Author Topic: Just bought a TV: Vizio 37" LCD-LED (Read 13389 times)

MillCreek · « **on:** January 10, 2011, 10:39:37 PM »

I had been pondering a new TV for a while; the last TV I bought was a 26" Magnavox 15 years ago. I have been doing a little bit of research and keeping an eye out on the ads.

This week, Target is selling a Vizio 37" LCD-LED 1080p TV for $ 499, compared to the regular price of $ 629. I saw that it had some pretty good online reviews (except for the sound system) and went out and bought one. I am still experimenting with it, but have some initial impressions:

Blu ray DVDs are a revelation
Even regular DVDs look pretty good with the upcoding blu-ray player
Regular (not HD) TV looks worse than it did on the analog TV

So far, pretty interesting.

TommyGunn · « **Reply #1 on:** January 10, 2011, 11:33:56 PM »

Sounds like a nice TV.

What's the deal with the LEDs? I have a 2 year old Sony LCD. Now I see that LED TVs are the new "kid on the block." Is there something about LEDs that make the TV better -- and how do they work with a LCD TV anyway?

(I still haven't quit figured out the old electron tube TVs

)

Declaration Day · « **Reply #2 on:** January 11, 2011, 02:54:52 AM »

From what I understand, the LED-backlit TVs are simply more energy-efficient.

T.O.M. · « **Reply #3 on:** January 11, 2011, 08:56:04 AM »

What he said. More energy efficient, and allegedly a longer service life for the LED's.

We got a Vizio 32" for Christmas, and I find that the standard channels look about the same, if not a little better, than my old 25" set (don't recall the brand), but not as good as my Sony flat screen (not flat panel). On the HD channels, the picture is great. Haven't popped for teh Blue Ray yet. Any suggestions?

lupinus · « **Reply #4 on:** January 11, 2011, 09:10:15 AM »

Wife and I bought ourselves a Vizio 32 inch 1080p for Christmas and it's been great thus far. Picture quality is very good across the board, IMO. My only complaint is the remote buttons suck.

Have you set it up with WiFi and played with the widgets yet? They've been fun to play with and the netflix one especially has been useful. Should also have access to Amazon's VOD service as a widget. Prices range but I found them to be reasonable and the picture quality was very good. Signing up and linking gets you various credits, I think when setup was complete I had like ten dollars in credit to check out the service. Depending on the movies you try it should cover 2-3.

MillCreek · « **Reply #5 on:** January 11, 2011, 09:12:53 AM »

A few days ago for my birthday, my wife got me a Sony Blu-Ray that networks, either with an ethernet cable or the built-in wireless. That is a pretty cool feature; I will have to look at the streaming Netflix for $ 8/month.

MechAg94 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 11, 2011, 09:28:41 AM »

I have a Samsung DLP 1080p TV. It was the one with the commercial with the little girl talking about 1000's of tiny mirrors. It has a single bank of LED backlights in the middle. I think the LED's are an advance on that with basically smaller LED all across the back of the screen with the mirrors or whatever they are controlling the image. I'm not sure though.

I saw those Visio TV's at WalMart and Target. Had other priorities on my money though.

Declaration Day · « **Reply #7 on:** January 11, 2011, 09:31:55 AM »

I have a Samsung Blu-ray player that I got from Sam's Club for $63. It had some problems playing certain discs at first, but after a software update, it works great.

I recently started streaming Netflix through it, and I must say it's the best entertainment value out there. For $11 per month I get unlimited streaming plus one Blu-ray rental at a time (not everything is available for streaming).

Brad Johnson · « **Reply #8 on:** January 11, 2011, 12:00:33 PM »

Quote from: TommyGunn on January 10, 2011, 11:33:56 PM

Sounds like a nice TV.

What's the deal with the LEDs? I have a 2 year old Sony LCD. Now I see that LED TVs are the new "kid on the block." Is there something about LEDs that make the TV better -- and how do they work with a LCD TV anyway?

(I still haven't quit figured out the old electron tube TVs )

LED is the type of backlighting. It's still an LCD panel, but backlit with LEDs rather than flourescent. Truer color temps, better light control, more energy efficient, and full brightness for the life of the light source (vs gradual dimming of flourescents).

Brad

lupinus · « **Reply #9 on:** January 11, 2011, 04:51:53 PM »

Quote from: MillCreek on January 11, 2011, 09:12:53 AM

A few days ago for my birthday, my wife got me a Sony Blu-Ray that networks, either with an ethernet cable or the built-in wireless. That is a pretty cool feature; I will have to look at the streaming Netflix for $ 8/month.

Indeed. Check out the Vizio for the netflix widget. I can't speak for certain but streaming directly to the tv seems like better quality then streaming to a player and then piped into the TV. I could be wrong of course, but if nothing else it's easier to hit a button on the remote and open the widget then to turn on the player, switch inputs, and then go through the same basic process with the players remote as you would have done from the start. I haven't tried wired but both Netflix, Amazon VOD, and internet video widgets on the TV had all played just fine without needing to rebuffer from a wireless connection.

The streaming netflix for eight bucks a month is defiantly worth it, and since you have the blu ray player now also it's wroth it to tack on a blu ray movie or two to the subscription. If you rent more then a couple movies a month it's a good value, since there is a lot that doesn't stream, and the blu ray is a better quality then the streaming.

Brad Johnson · « **Reply #10 on:** January 11, 2011, 05:05:00 PM »

Careful with NetFlix. It ain't HD unless you have the connection to support it. They claim a minimum bandwith of 8Mbps for true HD streaming. From what I'm seeing with a couple of friends, it takes more like 10 or 12 before it works. If it doesn't sense sufficient bandwith it downconverts to 720.

There are also NetFlix HD problems on PS3 consoles (not getting the right resolution no matter what the connection speed). Google NetFlix PS3 and it's a pretty lively topic.

Brad

MillCreek · « **Reply #11 on:** January 11, 2011, 05:17:54 PM »

Quote from: lupinus on January 11, 2011, 04:51:53 PM

Indeed. Check out the Vizio for the netflix widget. I can't speak for certain but streaming directly to the tv seems like better quality then streaming to a player and then piped into the TV.

I did not get one of the Vizios that is internet enabled, so for me, it is the player or nothing.

Warhorse · « **Reply #12 on:** January 11, 2011, 06:34:10 PM »

Just bought a Visio 37" LCD and a Magnavox DVD/VHS combo player/recorder. Spent nearly the whole morning setting everything up and programming the Direct TV remote to control everything.

Had a peculiar glitch. Connected the three video & audio cables between the Direct TV box and the DVD/VCR. The DVD/VCR caused a 60 Hertz hum as soon as I conected the video cable and I got no picture, only sound. Then I ADDED a S-Video cable between the two units and all problems went away.

Did I miss something? I was under the impression that only the 3 video/audio cables were needed, as the DVD/VCR unit instructions stated. In fact, hooking directly between the Direct TV box and the TV with only the 3 video/audio cables worded just fine. It was only trying to put the DVD/VHS unit between the other two units that gave me a problem as stated above. I haven't a clue why the addition of the S-Video cable solved the problem but it did. [BTW, the S-Video cable alone did nothing at all. I had to connect both sets of cables to get the unit working properly.]

For what it's worth, my prior configuration had older units interconected with coax cable. I have had zero experience with the new(er) connection types until now. Can someone enlighten me?

Warhorse

Brad Johnson · « **Reply #13 on:** January 11, 2011, 09:23:24 PM »

I your Visio the 1080 or 720 version?

Also, were you trying to go DirecTV -> VCR -> TV or something else?

Brad

zxcvbob · « **Reply #14 on:** January 11, 2011, 09:54:56 PM »

I just bought a Vizio 37" LCD. Now I'm looking for a Internet-ready upconverting DVD player so Wife can watch Netflix and I can watch hulu.com, etc, and so our DVD's will look better. I think that means I'm really looking for a used PlayStaion 3. My Vizio doesn't have S-video input, it has 2 HDMI ports, one each composite video and component video, and I think that's all (besides a coax antenna input.) But that's enough barely. Another couple of inputs would be nice.

MillCreek · « **Reply #15 on:** January 11, 2011, 10:03:17 PM »

The model my wife bought me is the Sony BDP-BX57, and it seems pretty good. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11529737&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|90607|80&N=4047269&Mo=47&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=80&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=

Currently on sale at Costco for $ 130 until the end of January.

Warhorse · « **Reply #16 on:** January 11, 2011, 10:08:14 PM »

Quote from: Brad Johnson on January 11, 2011, 09:23:24 PM

I your Visio the 1080 or 720 version?

Also, were you trying to go DirecTV -> VCR -> TV or something else?

Brad

My Visio is the 1080 version and, as I said, I connected it to go Direct TV -> DVD/VCR -> TV.

