Vizio E601-A3 Owners Thread - Page 6

They have great prices on all sorts of cables and connectors and adaptors as well. Quality is decent to very good.

http://www.amazon.com/VideoSecu-Plasma-articulating-Pullout-tilting/dp/B000WXH1Z2/ref=pd_sim_e_4

I have one of these, sturdy (20 Lbs solid steel), and you can't beat the price.

It comes with a complete set of screws for the thread sizes recommended for each vesa size for mounting. About 40 screws all together..

Oil it, before you mount it.


VideoSecu Mounts TV Wall Mount for most 32" - 65" LCD LED Plasma TV with VESA from 200x100 to 600x400mm, Full Motion Swivel Tilting Mount Bracket with 21" Pullout Articulating Arm W13

Fits most 32" - 65" flat panel displays with mounting holes 600x400, 600x300, 600x200, 500x300, 400x400, 400x300, 400x200,
300x300, 300x200, 200x200, 200x100 mm

Load up to 180 lbs. High Quality steel construction for maximum support

Extends from 4 1/2" to 21" from wall; Post-installation level adjustment allows the TV to perfectly level

Swings up to 180 degrees from side to side; +/- 15 degree of continuously adjustable tilt

Standard Mounting Hardware (extra accessory may required) and user manual included
Edited by audio777 - 11/1/12 at 10:03pm

Hmm, I have two small children and I can't say the stand on this set seems at all flimsy or unstable. I really don't see how it could fall over given the design.

As to the choice a few are looking at between IPS 55" sets and this Vizio, if non-gaming picture quality is the goal, I would think it might depend on where one plans to view the set most of the time. Right in front, the Vizio has about the best image I have seen on an HD set - incredible blacks, great color reproduction and no obvious flashlighitng or bleeding with dark/black material an so on. It really is that good once dialed in. But, off angle it goes down hill very fast and the IPS panel will look better. I have used IPS screens for critical color/ photo editing for years but this vizio when viewed from directly in front looks amazing - better than what I'm used to seeing from IPS overall due to the inky blacks.

Does anyone here sit around 8' from this set? Is that too close to view mostly HD cable on this 60" Vizio? I currently watch a 50" Samsung plasma from that distance.

Thanks,

-Guru

I'm about 8 feet, no problem, it's downright immersive. Come to think of it, I've never heard an adult male ever say; "you know, I think my TV screen is just too damn big, wish I'd gone with something s little smaller". You'll be fine.

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.
Edited by EscapeVelocity - 11/2/12 at 6:34pm

Actually, it seems to me that this is even better news based upon your previous analysis. You get better and better with your reporting, and now the Vizio 60" goes right to the top of the list. Problem is that it is becoming so popular prices will remain the same rather than go to a "sale" price during the holiday selling season, or even worse, not be available. My Sony 50 rear projection cannot fail soon enough, although, it has a great picture on it. When I want my Sony to fail, it will last another 2 years with no problems.......just my luck!!!!

Thanks again EV for the monoprice suggestion! I spent only $40 including shipping on a slim/tilting wall mount, some recessed wall plates, and some HDMI cables. I can't wait to mount this thing on my wall.

edit- i'm fairly new to all this panel talk, but i'm slowly understanding it! thanks for this thread and you guys!

The 65" Vizio M650VSE had levels of Anti Reflective coating diffusion on the level of the E601-A3 and the Sharp 60C6400U. Which means that their was some present but it wasnt near as diffusive as the Sharp 70LE640U at Walmart.

I thought the bezel on the M650VSE was much more aethetically pleasing than on the Vizio M3D651SV that was next to it. However the sound is probably not as good with the downward firing speakers.

Im pretty high on the M650VSE too.

If you are lucky enough to have a viewing environment that allows for excellent light control would you recommend the less reflective screen?

If you are going to be using this in a multi-use great room or normal living area space then I suggest some level of Anti Reflection coating to diffuse the reflected light. It wont solve all your problems but will help some.

By the way the diffusion helps by driving your eye away from focussing on the reflection as it blurs the reflection and you eye will tend to zone that blur out and go to the image on the screen. It's a play on the way your brain works. With a crystal clear reflection, then you can bring that into sharp focus naturally so you may drift from focus on the image to focus on the reflection unconsciously. The diffused reflection helps prevent that unconscious shift in focus, and helps keep your minds eye focussed on the image. It's a neat trick....because you still have light reflecting off the screen.

