Official Vizio XVT3SV Series NO PRICE or Coupon talk - Page 7

Has anyone actually seen the display set up in Sams? I know their picture settings are probably garbage, but I'd like to get a feel for the set in person.

Just a random question here...

Has anyone gone from a 60" to a 55"? I'm probably going to be doing that, even though I hate to do it. Is the size difference noticeable enough to be an annoyance?

Uziel is absolutely correct. In my haste I mistakenly crossquoted two different products. Apple TV is the separate box that is likely to be available with the above described changes in the given timeframe, however.....

Apple is also working on an HDTV that will likely be the most web-accessible television on the market. It's a brand new piece of hardware separate and distinct from Apple TV. Information is sparse but can be found by searching macrumors and several other sites. A separate design team and engineers are working on this project. Some recently departed Apple employees have attested to this. When will it arrive? Who knows. Apple wants to own the living room now. A separate box that attaches to the TV is cumbersome. Apple TV (small box that connects to TV) is a steppingstone, but the future is a completely integrated piece of hardware that you can bet your booty Apple wants people buying sooner rather than later.

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/07/02/...he-next-level/

Thats all well and good but take it the Mac forum.

This may help you figure it out: http://www.displaywars.com/60-inch-16x9-vs-55-inch-16x9

is the 47" out as well or just the 55"?

I mention it here because if one is considering dropping ~2K for an internet-connected TV, I for one would like to know what the competition is likely to be selling in the next 6 months to a year. I still bought the Vizio, others might choose to wait.

Of course if you've got something more useful to post about this TV, I'm sure everyone would appreciate seeing it.

How is the quality coming out for Netflix with this TV? I know the previous model had some issues...

47" should be out at the end of the month.

Playing the Costco waiting game here. No sugar yet.

I posted that when I first got my set, it rebooted a couple of times. It started doing it again last night and I was able to troubleshoot the issue.

I have a WD TV Live that I use to play content. Last night I tried to watch something and there was no sound. When I switched to another input, the TV rebooted. It turns out that if the WD TV Live is set to digital audio out, and you have it plugged directly into an HDMI port on the TV, and the audio stream on the file is DTS, the TV will not play the audio and it will reboot when you switch to any other input.

The easy fix was to change the audio out on the WD TV Live to "stereo" instead of digital, and now all works well.

After speaking with the Vizio sales dept and the tech support dept the consensus is the firmware update that addresses the activation of the USB ports is scheduled for late fall early winter. I'm a little skeptical but optomistic.

Off-Axis Viewing?

My room does not allow viewing only directly in front of the tv.

Do the colors wash out; or other negative effects occur when watching from a 45 dgree angle?

Thanks.

I'm really slammed at my day-job and then I'm heading into the back-country for a week, but I'll try to answer some of the questions.

I'm not a gamer, so I can't really comment, but it does have custom settings for gaming.

I've not really used the "Smooth Motion" processing (I like the look of film), but what I saw looked good -- at least I didn't see any noticeable artifacting but really didn't spend that much time with it. If I get a chance, I'll put it through its paces with the Stacy Spears "torture test" for video processing.

I'll check out the off-access viewing.

A couple of other observations. I wish they had an option to kill the "Vizio" light in the front. When watching in a dark room, it is distracting. A little electricians tape should fix that.

The screen surface is diffuse, which is good because I have windows behind the sitting area; however, the frame is convex and very reflective. I don't know why they would have done this (my other Vizio had a diffuse frame), but it is annoying during the day in that you can see the windows and the blinds reflecting on the frame.

I watched the Blu-ray LOTR last night with no ambient lights. The Mines of Moria scene was spectacular with deep blacks and amazing shadow detail -- some of the best I've seen on an LCD.

I also watched Wall-e. Star-scapes are hard to do with smart dimming because a whole LED array must be on to only display a pin-point of light. Anyway, there were a few times I could see halos around the stars, and during the fades I could sometimes see the LED's turn off.

Still, I prefer this occasional artifact to the permanent gray-blacks of other LCD technology.

I have a JVC RS20 with a Video EQ to bring grayscale and color to within a Delta Error of 3 or less, so I like to think I have some reference with which to compare the Vizio.

Again, it is not a perfect display device, but for the price is does a lot of things right. If the occasional "halo" artifact is annoying, don't get this set. If you watch in a room with ambient light, the halos are generally not noticeable, so consider your viewing environment (most consumers don't watch TV in a completely black room). I think most buyers who are accustomed to buying TVs at Costco will consider the Vizio a major step-up in PQ with HDTV and especially Blu-ray.

Amazon is now out of the XVT553SV. Shows as "pre-order."

Sams Club says the same.

Dell now shows the 553 as available, and has a heck of a deal on the 552's.

