Vizio TV Reviewed

Tom Martin -- Mon, 06/09/2008 - 14:27

Vizio 32" LCD covered here, on page 179:

http://magazine.playbackmag.net/playback/200806web/

Wolfgang -- Mon, 06/23/2008 - 18:36

A great addition to the lost-cost survey of LCDs!

I read this as quite a favorable review, particularly in terms of value (The Vizio is streeting out ~$550).

I'm not so clear on the importance of 1-to-1 pixel matching. David Birch-Jones said that although the Vizio doesn't have 1-to-1 pixel matching, he did not detect any ringing artifacts, except on test patterns. So does that mean it shouldn't matter to the average Joe (or Wolfi)?

Happy viewing,
Wolfi

gb -- Sat, 06/28/2008 - 23:02

it's exceedingly digital in the worst way: artifacts everywhere. I am running it through the cable box provided by Comcast and I put it back in the box after an hour. I couldn't get past the artifacts and unnatural look to it.
What was more disappointing is that their tech support wasn't able to help me correct it. I have 30 days to evaluate it, but if it's not going to be even remotely acceptable, which I expect is due to some setting I should have it on, there's no point whatsoever in keeping it, unless someone here knows how to set it up properly. It's a 22'' HDTV LCD.
Someone know what the setup should be??

Steven Stone -- Sun, 06/29/2008 - 09:58

This may be a problem that can only be solved with a scaler.

Perhaps the Vizio is just bad with 480i off-air sources? Can you set your DVD player to 480i (use the composite output) to see how it handles 480i "clean" material?

If 480i material from your DVD looks OK, it could be your cable box puts out an inordinately high amount of artifacts that the Viszio can't correct.

If it's the cable box signal to blame you could try an older DVDO i-Scan that converts 480i to 480p to clean up your cable signal. You can find these for as little as $100 on the used market.

Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications