from my DVR to the Vizio using the S-Video cable looks pretty bad. I'm watching in zoom mode. I guess I wouldn't really expect it to look good on an HDTV, though. The OTA HD stuff looks good, though. Now, if I can just get WBBM-D!

I live between two of the stores, about 10 miles either way in opposite directions. When I went to my southern store (where I normally shop) on Sunday, the salesguy pointed to 8 full pallets up high and said they are not even being put on the floor until official release date (3/20). I tried my best to persuade him to sell me one but he was polite but firm. To be honest, I didn't even think of asking the manager, but being as they would have to use the forklift to bend the rules for one guy, I didn't want to push and just went to the other store on Monday morning as that was a bit easier for me given traffic patterns.

Imagine my surprise when I saw there were only about 1.5 pallets worth (6 or 7 units) and the saleslady told me they had been selling the c$#p out of them for days! I got mine and vamoosed.

The point of this story is, of course, that individual store policies can vary.

Thanks for all the posts on the Vizio.

But there is one thing I couldn't find in the manual or here:

What is the magic method or rationale that I must use to get my wife to let me buy one of these things before they go up $300?!!

I'd appreciate any help you can give.

Tom

Tell her she can have the $300 rebate in cash ;)

Hey ScottS,

Hopefully the new cable will help.


Great. Please let us know how it works. I have the same cable coming from monoprice and am planning on getting the OPPO.

Thanks!

Picked one up early Monday morning (G07 February build); was the first one through the door. :D

First off I'd say I strongly agree with everything said in the Sound & Vision review found at Link (http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=1333).

Second, with regard to all the varying comments regarding "haziness" or that "washed out" look, this PDP simply does not like bright lighting conditions. Ambient light illuminates the surface of the display making it look gray. Since the blackest black can't be any blacker than the set looks when it is turned off, it does look a little washed out under those condition (like in a store). Turn down the lighting, however, and it is capable of very good results. The blacks are excellent in brightly lit scenes as the high contrast exaggerates the effect. Darkly lit scenes are OK, with good shadow detail, but not the inky blacks found on top brand name sets. Colors are fantastic; rich, vibrant, realistic, and accurate. Whites are white, no hint of yellowing.

Of course all the above depends on the signal you feed it. My current experience so far has been with DVD over component inputs and OTA HDTV with the built-in tuner. HD shows like PBS or KABC News look incredible. Other stations vary considerable. DVD's all look excellent.

So far I have about a total of 10 hours on it and no power supply issues at all. It has surprised me how quiet the power relay is when turning on or off, just a mild single click. No power supply buzz, you have to stick your ear to within 10 inches in a quiet room to hear anything coming from the back of the panel. Overall heat output is also minimal so the fanless design makes sense.

So while this PDP is definitely not the best on the market, it is as many have said an excellent value. Even on an absolute basis, it is a great set. Just don't blast it with a lot of room light and almost anyone should be very happy with it.

Can somebody double confirm that tuner provides digital 5.1 out? I have L37 vizio and tuner provides only digital stereo, so I have to return set to buy some else. This new Vizio looks like decent replace with the same price and quality.

Can somebody double confirm that tuner provides digital 5.1 out? I have L37 vizio and tuner provides only digital stereo, so I have to return set to buy some else. This new Vizio looks like decent replace with the same price and quality.


I will even triple confirm it.

C&P From the Vizio webshite:

Outputs:
1x 5.1 Audio from DTV input only (SPDIF Optical)

I posted back in the beginning of this thread... I was one of the first to jump on the set and purchased before the 20th to avoid the rain check debacle, and just wanted to add once more that you shouldn't have any problem at all going back to the Co. to get your coupon discount.

I purchased in San Francisco, yet was actually out of town and brought my receipt with me to get my 'rebate' from a San Diego store.

No issues at all. I don't understand how some of you could have gotten any lip from them - if they give you trouble, go crazy! They aspire to be a customer oriented type of place, so get your money back!

Unfortunately, my local store got dips!ts working there.
I went back today to get the $300 difference and I argued with the guy and the supervisor.
So I went through the line bought the TV again and went straight to the customer service and use the old receipt to return the TV.
What a fvckin hassle.
They are all retarded.

Viewed set last week at 2 stores and didn't care for the glossy black trim and silver speakers. Picture looked sharp but washed out compared to nearby 50" V and Panny. The indoor store lighting didn't help. Store had 35 sets on Monday 20th and 5 on Tuesday when I called. Tuesday 21st the set was displayed separately and looked much better.

When coaxial connected for S TV, picture looked from as good to better than TV it's replacing. Because of the increased screen size some analog shows looked poor. Connected coaxial to DTV and hunted thru menu hoping to find the much better picture of HD TV. Happily found ~45 OTA stations! Okay, some are really dupes or SAP of the same channel. Get a weather and other channels I've never seen before. There's a short delay when changing channels on DTV (compared to S TV) and a bit longer if I input the numbers on keypay. DTV picture looks quite good and I'm pleased with it. May take a while to get used to seeing bars as some shows aren't widescreen.

Can't seem to program the DVD via the V remote. The setup button doesn't flash. Really don't like cycling thru the Input key to play dvds. Quick run thru 3 dvds and I'm happy with the results. Gladiator, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles look great.

Going to connect one of the PCs to it later.

February G08 build.

Awaiting shipment of Sceptre 42".

Has anyone who is considering this set also considered the Sony KDF-E42A10? That's a 42 inch 3LCD microdisplay set that seems to get good reviews and is priced comparably to this new 42 inch Vizio. Whatever I get is going to be put on a stand and not wall-mounted so the Sony would be a viable option. I already have the 50 inch Vizio which I'm quite pleased with and was hoping that this new 42 inch model would be as well-reviewed. Looking for a 42 inch set for my bedroom but not ready to pull the trigger on this new Vizio, at least at this point.

I have been wondering the same exact thing, and yesterday evening got the chance to compare a P50 to the KDFE50A10 at my local Sam's. This was just a cursory examination and I did not bother tweaking any settings, but the P50 colors seemed more saturated and the motion cleaner. There was an extra vibrance to the Vizio. The two sets were around the corner from each other on a display stand, maybe 5ft apart. The SONY picture also degraded when standing off to the side, but of course that is to be expected with projection. If you have seating off to the side of the TV, you will want to consider this.

I have a Hitachi Ultravision 57" CRT projection unit at home to compare too, and despite the positive reviews of the SONY, it didn't look that satisfying at the store in comparison. The funny thing is though, the reviews of the SONY I have read said it is bright and would do well in a sunny room, but the Vizio had more snap to it at the store. I've heard the opposite of the Vizio's, that the blacks look "washed out" if the room has too much light.

Plasma has a higher contrast ratio than LCD tech does, so shouldn't it do better in a sunny room? Does that make sense? :confused: Maybe the Vizio reviewers are comparing to other plasmas and the SONY LCD reviewers are doing likewise. What is the bottom line though, which would produce a better picture in a room with a the sun coming in? I am shopping for a friend who lives in a condo, and the TV will be next to a sliding glass door.

Is anyone else comparing the the KDFE42A10 to the P42HDTV? Those are the two being considered, but I have only been able to the find their 50" big brothers so close to each other.

1) I've seen a couple people post up picture settings. Anyone else find different settings they are happy with? I'm a little wary of cranking up the contrast only after a few days. However, I have been running a break-in cd for a good 24 hours (not continous) with all settings around mid 40 with the exception of sharpness and something else I can't recall at the moment.


2) I'm going nuts trying to program my Harmony remote. There is a selection for the p42 hdtv, but the problem is that when changing activities (example.. dvd -> tv or vice versa), the tv will not change inputs. I will try using the P50 codes next, but I'd like to think the TV should work with the new p42 codes that are on Harmony's website now.

Anyone here using SD DirecTV? I still use SD along with HD OTA and am waiting for Verizon FIOS service to arrive and dump DirecTV. I have to say that the PQ with DirecTV is pretty bad with this set. It wasn't great with my Sony 30" CRT, but it was much better. In fact, I have an old 27" set using an RF connection that looks better than both HD sets I have.

Anybody else in the same boat?
I have mine connected to a directv HD10-250 box. Local channels look pretty bad. Quite hazy. As for the other SD channels it depends on the channel, some look very good and some are just ok. HD channels however look awsome. I have the receiver hooked up using the HDMI connection. I may try using the component input to see if that makes any difference.....

2) I'm going nuts trying to program my Harmony remote. There is a selection for the p42 hdtv, but the problem is that when changing activities (example.. dvd -> tv or vice versa), the tv will not change inputs. I will try using the P50 codes next, but I'd like to think the TV should work with the new p42 codes that are on Harmony's website now.


When I programmed my Harmony, I did it manually. Put the V remote next to the Harmony and went thru function by function to program the Harmony. It was a bit of a pain, and I'm sure it's not perfect, but so far so good. When I press "Watch TV" it switches to component 1, and when I press "Watch a DVD" it switches to Component 2.

Thanks Meltz, I'll try that tonight before I watch Lost in HD for the first time! Woo hoo!

1) I've seen a couple people post up picture settings. Anyone else find different settings they are happy with? I'm a little wary of cranking up the contrast only after a few days. However, I have been running a break-in cd for a good 24 hours (not continous) with all settings around mid 40 with the exception of sharpness and something else I can't recall at the moment.


2) I'm going nuts trying to program my Harmony remote. There is a selection for the p42 hdtv, but the problem is that when changing activities (example.. dvd -> tv or vice versa), the tv will not change inputs. I will try using the P50 codes next, but I'd like to think the TV should work with the new p42 codes that are on Harmony's website now.

