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Disappointed in my first 4K LED TV

2K views 25 replies 12 participants last post by  JohnnyD83 
#1 ·
So, I finally retired my 6 year old 73" DLP TV and stepped down in size a hair with the Vizio E70-e3 (on sale at Sam's for just under $1K).

Since I only paid $1100 for the DLP and I have always successively spent less and went up in size on each "big screen" TV I've bought over the last 25 or so years, I figured a $1K 70" TV sounded just about right.

The picture on the E70 is outstanding to me! I know there is better out there, but the picture on the Vizio beats my old Mitsubishi hands-down. FYI, I am only judging the 1080p performance here as I don't have any 4K sources as of yet.


But...and it's a BIG but...the clouding/flashlighting on the Vizio is absolutely unacceptable. :(

I can't believe that this level of imperfection is considered "normal" or "acceptable" with a TV costing $1K (and on some TVs that cost much, much more!). What the hell is wrong with this industry when they can't even make a black screen BLACK....I mean, c'mon!


So...is it true that only OLED is free from these issues and can produce a truly black, uniform screen?? I guess it's that or an old, used plasma.....

When will the OLEDs come down enough in price for me to afford a +70" version? 2 years? 3? More??

Thanks for reading my rant! Just needed to vent. :D
 
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#3 ·
The E70-E3 is full array local dimming, but only 12 zones. The new M-series has 64 zones. The fewer zones, the more chance for clouding and/or brightness/darkness bleeding into adjacent zones. If it really bothers you, just turn it off. The contrast will still be very good and better than your previous TV.
 
#6 ·
I have a 2011 Sharp 70" edge lit (I think). Anyway the clouding/ghosting/blooming can be pretty bad. I know it's there if I look for it.

But I rarely if ever notice it when watching a good movie or TV show. I'm engrossed in whats' going on on the screen, not with what is going on "in" the screen.

I'm pretty sure once you start watching some good action movies you won't even notice it.

Me, I'm going to wait until the 85" LCDs come way down in price. Hopefully. :)
 
#11 ·
The only time I notice it is when I'm watching movies with all lights out that require letterbox bars, have very dark scenes or when something fades to black. It really is quite faint, but I've always been a stickler for uniformity...I actually taped strings to the bezel of my old rear projection CRT TVs to dial in convergence. :)



You bought a 70" UHD TV for $1K. What did you expect?
I expect black to be black. However, going back to my original point, it seems that that is too much to ask with modern LED TVs and consumers have just come to blindly accept this fact. :rolleyes:

This is my first LED TV (well, in the living room) and no "big screen" TV I have ever had before this (DLP, CRT RP, CRT tube) have had black uniformity issues.



I completely respect your budget. You would think $1000 would get you a decent tv. If you would have gotten something in the 55-60" range I think you'd be ok. A 70" screen is quite large and will emphasize minor imperfections. If your critical of the picture that budget just isn't going to work with a 70" tv.
Yeah, I was spoiled by DLP...very large screens at very low cost with a great picture (lackluster blacks though....but at least they were uniform in their lackluster-ness!). There was no way I could go down from 73" to 55-60"...we sit ~15' from the screen. :cool:



On a positive note...I installed a bias light yesterday and it helped immensely! I barely notice the clouding at all now. The bias light improves the overall perceived contrast and gives the picture more "depth" as well. I think I'm pretty happy with the picture after this (quite inexpensive) tweak! :D
 
#9 ·
I completely respect your budget. You would think $1000 would get you a decent tv. If you would have gotten something in the 55-60" range I think you'd be ok. A 70" screen is quite large and will emphasize minor imperfections. If your critical of the picture that budget just isn't going to work with a 70" tv.
 
#13 ·
Thanks, I've got the WOW disc...have had it for years (DVE before that ;) ). I haven't got around to popping it in yet, but I have turned down everything so I'm not in torch mode. :)
 
#14 ·
OK, after living with my second E70 for a week, I just can't take it!

