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Name Brand vs. Better reviews? Sony KDL46EX645 vs Vizio M3D470KDE

post #1 of 8
11/21/12 at 3:02pm
Thread Starter 
I'm having a really hard time choosing between these two LED TV's, all of which are on sale this week for the Black Friday week of sales. I primarily watch HDTV cable programming, DVD/blu-ray, sports, and Netflix/Amazon Instant (all three are Smart TVs). I don't really game much, so that's not really a factor.

I would really appreciate any input from any owners of these sets have or anyone with an understandings of the differences between these makes/models. This decision basically boils down better known quality name brand with slightly lesser reviews, or a lesser known brand name with better reviews.

Sony 46'' LED Internet TV KDL- 46EX645 - $700
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_05771681000P?sid=IAx20050830x000545&PID=4485850&aff=Y
Edge-lit 120hz, and Sony is one of the best known quality brands. The CNET review was pretty favorable, but they only gave it 3/5 stars though, and noted uniformity issues and only so-so shadow detail, which were also expressed in the AVSForum owners thread.

Vizio M3D470KDE 47" 1080p 120Hz LED 3D - $750
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Vizio-M3D470KDE-47-1080p-120Hz-LED-3D-HDTV-with-Built-in-WiFi/21811659
Edge-lit 120hz, with passive 3D (not something I'm looking for, but a nice addition). More expensive, and, according to some, Vizio is one of the lower quality/cheap-made brands. However, CNET named this TV one of the best LEDs of 2012, giving it 4 out of 5 stars, and it has a lot of other great reviews out there on the internets. The AVSForum owners thread did complain about some spotlighting issues in dark settings. My main concern with this TV is longevity since I've read that Vizio's have had a tendency to have issues down the road.

Thoughts?
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post #2 of 8
11/21/12 at 4:52pm
I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on the Sony KDL46EX645 myself, although I was made a little hesitant after reading the uniformity issues you cited in the owners' thread.

I've personally had bad luck with Vizio in the past, but I think a big part of that was that I didn't select the right model from them. And even then, I wasn't really concerned about the picture quality (which was actually pretty good) so much as some other features on the TV.

The M3D470KDE has gotten screaming reviews. If you're willing to risk any possible long-term pitfalls, I would probably go with that one based on the sheer number of positive reviews.
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post #3 of 8
11/21/12 at 5:00pm
I started a thread over yonder (this forum) about the Vizio 47 inch -- one thing to be clear: the KD has gotten screaming reviews, the KDE has not really been reviewed anywhere, and I think they are slightly different models. One thing I came across that has yet to be answered is whether you can disable the KDE's motion smoothing. So far, we haven't been able to figure out how to (its certainly not in the same place on the menus as the Vizio 55 and 60 inchers, which are supposed to be the same basic TV (Razor)), and this issue is so important for a TV that I'd think anyone who watches anything except sports is going to consider returning it if you can't disable this feature.
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post #4 of 8
11/21/12 at 7:57pm
I am dying to figure this out as well. I was planning to get the M3D470KDE on sale at Sams on Friday and in my research figured out that it's apparently not the same as the 470KD. But I can't find any info on what the differences actually are. Sure enough, sams had both models when I went by today but the employees had no idea either on what the difference was. Does anyone have any insight into this?
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post #5 of 8
11/25/12 at 10:15am
Sony KDL-46EX645 would be a better set to go for, side by side comparison here,
http://tv-compare.blogspot.com/2012/11/m3d470kde-vs-kdl-46ex645.html
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post #6 of 8
11/26/12 at 12:16pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jgrn307 View Post

I started a thread over yonder (this forum) about the Vizio 47 inch -- one thing to be clear: the KD has gotten screaming reviews, the KDE has not really been reviewed anywhere, and I think they are slightly different models. One thing I came across that has yet to be answered is whether you can disable the KDE's motion smoothing. So far, we haven't been able to figure out how to (its certainly not in the same place on the menus as the Vizio 55 and 60 inchers, which are supposed to be the same basic TV (Razor)), and this issue is so important for a TV that I'd think anyone who watches anything except sports is going to consider returning it if you can't disable this feature.

Thanks for the help on this, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the Vizio, only to back out and cancel not 24 hours later after I found out that the M3D470KDE is in fact definitively a different model than the M3D470KD. The refresh rate dropped from 240Hz to 120Hz, the contrast ratio appears to have dropped from 10 million: 1 to 1 million: 1, and the color depth has reportedly also dropped. In addition, according to recent Amazon reviews, the motion smoothing is set automatically and cannot be changed within the settings (aside from setting the TV to Game Mode, in which case you may as well buy a 60Hz TV) and the Netflix App appears to be entirely non-functional as well. I'm glad that my order was backordered and I was able to cancel in time before it was shipped. I would recommend anyone considering the M3D470KDE to search long and hard for reviews relating directly to that model and not the M3D470KD, since they appear to have significant differences.

On that note, now that I've missed on all the Black Friday deals last week due to this (the Sony KDL-46EX645 appears to have jumped back up to $900 after dropping to $650 this past Friday), does anyone know if I will get lucky over the next month with more deals popping up, or should I plan to keep saving and wait until Super Bowl time (I've heard that the prices drop again around this time, any truth to that?) Thanks!
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post #7 of 8
11/27/12 at 9:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilFlix View Post

On that note, now that I've missed on all the Black Friday deals last week due to this (the Sony KDL-46EX645 appears to have jumped back up to $900 after dropping to $650 this past Friday), does anyone know if I will get lucky over the next month with more deals popping up, or should I plan to keep saving and wait until Super Bowl time (I've heard that the prices drop again around this time, any truth to that?) Thanks!

I also missed out on the Black Friday deal while I was trying to figure out if I could fix the shadowing issues on my new Samsung (the jury is still out on that). Now I wish I'd jumped on it because the price has risen substantially on the EX645.

My guess is that you may want to wait until after the new year at this point. Prices usually drop quite a bit when the manufacturers are getting ready to roll out their new line. The EX645 came pretty late in the year though, so maybe Sony is not planning on replacing it in 2013.
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post #8 of 8
12/31/12 at 5:19am
Hi,
Call Sony for a better price.
I just ordered one and got it for $649.00 + tax with free shipping.
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