What kind of DVD do you use for the break-in process? I have just been watching various things non-stop since monday. I guess I should have researched the proper way to get the plasma PQ sorted. I have been switching in between the previously suggested 'User' picture settings and the 'Vivid*' options. I generally like the suggested settings from this thread better, in most cases (the set with the contrast up to 70). Why would it be bad to have the contast up so high, initially?

Is anyone else comparing the the KDFE42A10 to the P42HDTV? Those are the two being considered, but I have only been able to the find their 50" big brothers so close to each other. Mr. S, I went ahead and bought the 42 inch Sony a couple of nights ago figuring it was a much safer choice than the 42 inch Vizio. Had the Vizio gotten raves from the people who had already bought it I would have bought that instead. I do think that all other things being equal plasma is the way to go, and I'm very happy with my 50 inch Vizio. When comparing the display of my 50 inch Vizio plasma to my 42 inch Sony, I do like the HD picture better on the plasma. This could be due in part to the larger screen size, but I also think that the plasma picture has a slightly more "liquidy" appearance if that makes sense. You already know about the viewing angle issues when comparing the two technologies. But the Sony looks great head on and the SD picture quality is slightly better on the Sony (which I guess could be due to the smaller screen size on that set as compared to my Vizio). Also, keep this is mind for either of the two Vizios, the sunlight issue will likely be much more of a problem for the plasma set than for the 42 inch Sony. And with the Vizio specifically, although I personally do like the aesthetics of the set, you may see quite a bit of glare on the shiny black bezel itself and not just on the screen. I actually see one of my reading lamps reflected on the bezel on my 50 inch Vizio, and that can be a bit annoying.

I am having a problem with my Vizio 42 that I have not seen addressed yet. I have had the set for a week, and from time to time a black block appears on the screen. The completely black block is about 10 inches high by about 30 inches wide and is located just a little below center of the screen. At first it appeared only on the HGTV channel on cable, but today it appears on the OTA channel for NBC. It lasts about 10 seconds and repeats itself about every 30 seconds. Anyone have any ideas what it might be?

Jay


I didnt see if this was addressed, but did you check your closed captioning settings?

What kind of DVD do you use for the break-in process? I have just been watching various things non-stop since monday. I guess I should have researched the proper way to get the plasma PQ sorted. I have been switching in between the previously suggested 'User' picture settings and the 'Vivid*' options. I generally like the suggested settings from this thread better, in most cases (the set with the contrast up to 70). Why would it be bad to have the contast up so high, initially?

There's a link to the download in the very top sticky. :)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=608677

There's a link to the download in the very top sticky. :)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=608677

Nice. Thanks. :)

Well my friend went with the 50" SONY LCD RP for its name and size, after I recommended 42" and the Vizio. I measured his sitting distance at 8ft for his big couch and about 2-3ft for the loveseat, which will be almost side to side with the TV at a very steep viewing angle. *shrug*

Personally I would have taken the smaller Vizio, but in his family's hands it might have had a logo or few eventually burned into it, deeming it a bad recommendation. At least now I can wash my hands of it - sometimes you can only help so much. ;)

I think it is interesting that almost everyone reports that at the store, the 42" Vizio looks washed out especially compared to the Panasonics and the 50" Vizio. I haven't seen the 42" yet, but at the store I was at, all the plasmas looked washed out compared to the Panasonic, including the 50" Vizio!! The 50" Panasonic I saw appeared to have deeper blacks and more saturated colors. However, the Panasonic appeared overly staturated to me, but the blackers did seem deeper.

I'm also curious as to why there are so many reports about the Vizio looking hazy. Is it because of lower resolution vs the 50"ers? The scaler? Is there something different between the panel manufacturers that would make the Panasonic pixels emit a less diffused light and hence appear more focused? Does Panasonic ship their sets with overly saturated settings by default to artificially provide that eye candy? If any ISF guys are around, it would be great to hear what their experience has been with Panasonics. If they report that they are indeed overly saturated before calibration, that would make sense.

Dunno.

Man I would pay good money to get into the advanced settings ;). I really wish companies would just release the darn code and be done with it.

I think it is interesting that almost everyone reports that at the store, the 42" Vizio looks washed out especially compared to the Panasonics and the 50" Vizio. I haven't seen the 42" yet, but at the store I was at, all the plasmas looked washed out compared to the Panasonic, including the 50" Vizio!! The 50" Panasonic I saw appeared to have deeper blacks and more saturated colors. However, the Panasonic appeared overly staturated to me, but the blackers did seem deeper.

I'm also curious as to why there are so many reports about the Vizio looking hazy. Is it because of lower resolution vs the 50"ers? The scaler? Is there something different between the panel manufacturers that would make the Panasonic pixels emit a less diffused light and hence appear more focused? Does Panasonic ship their sets with overly saturated settings by default to artificially provide that eye candy? If any ISF guys are around, it would be great to hear what their experience has been with Panasonics. If they report that they are indeed overly saturated before calibration, that would make sense.

Dunno.
I have had the set since Monday and have played around with different settings. Here is my input:

1) HD signal looks superb.
2) Black levels are a bit poor.
3) I don't find the picture to be hazy.
4) SD is decent to downright horrible.

I have a SD DirecTV Tivo and the results are very mixed. I have too many trees to see all of the satellites (i.e. HD) and besides I don't want to spend money on outdated DirecTV receiver (I don't believe the new receivers - MPEG4 - are out yet). Some of the channels look OK but many are actually horrible with a lot of pixelization (not a reception issue).

I personally think COmcast is horrible and am waiting for Verizon FIOS TV service to be available. Hopefully soon!!!

FYI, the new MPEG4 receivers certainly are out, though not the MPEG4 DVR.

Hey all, I just purchased the vizio42hd and was wondering if other owners hear a high pitched buzzing sound similar to a flourencent light. Its not loud, but I just wanted to make sure it was just a normal thing and that I'm not paranoid.lol

Hey all, I just purchased the vizio42hd and was wondering if other owners hear a high pitched buzzing sound similar to a flourencent light. Its not loud, but I just wanted to make sure it was just a normal thing and that I'm not paranoid.lol

I did & ended up returning it. The noise got louder if I left the TV on for an extended period of time. I went back to the store & could hear the same noise from the display set, but it's difficult to tell if it's equally loud. I also experienced some other issues that appeared to be power supply related ... if I turned the set off & then back on, it would sometimes turn itself back off. I'm still trying to decide if I want to try again with a different set.

I bought mine on Monday and, so far, am enjoying it quite a bit. Coming from an older Toshiba 50h13 (or something like that) there's a pretty good difference between the two. The Toshiba hid the "flaws" of the poorer broadcasts/sources better (especially SDTV), but really couldn't compare to the Vizio in 720p/1080i, colors, sharpness, etc...

Well encoded DVDs look better on the Vizio. But, again, flaws in poorly encoded DVDs are better hid in the old Toshiba. For example, a copy of Sopranos season 1 looks marginal on the Vizio due to some artifacting (but I get over it), but a copy of LOTR looks amazing....this is all using my Pioneer DV-260 DVD player. I wonder if I got a new upconverting player, if it would help with all that.

I've experienced no shut-off problems, even after watching about eight hours of Sopranos, a couple hours of gamecube, and some TV (not all in one stretch though). It's a "G06" for sure.

Colors look fine to me. I did do an A-B comparison at Costco, and I didn't think the Vizio looked subsantially washed out compared the other plasmas on display. Yeah, I couldn't tweaks the settings to see if they were all calibrated correctly, but I wasn't about to sweat the small things anyway. I just hope my watching habits have been varied enough that the burn-in/break-in is fine.

The Vizio works beautifully as a monitor when hooked up to my laptop. 1024x768 @ 60hz (looks much sharper than 1280x1024). Have to check the "stretch to 16:9 ratio" in Media Player Classic for the correct ratio on the TV for videos, which gets annoying (And I'm not a big fan of using MPC anyway). Maybe I'll try the 1280x720 like someone else suggested.

Hmmm...I can't think of any other observations it the moment. All in all, I'm happy with my first plasma purchase. And I don't miss the 8" from the Toshiba.


...oh yeah! It's a damn ton lighter than my old Toshiba to move...that's for sure. Lighter by about 110lbs in fact. Good thing too since my girl and I will be moving in a couple weeks...this was actually the primary motivation behind selling the Toshiba and getting a plasma.

[edit]
My model is, in fact, a "10A" model: Vizio P42HDTV10A

I did & ended up returning it. The noise got louder if I left the TV on for an extended period of time. I went back to the store & could hear the same noise from the display set, but it's difficult to tell if it's equally loud. I also experienced some other issues that appeared to be power supply related ... if I turned the set off & then back on, it would sometimes turn itself back off. I'm still trying to decide if I want to try again with a different set.
Go ahead and give another set a shot. Or you can get the Panny 50 inch and be over $2000 poorer!?!?

Is anyone having a problem with their remote? My Channel Up button has to be pressed pretty hard, and sometimes the TV doesn't receive any signal from the remote unless I get an inch away from the receiver. Perhaps something in the room is affecting the signal.

Another thing... this is the first DTV product I have used. Is it normal for a "high end" TV with a built-in tuner to have no type of video output so you can record what you are watching? Seems like such a simple thing to add... even an RF output would help.

Originally Posted by grizzfan
Thanks for all the posts on the Vizio.

But there is one thing I couldn't find in the manual or here:

What is the magic method or rationale that I must use to get my wife to let me buy one of these things before they go up $300?!!

I'd appreciate any help you can give.

