Vizio E601-A3 Owners Thread - Page 66

Thinking same way as you Richard...why return a TV that works fine and you got a two year warranty now. If returned now and new replacement that two years goes back to one year warranty.

My TV sn 43 is great....if problem by end of year I get a replacement serial number of WAP 51 (made in December 2013), if problem comes later and this model still being made I get a TV made in 2014 (WAQ with whatever week).

Just hope I don't have to replace it..like it the way it is now...best TV had yet at this price.

Even if there are problems in future...I doubt Vizio will ask a lot of questions on these serial numbers from 38-48 just took longer if something happen then others.
Edited by Internet2 - 2/10/13 at 10:58am

No Austin I never had any light bleed. My wife likes spooky movies (LOL) and they are very dark..never saw any light bleed.

I like to watch football and my old TV had picture in picture (PIP).
I found out this model E601i-A3 does support PIP, you just need a differnt remote that can be set up for it..like a Harmony 700 and some others can do it.

Be buying a Harmony 700 remote if it goes on sale.

Yeah I've got SN43 that is working great. I see no reason whatsoever in exchanging it. I have the picture dialed in, no sync issues, no dead pixels. I'm golden and on top of that I know if something does arise I'm covered.

Using this TV as a display for XBMC. Just got one of the pulse-eight USB->CEC adapters. It works for the most part, but I can't seem to figure out how to map some of the keys. Anyone successfully map keys like "menu" or the letter keys on the flip side of the remote when using CEC ?

I agree if your tv has no problems don't return it my issue of light bleed was pretty significant. If not for that I would have kept it.

My s/n 42 that was purchased on the wal-mart BF special just Black screened this afternoon...customer support went good...but time frame was 8-14 days for delivery on the new one

I know my old 55" Rear Projection Mitsubishi that was replaced by my Vizio E601i-A3 had PIP because it had two tuners.

I suspect you might need more than just a remote with a PIP button.

A while back I posted...this post and in there it references a Vizio article on Setting up PIP. Note that the date of the article (updated) is 09/09/2011, before our model went into production of course, and says PIP requires you to have a coaxial splitter and two extra coaxial cables and goes on to explain the setup which doesn't sound too complicated.

If you have a method that supersedes that Vizio article, it would be interesting to see it.

Let us know if you're successful and how you went about it.

Gene

So are these TV's not very reliable to work (short or long term?). If I got one of these I would be going across the border and picking one up but man what a hassle it would be to have to haul a 60" TV back across the border 2 months later if it stopped working. They sadly dont sell these 60" or 70" Vizio models here in Canada or I would have just taken a chance and bought one. Luckily Im only 35 minutes away from a Costco/Best Buy/Walmart on the USA side so it would be pretty easy to pick one up for me but still it would really suck to cross border return a TV if it stopped working a couple months in. Obvious attraction to the TV is the value/size it offers for the price. I mean $900 for a 60" LED seems like a no brainer assuming it will work...

I would just call Vizio directly since serial is 46 and your SAMs does not have any new serials.

The undocumented PIP feature on the Vizio E601i-A3 seems to work the same as on other Vizio's where it is an advertised feature (e.g., the VF550). When you press PIP, it shows the current input full-screen with a small box in the corner showing the last input you used. For example, if you have a cable box connected to HDMI1 and a DVD player connected to HDMI2, if you are watching a DVD on HDMI2, then switch to HDMI1 to watch cable through the cable box, and then push the PIP button, a small box will appear in the corner showing the DVD playing on HDMI2. The more likely scenario to use PIP, though, would be two cable channels. In that case, if you install a splitter and attach one coaxial output to your cable box (HDMI1 input) and the other coaxial output to the Vizio's internal tuner (TV input), you can do PIP with the HDMI1 and TV inputs.

If you push the PIP a second time, the two pictures are displayed in equal size side-by-side. Another push of the PIP button turns it off and goes back to your original picture. You can also push the Swap button to switch between the pictures to make the other one dominant (switch audio and, if one picture is larger than the other, the pictures are swapped). Pressing Left or Right when the big-small PIP is activated will cause the small picture to move to the other corners, clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Enjoy the hidden PIP function while you have it. It may be gone the next firmware update, if you connect to the internet. I had PIP on the Visio M3D470KDE also, however when firmware was upgraded in January the function disappeared. The undocumented features were also reported in the M3D550KD forum and then reported missing with the upgrade. Now you see em .... Now you don't.

Still trying to decide whether to unbox and start using the E601i-03 I bought at Costco last week, knowing that they sent back the units they had left in stock a few days later because of the recall. Or, do i just keep it in the box, and exchange it for a newer unit when they get more in stock. There might be an advantage to staying with this one since it's covered for the additional year by Vizio, hoping that it will be fine. It will take me a long time to get to 500 hours as I don't have a lot of time to watch TV these days.

costco already gives you a second year of warranty, so getting a second year from vizio is redundant....if it were me, i would start watching it, and exchange it when they get some newer units in stock outside the recall numbers...

like i said in an earlier post, costco doesnt require you to have the box to return it....just pull up to the front, get a costco guy to help you unload it and roll it up to the return desk....5 minutes later you will be standing in line to check out with a new one....

I'm sorry, but returning a open, perfectly fine working product for another with a higher serial # just because you believe that something MIGHT be wrong with it just seems like fraud to me. Use what you have and if a legitimate issue occurs, return it.

