Official Vizio XVT3SV Series NO PRICE or Coupon talk - Page 158

My 553 was bought in August of 2010. I have the latest firmware update and don't see any issues with stuttering and I have been looking carefully.

For those that do have this issue, let us know if/when it gets resolved and the details.

Thanks

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on an XVT553SV. I figure it I'm going to do it, I'd better do it before the model disappears.

As you know, this unit is about a year old.

The down side is that it won't have the latest, greatest technology. (If the set is as good as the reviews, I can live with that.)

The up side is that it won't have the latest, greatest technology. (By this time most of the major problems should be known.)

Here's my question to those of you who already own this set:

Knowing what you know now, would you buy this set again?

If not, why?

If not, what would you buy?

Thanks,

Burt

I would buy this set all over again. At it's current price point, it's a steal.

If I was looking at a set today and the 553 was unavailabe,I would be looking at the Sony 929 which is much more expensive......or more than likely a 60" plasma.

I'm not sure if Vizio has any plans for a new TruLed set, but there is nothing currently on their website.

It's been fantastic and everyone who comes over comments on how good the picture is.

Even with the minor (for me) annoyances with the latest firmware, absolutely yes. Great value and really suits my needs.

For me it would depend on the other choices available. When I got this it seemed to have the most bang for the buck; right now I mainly wish that it could do 3D and that it had better black levels without the annoying side effects of the smart-dimming that I've mentioned. I'm glad that it CAN display PAL-format video and that it has a flexible horizontal and vertical control that lets me adjust overscan and correct material that is improperly stretched or squeezed. Other TVs don't seem to have that so that's what I'd mainly miss if I got a different one.

The problem I'm having now with the frame rate exemplifies why it isn't good to have equipment updated via an internet connection. Whatever introduced this problem cannot be gotten rid of by me, so I now have to deal with repair people coming over to check it out (and that's only because I got the extended warranty- I shudder to think what Vizio would do if it were out of warranty, even though this was most likely caused by THEIR firmware.) Based on this I would probably not buy another TV with an internet connection, instead I would buy a separate box for the online video and music services. That would also be easier to replace once it became obsolete. Whether my next TV is a Vizio or not at this point depends on how they deal with the frame rate problem.

One thing I would not do again is buy a TV straight from the company- I would instead buy it from a local retailer so I could easily exchange it if there were any problems, and hopefully get better support for any problems also. I bought my TV straight from Vizio because they were doing a promotion where you could be one of the first to get this TV and provide feedback. I was hoping that I'd get to give them direct feedback on everything related to this TV, but they only seemed interested in pre-written questions mostly dealing with how the internet apps worked. I sent them several pages' worth of my impressions of the TV itself and how it operated, but they didn't seem to care about that. I could submit ideas for the ULTIMATE TV (at least in terms of its user interface, design and controls) if any company took the time to listen to my suggestions.

Yep, I would. The picture is great, and the value seems very strong given the quality and price. The online widgets are a bit slow and buggy, but they account for a miniscule amount of what I do/watch. And I have no idea if other connectable TVs are any better in this regard. For TV watching, though, I am very satisfied. Got mine last March.

I would buy again. The picture is great once you tweak it to your tastes/environment. I use the internet apps mostly to stream movies.

I got the update only a few weeks ago (more than a month after some of the first reports) and I do not see the problems that others have. Lucky I guess. I bought my set back in December 2010. If anything, my eyes tell me that the overall picture quality improved slightly (enough of an improvement that I noticed). It is very difficult to observe the halos now. I have to go to extreme angles to find them.

Here's my question to those of you who already own this set:

Knowing what you know now, would you buy this set again?

If not, why?

If not, what would you buy?

Thanks,

Burt[/quote]

Definitely. I have had no problems whatsoever and I have the latest firmware.

