Vizio VP42 Plasma HDTV - Official Thread - Page 7

Maybe it is just the opposite. It is a great set that does everything you need and there are no complaints. LCD's ghosting and lack of black level (along with higher price) drove me to the Plasma. I'm glad I did, this is a great set. Never a ghost when watching golf, either

Will it compare to a 42" LCD Sony Bravia XBR? No, probably not, but then again the Sony is nearly $2000, too.

Cool thanx for the quick reply , I too wonder why so little is written about this set, have you had any burn in issues with this set? I like viewing dvds of older tv show that come up 4:3 and look best in that format. Is the post Idea of using grey or white for the empty space around the 4:3 picture a valid defense to prevent burn in?

You can't change the side colors. I haven't had any issues with burn in (about a month old), but I am trying to stretch everything that is 4:3 for the first 100 hours to be safe.

I don't think that is so much about burn in, but the fact that to produce the black bars, the pixels are turned off with Plasma TV's. So since each pixel gets dimmer over time, if you watch a lot of 4:3 programming in 4:3 format, there is always a chance that at some point down the road, the left and right edges will be brighter (from less use) than rest of the screen. In theory, you could be watching a 16:9 program where the outside edges are brighter than rest of the picture.

After 100 hours, I'm not going to worry about it and watch everything in its native format.

Hey great information, I think plasma give the best picture quaity, almost very lcd no matter the price has alot lost detail reguardless the resoultion. hmmm the Panasonic TH-37PX60U and vizio vp42 and the pan th-42px60 or 600 are sound better all the time

I picked one up yesterday, I couldn't resist the value. So far so good , but I don't want to comment in depth with only a few hours on it.

Hey I be interested in your reveiw of easy of set up and adjustment. And what you like and dislike about your new vizio plasma. I'd love to see a few post over the next few days how you like the ota hd , cable/disk and naturally dvds on the set . Im close to pull'n the trigger myself . . BTW did you get the vizio at costco or Sams?

Setup was easy. Jacks are easily accessible and took no time at all. The channel search was quick compared to my old TV (Sony Wega), including the digital channels. I don't do OTA HD, but the digital cable HD looks great so far. Haven't done much adjustment, other than turning down the brightness and contrast for the first few days here. SD cable actually looks pretty good to me and it does look like there are a lot of adjustment choices, moreso than I had with my Sony.

Will update as I go, and I'll also be checking out the settings posted earlier in this thread.

Sam's only carries the Vizio 42" LCD while Costco carries both the 42" Plasma and 42" LCD (at least in my area). So, be careful in Costco as the boxes almost look exactly the same (as do the sets)

I use OTA with it along with an HD DVR (Sony) hooked up to it. I have calibrated it with a calibration disc. Watching PBS HD show about dogs tonight looked great....as so did PGA golf, NASCAR, etc.

Oh yeah, I got mine at Costco.

Point taken. I didn't do any research on his issue and that might have answered my question. I don't use the plasma for games, so I don't know what works best with it. thanks for the correction.

They also carry them at Wal Mart, Circuit City and Sears now, in case you do not live near a Costco or Sams or don't have a membership. I got both the 37" LCD and the 42" plasma at Costco myself.

Ive got three costcos with driving distance of my house, it the waranty and return policys that make costco a good deal, the hassle with them is delivery but luckly Ive got a friend with pickup to help getting home and setting it up or returning the set if it is bad

Hey how do you like it so far is it a keeper? love to here

Overall, I love this thing. I love the PQ, the picture-in-picture feature (never had it before), and the input capabilities. I do have one wish-list item, but for the price, I am more than satisified.

My wish-list item is greater image size/orientation controls on the RGB (PC) input. I have my 360 hooked up this way (1366x768) and some movies come through shifted well to the right. I am able to correct this by shrinking the image horizontally (no vertical size adjustment), but only because I cannot shift it back to the left enough. The image size selections for my setup here are limited to Normal and Wide as far as I can tell, so that doesn't help either. Overall, I don't have to shrink the image too much, and the PQ is still very good. I guess I'm just disappointed that when I have to do that, I have a 1/2" black band around the entire picture and that I had to fiddle with the "native" size of the image coming in.

I should mention here that the other day I discovered a stuck pixel. I *think* it's a green subpixel. I can only see it twinkling when a light colored background stays over it for any length of time. I do not see it 99% of the time when watching TV or DVDs from my normal viewing position of about 8 1/2 ft. away. I'm still well within my return timeframe and I will take some time to decide if this is worth a return for me. Half of me hopes it will fix itself and the other half wonders if it is worth worrying about, considering the posts from people who've spent a lot more on their displays (LCD and plasma and several other brands) having experienced the same thing. Each person will surely weigh this factor differently, but I would not call this a reason not to buy this set. It seems to affect the technologies in general and shouldn't be limited to the discussion of any particular set. Even if I do take it back, I'll just exchange for another, as I am very happy with it! I'll update if anything happens on that.

I still haven't had a chance to try the settings someone posted earlier in this thread. I may do that tonight.

Hope that helps!

