1080P Vizio or 720P Samsung???

Check out the warranties on each tv and the reviews. I have the Samsung you are considering and it's a nice tv with good reviews. I'm not familiar with the Vizio, but I feel Samsung is a better manufacturer so that's the once I chose.

If you've looked at both in a store, you should pick the one you feel has a better pic, 1080p may look better to your eyes.

Actually, Costco extends the warranty for 1 year, so it ends up being 2 years total. Still pretty sweet. If it were me though, I'd get the Samsung. I had some bad luck with the Vizios I owned.

wanger, they are both pretty good sets. What are you wanting to use as sources for this thing? That could to have strong relevance concerning your decision.

I tend to favor the Sony S3000 over the Samsung 53. But the 53 looks nice....Samsung has a history of HDMI troubles it seems like though. The GV42LF is getting good quality control feedback, lots of problem free sets. The 42 inch Vizios are generally considered to be the best of the Vizios as far as PQ is concerned, as well.

I own the GV42LF and I love it, very impressed by its performance and features.

If this is your first flat panel HDTV, you will probably be thrilled with either one.

If you are at all sensitive to PQ you will ultimately be disappointed with a 720p set.

Save a later upgrade step and get the best 1080p set you can afford. Its worthing to stretch your budget to get 1080p.
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

fafner

I have the Vizio 1080P. Future proof yourself now. I have NO problems with the Vizio. I game all the time with the xbox 360. Halo3 looked incredible in full 1080P. Dont settle or limit yourself to 720P. Plus I got the Visio on sale at Sears for $950. Smokin deal.

Wanger I just went through the very same thing that you are going through with the same TV sets infact.I did the comparison shopping and ultimately went with the Vizio GV42L 1080p that was delivered today.

The 8000:1 is dynamic contrast......

I own the Vizio GV52L, I'm *very* happy with it. One thing that 1080p does for you over 720p is it reduces the pixel size, so you can get closer to the screen of a 1080p TV than you would with a 720p TV before you'd start to notice the individual pixels.

Here is a great (long) article on the topic, if you scroll down the just below the half-way point you'll see the chart that shows optimal viewing distance for TVs of differing sizes and resolutions.

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messa...79/284986.html

Absolutely love it and it was the right decision for me.

my vote goes to the vizio as well. it gives you comparable pq to the more expensive 1080p setd for half the price.

Pfft, get the vizio bud, do your self the favor...I ended up returning my 42" and buying a 46" sharp (friends and family one time only sale)...and I kinda regret it.

I'm not yet sure the Visio is the right set (I'm leaning towards it though) but I am sure that 1080p is the prudent choice. Here's the article that convinced me.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volum...07-part-1.html

Dynamic CR claims should be held with deep skepticism. The real CR for the Vizio is about 800:1 and for the Samsung its probably about 1500:1. This is reflects deeper black levels, you are likely to get from the Samsung.

If you were just going to watch Movies and TV Broadcasts, I would tend toward the Samsung's increased Black Levels/CR. But you lose 1x1 no overscan 1080 line pixel reproduction of the vastly more widespread 1080i HD broadcast and HD-DVD/Blu-Ray. With Video Games and Computer use, the Vizio GV42LF gets the edge. Add in a larger screen and I think the Vizio starts looking like the better move.

My 2 cents.

If you use a credit card with extended warrany provisions, you can get two years and 3 months with the Samsung (Sammy gives you a 3 mo. extention when you register and the credit card goes one year after sammy warranty expires).

I have a 1080p Samsung DLP but it has all the edge enhancements always on and I don't want to go into the service menu to turn them off (DNle). So that is my only point of reference. I have the LNT 4053 on movie, which is no enhancements. So my comparison is not so good. But the 1080p looks sharper, but I could boost the 4053's sharpness and enhancements and activate DNLe and get the pop as well. I haven't because with the pop comes the artifacts and a smooth picture is nice.

I like Samsung stuff and I did not want to spend $500 more for a Sammy LCD 1080p. I think at this point of development, LCD 1080p is in it's first year and there are some issues. So all in all I went 720p for our LCDs and I like the picture very much. Tons of adjustable settings. I think you would like the set very much, but I always think your eyes have to do the decision. Good luck and it sounds like either would be a good choice.

The Samsung will have a much better torch mode. Vizios notoriously dont look so hot with out of the box picture settings.

I suggest that you take some recommended calibration settings in with you, before you go attempting to make a decision based on PQ in the store.

I was very skeptical about Vizio especially after seeing them in the stores compared to others. I took a chance on the VU42LF from Costco knowing that I could always return it within 90 days and buy a Sharp/Sony/Samsung if I wanted to. I figured I'd give the Vizio a try.

I was pleasantly surprised. Since I got the 42" 1080p for around $1K, I knew I couldn't get a better deal. I could pay more money for slightly better picture quality, but it was not worth it to me.

For you situation, go bigger if you can fit it (42 instead of 40). Future proof yourself with 1080p instead of 720, especially since you have a PS3 (I do as well). You can play some games in 1080p and they look awesome. Also, I have been buying and renting Blu-ray DVDs and friends and family are amazed at the PQ and detail.

So, I suggest you take the Vizio home on a trial basis for 90 days. Learn about HD from this forum and your own experience. Then you may decide to keep it or do something different. At least at this point you will be making a more informed decision.

I was so happy with my Vizio VU42LF 1080p, I moved it to the bedroom and put a Vizio GV52 1080p in my family room!! I paid less ($3K) for two 1080p sets than some people spend on one TV!!!

Don't forget though, that sears and costco carry two different models, although they are very similar. Costco carries the VU42LF, and Sears carries the GV42LF. The only differences are that the GV has better speakers, which are detachable.

Some have felt that the GV has had less quality control issues, but I don't know too much about that. They are practically the same otherwise.

I got the GV at Sears, and it has been excellent. However, Sears return policy sucks, so if you want to try it out, I'd shop at costco.

You may lose the advantage as a computer monitor of 1080 over VGA with teh VU42LF.

You could not be more wrong. Resolution is not the most important factor in PQ. More important are contrast ratio, color saturation and accuracy, and black levels. The PQ on the Samsung is superior to the Vizio's. This particular Vizio does have decent black levels but it's poor shadow detail and lower contrast ratio would steer me away from this set. The Samsung is a much better tv, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Oh yeah, I think that is another difference between the VU and GV. The GV accepts 1080p over all inputs, most notably VGA, which I don't think the VU does.


Let me add that if you have a PS3, go with 1080p. Blu-Ray and video games will thank you.

The Vizio has very good color accuracy and saturation, when calibrated properly. The Samsung has a very pleasing torch mode. The Samsungs colors tend to be oversaturated as well, but that is what people like......a garish overly sharp, overly colorfied, cranked white levels and high contrast. Samsung does that combo better than Vizio. If you like/want accurate reproduction of the source, Vizio can do it for the least amount of mullah, and without chinzing on the post sale warranty support and using top notch LG panels and MediaTek video processing chipsets with Faroudja DCDi technology AND HIGHER NATVIE RESOLUTION, to boot.