Great TV, December 28, 2008

By 

C. Helmer (Janesville, WI) – See all my reviews

  

I purchased this TV to replace the big tube TV in our bedroom, and have been extremely pleased with it. The viewing angle is extremely wide compared to other LCD TV’s I have looked at in the past. I don’t know if that is a product of the technology getting better in time or if it’s specific to Vizio. The picture quality of HD signal rivals my 1080i native 50″ plasma. The menu/software is fairly intuitive and gets you setup in short order. The only reason I did not give this a 5 star rating is due to the built in guide, which will show you what is on the current channel only. It would be nice to have some memory in the guide allowing you to view other channels schedule as well. I know that most of the converter boxes are doing this so it seems this would be a fairly cheap addition. Another poster mentioned that you cannot change the picture format & that it was not Closed Caption capable….which is simply not true. I can select from normal, wide, or pan for my standard def signals. Of course, if you’re watching HD you are forced to use wide….which you’ll get with any widescreen TV?!? Closed Captioning is also available.

Wall mounting this TV only requires a light duty wall mount as the TV itself only weighs 17 lbs. I picked up a mount at Best Buy for , mounted the TV to the wall, and now have the top of my dresser back.

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Wonderful LCD, Great Value, December 30, 2008

I recently purchased this television for my bedroom. It’s the perfect size to give a “widescreen feeling” and HD experience in a bedroom without being overbearing. This is my second Vizio, and I made the purchase after owning a 42″ 1080p for a year. In fact, I returned a 26″ LCD by another maker that I had purchased on Black Friday. Although that TV had some nice qualities, I was not completely satisfied and I found myself worrying about the life of the TV and the manufacturer’s rather poor reputation for handling repair/replacement issues. When the price of this 26″ Vizio dropped to only more than I had paid for the Black Friday deal, I jumped at the chance to go with a television with the quality, performance, and reputation of Vizio. I did extensive research and shopping (looked at a lot of TVs both at stores and in friends’ homes) before I bought my first Vizio and again when looking for a 26″ TV, and I am one of those who will tell you not to be fooled by people who claim that their [certain other brands] TVs are far superior to Vizio. It’s simply not true but some need to justify paying too much money. Of course some TVs may be superior in some ways, but Vizios compete solidly in the side-by-side viewing comparison and features offered.

For those who haven’t shopped LCDs much, please note that all major manufacturers, including Vizio, tend to have more than one (often several) models of the same size with widely varying characteristics. So if an X brand TV is priced competitively with a Vizio, do not assume that because the other TV is X brand with sexy advertising that it is superior and a better buy. It’s likely that the X brand-big-advertising-budget-manufacturer TV is their low-end model with inferior specifications/quality. Vizio offers excellent pricing throughout all tiers of its product line, so a high-end Vizio will be cheaper than a high-end X brand but only a low-end X brand will be priced similarly with a high- or mid-range Vizio. Thus the value of Vizio is pretty great.

The picture of my 26″ is excellent and I definitely get that “wow, I can’t believe how beautiful this picture is feeling” when I watch. The range of viewing angles seems really good (especially compared to the TV I returned). There are many options for picture customization so please play around with the settings to get them to your liking (i.e., backlight setting too high out of the box, picture becomes richer when lowered). There are ample inputs. Like with my 42″ I am surprised by how well the TV’s audio creates virtual “surround sound” with the TV’s own speakers. The setup and menus are really self-explanatory and anyone who’s ever used a DVD player or any basic electronics can figure this TV out without even reading the manual. The TV has a sleek look and feels solidly constructed.

Vizio has a strong reputation for customer service (although I have not personally had to contact anyone regarding my TVs). They also throw in extras that many companies do not which increase their market position in my opinion–like including an HDMI cable with larger TVs and providing in-home service for TVs 30″ or larger–and other nice touches that separate them from no-name (and some big name) manufacturers and increase value to consumers.

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Make Your Own Comparison., January 1, 2009

We are satisfied with this 26″ LCD tv. It was purchased because of favorable direct comparison with other well known manufacturers as well as recommendations from friends that have experience with the brand. We have a problem free 37″ 1080p Magnavox LCD for movie viewing, and use the VIZIO for sports and casual viewing in the kitchen. The set is recessed in the island, so the screen is lower than eye level.

The picture is great, as detailed as our larger Magnavox, which offers greater resolution. The volume can be raised quite loud to overcome ambient noise and can be tailored to render good sound quality even being enclosed in a cabinet. The speakers are down firing, but somehow sound clear nonetheless. The images can be seen easily off axis, but at extreme angles it does lose contrast.

It was easy to set up, scanning and adding 60 more digital cable channels than the outgoing analog set did. We do not have a cable box on this set yet so it will not pick up pay channels, but all are very clear in non-HD digital. DVD’s look great, and of course network HD is stunning. Old analog content can blur and artifact, so if you favor this type of programming this might not be the set for you.

The remote fits the hand nicely, has direct access to captioning, screen format, input, and has a led to confirm button presses, but lacks back-lit keys.

There are 2 HDMI inputs, v1.3, a game port on the side, as well as coaxial, pc and analog. The stand could be stronger, and does not swivel, but it does the job.

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