Hey Im glad you like your new vizio , love to here future report on your experances with this set

I've had my VP42 for a month now, got it after returning my Vizio L32 that I had for almost 11 months b/c the remote kept acting up, it would do other functions than the button I pressed. Gotta love Costco's old return policy, paid $140 more for the VP42.

Anyways... One question.
I just got Philips DVP5982 DVD player.

I connected HDMI from DVD player to VP42 and then optical out from VP42 to receiver.
There's only sound(from receiver) when I'm watching tv, but not DVD.

So I connected Digital out from DVD player to receiver using the same cables that I used as component video out from my old DVD player.
It's the same kind of cable right?


I'll give a little review on my VP42.
I returned the 1st one b/c I found a dead pixel the day I got it home.
Also the annoying buzzing sound comes on after 5 minutes b/f it warms up.
Other than that, can't beat a 42" plasma for under $1000.
I don't like the menu for TV, I have OTA antenna. The old Vizio gave more info when I pressed Guide and it allowed me to change volume while in 'menu' mode and I can press Exit to exit, but now I have to press Menu only to get out of Menu or Guide again to get out of Guide.

Odd that the sound is not getting passed when watching a DVD, I'll have to try that with mine. Will report back.

You may try an audio forum for the cable question, although I've always wondered something about the RCA-type "Digital Out" ... how exactly is an analog-by-nature connection considered digital? Heh. Anyway, my guess would be that any RCA-type cable would work, but don't quote me on it.

Dead pixel for you too, huh? I assume the new one doesn't have an issue? I'm still deciding on my stuck pixel, as it's not very noticeable to me during regular viewing.

Most HDTV's will only pass the 5.1 (or any sound) out the digital coax from the built in TV tuner input....so to get 5.1 from your DVD you will need to hook up your DVD digital out to your receivers digital in (which you have done).

Pretty much no TV will pass through 5.1 from an external source. It will send it out as regualr PCM 2.0. Only audio sent from its internal tuner will be 5.1, and that is via the digital optical output. To get 5.1 from the DVD you will need to run either a optical or a digital coax straight to the receiver. For the digital coax, it is true that any cable with a RCA plug will transfer the sound, but an audio specific SPDIF digital coax cable will give cleaner sound less prone to interference, due to the shielding and mass of the cable. If you do not have a digital audio coax I would suggest using an optical cable.

The Philips DVP5982 doesn't have optical out, but the TV does.
So I'm using optical from TV to receiver and digital audio coax from DVD player to receiver.
I just bought 6ft digital audio coax from Walmart for $12. Monoprice is $8 shipped, so $4 more to get it right away isn't bad.

Thanks for all the help guys.
So far I can't really tell b/t the cables.
I can tell the upconvert from 480i to 1080i though. Looks so much sharper.

Cool, good info. I just noticed this thread as well, same deal. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=841996

Thought I'd chime in to say my p42 got delivered today. So far looks great, the Oppo DVD player will be here tomorrow and the DVE disc by the weekend hopefully, so then I'll get to stretch its legs a bit.

I'll post up some reviews as time goes on, but so far so good, esp. for the price ($750 shipped!).

So you have the older model (P42) as opposed to the new model (VP42)? The older one doesn't have the nice clear Vizio emblem in the middle bottom of the set.

Yep, the older P42. Manufactured Feb. 2006. Has a solid Vizio logo in the center, bottom of the set.

From reading through this thread, I think I'm a bit glad it's the older p42.

EDIT: Don't think there's a separate p42 thread, so that's why it's here in the "official VP42" thread. =)

There is: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=626257 Anyway, congrats on the tv!



As for my VP42, I've been watching HD, SD, DVDs and playing Xbox 360 on it the last few evenings and I am very happy with the set. The stuck pixel I found is still there, however, I can only see it when I put the Image Cleaner up on the screen.

I also got my HDMI cable (thanks monoprice!) and hooked up my Comcast STB with that. The only difference I could tell between that and component is that the sound is louder over HDMI; I can't tell a difference in picture.

Man, I love the PIP! I've been playing Gears of War while watching the Mariners in the corner... this is awesome!

D'oh. So much for my searching abilities! Thanks and I'll post my findings in the other thread. =)

How often do you guys use the Image Cleaner?

I can see some images, esp the chanel display 'box' (top right of screen) at night when the screen is blank.

Well, I'm probably coming up on 100 hrs here, not that I'm necessarily following a break-in, but I run the Image Cleaner during commercials every now and then.

I'm not sure I understand how the channel display box is creating retention... is it displaying all the time?

It's not displaying all the time. I think I can see ghost images right after it disapears and I put a blank screen up.
Just wondering since I've heard about burn in w/ plasmas, just want to do everything I can to prevent it.

i use it a lot...especially after the nfl draft...forgot that the images remain static even during commercials in the corner (espn may want to re-think that one next year)...

it took a few days, but the images are pretty much gone.

interesting thing is, the image cleaner is not the same as my 50" viz...just all white like a snowstorm...not a moving image...i wonder why not the same. oh well.

image retention is much worse on this tv vs. the 50...my non-techie answer to your question is to run the cleaner as much as you need to, especially after watching sports or anything with a static image in the corners.