2009 Vizio XVT Series: 240Hz, USB input, LED backlight [NO PRICE TALK] - Page 160

My local Sams just had them on clearance for $1050.00 but they are all gone now.

Damn that is a good price! I'd have picked up a couple more for other rooms in the house if my local sams offered that price. Must have been a been there at the right time thing eh?

Looks like the new XVT553SV may not have functioning USB ports either. From the manual on page 14:
Side Panel Connections
1. USB 1, 2, and 3:
 Reserved for future functions.
 Service port for use by a professional service technician.

http://www.vizio.com/documents/downl...r%20Manual.pdf

The old 551 is tried and true

amazon has put the date for the 423 as aug 15th and for the 473 as aug 30th. anyone heard anything about the release date about the 553?

i know vizio said july but i doubt that is happening.

I find that incredible. What is the matter with these guys!!
Looks like my 42" sceptre will be around a lot longer.

And I do not like this either:QUOTE

Updating your TV
Your HDTV has the ability to download and automatically install product updates. All you need is an
Internet connection - wired or wireless. We will perform product updates whenever your TV is turned off.
End quote.

The owner should be able to refuse FW updates.(If it works do not fix it)
Should be given a choice like with the VIA applications.

Bummer


Eugene

I have the SV421XVT. My setup includes a panasonic bluray player and a Directv HD-DVR (HR22-100).

A few weeks ago I started noticing some distortion on the screen especially in dark scenes. It almost seems like it's electronic interference of some kind as the distortion comes and goes every few seconds. Faces are pixelated on many different types of shows but its way way worse on shows filmed in low light (trueblood, harry potter movies etc). I replaced the hd-dvr with a newer model and the problem remained.

When watching bluray movies on this tv there is quite a bit of "snow" or whatever you call it. You can see the full picture but faces and walls etc have snow so the picture lacks the sharpness or clearness you expect from HD.

Directv replaced my dish, replaced the hd-dvr and checked the cables. They finally gave up and said we have no idea whats wrong.

So when watching tv on directv the problem is distortion and pixelation. When watching bluray movies the problem is "snow" but faces don't look pixelated. Instead faces look "sparkle" from the snow.

It's either my tv or something in my home is interfering with my hdtv somehow. Anyone have a problem like this????

I have had my 551 for about 9 months now. Just recently the backlight over an area covering the lower foot from the bottom of the screen across the whole width started to 'flicker'. Just recently (yesterday) it started to switch off for several seconds at a time. It looks like a whole bank of LEDs are cutting out.

Has anyone seen anything similar?

Let me add another one. My 552 hates fire. In scenes where there's fire, so bright yellow and flickering, I see a grid pattern. Not pixellation. More like the actual screen grid showing through.

I've had my 552 for almost 4 months and it seems to be getting more prominent.

Anyone else have this issue? Or can anyone explain what's happening?

hey guys

i am helping a friend choose a TV, and one of the models he is looking at is the 552XVT. can someone please outline the good and the bad about this TV, as reading thru 160 pages would take forever!!!

in comparison, he is also looking at the Sammy 2010 LEDs, and last year's Regza 670SV

Let me mention the items that I consider essential.

Screen to be covered with a non reflective layer, size 55" to 60".(for shaving I use a mirror)

ACTIVE LED BACK lighting, edge lighting is a BIG no no.

Internet like Netflix

Constant volume, analog audio out for my wireless head set.

Active USB for watching JPG or videos from HDD or thumb drive.

Price less than $2500

The 552 did all that for me, unfortunately had to return it to Cosco because of problems.

I was looking for a 60" but none met the above for me.


Eugene

Correction: The USB port on the 552 was not activated.

Eugene, all reports I've seen say that USB is disabled on the 552. Did you have the 551?

