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Vizio E601-A3 Owners Thread - Page 78

post #2311 of 2657
3/13/13 at 3:12pm
Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but as of ten minutes ago, the current firmware version is 1.1.5. You need to have connectivity between the Internet and your set to receive the automatic downloads most probably while the set is in a standby mode. A message should appear on your screen the next time you power it on from standby indicating the new version number of the upgrade.
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post #2312 of 2657
3/13/13 at 6:40pm
I got the Black Screen of Death tonight on my E601i-A3. After cursing and vowing never ending torture to Vizio for interrupting my Duck Dynasty, I calmed down and called the warranty dept.

Much to my surprise, an english speaking American-born human answered right away. She identified herself by name, badge number, and said she was calling from S. Dakota. What a nice touch! She then acknowledged my issue and assured me that Vizio is aware of the problem with the defective parts. She told me that Mana Freight would be delivering a NEW E601i-A3 in 9-13 business days. Mana would not only deliver the new TV and rehang it on the wall for me, but they would also haul off the defective TV for no charge! That saves me having to pay return freight.

The only negative is that the replacement TV will not come with its own 1-year warranty. The warranty will continue until my original purchase date of 11/24 this year. For this reason, i am considering purchasing the square trade warranty. Ordinarily I wouldn't bother, but this is my bedroom TV and I can't see the need to upgrade this since I won't be needing a larger TV and this has all the technology I need for the content I watch in bed.

Anyway, crappy thing to happen, but Vizio stepped up. The only thing that would be better would be for a renewed one year warranty and faster delivery of the replacement TV. Will this affect my decision to purchase Vizio in the future? Probably not. I had issues with my Samsung DLP several years ago and that was a horrible experience. This service was as good as any I've experience in the consumer electronics market

Also, this is my first post here, though I've been a member 5 years. Nice average...
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post #2313 of 2657
3/13/13 at 9:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nygiantsfan3342 View Post

I got the Black Screen of Death tonight on my E601i-A3. After cursing and vowing never ending torture to Vizio for interrupting my Duck Dynasty, I calmed down and called the warranty dept.

Much to my surprise, an english speaking American-born human answered right away. She identified herself by name, badge number, and said she was calling from S. Dakota. What a nice touch! She then acknowledged my issue and assured me that Vizio is aware of the problem with the defective parts. She told me that Mana Freight would be delivering a NEW E601i-A3 in 9-13 business days. Mana would not only deliver the new TV and rehang it on the wall for me, but they would also haul off the defective TV for no charge! That saves me having to pay return freight.

The only negative is that the replacement TV will not come with its own 1-year warranty. The warranty will continue until my original purchase date of 11/24 this year. For this reason, i am considering purchasing the square trade warranty. Ordinarily I wouldn't bother, but this is my bedroom TV and I can't see the need to upgrade this since I won't be needing a larger TV and this has all the technology I need for the content I watch in bed.

Anyway, crappy thing to happen, but Vizio stepped up. The only thing that would be better would be for a renewed one year warranty and faster delivery of the replacement TV. Will this affect my decision to purchase Vizio in the future? Probably not. I had issues with my Samsung DLP several years ago and that was a horrible experience. This service was as good as any I've experience in the consumer electronics market

Also, this is my first post here, though I've been a member 5 years. Nice average...

Do you know the serial number of the failed unit?
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post #2314 of 2657
3/14/13 at 10:01am
After exchanging my TV for the one with the higher Serial # I still have a horrible lip sync issues. I have the latest (1.1.5) firmware version. Has anyone been able to resolve this? The sound/video is fed via an HDMI cable to my receiver. I haven't had this issue with my older TV.
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post #2315 of 2657
3/14/13 at 12:22pm
Evmpr,

No i still have the lip sync also after the exchange as well. I have a TV from this year . I am fixing it by changing the AV sync with my Onkyo receiver. Very close to right on sync. I do every now and then have to go back in and adjust some but not to often. It is very frustrating that this happens but not sure what else to do......i like the TV other than that.

