Vizio E701i-A3 Owners Thread - Page 3

I would try the vizio first

anyone know where the vizio is still in stock? its gone at costco,sams,walmart and amazon

I would call Costco stores in your area. They replenished the supply at mine over the weekend.

Michael

Went to two Costcos today, and there were at least six of the 70" model at each store for $1499. Just go to the store if you have one near you.

Actually, I think you should do that with any LCD TV you are thinking about buying. Having said that, I felt this TV was better than many off angle. There is not a much color shift, and the contrast and brightness drop off more gradually than many, especially the larger Sharp TVs. If you need an uncompromised picture off angle, you should get a plasma.

Michael

OK, i'll try that in the morning. I was just looking for it on their website and they don't even show the 70 inch model, I was just at my sams club and the only 70's they had were from sharp

If you are a cost vs benefit guy, then I think you will be very happy with the vizio. Keep in mind that the settings for the 60" version are not working for me. I have been playing around with it and the HD from my comcast box looks very good. I had no complaints watching football today. There were a few instances where I felt that a plasma would have handled the panning a little better, but it was only for a brief second here and there.

In the bottom right hand corner I get noticeable flashlighting when the screen is black (trying to use some test patterns). As soon as I'm watching tv it isn't noticeable at all.

Generally I would buy a "better" quality tv in a smaller size. I sit 17ft from the screen and the 70" does not feel too big. For perspective. A friend has a 55" that is 8ft from the screen, and his set always feels perfect for the space.

I remember walking through costco when they had the 65" ST30 in stock. It was playing some disney/pixar flick, and I thought it was the best picture I had ever seen on a flat panel. Costco has a 90day return policy. IF I don't end up liking this set I will return it and buy the 65" ST30. At the moment I think I made a good buy with this set. Add in the extra 3yr warranty for $99 and I have 5 yrs of warranty on this set.

So far I like these settings for my Dish Network input:

Picture Mode: Custom
Backlight: 60
Brightness: 50
Contrast: 70
Color: 50
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 4

I haven't made changes to the color balance, and I have all Advanced Picture settings set to off, except Ambient Light Sensor = Medium.

Colors seem to be good, and fabrics and skin tones appear natural. Sharpness is very good, without ringing or adding noise to the picture.

I am 13 feet from the screen, and love the size.

Michael

A sharpness setting of 3 to 4 appeared to be best on a test pattern, but my Comcast HD looks significantly more clear set to 8. I set movie to one set of settings and then whatever was next to it, standard I think, was set to something else. I can easily switch back and forth to decide which I like better.

Picture mode Standard:
backlight 70
brightness 53
contrast 76
color 50
tint 0
sharpness 8

picture mode movie:
backlight 50
brightness 53
contrast 56
color 50
tint 0
sharpness 8

I like it a little brighter for standard viewing, and darker for movies. All extra processing is set to off

Only you can make up your mind on this, but here a few things to think about. I looked at the Panny plasmas, and they can't be beat for picture quality. I really wanted to get one, but since it would be used for computer use, too, I felt extended computer use would be too abusive to a plasma.

Do you have a viewing angle greater than 25-30 degrees, and need the picture to stay the same quality as dead on? Then the vote would be for the 65st50.
Do you need the absolute best in blacks for night viewing? Then the vote would be for the 65st50.
Are you going to connecting computers, use TV apps for extended periods, or have people in the house who might forget to turn off external devices with static menus? Then the vote goes for the Vizio (far lower image retention issues).
Is the best picture quality with cable a priority? Then the vote goes for the Vizio (a little cleaner). For Blu-Ray, the vote goes to the 65st50 (better shadow detail and color tracking).
Do you watch a lot of 4:3 SD content, and don't like the distortion of stretched picture modes to fill the screen? Then the vote goes for the Vizio (no uneven phosphor wear).
If you have to have 3d, then there is no choice but the 65st50, since the Vizio doesn't have 3D.

Overall, I am quite impressed with the A701i-A3 so far. Hope that helps.

Michael

I think you touched on why the noise is an issue. When you're not watching an actual TV program and are using the AVR self calibration, the whizzing from the fan and color wheel spinning is very audible. While watching programming this is of course negligible and not noticeable. But if you're trying to get a clean calibration, silence is really golden. I usually shut off the fans, in house air circ, fridge, and wait til the kids are knocked out before attempting to calibrate.

I just got picked this up from Costco and got it setup.

Having problems getting ARC working. Has anyone had success?

Trying to use ARC to send audio from the TV to my Onkyo TX-NR818 receiver while streaming video from Netflix or Amazon Prime.

"TV Speakers" off, "Digital Audio out" set to Dolby Digital", "CEC Function" on, "System Audio Control" turned on.

On the receiver I have HDMI Control (RIHD) turned on and Audio Return Channel on Auto.