Tom

Reply by ??
Chloroform

Maybe that will help with the snoring tooQQQ :D

Just hooked up my HDMI <-> DVI cable to the Comcast Motorola dual tuner set top box. I am thinking, after extensive deliberation, that componant looks much more vibrant on the same settings while viewing HD broadcasts.

Have I just been staring at this thing for way too long, or is there some rational to my theory?

C.Bucket.. what are your current settings?

I just bought the Vizio on Monday and hooked it up last night. I couldn't hook up my Toshiba HDD/DVD Video Recorder (RD-XS52 i think) using the HDMI cable. I can hook up the Toshiba with the standard video/audio cables and the S-video cable, but I get nothing with the HDMI cable. I even tried a second HDMI cable. In fact, I get a "HDMI connections error detected" error message on my Toshia. This is weird cuz my Toshiba can connect via HDMI to my Samsung 55 DLP. Can this be just a faulty HDMI connector on my Vizio? Is there a setup that I needed to do on the Vizio to "turn on" the HDMI connectivity? Please help! Thanks in advance.

C.Bucket.. what are your current settings?

As far as the picture settings, I tried them all on both pretty much. I normally had them set at the following with the componant setup:

Brightness: 50
Contrast: 70
Color: 45
Tint: 50
Sharpness: 50

I moved them all around to try and improve the feel, to no obvious avail. The componant just seemed a bit more vibrant and clear on the HD programs. I am speculating that the pure digital signal of the HDMI was just more 'real' so the colors didn't pop as much. I tried using all the vivid* settings on both, as well.

Thanks.

Added Info: I forgot to mention that when I first tuned into a channel after hooking up the HDMI<->DVI, the supposed left quarter of the screen was displayed at the far right of the screen. Kind of a quarter split thing. It went away when I moved to another channel.

Let me know if there are some other settings I need to tweek, if possible.

as a followup to my posts from monday (regarding the frequently shut downs), yesterday it shut down 3 times (2 at the beginning) during the whole day (about 12 hours of use). Today, it hasn't at all (6 hours of use).

Unfortunately, I've hit a stretch with my job where I'm working 6 12's on my job. I won't have much time to spend getting aquainted with the set. I'm sitting here right now watching my son play Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (XBox 360) on it, and it's nothing short of amazing. I still don't have my surround sound receiver patched into the temporary arrangement, and I'm finding the onboard speakers less than adequate, but I never really expected them to be all that great. The poor audio is showing its weakness with Oblivion though.

I took somebody's suggestion about hooking 'analog' cable up to the DTV jack, and seeing what unencrypted digital stations might be there. Much to my surprise I got the local NBC and CBS HDTV feeds.... they looked fantastic, beyond my expectations, really. It sold me on the idea of going with digital cable and HDTV (my cable provider has 9 HD stations in their package).

I still have no remorse about buying this set, and I expected to experience some because of my comparisons the to Phillips and the Panny in the store. I guess the only real cold slap I've received over this is the quality of the SD, on some channels and some programs. I've seen a basketball game on ESPN, and some local news channel remote footage in SD that were unwatchable. OTOH, some SD PQ has exceeded what I ever thought I'd see with it on this this. HDTV is turning out to be a much wilder roller coaster ride than I ever envisioned. It's going to take some getting used to going from wide screen programming, to pillar boxed commercials, to wide screen commercials, and back to wide screen programming. Some stations broadcast in 1080i, others in 720p. I find that I always find the 720p PQ superior, but I'm highly sensitive to flicker.

I wish I had time to really get my feet wet with my new purchase, but it's going to be three more weeks of 72 hour work weeks before I can breath again. I'm going to have a time setting an appointment that I can meet for the cable guy to "install" my HDTV set top box. BTW, anyone using a Pioneer Voyager STB with their P42HDTV? That's what my cable company uses.

Thanks each of your for all of your comments, insights, and feedback (pro & con) on this set in this thread. I find it all invalueable!

Has anyone gotten the "panoramic" smart stretch mode to work over HDMI or component?

Im only able to cycle through the "normal", "wide", or "zoom" modes on these inputs, but can pick panoramic on the TV and composite inputs. The manual lists the 4 modes, including panoramic, but doesn't say that they only work on certain inputs.

I'm using comcast's motorola HD box, and tried changing the 4:3 override to off, 480i,480p, and stretch with no luck getting the panoramic mode working. The "wide" stretch mode is horrible, and the motorola boxes stretch mode is pretty bad too.

This might be a deal breaker for me, I'm going to try hooking a svideo cable up for SD viewing with panoramic, but get the feeling its not going to look very nice.

Unfortunately, my local store got dips!ts working there.
I went back today to get the $300 difference and I argued with the guy and the supervisor.
So I went through the line bought the TV again and went straight to the customer service and use the old receipt to return the TV.
What a fvckin hassle.
They are all retarded.




Patience is a prerequisite for controlling anger. Take care of yourself, Golfreak.

Has anyone gotten the "panoramic" smart stretch mode to work over HDMI or component?

Im only able to cycle through the "normal", "wide", or "zoom" modes on these inputs, but can pick panoramic on the TV and composite inputs. The manual lists the 4 modes, including panoramic, but doesn't say that they only work on certain inputs.

I'm using comcast's motorola HD box, and tried changing the 4:3 override to off, 480i,480p, and stretch with no luck getting the panoramic mode working. The "wide" stretch mode is horrible, and the motorola boxes stretch mode is pretty bad too.

This might be a deal breaker for me, I'm going to try hooking a svideo cable up for SD viewing with panoramic, but get the feeling its not going to look very nice.

Have you tried using componant to hook up the Motorola? That is where I feel I found the best connection for the box. The PQ seems better than HDMI (not sure why, yet) and the SD channels are widescreen as opposed to the letterbox via the Comcast/Motorola GUI. When I did have HDMI hooked into it, the fact that the SD channels were 4:3 bugged me, as well. I found no way around it.

Have you tried using componant to hook up the Motorola? That is where I feel I found the best connection for the box. The PQ seems better than HDMI (not sure why, yet) and the SD channels are widescreen as opposed to the letterbox via the Comcast/Motorola GUI. When I did have HDMI hooked into it, the fact that the SD channels were 4:3 bugged me, as well. I found no way around it.

The component looks duller than the HDMI for me, but I still have the old single tuner 6208 moto box. I wonder if the service menu will let me enable "panoramic" stretching on hdmi/component? Right now I'm switching between hdmi for HD and composite/svideo for SD so I can get the panoramic smart stretch. It especially annoying because the moto box's guide only shows up on the hdmi output when its enabled, so its a constant shuffle. Why would they disable the best stretch mode on the HD inputs?

This is for all. I think that the Vizio company is taking some shortcuts in their quality control agenda concerning this model of plasma. Zero dollars were set forth to implement a quality assurance program to determine actual defects of this set. I feel this is why they can afford to sell their plasma so cheap. It's like them saying, "We are gonna sell you a 42 inch plasma for less than 1500 bucks because we saved alot of money not hiring a group of professionals to ensure quality and take the time to fix any potential shortcomings of this TV". I was convinced of this hypothesis after reading most of the threads on this issue. Some have issues with this set-some don't. The ones that don't, I feel, are just as lucky as Vizio because Vizio got THEIRS right. And Vizio is thinking the same thing.

What I would advise is to first consider and appreciate the wonderful return policy of C****o. Then, keep returning until you get the right one. Initiating perseverance is worth saving money!

Today, I went out of my way (123mi one way) to look at the Vizio 42hd that Costco has on special, but decided to pass after seeing the PQ with a DVD running. The Vizio was also in eye sight of a Panasonic TH-50PX50U which put it to shame - granted at double the price. I was so sure that I was going to buy the Vizio, that I went ahead and purchased a Plasma console my wife wanted. O'well, my wife gets her new furniture before I get my new TV! I will keep watching that old Sony 32" CRT for now until I can get the new 58" Panasonic coming soon -- as long as its before football season.

O'yes, the Costco is in Brentwood Tennessee (Nashville).

Today, I went out of my way (123mi one way) to look at the Visio 42hd that Costco has on special, but decided to pass after seeing the PQ with a DVD running. The Visio was also in eye sight of a Panasonic TH-50PX50U which put it to shame - granted at double the price. I was so sure that I was going to buy the Visio, that I went ahead and purchased a Plasma console my wife wanted. O'well, my wife gets her new furniture before I get my new TV! I will keep watching that old Sony 32" CRT for now until I can get the new 58" Panasonic coming soon -- as long as its before football season.

O'yes, the Costco is in Brentwood Tennessee (Nashville).

My top of the line Denon dvd player with my Vizio looks better than that Panasonic plasma with the toshiba player, anyday.

Buy the Vizio. Put the money that you saved toward a Denon 5910!!!

My top of the line Denon dvd player with my Vizio looks better than that Panasonic plasma with the toshiba player, anyday.

Buy the Vizio. Put the money that you saved toward a Denon 5910!!!

Sorry about the name "Visio" -- I noticed that after posting and edited the change. Visio is the name of an old software program I use to use. As far as the Vizio 42, I just wasn't totally satisfied with the PQ that I could see. As I said, I was sure I was going to buy it which was based on the comments in this thread and the super price -- and I had to join the Club when I arrived at the location - spending $100 for an executive membership so I would get 2% back on the purchase. But, I spent three hours looking at the sets and wound up making the long trip back home empty handed. My main concern was the lack of deep blacks on SD (DVD) programming with the overall picture looking somewhat grainy and washed out. Long term, I planned to move this TV into the bedroom where it would always be fed by a SD coax home distribution system. All of my HD will be viewed in den. But, I do feel that for the money, the set can't be beat - I just want a set that can handle SD a little better.