James
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post #2316 of 2657
3/14/13 at 12:26pm
I notice that left to right pans are jerky when watching content through an AppleTV 3 attached through a Denon AVR to this TV. It was particularly noticeable to me on two shows, both of which were British (Foyle's War and Come Fly With Me) which makes me wonder if it was an issue with the 25fps to 30fps conversion during the transcoding rather than the TV. However, Foyle's War was from Netflix and Come Fly With Me was from the iTunes store. I set all video processing on the AVR and the TV to off so it should be a straight pass through.
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post #2317 of 2657
3/15/13 at 5:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by evmpr View Post

After exchanging my TV for the one with the higher Serial # I still have a horrible lip sync issues. I have the latest (1.1.5) firmware version. Has anyone been able to resolve this? The sound/video is fed via an HDMI cable to my receiver. I haven't had this issue with my older TV.

After experimenting a LOT with this tv and sync issues, I'm convinced that these TVs can't handle this setup ... going out of a cable box via HDMI and then taking the optical out and going into a receiver. No matter what setting I tried (and believe me, I've tried them all) I still got sync issues. I even had Vizio come and replace the motherboard. Now I'm not sure if this is a common thing with TVs in general or thus particular model but the problem does exist. The only way I could solve it was to bypass the optical out and go directly from the receiver to my sound system. I bought a digital splitter from amazon, programmed it to work with my Harmony One, Put the cable box audio output in one input, my Mac mini in the 2nd, the Vizio in the 3rd and all's well.
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post #2318 of 2657
3/15/13 at 6:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by justmeee View Post

After experimenting a LOT with this tv and sync issues, I'm convinced that these TVs can't handle this setup ... going out of a cable box via HDMI and then taking the optical out and going into a receiver. No matter what setting I tried (and believe me, I've tried them all) I still got sync issues. I even had Vizio come and replace the motherboard. Now I'm not sure if this is a common thing with TVs in general or thus particular model but the problem does exist. The only way I could solve it was to bypass the optical out and go directly from the receiver to my sound system. I bought a digital splitter from amazon, programmed it to work with my Harmony One, Put the cable box audio output in one input, my Mac mini in the 2nd, the Vizio in the 3rd and all's well.

I believe several folks have the TV set up the way you do with HDMI out from cable box to TV and Dig Opt from TV to audio recvr. And I think most of them do not have the audio sync problem after the latest FW. You might want to check your audio out settings on the cable box to see what settings it might have.

Rick
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post #2319 of 2657
3/15/13 at 6:42pm
The only reason for the optical out is for the internet content from the TV correct? or am I missing something?
I have no lip synch issues with a single HDMI from the receiver to the TV but am thinking of getting the optical to utilize the apps on the TV
Don't want to create any problems though.
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post #2320 of 2657
3/15/13 at 7:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rickie View Post

I believe several folks have the TV set up the way you do with HDMI out from cable box to TV and Dig Opt from TV to audio recvr. And I think most of them do not have the audio sync problem after the latest FW...

That is how I have mine set up, and I don't have audio sync problems anymore.

Quote:
Originally Posted by schex View Post

The only reason for the optical out is for the internet content from the TV correct? or am I missing something?...

No, the optical output also passes through digital audio from external devices connected through HDMI.
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post #2321 of 2657
3/15/13 at 8:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rickie View Post

I believe several folks have the TV set up the way you do with HDMI out from cable box to TV and Dig Opt from TV to audio recvr. And I think most of them do not have the audio sync problem after the latest FW. You might want to check your audio out settings on the cable box to see what settings it might have.