I don't necessarily agree with this, because Costco itself apparently sent back to Vizio all of their unsold TVs in the bad serial number range. I am not sure whether I would want one of the bad serial numbers with a two-year warranty on the LCD panel failure issue or one of the allegedly good serial numbers with a one-year warranty. Actually, I paid for mine with a credit card that doubles the original warranty to two years for all defects, which I think Costco does as well, and I doubt those program add a third year for the LCD panel failure. So, I think I would rather have a good serial number with a two-year warranty that covers all potential defects.

if it seems like fraud to you, they you should stick with what helps you sleep at night....but this is a legitimate concearn and if it were me, i would exchange the tv for one outside of the recall....costco wants its members to be happy, they will be more then happy to send his return unit back to vizio, and i am sure vizio would be more then happy to have the defective unit back....

your not going to get a tv with a one year warranty from costco, you automaticly get 2 years...

Yes, that is what I said, and it is why I think returning the TV to Costco to get a newer one would be a good idea.

I'm noticing an issue with any audio going through an HDMI cable. The audio and video is slightly out of sync with my comcast DVR cable box. It's across the board on all channels, 480 and 1080 and constantly there. It's slight but it goes between tolerable and somewhat annoying. I have the optical out of the TV going into a Sony 5.1 home theater. I just hooked up my new mac mini running Plex with an HDMI cable and it's the same. I had to go into Plex audio settings and "push" the audio ahead a bit to get it to line up. I'm not sure what's causing this but it does appear to be an issue with the TV and how it handles the audio coming through HDMI. I've never had a problem with my older Sony Bravia which the Vizio is replacing ......... any thoughts?

(and yes, I'm on the latest firmware update 1.1.5)

There is only two reasons you should keep this TV if in that serial number range with possible bad chips.

#1 There is nothing wrong with your TV and you didn't buy it from Costco.
#2 You have no extended warranty for this TV beyond one year..

I'm both of those reasons to keep it... my sn is 43...TV works great..brought at BJ's..have no extended warranty.
So I'll keep it..if problem within two years Vizio covers it for replacement.

If you don't have those two reasons..return it!

I would start using the TV now. You have 90 days to take it back.....if you wanted to you can leave the TV on 24/7 and you will reach your 500 hours in less than 1 month.

I also have noticed this. I got the Firmware update and cable is ok for me but I notice it when watching blu-rays. Very annoying.

.

Isn't there a moral and ethical obligation NOT to return a set that is NOT defective or indicating a disabled timing control board as pointed out in Vizio's Special Bulletin unless there is an "across the board" recall on ALL units within that SN range?

According to the Bulletin: "...In a small percentage of units with serial numbers in the ranges of LFTRNWAN3800001 to LFTRNWAN4805300 for Model E601i-A3".

Meaning not ALL units could have this issue, just a small percentage of the thousands shipped.

How do you return it if you're not having any issue?

You'd have to lie and falsify your claim that you are experiencing a failure just so you can return it.

Then, when these sets are returned as "defective" they then need to go through the Vizio In-coming Receiving process and be routed to the trouble-shooting Quality Assurance/ Engineering Test lab to determine just where the defect is...the IC that was part of the lot used in manufacturing the sets during that period? or another component or board? After extensive trouble-shooting it will be determined your set has no problem, and all that time and labor is wasted.

As stated:

So, if you haven't "experienced a loss of video" yet, it's probably best to wait until you do.

Just sayin' for your consideration

Whoa, wait a minute here folks. "Fraud," "a moral and ethical obligation?" This is getting a little deep, isn't it? Not to mention judgemental. I can return this set for any reason to Costco, or no reason at all. I don't have to lie or falsify anything. Geesh! That is their policy. Would you feel better if I returned it for a refund which is completely within their policy, and then bought another one? If I go through the effort of hooking everything up and mounting this on the wall, which is my intention, knowing that there is a strong possibility that this is a defective set based on it's serial number, and the number of returns that have originated from Costco, does that make any sense? I can't believe how quickly people have become in passing judgement on others. Sorry I brought it up.

Whoa, wait a minute here folks. "Fraud," "a moral and ethical obligation?" This is getting a little deep, isn't it? Not to mention judgemental. I can return this set for any reason to Costco, or no reason at all. I don't have to lie or falsify anything. Geesh! That is their policy. Would you feel better if I returned it for a refund which is completely within their policy, and then bought another one? If I go through the effort of hooking everything up and mounting this on the wall, which is my intention, knowing that there is a strong possibility that this is a defective set based on it's serial number, and the number of returns that have originated from Costco, does that make any sense? I can't believe how quickly people have become in passing judgement on others. Sorry I brought it up.

Sure, put your 'art' (or digital photos) as jpg files on a thumb drive and use the DLNA slideshow feature on the media app. Works great. I like to play my jazz tunes while showing a slideshow of my most recent pics. It makes great wall art. Of course, you can do the same thing on a PC and display it via an HDMI or DIV port using the Vizio as an external/remote display. The slideshow will prevent burn-in.

Mike

great, now the moral and ethics police are here to make sure everyone is in compliance....

you CAN NOT be serious....

I had a bad serial number43 and just called to say I had a bad flashlighting issue during dark scenes which was true. And they said because of my serial# it had to be replaced. I still had picture and everything just flashlight and they told me it still needed to be replaced simply because of the number not the problem.