Another thing... this is the first DTV product I have used. Is it normal for a "high end" TV with a built-in tuner to have no type of video output so you can record what you are watching? Seems like such a simple thing to add... even an RF output would help.To record the SD OTA channels, just send the antenna in to a VCR first and then to your VIZIO.

To record the OTA HD send it to a HD DVR from your cable or satellite provider and then output it to the VIZIO.

The component looks duller than the HDMI for me, but I still have the old single tuner 6208 moto box. I wonder if the service menu will let me enable "panoramic" stretching on hdmi/component? Right now I'm switching between hdmi for HD and composite/svideo for SD so I can get the panoramic smart stretch. It especially annoying because the moto box's guide only shows up on the hdmi output when its enabled, so its a constant shuffle. Why would they disable the best stretch mode on the HD inputs?

OK. Figured it out. On my Motorola I turn off the set top box and press the Menu button on the Motorola remote. I get a menu with all the goodies. I changed the 4:3 override to Stretch. It seems when I hooked up my HDMI, it reset that to OFF. And, after a tad of wonkiness in that internal menu, I got it to let me switch the Componant Resolution to 1080i. I wish it would have had a 'make the HDMI signal better' toggle. :P Gonna get a second opinion over here tomorrow to help me confirm if my thinking the HMDI signal is worse than componant was correct. We'll mess with that Motorola menu when we hook it back up. Right now it is looking pretty damn good with Componant.

Update: 'Game ON!!'. When I hooked up the HDMI <-> DVI cable again, I went to that internal Motorola menu and saw a new DVI/YPbPr setting (as opposed to the previous solo YPbPr setting), which was still on 1080i and the 4:3 override was still on stretch. Went to Fifth Element, which I was using to test previously, and it looked freaking great. Better than componant, for sure. SD channels were using smart stretch and even had a better quality feel, although still crappy. Whew!

Patience is a prerequisite for controlling anger. Take care of yourself, Golfreak.

Actually, I wasn't in an angry mode at all.
I was in my business attire and just wanted the difference.
I knew i wasn't going o get anywhere so I went that route of getting my $300 back..
They are still d1psh1ts.

To most of you this is a no brainer, but for noobies....

When running a local HD antenna or HD cable box, you can run an OPTICAL (digital) audio out of the tv set, to your receiver and get 5.1 on many shows/movies. It's great!!!

Also I let my regular cable coaxial hook up to the hd input. Did a quick scan... Philly area.. drum roll please... 147 stations. Here are some noteables (since the chnl #s are not familiar).

79-12
79-21 music starts here
80-12 sports/nba buy in
81-3 comedy
81-4 mtv
81-8 amc
81-9 discovery
81-10 tlc
81-11 vh1
81-12 usa
82-3 animal planet
82-4 travel
82-7 cnn
82-8 golf
82-12 headline news
87-1 fx
87-2 history
87-4 A&E
87-5 cmt
87-6 weather
87-7 court tv
87-10 cooking
88-1
88-2 msnbc
88-3 tvland
88-4 cnbc
88-5
88-6 style
88-7 fox news
88-8 tnt
88-9 espn
88-10 espn2
88-12 tbs
88-12 comcast sportsnet/philly
89-1
89-2 bravo
89-3 hg tv
89-4 E
89-5 abc family
89-6 food
89-7 lifetime
89-8 speed
89-11 espn classic
89-12 oln (hockey)
90-1 reg cbs 480i
90-2 reg abc "
90-3 reg nbc "
90-5 wb17
90-6 reg fox29
90-8 reg ch57
90-9
90-12 cn8
91-3
93-21 music on up
100-4 mtv2
108-11
109-5 discovery health
110-1 hd ch57
111-1 wb17 hd1080
111-2 720hd fox29
119-2 1080hd cbs
119-1 1080hd whyy
118-1 abc 720hd
118-2 nbc 1080hd
118-3 abc


all 480 unless noted

I guess I don't get all the complaints here. I have not compared this set to the other sets at the warehouse, but it looks pretty nice to me. HD OTA signals look great. The SD broadcasts on the HD channels look pretty good. The SD OTA broadcasts look okay. My SD input (S-video) from my DirecTV DVR look okay or at least as good as they looked on my old Sony Vega 36" CRT non-HD TV. I wouldn't really expect anything else from SD broadcasts because you are viewing an inferior signal on a really good monitor. I have not tried the HDMI input yet.

My biggest struggle has been this: I just bought the cheapest 42" HDTV on the market. Maybe I want to spend a little more and buy a more top of the line model. To tell you the truth, I was going to wait until next year to buy a HDTV until I heard about this Vizio. The more I watch it, the more I like it and I don't think I could go back to watching my old Sony, and I still think the Sony is a great TV.

Bottom line, I think this is a great TV for the money. At this point, I don't think it's worth the extra cash for one of the better brand name TVs. The only shortfall I can think of is that this TV only has one HDMI and 1 S-Video input.

Also, for those having problems with the picture from the DirecTV DVR, make sure you go into the preferences menu and set the screen size for 16:9. This seems to have helped my picture issues a bit. Again, realize you are watching an SD signal on an HDTV, so it's not going to look great no matter what you do.

Just my 2 cents, but I think people may hae unrealistic expectations of this TV.

Now that I have WBBM coming in OTA, I'm really looking forward to watching NCAA Tourney games in HD tomorrow and Friday!

I didnt see if this was addressed, but did you check your closed captioning settings?
I must have been the only one to have the black blank area problem, as no one except you responded.

What I did was take the set back and get another one. The new one does not have the problem.

Tonight I connected a Samsung HD-755 player via HDMI and I believe the picture is great! Watched, "I Walk The Line" and everything sure looked good.

Love this TV!

Jay

Tonight I connected a Samsung HD-755 player via HDMI and I believe the picture is great! Watched, "I Walk The Line" and everything sure looked good.


Have you compared that to the component video input? I'm trying to decide if it is worth it to buy an upconverting DVD player or just stick with my current progressive scan DVD player connected via component video. It looks pretty darn good to me so far.

Have you compared that to the component video input? I'm trying to decide if it is worth it to buy an upconverting DVD player or just stick with my current progressive scan DVD player connected via component video. It looks pretty darn good to me so far.

I watched Monster's Inc on component which looked average for hd.
Bourne Identity looked bad for hd.

Have you compared that to the component video input? I'm trying to decide if it is worth it to buy an upconverting DVD player or just stick with my current progressive scan DVD player connected via component video. It looks pretty darn good to me so far.


Have you considered purchasing a Denon upconverting player? They are, in my opinion, worth every penny. It's too bad that C****o does not carry them. If they did, I would consider that store, PERFECT!!!

I watched Monster's Inc on component which looked average for hd.
Bourne Identity looked bad for hd.


What brand of video cables are you using? Using power/current amplification? Are any high current appliances, other than your fridge, running? Is the room of your plasma brightly lit? If you have Direct TV/Dish Network, what is your signal strength? If you wear eyeglasses, are they clean? Just some contributing factors to maximize your picture quality.

Have you considered purchasing a Denon upconverting player? They are, in my opinion, worth every penny. It's too bad that C****o does not carry them. If they did, I would consider that store, PERFECT!!!


Are you talking about the $3000 5910, or is there another Denon that has gotten good reviews (yes, I'm too lazy to go the DVD hardware forum)?

Guys-
After getting a rain check on Monday I finally picked up this TV today. I'm a front projection guy. That's where the money goes. This TV is for day to day watching.
My question is (and I am sorry if this is covered earlier in this thread) is how do I get the picture menu stuff on the bottom of the screen to get to see test patters!?!?!?!!
I popped in Avia last night to do a quick calibration...the set looked like it was pushing yellow and red a bit, but I could not for the life of me figure out how to get the picture adjustment menu off the entire screen. Help please?!!?...this is severly annoying.

Originally Posted by RyanA3
I watched Monster's Inc on component which looked average for hd.
Bourne Identity looked bad for hd.

What brand of video cables are you using? Using power/current amplification? Are any high current appliances, other than your fridge, running? Is the room of your plasma brightly lit? If you have Direct TV/Dish Network, what is your signal strength? If you wear eyeglasses, are they clean? Just some contributing factors to maximize your picture quality.

Yeah, you should try to identify the factors that might have contributed to the poor picture. This top of the line tv is not to blame for bad PQ. What was your viewing angle? Were you sitting, standing, or lying down? What is the condition of your other equipments? Are they in tiptop shape? If you are watching dvd, make sure the dvd player is a certain Denon model that magically improves the PQ of any tv (not that this amazing Vizo needs any help, but I am sure it won't hurt.) Were you tired or hungry? You don't want to watch your Vizio if you are tired or hungry because you might be seeing things like hazy or washed-out pictures that aren't really there.

Originally Posted by RyanA3
I watched Monster's Inc on component which looked average for hd.
Bourne Identity looked bad for hd.

What brand of video cables are you using? Using power/current amplification? Are any high current appliances, other than your fridge, running? Is the room of your plasma brightly lit? If you have Direct TV/Dish Network, what is your signal strength? If you wear eyeglasses, are they clean? Just some contributing factors to maximize your picture quality.


Yeah, you should try to identify the factors that might have contributed to the poor picture. This top of the line tv is not to blame for bad PQ. What was your viewing angle? Were you sitting, standing, or lying down? What is the condition of your other equipments? Are they in tiptop shape? If you are watching dvd, make sure the dvd player is a certain Denon model that magically improves the PQ of any tv (not that this amazing Vizo needs any help, but I am sure it won't hurt.) Were you tired or hungry? You don't want to watch your Vizio if you are tired or hungry because you might be seeing things like hazy or washed-out pictures that aren't really there.


