Vizio xvt3d554sv - Page 46

Saw the 553 in stock at The Sam's Club in Sunrise, FL.
No 554 though. Strange Vizio marketing scheme...

Glad I got my 554 when I did. Could never afford the Local dimming sets on the market other than Vizio!

Full backlit LED sets with local dimming have always been "rare". Sony made the XBR8 and currently the 929 series.....Samsung made the 8500......LG made an 8500.....and Vizio with the 553 AND 554.

The 553 sold like hotcakes due to good reviews and exellent price.

Edge lighting may be getting better, but it will never match a fully backlit set with local dimming in terms of PQ.

Manufacturers make more money off an edge lit set with fewer LED's. They can make them super thin which sells.

If fully backlit LED sets are dropped, I would more than likely move to a plasma.

Good question.....
I use game mode though...

I would love to get the 554 but I cannot
find any seller online or at retail that is still selling brand new units. The only ones I can find are refurbished units.

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/540607/Vizio-XVT3D554SV-55-3D-1080p-LED/?cm_mmc=Mercent-_-Google-_-Audio_and_Video_Electronics-_-540607-{copy:IQ_PE}&mr:trackingCode=D510F242-D69D-E011-9F24-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA

http://www.powersellernyc.com/Catalog/View/90732

hope this helps

After a ton of research, bought the 474 about one month ago through WalMart (was a STEAL, especially vs. Amazon, looks like WMT no longer has it online).

Out of the box pic looks clean to my untrained eye. Started out with Cnet's settings, pic looked too green on some programming (BD looked good). Readjusted using a combination of many of the settings recommended on this forum and am REALLY impressed with the PQ. Blacks are as good as my Pioneer plasma. Haven't experienced any blooming, even tested it on the infamous Inception safe scene.

I'm good with the 3D image. Didn't buy this set for 3D, I really don't care. Watched Thor and Megamind in 3D and was impressed by both. Some crosstalk, but I won't be watching 3D movies much.

My father-in-law has the LG 47LW5300 bundle so I had a chance to compare this weekend. 2D content is WAY better on the Vizio, no comparison. 3D content is better on his passive LG (again, I don't care about 3D).

Thankfully, no RVR after a month of use. Received latest upgrade after setting the set up, powering down, then powering back up. No issues with wireless configuration, Netflix dowloads are quick. I have a PS3, but haven't tried any games on this set yet, so can't speak to gaming lag.

This site, and the forums, will naturally attract users that have had issues. If you read through the 553 forum, you likely will not buy this, or any Vizio, TV. But in my experience....no RVR, wireless configured without any issues, no blooming, some mild 3D crosstalk, GREAT PQ, easy set-up, great value.

Really pleased with this purchase, especially considering what I paid and the amount of features / technology this set offers vs. other (Sony) much much more expensive competitors.

Thanks for posting. However, I also found these two using google.

PowerSellerNYC.com has terrible reseller ratings and a bad reputation online so I was not going to even bother.

I talked with a CSR at a local OfficeDepot and they claimed it may be a refurbished unit even though the site does not explicitly state so.

I bought a "like new" used one from Amazon warehouse for $874 (listed on their regular site). Then paid $40 for a two year warranty from Squaretrade (through Amazon). The set arrived with all the original "peel off" plastic and seems to be perfect in every way.

I see some there "used" now. I do not know if you can get the warranty with them, but I would try if the price is right. Squaretrade does not appear to offer warranties on used items except through Amazon.

Good Luck

I know the USB ports were activated in a recent firmware upgrade. They only do photos and music though, not Mpeg movies like the Vizio site says it would do via a "future firmware upgrade".

I guess they lied.

No way to stream movies from a laptop directly to the set, is there?

They have been saying that for the past few years now, so I wouldn't expect it to happen.

But even the sets that offer video streaming have a very limited codec and most of my movies wouldn't play anyway. The only way is if you transcode them or have a transcoder running. I tried that with Windows Home Server, not very effective.

The best thing is to get a stand alone media player like the PopcornHour, Dune, etc. WD Live Plus is ok but not the best. They play just about everything. My PopcornHour will even play BR rips with full menu function. Do some research, they all have their bugs.

I watch movies from my laptop on the 554. It may not be the most sophisticated way in the world, but when a 15 inch screen just won't do, this works. Use a DB9 connector on the laptop and plug into the DB9 port on the back of the 554. Switch to this as your input source (PC input). You can then choose to listen to to the movie via the laptop speakers or you can use a headphone to RCA cable and plug into your AVR (which is what I do). Works great.

Good news! I called Vizio... Again... This time they are willing to swap my Vizio for a recertified one - and I don't have to ship it! Good too, cause the manufacture's warranty was about to expire!

Nice job. Sometimes it does pay to be persistant.

I recieved my replacement 554 yesterday. So far it's been working good. The set was labled recertified and not refurbished. They told me the recertified sets were sets that left the warehouse and returned due to over stock or other reasons but have never been sold or set up. They have to open them to make sure they are ok and everything is included. It did come in a plain brown box.