Marc

Sorry Marc,
USB was not activated and was one of the two main reasons I returned the 552 within my 90 day window.
If it had been operational I would have kept it. My reasoning was that V had at least 9 month, from the time of the 552 design to the time I returned it, to open the USB ports. I feared that there was a major design flaw, so that USB would never be activated on the 552.

But reading the manual for the upcoming 553 (replacement for the 552) showed that the USB ports are NOT operational there either. Wonder if there is a licensing problem? Or are they using the same design?

I had plans to get the 553 but at the moment there is no way! So I am looking at other manufacturers and hope that one of their products will match my requirements.

At the moment I am making do with a 42" Sceptre in combination with a WD-TV and Roku black box. One reason I jumped on the 552 was that these two boxes would not be needed any more.

And it is refreshing to read the 2005 Sceptre specs: contrast ratio 1000!! HONEST FOLKS!!!!!!
And consider that,today, even the BEST LC sets are having great difficulty getting better than 2000 when measuring the contrast ratio as they did in 2005 at Sceptre!!!

Eugene

It looks like the XVT553SV will be out soon, it's available for pre-order now from Amazon. I wish the USB ports worked, that's been my main obstacle for not jumping on the 552. I definitely do not want a 3D TV, so I'd like to go with the 553 before it goes away. The 552 still doesn't have USB, so I'm not 100% sure I want to gamble on the 553. I have a lot of AVI's that I would like to play on it, and my computer is not that close to the TV. I tried out the USB playback on a friend's Samsung and was pleasantly surprised at the quality even though they were standard def format. I'm sure HD ones would look a lot better.

FLYSAAB

Exact same situation here. I guess time will tell.
Eugene

if you like all the features the 552 does have, and the non-working USB slots mean you cannot stream video from flash memory....then this is a work-around that will meet your requirements.

The Western Digital TV Live Plus box can stream just about any video or audio codec over an HDMI connection. The USB flash or hard drive can plug into the TV Live Plus box and you are done.

granted, Vizio has screwed the pooch on their inability to get something as simple as USB ports to work, but for around $120 you have another input option. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...%20live%20plus

I've called them and they said they would get back to me on an ETA on the USB activation. That was last Thursday. It is so frustrating. Look up my post history, I'm on my 3rd replacement TV.

According to another thread here, a Vizio marketing rep said to look for the 553 in Q4 or even Q1 next year... can it really be that far off??

Doesn't make sense since already online at Sam's and Amazon.

I have called every 2 weeks since February about USB activation, and though customer service is sympathetic, when pressed for answers they all say there is simply no way for them to gain information until Engineering decides to tell them. None have ever heard of this even being on the radar of product team. None have ever attempted to share an ETA or call back with more information.

I am ticked off beyond words by this USB situation. Do we have to file a class action or flood the President of the company's desk with letters to be heard?

My set also has a problem dealing with Fire/Strobe/Explosion scenes. No matter what settings or input type I use, there are horizontal lines at about 2 to 4 inches apart that are across the entire width of the screen when either fire, strobing light effects, or explosions are rendered.

Anyone else have this or any guesses if this is something explainable or just a set going bad?

Thanks in advance.

I returned my 552 , one of the reasons was the missing USB. Did not have any issues with picture quality, just that a number of items did not work.
I was really fired up about the 55" and excellent PQ when I got the set. Much calmer now, watching a 42 Sceptre and will do that a long time unless Vizio gets their act together and has everything working. Outlook for USB is not very rosy as I see it, there has to be a major problem with the sets in the field, or it would have been activated a long time ago, at the factory.
In fact have been looking at some 60" sets but they MUST have back, not edge lighting.

Eugene

I'm sorry to hear that being that you seemed to be happy with most everything else on the set.

This is a tough one. There are very few LCD/LED sets that are fully backlit with local dimming. There is the Vizio 551/552/upcoming 553......and the LG Infinia 8500. The Sony HX909 is their only fully backlit set at 52" and very expensive.

The 553 looks not to have the USB ports working for now.