Thanks guys. To answer your questions.

-Viewing angle, very good. Sitting down. Glasses are clean!
-Not talking about DishTV at all.
-I'm using set of monster cable component cables.
-I have the tv plugged into an ADCOM (name from the past eh) power enhancer/surge unit, with seperate power ports for two amps, (one of which I'm using for the tv). These two ports handle up to 15,000w each.

DVDs: The Monster's Inc. looked very good. Very good clarity and depth. But yes, Bourne Identity, and a Fleetwood Mac concert dvd are the only other dvds I've tried and they look poor for HD (IMO).

HD TV: I am getting some local HD via the coaxial standard cable line, input into the dtv port. These HD stations are looking better than the movies I mentioned. I can't imagine how great they'll look once I move to component or hdmi via an HD box!

Home theater experts, follow me... (trying to figure out my HD DVD concerns...

Old system in the same room
Sony 36" Wega, NOT hd.

->Old school, very good quality dvd player by Onkyo (1999)
vs.
->New school Sony 5 dvd/cd changer. Cheapo, $200.

Both units running component video, the Onkyo blew the Sony away.

New Vizio 42" HD

->New school Sony dvd/cd is now running progressive scan but as I mentioned, out of the 3 dvds I've tried, 2 look average at best, except for the Monster's inc. which looks very good.

->Have removed the Onkyo w/o even trying it out - b/c it's not hd (no progessive scan).

Maybe I need to get a higher quality DVD player. Are you guys running ridiculous DVD equipment? Or are you getting very good HD dvd via a $200 Sony unit.

This has been a wild ride. Reading these forums will make you crazy sometimes as there is so much great info. Got mine yesterday. Here are my initial impressions:

Picture Quality is excellent. We watched the HD Travels Bora Bora special on Disc HD and it was amazing. I at first had it hooked up via an HDMI cable to my 8300HD Scientific Atlanta HD-DVR through TW Cable CLT NC. It worked for a while and then all of a sudden quit working. I may have the handshake issue some others have had on this forum. Any solution yet?

The set does have a little glare, but not anymore than the other plasmas I looked at. Really not that noticible and I have a pretty bright room.

The set will look a lot bigger at home vs. the store. Can anyone say panny 37" :_)

Here are some questions I have. Any help is greatly appreciated:

1. What is the optimal way to setup your 8300HD and VIZIO settings to expand the non-HD channels to full screen? The heads of people seem to be getting cut off.

2. Any luck with getting HDMI to work? Is component a better option?

3. For the break in period, what are you setting your picture settings to? I have every thing set at 50 (Contrast, Brightness, etc.) right now, just being careful not to watch too much CNBC or ESPN. How many hours are you going to be careful for? I don't feel like running the nice loop someone created on the burn-in thread. Seems like a lot of trouble. If the screen is always expanded shouldn't the screen just break-in on its own?

4. Has anyone used the white wash yet? I have not seen any image retention thus far.

Thanks
ydhmailbox-chat

Update: 'Game ON!!'. When I hooked up the HDMI <-> DVI cable again, I went to that internal Motorola menu and saw a new DVI/YPbPr setting (as opposed to the previous solo YPbPr setting), which was still on 1080i and the 4:3 override was still on stretch. Went to Fifth Element, which I was using to test previously, and it looked freaking great. Better than componant, for sure. SD channels were using smart stretch and even had a better quality feel, although still crappy. Whew!

I just got off the phone with comcast to get the newer dual-tuner hdmi box, from searching the forums it looks like the SD quality is much better on that than the older single tunder dvi box I have now.

So you are using the cable box 4:3 stretch and setting the plasma to wide? Or did you regain the "panoramic" stretch mode on the plasma after fiddling with the boxes settings?

Right now my plan is to try switching between svideo for SD / hdmi for HD for a few days, and see if I can live with it. I'm hoping the newer box will send the right kind of signal (480i?) to allow panoramic over hdmi. I emailed their support asking what modes it was available on, but haven't gotten a response yet.

Anyone find a way to see the signal type (1080i, 720p, etc) on the on screen display? All I can see is the current input being used.

Thanks to all for the info and advice. I'm a total noob and have learned a ton, probably just enough to be dangerous :)

I am waiting for the Comcast HD box to come tonight, so this question is probably moot, but I'm curious and will ask anyway. The only way I've been able to get any channels so far is to plug my digital cable box into the TV input. Others have mentioned that if you plug the cable wire directly into the DTV input they've been able to receive digital and HD programming. When I plugged into the DTV input I received no channels. I tried the cable from the box as well as directly from the wall. Could I be missing something?

I also ordered a DVI-HDMI cable as well as a composite cable from monoprice. Terrific prices and hopefully they'll come today. I'm really looking forward to watching the game in HD tonight! I connected my dvd player by S-video and the picture is very vibrant. I can't wait to see how it looks with the composite cables.

Anyone find a way to see the signal type (1080i, 720p, etc) on the on screen display? All I can see is the current input being used.

Hit the "Info" button a few times.

I just got off the phone with comcast to get the newer dual-tuner hdmi box, from searching the forums it looks like the SD quality is much better on that than the older single tunder dvi box I have now.

So you are using the cable box 4:3 stretch and setting the plasma to wide? Or did you regain the "panoramic" stretch mode on the plasma after fiddling with the boxes settings?

Right now my plan is to try switching between svideo for SD / hdmi for HD for a few days, and see if I can live with it. I'm hoping the newer box will send the right kind of signal (480i?) to allow panoramic over hdmi. I emailed their support asking what modes it was available on, but haven't gotten a response yet.

Anyone find a way to see the signal type (1080i, 720p, etc) on the on screen display? All I can see is the current input being used.

The settings on the internal Motorola DCT 6412 menu are:

TV Type: 16:9
DVI/YPbPr Output: 1080i
4:3 Override: Stretch

My Vizio 'Special Features' setting (while using the HDMI connection) has the 'Wide Format' set to 'Wide'. No panoramic options. Things look great like this. I was only able to see the signal type when using the DTV tuner. Would be nice if that was available somewhere, for sure.

I am gonna just get an HDMI switch and an OPPO and leave it at that for a while. Good external audio will come later on.

Hit the "Info" button a few times.


Doesn't do anything via an HDMI connection. JUst shows the 'HDMI' in the upper right hand corner. What tuner/connection are you using?

Others have mentioned that if you plug the cable wire directly into the DTV input they've been able to receive digital and HD programming. When I plugged into the DTV input I received no channels. I tried the cable from the box as well as directly from the wall. Could I be missing something?



Have the TV automatically scan the DTV signal for channel, and it should find all of the available channels for you. If you just plug the co-ax into DTV, the TV won't display any channels prior to a scan (or a manual search).

Vizio must have gotten plenty of incentives/bonuses from cable TV providers as I read thru this thread that more and more people are subscribed to DTV cables such comcase, TWC after getting this Vizio... :D

I use Vivid 1. Do you think it's not good during 100 hours break-in period. For setting 45 or 50 on the color, the picture is not as good as Vivid 1. Anyone know what the default setting numbers for Vivid 1?

Have the TV automatically scan the DTV signal for channel, and it should find all of the available channels for you. If you just plug the co-ax into DTV, the TV won't display any channels prior to a scan (or a manual search).

I did a scan and nothing came up. Very confusing. Any other thoughts?

Doesn't do anything via an HDMI connection. JUst shows the 'HDMI' in the upper right hand corner. What tuner/connection are you using?

Sorry - I didn't catch that part. I'm using the DTV input.

I did a scan and nothing came up. Very confusing. Any other thoughts?Check your antenna connection and mount.

For those asking whether to use component or HDMI, in theory HDMI is better because it is pure digital. In reality it depends ENTIRELY on the box it's coming from. My HR10-250 HDTivos look much better with Component than HDMI. My upscaling DVD player looks much better with DVI-HDMI than with component. It really is source depedent, and like everything else in technology you should try it out yourself to see which one YOU like.

For those asking whether to use component or HDMI, in theory HDMI is better because it is pure digital. In reality it depends ENTIRELY on the box it's coming from. My HR10-250 HDTivos look much better with Component than HDMI. My upscaling DVD player looks much better with DVI-HDMI than with component. It really is source depedent, and like everything else in technology you should try it out yourself to see which one YOU like.

In that case, though, the Tivo is outputting the same resolution over both connectors, right? For upscaling DVD players, HDMI puts out 720p/1080i, whereas component connections are limited to 480p. Or, is your player putting out 480p over HDMI? Just making sure we're comparing apples to apples.

For upscaling DVD players, HDMI puts out 720p/1080i, whereas component connections are limited to 480p. Or, is your player putting out 480p over HDMI? Just making sure we're comparing apples to apples.

it depends on the player. some can actually output 720p/1080i over the component
as well as the dvi.

the p42hdtv seems to do quite a good job deinterlacing and upscaling 480i

it depends on the player. some can actually output 720p/1080i over the component
as well as the dvi.

the p42hdtv seems to do quite a good job deinterlacing and upscaling 480i

The vast majority of upscaling DVD players are limited to 480p over component. You are right that some allow it over component, but those are definitely the exception, and they are usually pulled very quickly once people find out about them ;)

I'm talking about any device that has both connectors as an option and can output the same format over either. The HD Tivo is one such device, as are some of the upscaling players, etc; It is dependent on the source.