The set looked perfect, all the plastic coverings on it, no finger prints anywhere and did look brand new. It did have the factory FW on it.

This morning when I turned it on it was updating to the August FW. I watched the set for a while and then shut it off and went out for about an hour. When I returned and turned it back on it was updating to the latest FW. After the update I turned it on and selected the Via and it was installing all the latest widgets.

That was fast. I was expecting to have to wait a while for the updates but I'm back in business.

The TV took about a week for me to get it once they declared it had to be replaced, it would have been 3 days earlier but Thanksgiving held it up.

So everything is back to normal and so far the TV seems to be working good.

Write down all your settings so you don't have to start all over.......

In your dealings with them, did they ever mention that customers could buy these certified units directly from them?

They have an outlet http://www.vizio.com/outlet
but no 554s. You could keep checking back.

Any word on changes in the new FW?
3D seems 2 be improved.....

I just watched Cars 2 in 3d Blu-ray with the newer update and the 3d still looks terrible. Tons of crosstalk...

Perhaps I missed the post, but the only TruLED listed on the main page of Vizios website is the 47". No 55" at all.

You can search for it by name, but it is not listed under the main heading of "Products" anymore.

Did everybody else know that?

Looks like our sets are "orphans"


FFF

Yet one can go into Sam's Club and buy a brand spankin' new 553!

Things that make u go Hmmmmm........

I normally route my Sat DVR thru my AVreceiver, but late at night I just use the TV speakers to avoid subwoofer booming thru the house. I was regularly getting a crackling or pop sound out of the TV speakers when I paused my DVR even with the TV volume on zero. My work around was to go into the Vizio Audio setup menu & turn the TV sound off. A real kludge. I finally found the proper solution so I can leave the TV speakers on but with the sound on zero....

Go into the Vizio TV setup menu Audio section, Advanced Audio submenu, & set Analog Audio Out to Variable. Mine was set on Fixed which caused the crackling. Hope this helps

Vizio has left the active shutter 3D business. Vizio licenses their 3D tech from LG which has also left the active shutter market. All their latest sets are passive 3D, so the current XVT3DXX4 models are selling only existing inventory. Tech moves on....

Was just on Amazon looking at the 554, Amazon Warehouse Deals had it for $770. Before I could complete my checkout process it was already sold.

That is definitely where I would buy another. The warehouse will offer you a warranty on a used or refurb unit, cheap.

I would lurk, good luck.

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My opinion, for what it's worth, is fairly similar to what another poster said several comments earlier. Let me expand on it a little bit.

The 553 got the Editor's Choice award for LCD sets from CNET last year, which is a big deal. This means that, essentially, if CNET wanted to buy a LCD set, the 553 is the one they'd buy. CNET didn't review the 554, except to say it was similar to the 553 but for for the 3D, and it was a little faster but that probably wouldn't be noticable. They didn't mention the clearer screen.

Then there were the Consumer Reports ratings. They still show the 553 as their top-rated LCD TV. This really does make a market for a TV, and the 553 gets a lot of mileage out of it.

Because of these things, the 553 is still a best-seller and Vizio can still sell a ton of them, and so continues to make and sell them.

The 554, however, as I said, wasn't specifically reviewed by CNET, and because of its mediocre 3D performance, it finishes in the middle of the pack in the Consumer Reports ratings for 3D sets (3D sets are a separate rating category with Consumer Reports). Other than the 3D performance, Consumer's test results for the 554 are identical to their results for the 553. In any case, due to these factors, continued production by Vizio of the 554 wasn't justified.

Those of us who own the 554 and who know the background, know that the 554 has at least as good 2D performance as the 553, and most likely, slightly better. It has a faster refresh rate, and the clearer screen likely gives it a bit better contrast. And, at least in 2010 and early 2011, based on AVS Forum comments, the 554 appeared to be significantly more reliable than the 553.

Bottom line is that, although the 553 continues in production for the reasons stated, the 554 was a better buy, particularly if 3D performance was way down on a person's list of features. Personally, I have owned my 554 for almost a year, trouble-free, and have yet to even try 3D. Like most folks, I bought the 554 for its 2D performance, and I know that in that category it's even slightly better than the top-rated 553, which puts it at the top of the pack.

I recieved my replacement set about a week ago and I'm having problems with the Smart dimming. Sometimes it seems like it doesn't know what to do and goes on and off causing the picture to flicker. This is completely different from the problem I had before. Turning off the Smart dimming stops the problem.

Anyone else had problems with the Smart Dimming? My 553 doesn't act like this.

You need another replacement, son!

That's what I was afraid of.

Per the "new" Vizio homepage with CES updates. The only TVs they are highlighting for CES are the current 65 incher & the M series edge lit 3D models. Vizio's trick pony this year appears to be their new computer line. Still CES runs all week, so something else could be announced...