I received the TV yesterday and watched it for a few hours. It's a nice TV and I put it to the test by watching regular TV, HD TV, and Blu ray. When watching a regular show in non-HD, it is crappy but this is expected. When watching HD TV, the quality is really dependent on the show or movie. So you think you can dance HD was pretty good, MLB HD was even better, and Monsters vs Aliens HD was the best. Animation movies always look very clear on these televisions which is why they play them at Frys and Sears. Now for Blu ray, Spider Man 3 was Ok, GI Joe was better, and Avatar was the best. A friend of mine has the 552 and the picture quality is already great for that TV.

In summary, the 552 and 553 are pretty similar in picture quality and performance. The main difference is the depth (5" vs. 3") and the finish where 553 does not have the silver bar below. The difference in contrast ratio is huge at 8 million but I don't see the difference.

I have not had a chance to play with the picture settings that Nano posted and will try over the weekend.

By far, I am not an expert on tv reviews nor good at looking out for those tiny details. If the tv looks great, that's all that matters to me. The 552 and 553 are selling at the same price so for those who are debating on purchasing this tv, why purchase an older model when you can buy the newer one for the same price. If there was a difference in price and it was significant, I would buy the 552. Otherwise, I am happy with my 553 TV.

Does the FW upgrade on the 553 work the same as the 552, in other words does it update automatically or do you now have a choice of if and when you want to update it.

The auto update and loosing all your picture settings really turned me off with the 552.

I've had a couple of people ask me why I said Dell has a deal on the 552. Since I can't talk price all I can say is check out dealnews..

I would be very skeptical...the last firmware update on the old 552 was February, about the time the TV became available at retailers. The 552 tech specs says the USB ports are for future multimedia functionality...but it never happened. I would expect the firmware your 3sv series has now will be it...

As per the user manual available on vizio's website for the 3sv series on page 14 ,It states - [Side Panel Connections
USB 1, 2, and 3:
. Reserved for future functions.
. Service port for use by a professional service technician ] Why is this still an issue?

Another review
http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/vizi...ruled-lcd-hdtv

I saw them at BJs warehouse club. They were good looking budget TVs, the low end 55 inch was $1229 (1080P/120hz), i liked the matte screen (low reflectivity) but did not care for the cheap base.

The picture quality was very good, just a little below the Sonys and Samsungs ... but not much!

The higher end 55 inchers had 240hz and apps and a better base, with the top one breaking the $1700 mark.

The $1229 model is ultra tempting ... if my budget was tight thats what i would be buying. but Im going to go ahead and go for a 60 inch Sharp, and pay the big bucks.

OT - As I there is an ad blocking the "Thread Tools" drop down, I have to reply in order to subscribe to this thread.

Anyone know how to get around this? I tried with IE8 and Chrome.

BazzX

I've had this happen to me too. I closed the window and went back into it and I was able to select the Thread Tools using IE8.

Update: The settings posted previously were for a well-lit room and are not the best. I hadn't had much time to play with them. With those settings in a darkened room you'll probably need sunglasses. After a week of fiddling, I've found that tweaking the "standard" setting (one of multiple preset picture settings) gives outstanding flesh tones and a superb picture for watching most movies.

Agree with comment on USB. Multiple Vizio reps have said company is committed to activating them at later date (unlike the last time). We live in hope.

Played some VUDU trailers this week in HDX (1080p)....amazing. Even SD movies in 480p (DVD quality) from Netflix look very good and are completely watchable, but you really get spoiled fast on the 1080p content. Shop around before renting or buying through the apps. Prices on the same movie (rent and buy) are all over the map (VUDU, Netflix, Amazon). You'll probably need 9.0 Mbs download speed to keep the the Vudu HDX working smoothly. Although it says it will work with 4.5-9.0, it burped a few times when download speed dropped. Comcast is working fine for me most of the time.

Firmware is autoupdate, NOT on demand. Vizio says not to interfere with it until it's done. I've not had one yet.

Yahoo finance and weather apps have a few bugs that I've reported. Vizio claims they will be pushing updates down soon for these.

Best comment of the week from the lady of the house who walked in when I was playing a VUDU trailer of Despicable Me:

"Wow, we don't have to go to the movies anymore, the picture is better here".

It's a keeper. Box tossed today.

For those with the TV I am curious how far your seating area is from it?

BJ's now selling them online (shipping fee prohibitive) as well as in stock in local warehouse clubs (at least in MA)

P.S. It's tax free in MA this weekend.

10.5 feet from screen to head

Because the remote is bluetooth and not IR, I'm assuming I would not be able to use an IR Repeater to hide my components connected to this tv, correct? I had been thinking about buying one of the following IR Repeaters from Big River:

http://www.amazon.com/Next-Generatio...1819183&sr=8-6

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmo...1819183&sr=8-7

It's a combination IR and Bluetooth remote. See post #145 for a link to the owner's manual, however, it won't tell you much more on this.