New Vizio 42" HD

->New school Sony dvd/cd is now running progressive scan but as I mentioned, out of the 3 dvds I've tried, 2 look average at best, except for the Monster's inc. which looks very good.

->Have removed the Onkyo w/o even trying it out - b/c it's not hd (no progessive scan).

Maybe I need to get a higher quality DVD player. Are you guys running ridiculous DVD equipment? Or are you getting very good HD dvd via a $200 Sony unit.

None of today's DVD players are HD, but with similar hardware progressive scan should provide a better picture than interlaced. A higher performance DVD player should also make a difference, though unfortunately I find the quality of commercial DVDs is so variable that having better playback equipment doesn't guarantee a better picture on some discs. Try a higher quality DVD player with your setup and your DVD's and let your eyes tell if the difference is worth it to you. And why not try your Onkyo to see how its 480i picture compares with the Sony's 480p?

Are you talking about the $3000 5910, or is there another Denon that has gotten good reviews (yes, I'm too lazy to go the DVD hardware forum)?


I got mine for $1000. A Navy buddy of mine received orders overseas and he said that he had no use for it and sold it to me in conjuction with some Silver Serpent component cables(Better Cables)-AWESOME!

I could not afford the MSRP on the 5910. God bless him.

DVDs: The Monster's Inc. looked very good. Very good clarity and depth. But yes, Bourne Identity, and a Fleetwood Mac concert dvd are the only other dvds I've tried and they look poor for HD (IMO).

Home theater experts, follow me... (trying to figure out my HD DVD concerns...

->New school Sony dvd/cd is now running progressive scan but as I mentioned, out of the 3 dvds I've tried, 2 look average at best, except for the Monster's inc. which looks very good.

->Have removed the Onkyo w/o even trying it out - b/c it's not hd (no progessive scan).

Maybe I need to get a higher quality DVD player. Are you guys running ridiculous DVD equipment? Or are you getting very good HD dvd via a $200 Sony unit.

Just to clear things up. Progressive doesn't mean it's HD. It only means you're putting out a progressive signal (typically 480P for DVD). HD DVD is something totally different, which will be available shortly. Right now you have standard DVD going into an HDTV. Your HDTV doesn't make your standard DVD's HD.

EDIT-looks like someone else beat me to it. :)

Is 1080i better than 720p? Or does 720p equal to 1080i?

Have you compared that to the component video input? I'm trying to decide if it is worth it to buy an upconverting DVD player or just stick with my current progressive scan DVD player connected via component video. It looks pretty darn good to me so far.
No, I was so satisfied with the HDMI that I did not go further.

Jay

Is 1080i better than 720p? Or does 720p equal to 1080i?

A very loaded question ;). Again, the answer is "it depends". For some material I certainly prefer a 720p source over a 1080i source. But it depends on the material, your player, and the display. And a lot of personal preference. Honestly, don't let anyone say "this one is better than that one" and accept it, because blanket statements like that are wrong (unless we're saying 1080p is better than 1080i or 720p, which is certainly true).

I'm talking about any device that has both connectors as an option and can output the same format over either. The HD Tivo is one such device, as are some of the upscaling players, etc; It is dependent on the source.

Agreed - just making sure some people don't think that HDMI is an inherently better connection than component on an upscaling DVD player when, in fact, the resolutions may be completely different. I'm not saying one is better than the other - I certainly don't know. Just trying to clarify!

Just got a reply from Vizio support, no panoramic on HD inputs, even when using 480i/480p over them:

The Panoramic mode is not available when connected to the HD inputs component or HDMI. In order to view you non HD channels in Panoramic you can connect to the AV inputs

A very loaded question ;). Again, the answer is "it depends". For some material I certainly prefer a 720p source over a 1080i source. But it depends on the material, your player, and the display. And a lot of personal preference. Honestly, don't let anyone say "this one is better than that one" and accept it, because blanket statements like that are wrong (unless we're saying 1080p is better than 1080i or 720p, which is certainly true).

Well, theoretically then...all other factors being equal...which is supposed to be better? :p

Definitely depends on the source, also depends on the material. Like I said in an earlier post, a copy Sopranos season 1 (vol 2) doesn't look very good. Most likely due to poor/overly high compression. Maybe it's 4 hours of footage on single-side, single-layer...Resulting in artifacts. You're going to see that at any resolution. A copy of LOTR, OTOH, looks very very nice on my Pio DV-260.

I wonder if another poster's problem: Monster's Inc. vs Bourne Identity runs into this very compression issue?

...though I would have expected Bourne Identity to look as good as any other movie compression-wise, especially considering it's not nearly as long as something like, LOTR.

Neither is better. Each has a purpose. Some material will look better in 720p, some in 1080i ;)

Neither is better. Each has a purpose. Some material will look better in 720p, some in 1080i ;)

when you say material, what exactly do you mean by that? DVD, TV or equipment? thanks.

It is typically stated that 1080i is better for somewhat static images, while 720p is better for fast motion. If only it was so simple :)


It's still very much in debate, though.

if the vizio downconverts 1080i to 540p then upscales it, then 720p is going to lookbetter in all cases. refer to the thread on throwing away half the resolution if necessary.

interesting. has that been verified?

its been verified on some sets...noone has ever looked at the vizio to see how it does it.

Is 1080i better than 720p? Or does 720p equal to 1080i?

There you go. Asking one of those type of questioneses to stir it up a little bit. This belongs in another forum-not this one. Well, now that I'm here, I might as well add my pennies times two(that means 2 cents for ya'll that were slow).

On paper, 1080i creates a higher resolution.(one cent)

Your picture quality is only as strong as the components ability to process it.
(two cents)

Peace.

Are there any recommended color, brightness and contract setting for Sceptre TV? I thought I had read someone posted on this subject.

Just got my visio from costco. Any recommendations as to which HDMI dvd out there is any good. I'll probably stay away from the upconverts.

Just got my visio from costco. Any recommendations as to which HDMI dvd out there is any good. I'll probably stay away from the upconverts.
Why would you stay away from upscaling DVD players?

so is there a consensus that the newer and more recent the built number the more likely it is going to be problem free?

Well, I've had mine for a few days now and I do like it. Colors are very rich. I still do notice the lack of blacks and sharpness, but I do get some "pop" on HD, especially at night when the room is darker. I'm willing to accept it for the price. If I wouldnt know better, I would think its fantastic, but I see scenes that have that slight faded look, that I know could be better. My Visio L37 LCD had a sharper picture, but I am happy for now with the 42. No shutdowns and I am running through HDMI with dual tuner Motorola box. The only I thing I did notice last night, was a blue/greenish/violet kind of glow in some places (I noticed it in skin tones, on a wet pavement and in a white sweater). It was kinda weird, may have been the vodka.

Why would you stay away from upscaling DVD players?

Price I guess. Any recommenations ?

Just got my visio from costco. Any recommendations as to which HDMI dvd out there is any good. I'll probably stay away from the upconverts.


The entry level Denon 1920 w/HDMI is pretty good. And for about 100 bones less, you can get the Panasonic S77 which is also a good player.

Hi,

I've read through most of the threads about the Vizio 42, and picked on up on the 21st, seeing as it met my price target. This is the first HDplasma for me.
I've been following the component vs HDMI discussion and PQ issues. I picked up some Component cables yesterday to check the difference in quality from the S-video cable I've been using.
I have a Philips DVP642/37 progressive DVD player, and 50% of my watching will be for DVDs. I had watched Revenge of the Sith with S-video, and the difference with component output was startling. Much better black/white contrast and much brighter/vivid, even with the same settings. I'm trying to stick with <50 contrast and brightness for the first 100 hours or so.
I then put in a documentary, March of the Penguins, which has a lot of pure white icebergs and stark contrasts, and the picture looked horrible on the whites, almost grainy. Has anyone else tried watching DVDs with strong whites in them or better yet, March of the Penguins? I'm still in evaluation period with this set, and trying to understand if it's because of the quality of my DVD player, the DVD itself or just that my settings are wrong?

Thanks,

Pin2121

some players have issues when both s-video and component jacks are hooked up
at the same time, so that might be affecting your image.

note that the different inputs appear to have separate memories and each should be calibrated
separately prior to doing a-b comparisons.

I only have the component output connected, no other connections at this time, so I don't think it's that. I've tried other DVD's even compressed one's and they seem to look fine. It's either the fact that there are wide areas of whites which show up the gray scaling a lot, or, and this I find hard to believe in a documentary that won the Oscar for best documentary, that they compressed the picture before putting it on DVD?

march of the penguins was originally shot on 16mm film.
it should look grainer than the same content shot on 35mm.

grain actually makes mpeg-2 compression a much more difficult task.

None of today's DVD players are HD, but with similar hardware progressive scan should provide a better picture than interlaced. A higher performance DVD player should also make a difference, though unfortunately I find the quality of commercial DVDs is so variable that having better playback equipment doesn't guarantee a better picture on some discs. Try a higher quality DVD player with your setup and your DVD's and let your eyes tell if the difference is worth it to you. And why not try your Onkyo to see how its 480i picture compares with the Sony's 480p?


Thanks for the help, everyone.

I will plug in the onkyo for kicks. I thought progressive scan meant hd. Will advise, I'll retry bourne identity.

Still loving FREE hd (I'm not even paying for digital cable or any upgrades, just plain standard cable) on a lot of channels using the reg cable wire, plugged into the dtv input. 140 channels. About 10-12 are 1080.

Just got Comcast HD set up and am thrilled with the picture. I've found that the SD picture is a lot better than others have said, and the HD picture is fantastic. The blacks arent' great, but I haven't done any calibration yet. Is it worth it to get the Avia or DVE disk? Understand that I know nothing about calibration...