Here were my initial thoughts - from another thread here on AVS a couple of weeks ago.



Since that time, I've come to like the set even more. I am very impressed with the quality, especially for the price. Gaming continues to look great and the few blu rays we've watched have also looked impressive (Bridesmaids, Moonrise Kingdom, True Grit, pieces of TDK, pieces of Avatar, Planet Earth). Trying to watch alot of different looking films to make sure I don't find fault with the tv and, so far, I haven't been disappointed.

Also, I have not had the lip sync issues or buzzing sounds (fingers crossed that those don't start happening).

The only thing I would add after using it for a little longer is that (in my setup) the speakers are sub par. I qualify that statement because I have the tv inside a cabinet with very little space between the sides of the panel and the cabinet. It's possible this is why I'm getting poor sound. I haven't tried the sound with the tv outside the cabinet. I've mostly been watching stuff with a headset until I can convince the wife to give up the 7.1 system in the living room. Again, I almost never use the tv's speakers, so it doesn't bother me, but it might bother others.

I also thought the CNET settings were too yellow/warm. I changed to Kev4Bama's settings, and I like those quite a bit more.

I'll post pics in a post to follow.
Edited by WaterBottle - 11/2/12 at 8:15pm

You dont have to know what we are talking about, just know it has a very good late generation panel.

Hope that mount works out for you. The VideoSecure that was posted looks real good. I myself have the ultimate heavy duty dual swing arm mount that can take up to 200 lbs! It retails for around $600, but I picked one up used for $200.

Content is Planet Earth blu ray.

Please note that I am not very skilled with manipulating white levels. So, the colors on the tv are MUCH more accurate in the pics with the lights turned off. The tv images with the lights on are much "bluer" in these pics than they actually look. Also, the last three pics were with a fisheye.

Wow! Great stuff! Thanks for sharing your experience and pics Waterbottle!

To further expound upon this. The answer is yes. Many claim that their diffusion coatings work in a one way manner, meaning that the reflections are difffused but the light coming from the panel (from the other direction) is not, but I remember studying a Panasonic PZ77U plasma with a heavy diffusion coating back in the day, and it to my eyes was clearly having a negative effect on the sharpness and clarity of the plasma images.

So that is why most have a compromise diffusion coating, IMO. It is beneficial to most consumers who have sets in multi purpose great rooms with windows and lights all over the place, under most viewing conditions. Under the worst conditions, the heavier coatings are beneficial to overall viewing experience.

This is just the nature of the beast. Compromises inevitably have to be made. This is part of the reason that obsessing over minute differences in black levels is pointless IMO. In light compromised viewing, which constitutes the vast majority of most peoples viewing, black levels will be compromised by light reflection off the screen. This is why I love my True Matte scrren Vizio GV42LF which has no dark filter over the LG S-IPS panel. Even though the black levels are up near 0.40 cd/m2, reflections are totally diffused, with bright light coming from a wall of windows on 3 sides (though North facing), I cant see any detail only increased black levels (actually across entire areas of the screen), but the compromise image is much better than with any non true matte screen (excepting true matte screens that use old S-PVA and Sharp panels which had lower native black levels)....but my seating and viewing angles are wide and the S-IPS has that benefit as well, so. As I said, it's all compromises, choose your poison. At night with the lights off, the high black levels are easily noticeable, but that is the price I pay for the much improved daytime viewing. I have considered tracking down an old True Matte screen S-PVA or Sharp panelled TV to try out there, though.

One thing Ive learned is that I much prefer toning down the extreme annoyances, for maximizing viewing pleasure over a wide range of conditions, instead of focusing on maximizing dark room perfection. Good enough anytime and everytime is better IMO than absolutely perfection sometimes and downright objectionable at others. But to each his own. Im not closing the curtain on 270 degree views and turning myself into a troglodyte.

I finally read the Amazon reviews. 24 of them already!

I found this of particular interest to me...

Kind of a bummer that they downgraded the OTA Programming Guide, but not a deal breaker.

I also noticed this set has 10 bit color. Way cool.

Also claimed DNLA capability. Way cool, if it works well.

What wall mount model did you order?

Looks like the Sharp 6400/640 has some fancier color management and gamma controls than the Vizio. To be honest with you, Im just not that critical. I have piddled around with CMS before, but generally I just use the filters and lessor controls and found that good. Even at that I tend to punch the color up ever so slightly and also tweak the contrast and brightness a little from a calibrated picture. Of course OTA broadcast signals vary so much anyways. This is mainly for DVD/Blu Ray viewing. Ive seen calibrated sets and quite frankly, I find them a bit drab. Not worth it to me. shrugs I concern myself with other things.