Rick

Rick, as I stated, I tried every setting and that includes on the TV, on the cable box and on my receiver and problem still existed. I will say this about the issue, most people probably wouldn't even notice it but I did and it bothered me enough to where if I didn't come up with this solution, I would've returned the TV back to Costco. The way I have everything set up right now, I can actually digitally switch between the optical audio going directly out of the cable box or out of the tv optical out and there definitely a lag with the audio when it's filtered through the TV. Here's the best way to see for yourself .... find a show that has a visual of someone knocking on a door or a precise sound that matches an action, not just a sound effect in a movie or watching dialog. You can't tell just by watching lips move whether the problem exists or not.
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post #2322 of 2657
3/16/13 at 9:50am
I need some calibration settings does anyone have some done by a disc or a professional? Thanks the ones on page 57 or 19 not that good. The settings on cnet suck.
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post #2323 of 2657
3/16/13 at 3:18pm
Try Montecore's settings on page 43, it looks awesome.
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post #2324 of 2657
3/16/13 at 5:19pm
I agree with you on cnet. I entered those settings, and my wife said " that looks awful" it was sooooo dim and dark, and all the whites had a brownish red tint!!
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post #2325 of 2657
3/16/13 at 5:43pm
No, the optical output also passes through digital audio from external devices connected through HDMI.[/quote]

my BRay is hooked up with HDMI to my receiver and I have not yet hooked up an optical - no issues with full audio.
??
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post #2326 of 2657
3/16/13 at 6:36pm
k
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post #2327 of 2657
3/16/13 at 6:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dogbone414 View Post

Picture Mode Movie
Backlight 48
Brightness 51
Contrast 60
Color 44
Tint 0
Sharpness 2
Size and Position Default
Color Temperature Custom
Red Gain 158
Green Gain 138
Blue Gain 63
Red Offset 126
Green Offset 127
Blue Offset 128
Advanced Picture Settings
Smooth Motion Effect Off
Real Cinema Mode Off
Noise Reduction Off
Color Enhancement Off
Adaptive Luma Off
Film Mode Auto
Backlight Control Off or DCR
Ambient Light Sensor Off
found these
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post #2328 of 2657
3/16/13 at 6:43pm
but not that good what you think?
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post #2329 of 2657
3/16/13 at 8:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by montecore View Post

No problem....I am at work so could not check the TV directly. Here are my settings that produces AWESOME HD pictures.....great for football!

Here's what I'm currently running on 1.9.13 (AWESOME PICTURE)
Picture Mode: Football
Backlight: 80
Brightness: 50
Contrast: 80
Color: 60
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 6
Color Temp: Cool
Red Gain: 118
Green Gain: 128
Blue Gain: 120
Red Offset: 127
Green Offset: 125
Blue Offset: 128
Smooth Motion: Off
Noise Reduction: Low
MPEG NR: Low
Color Enhancement: Grn/Flesh
Adaptive Luma: Medium
Film: Auto
Backlight Control: OFF
Ambient Light Sensor: OFF


Try these settings.
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post #2330 of 2657
3/16/13 at 8:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dogbone414 View Post

I need some calibration settings does anyone have some done by a disc or a professional? Thanks the ones on page 57 or 19 not that good. The settings on cnet suck.

Here's my thoughts on that:

I believe no two sets perceive the same settings the same simply because of variations of the electronics within...different component tolerances, suppliers, date codes, etc. Not to mention variables from our cable or satellite providers, Comcast, Verizon, DirecTV, Dish, Time Warner, Cox, Charter, Insight, etc. We will use someone's settings as a starting point, and go from there. I had tried settings posted by members in earlier threads when I first got my set, they didn't satisfy me, and I eventually found the ones on CNET, they were "ok" but I tweaked them to where I have them now and I just don't feel there's much more room for improvement.

So, get the settings you feel are "close" to your satisfaction, and then fine-tune (tweak) them from there. These then become your "personal" settings, quite good for you, but not necessarily for someone else. That being said, it wouldn't be totally unexpected that someone else's settings might very well work for you because of similarities of both set's electronic component values as mentioned above.