I set my HD box on 1080i and also checked out 720p. I couldn't tell a difference between the two while watching the basketball games. I've learned from this forum that each is better in different situations. Can someone let me know what those situations are :)

I ordered a DVI - HDMI cable for the box, and of course Comcast decided to install the DVR instead of the normal HD box, so I need an HDMI - HDMI connection instead. Anyone know if returns at monoprice are simple? I might just hang onto it anyway in case Comcast wants to trade out the box (I don't plan on paying for it but we'll see).

Anyway I'm very pleased with this TV. It's in the basement so light isn't an issue. I haven't noticed a problem at all with a washed out picture. My only gripe is with the blacks but I'm sure that will get a lot better once I've worked on the calibration. Thanks to all for all the great information.

I set my HD box on 1080i and also checked out 720p. I couldn't tell a difference between the two while watching the basketball games. I've learned from this forum that each is better in different situations. Can someone let me know what those situations are :)
Sure, just go back and read post #949 in this thread. :D

Just got Comcast HD set up and am thrilled with the picture. I've found that the SD picture is a lot better than others have said, and the HD picture is fantastic. The blacks arent' great, but I haven't done any calibration yet. Is it worth it to get the Avia or DVE disk? Understand that I know nothing about calibration...

I set my HD box on 1080i and also checked out 720p. I couldn't tell a difference between the two while watching the basketball games. I've learned from this forum that each is better in different situations. Can someone let me know what those situations are :)

I ordered a DVI - HDMI cable for the box, and of course Comcast decided to install the DVR instead of the normal HD box, so I need an HDMI - HDMI connection instead. Anyone know if returns at monoprice are simple? I might just hang onto it anyway in case Comcast wants to trade out the box (I don't plan on paying for it but we'll see).

Anyway I'm very pleased with this TV. It's in the basement so light isn't an issue. I haven't noticed a problem at all with a washed out picture. My only gripe is with the blacks but I'm sure that will get a lot better once I've worked on the calibration. Thanks to all for all the great information.


I have a Comcast HD subscription, as well. Although, I have the Motorola DCT 6412 which has the DVI port (trying to order a straight HDMI set top, at the moment).

I hooked up my set top box, initally, with componant cables. I thought it looked great. Then I got my DVI<->HDMI cable from monoprice and hooked it up. I had to go through a discovery process to figure out that when I hooked it up, the User Settings menu on the Motorola wen't back to default . Once I figured that out and set the picture settings back to 16:9/1080i/Stretch,.. holy sh*t!. The HDMI looked 10 times better than the componant.

Additionally, my cable from monoprice just bit the dust last night. For some reason it wouldn't properly make the handshake between the box and the TV and I received multiple 'your HD device is compromised' errors. From that point forward, all I got was a straight 480p signal from Comcast, I think. I ended up going to get a freakin high priced Monster cable *grumble*, which provided an even better picture quality than the monoprice cable. Anyway, go pure digital with HDMI. You won't regret it.

That's too bad about the cable. Did you ask monoprice about it? I just ordered an HDMI - HDMI cable from them. I hope I don't have the same problem!

That's great to hear about the better picture quality. I can't wait to get the cable set up.

With regard to the box, I think the standard HD box from Comcast has the DVI - HDMI connection while the DVR HD box has HDMI - HDMI. I asked for the standard, bought the DVI - HDMI, and of course Comcast installed the DVR box. I must admit that I think I'll like the DVR an awful lot, but paying $10 a month wasn't what I was looking to do...

That's too bad about the cable. Did you ask monoprice about it? I just ordered an HDMI - HDMI cable from them. I hope I don't have the same problem!

That's great to hear about the better picture quality. I can't wait to get the cable set up.

With regard to the box, I think the standard HD box from Comcast has the DVI - HDMI connection while the DVR HD box has HDMI - HDMI. I asked for the standard, bought the DVI - HDMI, and of course Comcast installed the DVR box. I must admit that I think I'll like the DVR an awful lot, but paying $10 a month wasn't what I was looking to do...


Yeah. I got the standard HD box w/DVI. The HDMI set tops are on a serious back order. Comcast are making me call back on a weekly basis to try to get one :/.

Monoprice have been good about the RMA for the cable. They will refund my $$ when they get it back. I will, at that point, order an HDMI->HDMI cable from em, I think. I will resell this moster cable on Ebay, or something, or keep it for my upconvert DVD player.

I have no idea how I ever survived before I got that dual tuner DVR. Seriously. There is no other way for me, personally.

I just purchased this set on Wednesday and finally hooked it up yesterday. I have a Comcast Motorola DVR/HD set top box and a Panasonic non-upconverting DVD player. Those are the two main components I need to hook up to the Vizio. I have a few questions as I am completely new to the HD/flat panel world.

I am going to order a HDMI to DVI cable to hook the box up to the tv. I am also going to order two sets of component cables from Monoprice. Do I need any other cables? What about an antenna? Which one should I get?

I am thinking about splitting the cable from the wall before it connects to anything. One end I will hook up to the DTV on the tv and the other end to the cable box. Is there any reason to split it three ways to one goes to the regular TV input, one to the DTV input and one to the cable box? My standard definition stations are ok, not great and not bad.

What settings should the box be on? I have it set to 1080i with the 4:3 override set to 480i.

I am going to download the burn-in disc from the other forum and run that as much as I can. Is there anything else I need to do? Settings, cables, etc? Thanks!

I have no idea how I ever survived before I got that dual tuner DVR. Seriously. There is no other way for me, personally.

That's what everyone keeps telling me!! For some reason I have tried to avoid it, but I think the time has come for it to take over my life as well...

Virginia, check your cable box before you order the cables. I think the Motorola DVR HD box is HDMI (not DVI), so you'll need the HDMI - HDMI cable instead. That, along with a set of component cables, should be all you need. You don't really need an antenna unless you want to get additional OTA channels that don't come through cable. You can check antennaweb to see what you might be capable of receiving. Installing an antenna is another issue...

I just purchased this set on Wednesday and finally hooked it up yesterday. I have a Comcast Motorola DVR/HD set top box and a Panasonic non-upconverting DVD player. Those are the two main components I need to hook up to the Vizio. I have a few questions as I am completely new to the HD/flat panel world.

I am going to order a HDMI to DVI cable to hook the box up to the tv. I am also going to order two sets of component cables from Monoprice. Do I need any other cables? What about an antenna? Which one should I get?

I am thinking about splitting the cable from the wall before it connects to anything. One end I will hook up to the DTV on the tv and the other end to the cable box. Is there any reason to split it three ways to one goes to the regular TV input, one to the DTV input and one to the cable box? My standard definition stations are ok, not great and not bad.

What settings should the box be on? I have it set to 1080i with the 4:3 override set to 480i.

I am going to download the burn-in disc from the other forum and run that as much as I can. Is there anything else I need to do? Settings, cables, etc? Thanks!

Don't need an antenna, I suppose. You can split the coax cable fromt he wall and connect it to the DTV input and scan for HD channels. I didn't have much luck when I tried it with Comcast. I got a few local channels and a shload of those digital music stations. Splitiing it 3 ways, for me, was just creating a lot of redundancy and possibly hampering my signal. I use the HD service through the set top box, which looks great. Comcast didn't charge me any extra to start sending the HD signal. I guess it was included in my package.

Set the Motorola STB User Settings to 16:9/1080i (or 720p if you determine it looks better)/Stretch on the 4:3 override. The stretch setting will make it so your regular SD channels don't get the side bar action and it usually looks fairly good.

Somebody asked a question about Avia Calibration and DVE disks that was not answered. What are they and where can they be obtained?

I also notices that HDMI cables are sold very cheaply on eBay from reliable sellers (at least by their score). Has anybody had success there?

Tom

When I set the 4:3 override to stretch, it takes away the use of the menu, guide, dvr and on demand screens. I will try again today and hope for the best.

It's a DVD that has simple test patterns (or technical if you are that knowledgable) that you can use to precisely calibrate your television.

I bought mine on Amazon. I have seen it in a big box store also...can't recall which one or where though.

so after two weeks of flawless use, i encounter my first problem with the tv last nite. i was not able to get any video signal, from any of the inputs, components, dtv, cable, nothing. the ony thing that i was able to get was an audio signal when it was switched to dtv. after fussing with it for a few, i decided to just unplug the tv and let it sit for a minute or two. plugged it back in, and it's been working fine since

anyone else came across this? <scratches head>

so after two weeks of flawless use, i encounter my first problem with the tv last nite. i was not able to get any video signal, from any of the inputs, components, dtv, cable, nothing. the ony thing that i was able to get was an audio signal when it was switched to dtv. after fussing with it for a few, i decided to just unplug the tv and let it sit for a minute or two. plugged it back in, and it's been working fine since

anyone else came across this? <scratches head>


OOf! Yuck. No. *knock on wood*

When I set the 4:3 override to stretch, it takes away the use of the menu, guide, dvr and on demand screens. I will try again today and hope for the best.

Interesting. Don't see that over here with the Motorola DC 6412 and Comcast.

Has anyone checked whether this tv supports discrete inputs. i.e. directly go to a particular input etc.

Doubt it since the same button switches between components, etc;

I bought this TV on monday, but just set it up yesterday. I hooked up my Old regular Xbox, using Monster component cables. When i started to play Halo2, it was immediately noticed that there seemed to be some weird lag with the movement of my controller.
This doesn't happen when im hooked up to my Sony CRT, just a minute before i hooked it up to this TV.

Has anyone else noticed this type of problem? or can suggest some of the settings that i might change?

