Official VIZIO M3D420SR/M3D460SR "Passive 3D" Owners Thread - Page 2

I just purchased this TV from Costco for $850 and I'm having the same high pitched whine that others have reported here. It's constant as long as the TV is turned on (goes away a few seconds after turning it off). I have turned off the TV speakers since I use my reciever anyway and that didn't help. I'm planning to use the concierge service that Costco offers to report the problem and see if I can get it fixed.

Other than the whine it seems to be a good TV, my only other complaint is that I prefer matte to glossy screens, but sadly they seem to be a dying breed.

Quick question...those with the buzzing issues, which TV do you have? The 42" or the 46"?

I have the 46" model.

I turned my speakers off and I'm still getting the buzz. But mine is so minor that I'm not going to pursue any tech support/warranty claim.

Mine is 42 inch. But again, the noise coming from my TV is minor. Nothing like what some of the others are experiencing. I'm just curious what is causing it. Is it a power supply issue?

My 42in M3D420SR says 60hz on the label on back of the tv. Of course the set is supposed to be 240hz, and yes it is also making the feint, yet annoying high pitched buzzing. I plan on calling vizio very soon as I am concerned this buzzing may get worse. Has anyone else looked at the label on the back? Does it say 60 or 240? How can I tell if the tv is truly 240hz?

42 model m3d421sr

Yes. Mine also says 60Hz on the label on the back, but I believe this value refers to the power source, not the refresh rate of the TV.

120V~ 60Hz 1.8A

No worries there friend

So I get a call from hd repair telling me that the tech is not comming because they don't have the part. Which is crazy because I called yesterday to confirm with them that they did and that the tech would show. Which they said yes to both questions. So this is where I'm at with this problem. If I can't get a tech to me by Monday I will probaly just return it. Keep you all posted.

Thanks for the update. May I ask what the part in question is? What are they replacing?

I love the picture but the one thing driving me a little crazy is that the football blurs when thrown across the screen. This is my first LED TV. Is this normal? Any way to stop that or lessen it?

When I watch shows now they look completely different then they did with my old Toshiba 720p LCD. The difference is significant.

I also had some issue programming my Harmony remote but I got that figured out.

Same here; I too have ears that are sensitive to high frequency sound. I would have to turn the sound up way too loud to be able to not hear it.

I turned the speakers off in the TV settings, and yes, it still makes the same noise.

I too got a M3D421SR on a Black Friday deal; the 42 inch in the Jeff Gordon box. Oh, and it has the high-pitched noise going on too, and it's dang annoying.

Thanks for the info , any updates are appreciated. I would assume that yes Samurai it's probably the power supply part that will be replaced, but who knows.

I was glad I found others with the same problem, but at the same time maybe not so glad as it seems to prove that the high pitched noise coming from the TV is prevalent in many of their TV's.

I too will also probably call the tech support when I have a chance and see about having this fixed; we all know we don't really want to return this bad boy, we just want it without the humming (more of a high pitched squeal for me) noise.

Bert, you can try going into tv picture settings, and then advanced and turning up Smooth Motion to High, this will insert extra frames into the picture and make quick movements (like a moving football) to look smoother; thoroughly check out all the settings your TV can change. Hope this helps.

Bert,

I've got the harmony remote too (Harmony 650). It gave me everything but the VIA. I had to do the learning function to program the VIA to the "Guide" button. I also noticed that the dot/dash for sub-channels doesn't work (not a big deal). It seems as if the green and yellow buttons don't do anything.

I also checked the online logitech database and they now have the M3D420SR listed as being a supported device. I'm wondering if someone uploaded the frequencies for the TV settings to their database after I programmed mine.

Just wanted to get your feedback on what buttons work/don't work with your harmony. Thanks.

Well I called Costco Concierge services and they had me run through a few mandatory steps to see if it fixed the high pitched squeal. It didn't so they connected me to Vizio's customer service department and they are going to send out a tech to fix it on Thursday 12/15/2011. I'll update what happens after that.

On another note, I'd really like to see what settings someone with the proper equipment uses to calibrate the screen. Perhaps it's because of the edge lit nature of the set, but I find that if I turn off the advance features (excluding the motion smoothing, which is just a matter of taste - I personally hate it and turn it off) that the picture looks significantly worse, and it seems like a struggle to properly compensate using just the typical, Contrast, Color, Tint, etc controls.

What have others done to calibrate the TV?

Just for the record this is my third Vizio and the other two didn't have this issue. I don't think it's an issue across their whole line, it's probably just an issue in this model line, and perhaps a specific assembly line run of them. Keep in mind this was release in August of this year, so it's still a relatively new model. Some of the early production models might have had some kinks.

It's been my experience that Vizio stands by their products, so I'm hopeful.

So the tech finally got here. I started out out by pointing out the noise to him, which took him a minute or two to hear what I was talking about. He said he repairs tv's all day andost have them have a ring to it but he said mine was Definalty higher pitched. So he opens up the back of the tv and replaces the power board and the main board. Took about half jour just for that, we plug I in with the back open and still ringing. At this point I'm ready to give in. It seems to be coming from the transformers on the power board. And I do have to admit the ringing is a little less high pitched as the other board but still there. So the tech calls in the let his office know that he was done and he explains what I'm telling you now and his supervisor tells him to put back the old boards because it something that could not be fixed by he repair and that this is a vizio issue. Anywho. The tech also said that I should wait out a couple of weeks to see if the transformer settles, whatever that meant. But I'm keeping it for now because tw noise is not as loud and somewhat tolerable. Next to step is to call vizio. So to he honest having a tech come there probaly won't do much because they are receiving the parts from vizio. It's a shame but it seems to be only this model number with the problem. I have a m3d421sr. Is this what others are? Any other news I'll keep posted.