Gene smile.gif
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post #2331 of 2657
3/17/13 at 6:27pm
Add one more user to the black screen club, replacement will be here in 9-13 days :-( My serial was in the middle of the problem #s in that bulletin posted earlier.
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post #2332 of 2657
3/18/13 at 9:03pm
My wife and I have experienced issues with our e601-a3 three times in the last 3 days. On Friday, I came home to the TV being on a black screen but completely unresponsive to any input; I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it seemed to be OK. Today, my wife couldn't get it to turn on, so she tried the same thing that worked for me by removing and reinserting power...then later today she experienced the black screen of death as I did on Friday. The TV is working again now after pulling the plug again. The SN contains WAN48 for our TV...so it seems to exhibit the same issue, despite not falling within the range posted in the bulletin.

We purchased the TV shortly before Christmas and are actually still within our return period at Target (we bought it on our Red Card which extends the return period to 120 days). Considering all the issues folks have been having with this TV over the last month or so (including replacement sets), I'm really considering returning it and getting the Sharp LC-60LE650U. The Sharp looks like it just just came out, so there aren't really much in way of reviews. Last year's model, the LC-60LE640U does seem to have pretty decent customer reviews though..

I'm really on the fence about this--My wife and I really like our Vizio E601-A3...but we just want something that works and that we're not going to have to replace again (seems there a quite a few folks that have had to have theirs replaced more than once).

Edit: Corrected serial info.
Edited by xenokira - 3/19/13 at 7:15pm
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post #2333 of 2657
3/19/13 at 3:25am
You could return it, and get a new one that has a WAP (built in 2013) serial number and it should be problem free.

SC
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post #2334 of 2657
3/19/13 at 5:40am
Just to say, there is no serial number for this model with 'WAN30' in it.

This TV came out in October 2012 and the serial numbers started with WAN38.
Sounds like you do have a TV with bad chips since you brought it before X-mas 2012.
Can be replaced or get your money back since you did say you get 120 days return policy.


Came back to edit this after thinking about your serial number that you read.

Is there a number starting your SN first or a letter? You might be mistaken how its read then for when it was made.
Is it like 40 (or another number) first... then LFTRWAN30XX ? That WAN30 isn't the week made if that's the case, the very first two digits are the week made then...'WAN' just means the year 2012
.
Would read something like this 45LFTRWAN30XX. 45 is the week made...or in other words WAN45.

WAN=2012...if two digits start your serial number then that is your week made. In this thread that is how we express it (WAN45).

For 2012 there is only WAN38 to WAN 51 (no WAN52 maybe holiday week LOL).

2013 is WAP not WAN and start with 01..which is week 1 of 2013.
Edited by Internet2 - 3/19/13 at 6:29am
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post #2335 of 2657
3/19/13 at 9:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by xenokira View Post

The SN contains 'WAN30' for our TV...
I'm really on the fence about this--My wife and I really like our Vizio E601-A3...but we just want something that works and that we're not going to have to replace again (seems there a quite a few folks that have had to have theirs replaced more than once).
.
I agree that it's basically impossible for your set to be an SN WAN30 for the simple reason already mentioned that they didn't go into production until October of 2012.

According to Week Numbers for 2012 :

Week 40: October 1 - 2012-October 7, 2012

so check the SN on the back of the set where the bar code label is and see what the number is that follows WAN. (don't use the number following WAN when you go to Menu>Help>System Info>TV SN because the sequence of numbers is different)

It's a bit disheartening to find owners like yourself who are discouraged by problems encountered, but of course, that's what these forums are all about, and I can only echo what was told to me by a Vizio Rep, and I mentioned it in a previous post weeks ago, that of all the E601i-A3 that have been produced so far, only around 3% have been returned for defects, equating to 97% of sets sold having no issues whatsoever.

I can't tell you what to do, but my advice would be to exchange your set for a newer SN since you have that option in front of you, preferably one in the WAP (2013) range of SNs, and give this set a second chance. I'm so happy with mine, I've already had two friends go out and get one for themselves and they, like myself, couldn't be more satisfied with the picture quality as well as the Vizio support team we know is behind it that, according to much of the feedback we read in this thread, respond quickly to issues arising, to the point of replacing a set when deemed necessary.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide.