When adjusting the volume it is showing on both the TV and receiver, but like I said, no audio from the receiver when using Netflix on the TV.

Using a ARC compatible HDMI cable plugged into the ARC ports on both the TV and receiver.

Anyone have any suggestions, or had success using ARC while using streaming services on this TV?

Thanks
Edited by TooFastForYa - 11/25/12 at 8:39pm

I dunno, mine seemed pretty quiet. You could just have better hearing than me.

The ARC only works when you set the Onkyo to TV/CD input. It took me about an hour playing around last night to figure this out (plus I had an older non 1.4 compliant HDMI cable. Turn on all the CEC options to ON on both the AVR and Vizio. That should do the trick.

I did have the Onkyo set to TV/CD, still no luck.

Does it have a gamma setting?

Software updated on your Onkyo? You went into the Onkyo Hardware settings and changed the HDMI controls to ON for all the CEC/ARC Options? Get a new HDMI cable perhaps? I used an Amazon Basics with Ethernet 1.4 cable and it worked.

Oh... and for ARC, only HDMI1 connection support ARC on E701i......

I do have the hdmi connected to HDMI 1 on the TV which is labeled ARC as well as the primary HDMI out on the Onkyo which is labeled ARC.

used the Suzook settings on page 1 to get started and that brought things to a good start with much more realistic colors and better blacks... then tweaked a little to eye from there, but just have the sharpness and color up a couple. Probably getting a THX calibration disc from a friend to play with things a bit more later, but pretty happy for now.
Off angle viewing just seems to take away black levels while leaving colors good, so that's not too bad either. Love the simple bezel too.

My Disney wow blu ray comes tomorrow and my set will be delivered Wednesday afternoon (!)

I have plans that night so may not get to set it up until Thursday. But I will, and will post my settings and impressions then.

Can anyone do a Display / Input lag test for me? PLEAASE

Is this a matte or glossy screen?

It's not glossy like my samsung plasma. It has a matte finish, but I can see the reflection of the lights on my ceiling fans on the screen. This made me miserable with my plasma, but I barely notice it with the vizio.

I am trying to setup my Harmony One. It knows about the TV. I have setup just 2 activities as of now, Watch TV (Input TV) and Watch Bluray (Input HDMI1). My problem is that that if the TV is on other input, it doesn;t switch to the correct input. I have tried increasing the power delay to 15 secs also. I also send a TV or HDMI1 command to the TV specifically in my setup. But it still wont switch no matter what. But if I press Help on the harmony remote, the TV switches correctly.

I am 100% sure that issue is with Harmony remote or software, but don't know how to solve it. WAF factor is like ultra low now, threatening to bring back the 8yr old DLP back on the table.

Please help!!!!

So just to be clear the TV's remote itself works for this function? And allows direct switching to specific inputs (rather than just scrolling through the list of inputs)?

If so maybe harmony just has the wrong codes. There's a way to teach the old fashioned way (I think) though I don't know the specific method off hand. Guessing the remote forum here would be of help.

Is this link helpful?

http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/14924/related/1

Thanks for the link. But I am lost in step 2 - "you will need to get the synchronize the remote with the TV" So I need to sync the input mode on the TV remote with Harmony remote ? Does it mean if I ever accidentally use vizio remote, I have to redo it again ? Wish it had discrete codes ! Let me google.

Thanks
JD

Edit : found this useful link http://forums.logitech.com/t5/MyHarmony-com/Adding-Discrete-input-and-power-buttons-to-Vizio-TV-model/td-p/878120#link_118 at logitech forum. I guess Logitech is being anal in adding support for new models. So I guess older models works most of the time for certain things.
Edited by JohnTheDoe - 11/26/12 at 2:31pm

yikes...

so i have owned this television since black friday. until today everything was fine...

...then, as i was hanging out near the living room, i looked over at the television to see what song on pandora was playing, and i noticed this:




thick, horizontal white lines, running all along the television. additionally, it looks as if the resolution of the screen has died as well. all of the vizio menu graphics now look like they came from an ega computer monitor from the 80's.

naturally i called vizio immediately. after a few hoops (send in photos of the television, along with the receipt...also use an extension cord and plug it in elsewhere), vizio said they are expedition a service call to a service office called foxcon servicing - or something like that. anyway vizio is sending them another television and the technician will be arriving to swap out the units.

this foxcon company will be calling me within 3 to 7 days. in the meantime i figured i should give everyone the head's up. the vizio technicians i spoke with had zero idea what the problem could be. this is a new model, and the slate of problems consist of connectivity nonsense, nothing like this.

in case anyone is wondering, these lines persist, whether first turning on the unit, switching the inputs, etc.

this is my third vizio, and while i've never considered vizio to be even remotely high-end, there's certainly a reason i didn't hesitate to buy this unit at costco for $1500: their televisions are great midrange units, in my opinion.