I saw the M650SV in Walmart as well, and just had a M3D651SV delivered yesterday. To me the screens look identical in gloss (very glossy).

You saw them side by side and could see a significant difference?

Thanks.

-Mark-

There was definitely some diffusion on the M650VSE. But it wasnt heavy like on the Sharp 70" they had there. If you are into 3D I wouldnt sweat it too much unless it is intolerable where you put it and you cant live with any changes necessary to combat any reflection issues....like blinds, black out curtains, moving lamps, slightly angling the TV. that type of thing.

After reading reviews, I ended up going w/ the monoprice 5916
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10828&cs_id=1082801&p_id=5916&seq=1&format=2

It seems that some people try the Cnet settings, but try a different setting and are satisfied with the different one. I've come to realize that the picture settings depends on the owners usage of this TV. My usage of this TV will be prmarily TV(U-verse) mainly soccer, tiny bit of blue ray and xbox. I'm not a serious gamer, all I play is Fifa13.

CNET settings or use of a disc like Avia, Disney Wow!, etc are a good start. I usually recommend the more adventurous to tweak off of those settings abit. I like to slightly punch up the color saturation level and slightly punch up the contrast (which will likely start crushing whites) and slightly lower the Brightness setting (black levels - which likely will start crushing blacks and losing shadow detail. Alternativey instead of increasing the Contrast, up the Backlight level a bit whilst lowering the Brightness setting and slightly punching up the Color saturation. But that is just me, though I dont get too many complaints, and most people prefer a slightly "enhanced" image. Nothing too garish, just subtle nudges in that direction from basic calibration. As I said, I find calibrated sets images a bit drab.
Edited by EscapeVelocity - 11/3/12 at 7:23pm

Thanks for the pro tip. I'll start off with the CNET settings and just try to tweak them in low increments to see what I get.

edit- i forgot about kev4bama's settings. i'll have a go at those as well...
Edited by itr0863 - 11/3/12 at 8:13pm

Yeah, AVSforum is a good place to get "calibrated" settings, from other enthusiasts too.

If my brother gets this set we will probably try Kev4Bama's settings out.

Just picked this badboy up. I love it already. I'm messing with the settings but this is a BARGIN for this tv. I'm taking pictures, I just have to find the right exposure to really show off this set. I'll report back when I can get on the computer. I'm thrilled, I went from a 42" lcd to this and was worried about bleeding, I'm hap py to tell you this thing rocks.

I picked mine up from Costco Saturday, They had a bunch. I use OTA and a PS3 hooked up with hdmi for Blu-Ray, Netflix & Hulu Plus. Coming from a 2007 55" Sony SXRD RPG. The first 10 minutes of viewing I was not impressed and said to myself it's going back but, I told myself to relax and about 1 hour later had it looking spectacular after going through every possible setting. I did not bother with hooking ethernet up as of yet. Very little clouding when set up properly. Found out I had to hit the info button more than once to display all channel info. To bad there is no OTA signal strength meter. So far I'm happy. I really like the minimalist looks of the frame with black on black Vizio logo in the bottom right. You can just make out the pwr light in the lower left corner and you can turn it off as well, nice. I'll report more as I go.

Looking forward to more input from you owners.

Update: We are dialing it in even more. We really like this set. Aesthetically appealing this TV is. We were looking at some other TV's but really wanted the modern day, sleek look and this is what you get from this TV. A very fine, thin, uniform bezel that nicely outlines the glass for this screen. This is a very thin TV, HDMI connections are on the back and the side for easy mounting. The back connection are facing South, so your connections will still run flush with the TV. I find the TV not reflective at all. We have windows all over our living room area, LARGE windows, with no curtains just blinds. We have the blinds closed when watching during the day, no reflection this way, I have not tested with blinds open.

I'm impressed with the color and uniform picture this display puts out. In the store, with the bright lights, this TV just looked "Ok". After taking it home and dialing it in it really looks impressive. My set has zero blooming (or undetectable) at my calibration setting. Maybe a trained eye could say "no you have blooming there", but I'd be hard pressed to disagree. And if there is any bloom at all it is during something like the credits with white letters and the entire screen black. But as I say, it went undetected, my Backlight is 47 and Brightness is 50. I'll post all my settings later today when I'm back at the house but I remember those.