Gene smile.gif
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post #2336 of 2657
3/19/13 at 2:51pm
Just checking in, had my e601-a3 for a little over a month now I think and I love it. Had lip sync issues at first but those have gone away on there own completely. That's with all types of media, DVR, 360, Blu Ray etc...

I also got the picture dialed in with the movie 300. Lots of dark scenes and blacks which helped me figure out the back light to brightness difference I needed. Now whenever I sit down to watch a show or a movie I just smile at this amazing bang for the buck tv. biggrin.gif
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post #2337 of 2657
3/19/13 at 6:08pm
Anyone having wifi issues? Mine keeps forgetting my SSID, then can't find it when I try and add it.
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post #2338 of 2657
3/19/13 at 6:48pm
Hey all. First post here, so please don't crucify me for asking stupid questions and not reading through all 78 pages of this thread... smile.gif

I'm very seriously considering picking one of these up in the next couple of weeks. Great reviews combined with the low price really make this an attractive set.

However, some of the user reviews and word of mouth are making me a little gun shy about this thing. After reading through the last couple pages, I know to look for a WAP serial number to avoid the BSOD, but I'm mostly concerned about the lip sync issue now. My set up will be the same as others here who are experiencing this issue - HDMI in to TV, Opt Aud out to receiver. So, question for those of you who have been around here for a while: is this a common issue that people seem to be having?

I don't like the idea of buying this set when there are known issues with it, but I also don't want to pass up an awesome TV. Though if I have to wait another couple weeks to save up some more money and buy a unit with fewer potential problems, I guess I have no problem doing that.

It is nice to hear how good Vizio customer service is, though.

Thanks in advance for any help!
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post #2339 of 2657
3/19/13 at 7:16pm
Thanks for the explanation on the SN...I was definitely misinterpreting how it should be read. I've corrected my post--it's WAN48. I'm sure this was explained earlier in the thread, but this is quite the thread to sift through.

After reading the responses and encouragement to give this set another chance, I'm on board for it--and I do really like this TV; especially after the 1.1.5 update that fixed lipsync issues for us. This weekend, we'll probably return the TV to Target and get a new one. I'm undecided if I'll just simply exchange this set or if I'll return the entire purchase and re-buy (same model---just to effectively reset my return period should something happen again). I'd prefer just to do an exchange as it'd be more straight forward (and I feel more honest), but being able to return within 4 months if something happens again does definitely have its perks. On the bright side, considering I bought this TV as a WAN48, Target should definitely have WAP sets by now. Fortunately the S/N is on the outside of the box if I decide to be that guy.

I guess it comes down to this: Have most people been happy with their WAP sets? Has anyone noticed different quirks with these?

Thanks again for the thoughts!
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post #2340 of 2657
3/19/13 at 8:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by xenokira View Post

My wife and I have experienced issues with our e601-a3 three times in the last 3 days. On Friday, I came home to the TV being on a black screen but completely unresponsive to any input; I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it seemed to be OK. I've corrected my post--it's WAN48. This weekend, we'll probably return the TV to Target and get a new one.
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I didn't notice if you had read through all the pages of this thread and if you are already aware that your WAN48 falls within the range that was the reason for Vizio's Special Bulletin indicating an affected range of serial numbers (LFTRNWAN3800001 to LFTRNWAN4805300), which includes of course your WAN48:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vizio 
A limited number of VIZIO’s E-Series 60” LED Smart TVs (model number E601i-A3) may experience a loss of video due to premature failure of a chip assembly sourced from a supplier. (click on link above for the entire bulletin)

So the issue you're having and the source of the problem have been identified and a solution offered by Vizio.

When you get your new set with a more recent SN, it will come as a surprise if you have any further major issues with your new set.

Keep us informed!

Gene smile.gif
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