I did try all 3 settings on my xbox for Regular video, then 480p, and then 720p. None of them worked.

Has anyone checked whether this tv supports discrete inputs. i.e. directly go to a particular input etc.

Check your remote near the bottom. It's the TV/ AV / COMPONENT/ HDMI buttons.

Somebody asked a question about Avia Calibration and DVE disks that was not answered. What are they and where can they be obtained?

I also notices that HDMI cables are sold very cheaply on eBay from reliable sellers (at least by their score). Has anybody had success there?

Tom

If you don't want to purchase one and have Netflix you can just rent it. They carry the Avia disc.

HDMI problems:

I am using an OPPO DVD player with a DVI to HDMI cable. I was having a problem with "sparklies" which are random green dots that show up on the display. Someone on this thread had said that this is generally a cabling issue. I purchased a 3' DVI/HDMI cable from monoprice.com and replaced the old (functioning with another TV) cable. The problem was slightly better, but it was still there. By the way, a very well made cable for the price. I am sorry, I can't spend $120 on a Monster cable that is using $1.50 in components. Call me cheap!

Sat on hold with Vizio for 15 minutes and the tech support person told me that there were handshake issues with some devices and had not heard of this particular (OPPO) DVD player. He suggested that I use the component connection. Although the picture looks good, it is not as good as with HDMI (minus the sparkles).

I decided to play around with the setup and here is what I discovered. If I set the output of the DVD player to 480P, the sparklies disappear. If I set it to 720p or 1080i, then the sparklies come back.

It seems that the Vizio can't handle the higher bandwidth with 720p or 1080i. I will copy this message and send it to Vizio, but I am unsure if anyone will read it because I did not get a response from my email on Monday.

Hope this helps anyone with similar problems.

Went to BB to check out their models/quality before heading to buy the Vizio and was able to see a broad variety of picture quality among plasmas. Of course the low end had the "foggy", washed out picture of the Magnavox and cheaper Philips, but the high end blew me away...and above that was the Panasonic 37 in. The clarity, black quality and shadow detail was spectacular.

At the store where you buy the Vizio, I could not get past the how the picture of the Vizio was not as clear as the mid range sets at BB. I was still ready to buy based on value until I noticed the complete lack of shadow detail compared to all other sets within vision. It was like missing half of the scene. No amount of adjustment on the controls could correct this. So, unfortunately, I am waiting for a more acceptable model...or springing for the Panasonic. I would rather spend an extra couple hundred than be dissatisfied with the amount spent on the Vizio.

From what I saw, I would subjectively rank in order as follows (generally!): Panasonic, (Pioneer, Hitachi), (Samsung, LG), Philips, Maxent, Vizio and finally Magnavox.

Alright. Does anyone know how to access the darn service menu, yet?!

There are no true discrete commands (power or input) for the vizio, according to their tech support. They do, though, have buttons which allow you to toggle through specific input types (ie. only component, HDMI, etc). At least they put that in :)

Went to BB to check out their models/quality before heading to buy the Vizio and was able to see a broad variety of picture quality among plasmas. Of course the low end had the "foggy", washed out picture of the Magnavox and cheaper Philips, but the high end blew me away...and above that was the Panasonic 37 in. The clarity, black quality and shadow detail was spectacular.

At the store where you buy the Vizio, I could not get past the how the picture of the Vizio was not as clear as the mid range sets at BB. I was still ready to buy based on value until I noticed the complete lack of shadow detail compared to all other sets within vision. It was like missing half of the scene. No amount of adjustment on the controls could correct this. So, unfortunately, I am waiting for a more acceptable model...or springing for the Panasonic. I would rather spend an extra couple hundred than be dissatisfied with the amount spent on the Vizio.

From what I saw, I would subjectively rank in order as follows (generally!): Panasonic, (Pioneer, Hitachi), (Samsung, LG), Philips, Maxent, Vizio and finally Magnavox.



1. Buy the Vizio.
2. Take it home.
3. Set it up.
4. Give it a quality cable/satellite feed with some high quality video cables.(C****o has to split their ONE signal about TWENTY-FIVE times while using generic cables, and don't get me started on those 1000 watt heat lamps above that reflect greatly off the screen!

I guarantee that the picture quality will be 9 times better!!!

I'm running the Toshiba K850SU DVD player, purchased at the same time and place as the Vizio, via supplied (cheapo) HDMI cables. No sparklies here at any of the settings (1080i, 720p, 480p). Just not happy with the PQ or aspect ratio on the Vizio with ANY input (component not tested yet). Cannot recommend the Toshiba for anything but testing due to freezes.
stu

DrewTech,

Believe me, I wanted to buy it...BAD!!! And I hear you on the split signal; it was ridiculous (also the heat lamps). But I was comparing that picture with other screens that were fed the same crappy signal, yet still had blacks and shadow detail. It was too much like the lesser displays (that I didnot care for) at BB for me to let go of the cash. I'm sure it would look grea tonce I got it home (with no comparison), but I would always know what I was missing.

DrewTech,

Believe me, I wanted to buy it...BAD!!! And I hear you on the split signal; it was ridiculous (also the heat lamps). But I was comparing that picture with other screens that were fed the same crappy signal, yet still had blacks and shadow detail. It was too much like the lesser displays (that I didnot care for) at BB for me to let go of the cash. I'm sure it would look grea tonce I got it home (with no comparison), but I would always know what I was missing.

Excellent point there, mttpalmer. Your perception is your own and cannot be taken from you. Good luck with you TV purchase-D/T

There are no true discrete commands (power or input) for the vizio, according to their tech support. They do, though, have buttons which allow you to toggle through specific input types (ie. only component, HDMI, etc). At least they put that in :)

So is there any way to use a universal remote and have 1 button that will turn the tv on and set it to the appropriate input.

So is there any way to use a universal remote and have 1 button that will turn the tv on and set it to the appropriate input.


sure, buy a harmony remote and tell it to use the p50hdm as the tv display.
works fantastic for my two component, 2 composite, and 1 rgb inputs.

i'm not too sure that i'd want to try getting all the toggles to
work properly using the mx series of universal remotes.

(i've programmed these and they're great when discrete codes
are available, but toggles cause unacceptable WAF headaches)

Warehouse is getting smarter, but there are few buyers. They now set up the Vizio away from the other displays to make it harder for people to compare PQ between different tvs. Apparently, Warehouse employees have been reading this board. Just kidding. But it's not hard to see how poorly the Vizio looks next to a Panny or Pioneer. I am sad to say the picture is still hazy or washed-out. The earlier buying frenzy might have subsided as each of the three local warehouses I went to has about 10 units each as of today. While I don't care for this particular model, I think making flat tvs affordable is step in the right direction. And who knows? Perhaps the other brands will be inspired to offer their own affordable models soon.

Yes. This is what mine did when I first powered it up out of the box (bad sign), my SN begins with "05". It has happened several times already.. the set needs to be unplugged for 5 minutes or so, then it works. I am returning it to COSTCO and swapping it out.. Vizio offered to ship one by truck, but then I would have to take a day off work to meet the driver...

Mitch

so after two weeks of flawless use, i encounter my first problem with the tv last nite. i was not able to get any video signal, from any of the inputs, components, dtv, cable, nothing. the ony thing that i was able to get was an audio signal when it was switched to dtv. after fussing with it for a few, i decided to just unplug the tv and let it sit for a minute or two. plugged it back in, and it's been working fine since

anyone else came across this? <scratches head>

sure, buy a harmony remote and tell it to use the p50hdm as the tv display.
works fantastic for my two component, 2 composite, and 1 rgb inputs.

i'm not too sure that i'd want to try getting all the toggles to
work properly using the mx series of universal remotes.

(i've programmed these and they're great when discrete codes
are available, but toggles cause unacceptable WAF headaches)

I use a rs-2116. I've programmed the remote such that when i hit the SAT button, it turns the tv on and switches it to the sat input. Now if i want to switch to dvd, the tv on command is a no-op and it switches to the dvd input. How does the harmony accomplish this without discrete power on/off.

Anyone... is there any way to get the pictur adjustment menu's to the bottom of the screen to see test pattersn? Has no one used Avia or DVE to calibrate this set?

HDMI problems:

I am using an OPPO DVD player with a DVI to HDMI cable. I was having a problem with "sparklies" which are random green dots that show up on the display. Someone on this thread had said that this is generally a cabling issue. I purchased a 3' DVI/HDMI cable from monoprice.com and replaced the old (functioning with another TV) cable. The problem was slightly better, but it was still there. By the way, a very well made cable for the price. I am sorry, I can't spend $120 on a Monster cable that is using $1.50 in components. Call me cheap!

Sat on hold with Vizio for 15 minutes and the tech support person told me that there were handshake issues with some devices and had not heard of this particular (OPPO) DVD player. He suggested that I use the component connection. Although the picture looks good, it is not as good as with HDMI (minus the sparkles).

I decided to play around with the setup and here is what I discovered. If I set the output of the DVD player to 480P, the sparklies disappear. If I set it to 720p or 1080i, then the sparklies come back.

It seems that the Vizio can't handle the higher bandwidth with 720p or 1080i. I will copy this message and send it to Vizio, but I am unsure if anyone will read it because I did not get a response from my email on Monday.

Hope this helps anyone with similar problems.That's exactly how to tell your cable has a bandwidth problem.

just returned from you know where and they had a 42"Pioneer right next to the Vizio and although the Pioneer looked a tad better i think the Vizio for the price is the better buy.

but thats just me..;)

i got a raincheck and will return Sat. Morning to have another look.