Yep; I have a M3D421SR as well. Dang, I am really considering returning it then since they are unable to fix the high pitched noise. It's pretty bad already, and I'm worried that it may get even worse as time goes on. This really sucks...

Ghosting is starting to bother me. I'm watching directv and I am starting to notice it more. I'm wondering if it is the source...

Sorry but that's not the issue. I have mine plugged into a Tripp-Lite 1000w UPS that I just bought from Costco and it doesn't make any difference regarding the high pitched sound. A friend of mine who's hearing isn't as sensitive as mine because of listening to music too loud when he was younger couldn't hear it at all. But everyone else I've asked can hear it.

While I'm waiting for the tech to come on Thursday (12/15/2011) I've been playing around with the picture settings to try and come up with a good configuration that looks good to me and is calibrated using the basic THX tests that comes with movies like The Incredibles. I think I finally found a configuration that I like, so I thought I'd share it for those who might be interested. Keep in mind this is for a fairly brightly lit room, and your mileage may vary, yadda, yadda, yadda...

TV Settings -> Picture -> More -> Color Temperature -> Normal

TV Settings -> Picture -> More -> Advanced Picture:
Smooth Motion Effect
Noise Reduction
MPEG NR
Color Enhancement
Adaptive Luma
Film Mode
Smart Dimming
Ambient Light Sensor

TV Settings -> Picture -> Picture Mode -> Custom:
Backlight 50
Brightness 66
Contrast 54
Color 54
Tint 0
Sharpness 7

I found that this seems to provide the most pleasing and stable (I was noticing "strobing" problems with some of the advance features on) picture, for me at least. I'd love to know what other users are using.

That's a good try Alex, but I thought of that too closer to when I first got the set and noticed the noise. I initially started by plugging it into the wall and it had the high pitched sound. It ring or squeals whether it is plugged into the wall or my Back-UPS

It's more of the ringing you would get in your ears after being hit than a humming or buzzing sound for me. Yes, I have confirmed that the ringing is indeed coming from the TV and not from some accident as a kid .

I haven't even bothered with the warranty yet, as I don't have confidence that they will resolve the issue, but I guess I won't know until I try.

Yes, that's exactly what it's like! A very high pitched sound that's like ringing in your ears. I can live with it for short bursts if I have something on with sound and picture to distract from the ringing, but it's still there and it's constant. Very annoying.

If the repair tech can't fix it, I'll seek a replacement (that's what it took to fix an unrelated issue I had with one of my other Vizio sets, but it's been perfect ever since). If the replacement doesn't fix it then, yeah I'll have to give up on this otherwise impressive TV. In any event I'll keep everyone on this thread appraised of my experience.

Got my set today and I can attest to the high pitch sound I am happy with everything except that sound. While the volume is above 10 I can't hear the high pitched sound, but anything below 10 and while changing sources or on mute, the sound is deafeningly annoying...sigh...

I am testing 3d and am quite pleased with it but I would have preferred if smooth motion could be enabled on 3d content as well.

He quickly identified the noise is coming from the power board. Took the back paneling off, and replaced the power board with a new one that he received from vizio. We then turned the TV on... and the noise was even louder than before...

He then put my old one back in, said there was nothing else he could do and left. The customer service for the repair company then called me and said that many TV's emit noise like that and I should just turn up the volume of what I'm watching. I replied that the noises are on different frequencies and that I could hear both at once. He replied that I should contact Vizio again, and that they would on my behalf.

My opinion and that of the repair man that was at my house is that it is not a part defect, but an engineering defect. Perhaps all of the power boards (we think we located the actual transistor) produce the same noise, just some louder than others, or on different frequencies.

I am planing on calling vizio back tomorrow, will keep you all posted.

Now that the 55" model is hitting stores, has anyone picked one up? If so, is the humming/buzzing/ringing an issue with the larger screen size?

The noise issue must vary from power supply to power supply. Mine also has the high-pitched ringing, but it is not at all noticeable unless you mute the TV and put your ear right at the top edge of the TV. I really hope it doesn't get worse.

Oh, I wanna add too that the screen is more reflective than I expected (or would have liked). It's no where as bad as the samsung screens, but it's definately the most reflective Vizio I've owned.

OK, the Vizio contracted repairman called yesterday and I was able to get them to come today instead of having to wait until Thursday. He opened up the back of the TV and I took a pic of it. The Power supply is right in the middle and that's the part that he replaced. After that we turned it on and there was a dramatic difference. With the cover still off we could both hear a high pitched whine, but only if we put our ears right next to it, and even then it wasn't as intense. After he put the back cover on, it was almost impossible to hear even with your ear right next to it.

So under normal conditions (when you're ear isn't right next to it) it's silent now, and I just hope it stays that way! At this point from all the experiences here including my own we know that if there's a high pitched ringing sound it's most likely coming from the power supply.