The LG 8500 has received excellent reviews, however it's not perfect. It's highly reflective, so you have to be able to control ambient light. It's also said to have banding issues.....though I personally have not seen this.

You may have to move to a plasma set to find what you are looking for.

Update -- I was having trouble with my DVR/receiver, so I exchanged it for a new one. Suddenly my picture quality is significantly improved! Still not perfect, but I'm getting FAAAAR less pixellation and/or background grid with fire scenes. Flashes are not distorting as much either. So it's not the TV so much as the quality of signal coming in. I'm back to liking my 552 a lot again.

I still have signal reception problems with USA Network HD and SyFy Network HD.

==================================

Are you noticing this kind of pixelation?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008271

If so your providing may be trying to getaway with compressed signals. Unfortunately fire, flashes and explosions are "fast scenes" and REQUIRES high bitrates.

Stain Smear problem:

I have had a 552 since the VIP program and have noticed the smear since early on. I have two 2 to 3 inch by 1/2 inch stains in the top left quadrant that are apparent over Netflix/WiFi, the Vizio BlueRay over HDMI and a cable box over HDMI. It is difficult to make out for most people unless I point it out but is brutally apparent in motion against a light screen. Hockey in particular with fast motion over a white background, or panning against the sky in a movie, are really noticable. It is apparent faintly as well on the Netflix que screen where the white background is still.

The world cup was the final straw, where it really was a distraction (over HD or SD) against the green turf. The stain just sits there in the same spot as the background constantly pans around.

Didn't really want to deal with an exchange but finally got so frustrated that I had to act so emailed Vizio support over the weekend and was asked to send in pictures. I haven't been able to replicate a PC input as others in the thread have, so instead emailed them pics of taken with 2 different cameras (all about 2mb shots with fairly good resolution) but I haven't been able to get a really great clear picture. They have called back twice now saying they just can't see it.

I finally sent them a mp4 video file (of the world cup on cable on demand) with 3 7 second clips that show it fairly well. However Vizio support can't open mp4 files or access a youtube site where I can put them. So I just sent them an avi file which isn't as clear as the mp4 file. If they can't open that, I can send them a wmv file which is even less clear.

Can't figure out what to do to get a really clear shot of it as its faint against a still background.

I've even tried a suggestion from others on this forum of burning some white, red and gray backgrounds to a dvd and playing it on the screen, however its really faint against the white screen and almost impossible to get a shot of.

Any suggestions?

While difficult to demonstrate in a photo, I am certain (even had wife confirm it) that its the same 'stain' or 'smear' that has been identified by others in this forum. I just need to convince Vizio of it.

Suggest you ask Vizio to send out a tech to look at the set in person.

Last night while watching my VF552XVT, I noticed that something was off with the calibration settings. I went into the picture settings menu and found that the option for smart dimming was gone and was replaced with something called "Backlight Control". This new feature has 3 settings: Off, DCR, and OPC. So I went into the help menu to look at the system info and the software version says:

Vizio-B1.31.0_04

But, wait for it, the info says that my tv is now a SV422XVT (which btw is not an LED tv).

OK! Apparently in the last few days an update was sent to the tv that flagged it as a 42 inch LCD. The only thing I can think of is that the programmers listed my tv's serial number under SV422XVT.

At this point I really wish that I could go back to the original software that was loaded at the factory. If I could go back to the old software, I would disable the network connection on the tv and forget about ever using the VIA apps and at least I would never get another update to FUBAR the tv.

Weird..........don't panic.......just call them.

I put in a service call to their website this morning. Sometimes it's easier to get satisfaction when you have an electronic trail. We'll see what happens.

I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised by the level of response that I have received from Vizio with regards to my request for service help. Kudos to those CSRs and to Vizio. There are very few companies left today that seem to genuinely care about their customers. While I have not yet resolved my problem, simply because I have not been home yet to talk to Vizio's technician, I am confident that Vizio will be able to fix it tonight.