Colors are very vibrant, contrast is very good in my opinion. It can be tooo good if you over do it, but I like that this is an option as well. For instance, most TV's lack that "In Stadium" look, remember that first time you went to a baseball game or football game and you were like "Wow that grass is really green!" Even today, I find that calibrated TV's don't have that "In Stadium" pop, this is where I boost up the color palette and contrast, not to fake levels, but I want to at least get some of that home field feel to it. The colors are accurate, especially when calibrated to a subtle level.

I find the black levels extremely good in comparison to my last LCD. I haven't metered it, nor do I plan to, I have no experience with the blackest of black levels, but it is a major upgrade to my old set and it is very pleasing to see such detail that I missed out (partially due to larger screen same seating distance) in the dark scenes, especially on Blu Ray (my primary quality media). Scenes I tested were the very beginning of Prometheus at the dig sight, where she has a flashlight and is removing dirt from a crack. 80% of the screen is pitch black, creamy inky black, no blooming, once she busts through there is a very bright led flash light on the top of her helmet shining right in your face. There exists no blooming, no bleeding and the detail on the rock that was just removed is pin point accurate. Other scenes tested, same movie, took place in the caverns as they are moving about. This movie is very dark, very dark, the detail comes through very well. The piles of dead aliens were so clear, so sharp and this was in a very low lit shadowy scene.

I tested scenes from Entangled, the colors are amazing. As usual this type of animated movie Pops on the screen, this has more pop than my LCD which neighbors already were like, why doesn't my TV do that? I messed around with the Tru Motion, off, low, med, high during this movie. I watched the scene where the guards are chasing the bandits right after they stole the crown, there are some very fast action cuts in there. I'll be honest with you, I noticed absolutely no difference in either Tru Motion setting, zip zero zilch. I'll have to check this again because I didn't get to play with it too much. That said I didn't experience Soap Opera with or without Tru Motion on any level. The lantern scene is jaw dropping. The dark scenes, such as the story about the magic flower at the beginning is very detailed as is the scene after the lantern viewing where it takes place on the beach, very detailed and clear. My old set would lose elements to shadow, not on this TV (again I will attribute that to sheer screen size to be fair).

The Dark Knight. I tested the opening scene, The City scene at night where he fly's, the motorcycle scene. I'll be honest, I didn't pick up this TV because of some "Black Level" review and I don't know why I find myself talking about it so much but I've never experienced the City scene at night quite like this, it has to be seen to be believed. I cant imagine what the top notch TV's can do to this scene (because there is a Noticeable improvement). I didn't see any motion blur and I was looking for it. Again I played with the Tru Motion, no difference. Bright scenes are very vivid and rich with details. Blacks and dark scenes are very good at this price point.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon. I never used to use the opening scene as a demo (the one where Optimus is talking about his planet and the war in space is going on), I do now. Stunning, crystal clear immersive action. Deep space is very contrasty to the giant mechanical structures. The shuttle bobbing and weaving never blurs, nor did I notice panning blur. The car chase screen is a nice bright and colorful screen, I got lost in testing to be honest during this scene, I just remember it was good.

I tried to take some pictures while my wife was napping on the couch (lol), but I couldn't find the right shutter/iso to either not "blow" out the picture or capture the actual "refresh" from the monitor. I will say this though I have a couple of pictures that are superb and they weren't Blu Ray either, I think my wife had Dr. Phil on lol. Like I said before I'll grab my settings off the TV and post them so others can play with them as well. I've got a couple of settings I have been switching between Movie and Vivid. I played with the CNET settings and toyed around from there on Movie and on Vivid I just went with my own calibrations, I did this before biasing toward CNETs. The funny thing is when I was done they were very close in actual calibration. I believe I had a higher contrast lower backlight/brightness in comparison. I think this affords me better dark performance, but more testing will take place.


I have not experienced any lip sync. I should note I don't use the TV speakers nor have I listened to them or every plan to. I think a TV this size deserves a proper AVR 5.1/7.1 setup.
Price aside, this beast of a TV is very good. I am very happy with this TV, I don't care about wifi on it, I setup my connection and that was it.
Edited by clanmjc - 11/5/12 at 7:58am

Looking forward to seeing your settings... I am still sooooo undecided on this TV.. I can't get over the washout and intermittent lip sync issues...