Originally Posted by
EscapeVelocity 
Alright yall. I got to Walmart and Costco today. I have some good news and bad news, and a mea culpa.
The mea culpa is for spreading bad information.
The bad news is that the Vizio E601-A3 doesnt use a Samsung/Sony S-PVA panel.
The good news is that the Vizio E601-A3 uses a Sharp X-Gen ASV UV2A non-Quatron panel. Yeah!
I apologize for spreading bad information, I spied so many TVs the other day, I got mixed up, I guess. Today I focussed on the 2 65" Vizio's at Walmart, the M650VSE and the M3D651SV, both of which used Samsung S-PVA panels that look like this...
The 70" Sharp 70LE640U that was next to these two uses the previous generation Sharp X Gen ASV panel that looks like this...
The M3D651SV had a really glossy reflective screen. The Sharp had a significant and effective Anti-Reflective diffusing coating. It definitely had a positive overall effect on viewing. The Vizio M650SV had an Anti Reflective coating too, but it wasnt as diffusing as the Sharp, but definitely better for cutting perception of reflections than the other Vizio 65er. I really like the M650VSE. Because the M650VSE has a thinner bezel and downward firing speakers the profile is much more compact compared to the Vizio M3D651SV.
Now onto Costco. My time here was cut short, but here are my observations.
The Vizio E601-A3 definitely uses a Sharp X-Gen ASV UVA2 panel which is the same as in the Sharp 60C6400U that was two postions down with an LG 60" Plasma in between. It looks like this...
The Anti Reflective coatings on these two sets were pretty similar in diffusion, with the nod going to the Sharp 60C6400U. The Vizio M3D550SL was very glossy compared to these 2, probably exascerbated by the dark filter it probably has for the S-IPS panel, additionally it had a pebbled front panel which I found odd. And it also a warp in the middle of the screen, which I suspect isnt representative of most sets, but peculiar to this particular unit....it looked lke a wave in a window glass so that when a reflection moves across it as you walk by you can see the non-flatness of the panel acrylic covering. Based on the more reflective screen alone, I am recommending the 60" Vizio to my brother over the M3D550SL, plus it natively has superior blacks, and the extra screen size.
I didnt have enough time to do any extended comparison of the Vizio E601-A3 and the Sharp 60C6400U.....and especially couldnt delve into picture controls...so any detailed comparison would essentially be meaningless. The Vizio was $979 and the Sharp was about $300 more. I dont see Sharp having any special sauce that would add $300 benefit to the PQ starting from the same base panels both edge lit LED with no dimming.
Liking the Vizio E601-A3 more every time I look at it.
Again I apologize for spreading false information.
Just trying to help out.