Bought in Nov 2011 starting to shut down restart and sometimes remote will not work and cannot control TV unless it is unplugged and restarted. No I would not buy this again. I recently bought 3 new lg tvs.(42lk520 and 47lk520) and I like the picture better on this TVs and they get much better reviews on amazon. Vizio customer service is terrible. I recently had trouble with the blue tooth headphones by vizio. They went out and vizo refused to honor the warranty despite the fact that I had the receipt and they were only a few months old. I wrote the president of the company and in a few days I got a call form vizio about how sorry they were to put me through so much trouble and my new headphones are in the mail. Yes they did come a few days later.

Well that's a little disheartening because they said they are coming to replace the main board in mine this Saturday. The rep Said They think it's a result of a corrupted firmware update. I will keep you posted on the results

The same guy is coming back next week to look at mine, not sure what he's going to do. There's another board in the TV that he says is for video processing, don't know if replacing that would do any good or not. It must cost the company some money to replace boards that don't need replacing.

+1

Had my tv over a year now. Still amazed at the picture quality. No regrets buying it. I haven't noticed any problems since the firmware update, but I rarely use the internet apps. I keep a laptop next to my chair. I mostly watch Directv and rarely watch a DVD.

Count me in the same boat. The only difference is that I do watch quite a few DVD's. Still VERY pleased with this TV.

The comment you replied to was a spam bot. They copy an actual post from the beginning of the thread, then follow up with some sort of spam message.

And to answer the current going question, I'd most definitely buy this set again! The picture looks great and I haven't had any issues with it whatsoever.

I'm looking into buying this TV (424SV) among others in the next couple of months. Would it be a good idea to buy this as a refurb or is it best to find it new?

I love this TV. Got a 55-incher brand-new 8 months ago, and nary a problem. The firmware updated around 11 PM on New Year's Eve (Happy New Year from Vizio!), and still no problems. And it now has access to YouTube!

I bought it with a credit card that adds a year to the warranty, figuring that if I'm covered for 2 years and then it goes out on me, well, then I'll just have an excuse to pick up one of the 4K (or even 8K) OLEDs that will be selling at heavy discounts at the big-box stores by then.

Have you been able to get it to do it on demand? The repairman is coming sometime this afternoon and I have the feeling that we're both going to be staring at a perfect screen waiting for it to happen. I just haven't been able to figure out what triggers it to be able to show him with out just watching TV until it happens.

I hate intermittent problems

UPDATE: Of course the problem didn't show up while he was here but he went ahead and replaced the Main Board and one called the T Con board. The firmware actually reset back to a 6. something so I'm just going to leave it off line and not have it do any firmware updates.

As a side note I did take some pictures of the back with the cover off, I wasn't aware that this TV actually has an LG panel. I'm going to go back through and rename my Inputs and adjust the picture back to CNET settings and will report back if there is still a problem.

The firmware on mine went back to 6 when the board was changed but the frame rate problem was still there. The YouTube and Skype apps were also still there; previously they didn't show up until the new firmware was downloaded so I don't know if there's another place in the TV where this stuff stays. The next day the current firmware updated onto it anyways.

I've found several movies that will usually trigger the bad frame rate (mentioned them on the other thread, which I started because I hoped it would get more attention for this problem but that doesn't seem to have happened.) The worst I've seen is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on HD-DVD, but I also have that movie on Blu-Ray and regular DVD and those versions do not trigger the problem at least not at the same parts as the HD-DVD. Problems could also depend on the player being used. Laserdiscs also seem to give it trouble, at least when upconverted through HDMI. The material also has to be shot on film, I haven't seen anything shot on video cause the problem. Again, you can tell that it isn't supposed to look like this because if you pause it for a second then start it again, the frame rate goes back to normal.

I originally posted the above, thinking it would bring those who were dissatisfied out of the woodwork. It doesn't seem to have worked that way.

Here's the score.

Would definitely buy again: 9 responses
Would not buy again: 1 response
Depends on other factors: 1

Maybe the dissatisfied folk left the thread, but the feedback from those of you who are left seems pretty consistent.

It's time for me to Bite the Bullet, Pull the Trigger, and Mix My Metaphors.