I have a suspicion that my (yellow) AV cable is superfluous with a S-Video cable connection to the DVD/VCR unit. I still don't understand why the link thru the DVD/VCR unit with the 3 AV cables alone won't work when it does work with a direct to TV connection of the same 3 cables. I am beginning to believe that it is simply the basic, inate perversity of inanimate objects that is plagueing me. (My patron saint is Capt Murphy of "Murphys Laws" fame.)

Warhorse

zxcvbob · « **Reply #17 on:** January 11, 2011, 11:00:58 PM »

Quote from: MillCreek on January 11, 2011, 10:03:17 PM

The model my wife bought me is the Sony BDP-BX57, and it seems pretty good.
Currently on sale at Costco for $ 130 until the end of January.

Looks pretty good, but it needs an "app" for Internet content. (hulu needs a "hulu plus" subscription service, etc) To do what I want, the box pretty much needs an Internet browser. So I think that means a PC or a PS3.

MillCreek · « **Reply #18 on:** January 12, 2011, 08:41:59 AM »

If in your research, you come across a DVD player that does offer open Internet access with a browser, could you please post back here? That would be good to know. In my reading they seem to just connect to certain sites, and you cannot browse generally.

MechAg94 · « **Reply #19 on:** January 12, 2011, 08:54:02 AM »

Quote from: Warhorse on January 11, 2011, 10:08:14 PM

My Visio is the 1080 version and, as I said, I connected it to go Direct TV -> DVD/VCR -> TV.

I have a suspicion that my (yellow) AV cable is superfluous with a S-Video cable connection to the DVD/VCR unit. I still don't understand why the link thru the DVD/VCR unit with the 3 AV cables alone won't work when it does work with a direct to TV connection of the same 3 cables. I am beginning to believe that it is simply the basic, inate perversity of inanimate objects that is plagueing me. (My patron saint is Capt Murphy of "Murphys Laws" fame.)

Warhorse

It likely is. I got one of the HDMI cables to use. I think they do a better job on the video. You can get the cheap at walmart.

CNYCacher · « **Reply #20 on:** January 12, 2011, 09:02:21 AM »

Quote from: Warhorse on January 11, 2011, 10:08:14 PM

My Visio is the 1080 version and, as I said, I connected it to go Direct TV -> DVD/VCR -> TV.

I have a suspicion that my (yellow) AV cable is superfluous with a S-Video cable connection to the DVD/VCR unit. I still don't understand why the link thru the DVD/VCR unit with the 3 AV cables alone won't work when it does work with a direct to TV connection of the same 3 cables. I am beginning to believe that it is simply the basic, inate perversity of inanimate objects that is plagueing me. (My patron saint is Capt Murphy of "Murphys Laws" fame.)

Warhorse

Your TV is only going to run in VGA (480p) mode if you are hooking it up this way. Composite video (yellow RCA connector) does not support high def signal. You should do it this way:

DirectTV >------hdmi--cable-----> VISIO <-------yellow--wire-------< VCR/DVD

zxcvbob · « **Reply #21 on:** January 12, 2011, 09:23:28 AM »

You can get HDMI cables online cheaper than you can at Walmart, and *much* cheaper than places like Best Buy. I got mine at firefold.com for a couple of bucks apiece -- even the 10' one.

CNYCacher · « **Reply #22 on:** January 12, 2011, 10:13:27 AM »

Quote from: zxcvbob on January 12, 2011, 09:23:28 AM

You can get HDMI cables online cheaper than you can at Walmart, and *much* cheaper than places like Best Buy. I got mine at firefold.com for a couple of bucks apiece -- even the 10' one.

YES! This eleventy!

Cable makers of yesteryear are still trying to milk the consumer with the leftover attitudes of the analog age where bigger was better and wire quality was important (not really but people believed it).

HDMI is a digital signal. The cable either works or it doesn't work. There is no spectrum of quality for the signal passing through it. If a $4 HDMI cable works (and they do!) it is working just as well as a $40 hdmi cable.

Brad Johnson · « **Reply #23 on:** January 12, 2011, 10:58:26 AM »

Like everyone says, don't try to run the signal through the DVD player. Hook everything directly to the TV. If your DVD player doesn't have HDMI upconversion (which sometimes works well, sometimes not) then use the composite connections. Your instruction manual should show you how. Will take one three-way cable for the video side and one dual cable for the audio.

I'm curious why you didn't go agead and get a Blu-Ray player. They are backwards compatible with DVDs.

Brad

Harold Tuttle · « **Reply #24 on:** January 12, 2011, 10:59:27 AM »

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/c_10153_12605_Computers+&+Electronics_Televisions

sale!

News:

Author Topic: Just bought a TV: Vizio 37" LCD-LED (Read 13389 times)