I've found that the limited number of Active LED Zones are pretty much useless when turned on, and if I turn them off the clouding is 10x worse. So, either I get large chunks of the screen darkening/brightening inappropriately or I get terrible clouding. This TV is most definitely going back...as soon as you guys help me decide what to replace it with. ;)

Lesson learned: don't cheap out on a LCD that is going to be viewed in a dark room. :eek:

I've attached some pics of the clouding. I obviously don't know how to take as good of pictures as some of you, but you can get an idea of what I'm dealing with. Disregard the blue tint (must be my camera), in person the screen is completely black accept for the streaks of clouding that are white in person. I've tried "massaging" and pushing/pulling on the screen to no avail.

So, what TV should I step up to in the 70"-75" range that won't have this god awful clouding?? I'm thinking Vizio P75 would be my safest bet at this point, maybe M70 (if I could find one!).
 

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#16 ·
OK, after living with my second E70 for a week, I just can't take it!



I've found that the limited number of Active LED Zones are pretty much useless when turned on, and if I turn them off the clouding is 10x worse. So, either I get large chunks of the screen darkening/brightening inappropriately or I get terrible clouding. This TV is most definitely going back...as soon as you guys help me decide what to replace it with. ;)



Lesson learned: don't cheap out on a LCD that is going to be viewed in a dark room. :eek:



I've attached some pics of the clouding. I obviously don't know how to take as good of pictures as some of you, but you can get an idea of what I'm dealing with. Disregard the blue tint (must be my camera), in person the screen is completely black accept for the streaks of clouding that are white in person. I've tried "massaging" and pushing/pulling on the screen to no avail.



So, what TV should I step up to in the 70"-75" range that won't have this god awful clouding?? I'm thinking Vizio P75 would be my safest bet at this point, maybe M70 (if I could find one!).


You're sure gonna kill your 1k budget going to an m or p. M70 is 1900 at vizio after 5 percent off coupon. P75 is 3610. Both tvs are much better. Happy with my p75, but I only paid 2900. The blacks are awesome compared to the LG uh8500 I bought at first.


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#15 ·
I was in the same boat as you about a month ago. I had my 73" Mitsubishi for 6 years also. The wife wanted me to stick to a 70" or higher but do to reviews and wanting to stick to a certain budget I opted for the 65" Samsung KS8000 when it was on sale at best buy. The M series seemed pretty good but I am a Samsung fan and the colors seemed to be as close to OLED as you can get on an LED tv. Only real way to get a perfect tv is to drop a lot more money than I wanted to for a Z series Sony or OLED. We ar about 15 feet away from our set as well and with the 65" it is more than enough tv. The blacks are so good from the Samsung that I do not even use the local dimming.
 
#18 ·
This is encouraging! Although, going down from the 73" to 70" was quite noticeable to me...I think going down another 5" would just not cut it for me, although I could be wrong.

Do you ever watch in a completely dark room? If so, are the letterbox bars (on 1.85/2.39 movies) completely black?? Is a black screen completely uniform in it's "black-ness"??


You're sure gonna kill your 1k budget going to an m or p. M70 is 1900 at vizio after 5 percent off coupon. P75 is 3610. Both tvs are much better. Happy with my p75, but I only paid 2900. The blacks are awesome compared to the LG uh8500 I bought at first.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oh, the $1K budget is out the window for sure! I though that I could tolerate the drawbacks of a cheaper LCD for a couple/three years until OLED came down in price...there is just no way I can tolerate these kind of defects for that long...no WAY.

I've got 90 days to return the E70 to Sam's and I'm hoping that the P70 will have a price drop again sometime within that time frame. ;)


Have you considered exchanging it for another E70 to ensure it's not just a panel defect? The E-series is not supposed to be great, but those pictures... someone made a mistake.
The is the second E70 (first one was worse!). I could swap again, but don't hold out much hope for a "perfect" E70 panel. It's kind of a hassle to exchange, and my wife told me that the last time was "the last time" she's ever helping me get the TV off/on the wall. :rolleyes:
 
#20 ·
I am not a gamer and have just finished reading the last few pages of the 940D thread...I am seriously starting to lean in that direction. :)

If you could point me to where you saw mention of that price it would be very much appreciated!!
 
#21 ·
I am not a gamer and have just finished reading the last few pages of the 940D thread...I am seriously starting to lean in that direction. :)



If you could point me to where you saw mention of that price it would be very much appreciated!!


I believe if you call Cleveland plasma and tell them you are a member of avs forum they will make you a deal. They have a 10/10 reseller ratings over 450 reviews.


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