I'm off to Amazon.

Thank you to all of you who responded.

Burt

I have a xvt473sv that has started giving me problems. Before the last update the TV worked flawlessly, I am now having motion stop for a few seconds at a time, random reboots, and chopped video on some channels. I have talked with Vizio (they of course acted like I was the first to ever report a problem), they had me do a reset that has helped nothing. I'm not going to deal with them any more and have decided to return the TV.
I WILL NOT buy the same model even though the picture is amazing, and I WILL NOT recommend it to anyone else. I have had the TV six months and should not be having problems with it. I still have more research to do on the newer Vizio's to see if any problems have been fixed, but I doubt I will buy any other models now.

After extensive research on my google machine, I'm confident that the updates come from the following IP addresses:

www.updatelogic.com - Vizio signed a multi-year contract with them to provide the firmware updates automatically.

IP addresses related to updatelogic as per http://www.ip-adress.com/reverse_ip/www.updatelogic.com
72.167.183.84
mcqcorp.com
paylessselfstorage.com
www.trailerrental.com
stevidmusic.com
pcorchidsinc.com
jzracecolor.com
streetsafeus.com
www.weberalumni.com
www.marymullins.com
www.schaedlerrodel.com

See: http://76.254.74.102/VIA%20Training.pdf for more info.

In addition to the IP addresses above, I'm going to block on my router:
www.amtran.com.tw
210.80.88.26
www.vizio.com
174.37.183.72
mx.vizio.com
ca.vizio.com
www.vinc.com

http://76.254.74.102 has more info on older vizio tv models... click around and take a look see.

Fingers crossed.

Hey all - been browsing this section; have the Xvt553Sv and only thing I have wondered about: backlight setting; some have it at 20, some 40 - to me, my tv looks good around 75

I've noticed the color settings are all pretty similar to each other, but that backlight option is all over the place. What causes that? I am a total noob, so keep that in mind!



Thanks

Hey guys, I bought my XVT473SV just over a year ago, and havent really had any problems to speak of yet thanks to everyone in this thread. I was able to answer the majority of the questions that I came up with from all of you. For that, Thanks!

I have loved this TV since the beginning. But I have developed a small problem with the Pandora app, and I think it started with my most recent firmware update. I do not have the number of the update, but it was within the last 2 weeks.

My problem: When I stream Pandora, everything is great, until I go to exit the app. After about 10 seconds of the app being closed, and the cable TV picture coming back on, the screen goes black, and the music from Pandora starts to play again. No matter how many times I exit the app, I get the same result. The cable picture will come back, and about 10 seconds later, the screen goes to black, and the music from Pandora starts back up again.

The only way I can get Pandora to stop is to turn the TV off, wait for a couple minutes, then try to turn the TV back on.

I have not tried to contact Vizio yet, as I thought I would ask here first to see if anyone else has been having this problem recently.

Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks!

Some of us discussed this Pandora issue a few pages back. As best I can tell, Vizio thinks it's a "feature". I suggest contacting support to express your frustration so that they are under more pressure to fix it or at least revert to a previous version of the app.

I am still unaware of any documentation from Vizio that explains what exactly they updated in the most recent firmware, though the Pandora issue seems minor compared to some who have had significant video issues since the update.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=4636

Interesting, thanks guys. I must have missed it. If it continues, I will be contacting Vizio.

I will try it today and see what happens and report back.

Thanks!

I did this: "When exiting Pandora, press the Stop button on the VIZIO remote. Once that is done, press the red button on the VIZIO remote to exit the app.

And it worked perfectly!!

My Vizio 553 had outstanding picture for about 13 months but suddenly developed severe blooming. Fortunately I bought it at Costco and am now working on getting repair/replacement through Costco's extended warranty which was included with the original price. If you get a good set, then this 553 is outstanding but if not - you will be very disappointed. The blooming is extreme!

I tried this and it seemed way too dark. I changed the backlight to 50 and it looks better to me...might not be accurate, but def looks better than 20