Home audio & video forum: please specify (technical) reasons for the Vizio hate...

If all TVs were priced equally, sure I'd go for the Sony, but they're not. I've heard great things about Costco's warranty on electronics so why not purchase what looks great and costs less? I, too, am leaning toward the Vizio brand (through Costco) and am starting to lean toward LCD vs. plasma. I may be wrong in my thinking, but Costco sells a lot of TVs and they're not in the business of taking them back so I'm certain that they've done their homework and have only purchased electronics that can reasonably be expected to last.

I bought a 50" Vizeo Plasma from Sam's club. The first one lasted a week, and then would not turn on. I took it back and traded for another one. What a horrible picture this one had. Took it back after 2 weeks. Tried a third one, this lasted a couple of months and then quit working. I have the Dish Network vip622 receiver, with the HD package. All regular signals will not look as good on a plasma, but HD is really worth it. Always use a good HDMI cable. I now have a Panasonic 50"--TH50PX6U--Awesome so far. Only a few hundred dollars more.

I don't own a Vizio (picture quality stinks) but I did purchase a 37" Polaroid 720p from Circuit City over the holidays last year. The picture quality is just amazing! I brought my father with me for a second opinion (and a good set of eyes!) and looked at the 42" Sony 1080p and 42" Samsung 1080p and picture quality was so/so. Maybe it could of been the feed in the store but it was very granny during the football game and saw boxes when the players moved. The Polaroid was crisp and clear with no boxes following the players. The downside of my Polaroid is the built in speakers. They suck point blank. It's like listening to mono. I hooked up my surround sound to it and all is well.

I only paid $929 but took out the 3 year warranty just in case the TV blows up without warning and I lost out on a good investment. So far, no problems with my TV.

The decision to buy popular brands or no-name brands can be a tricky one. There are several factors you must consider. For a TV, one might be "how important is this tv?". Maybe if it's just going in the bedroom to watch on occasion you might consider cutting some cost and going budget price. If it's something you're going to watch several hours a day you better make sure you're going to be satisfied. I figure if youre looking at $1000 vs. $1200 dollars and it meant spending $200 more dollars to be satisfied I'd go with the better unit. You can go look at picture quality all day at a store, but that doesn't tell you everything. You have to consider potential longevity of different sets. If you consider your tv as a disposable item, sure budget sets may be your choice. Support is another issue. I assure you that if you run into a problem a major manufacturer will come near helping you out vs. a no-name company. I have a Sony LCD tv I bought a couple years ago and paid a pretty penny for, but have unquestionably been very satisfied with. I recently bought a small 15" off-brand lcd/dvd combo to put in a truck sleeper, but haven't had a chance to install or evaluate it, but for the $200 I paid for it I figure it can't be that bad, and it's not something I'm going to use every day. On another note, remote control compatibility is quite honestly another serious issue. Do you want to fumble around with 5 remotes, or go with some company that has the capability of successfully integrating remote functions into a single unit? I don't sell TVs and don't own stock in any companies. To cut cost doesn't always mean to cut quality. I agree with that, but it usually means off-brands. I'm not saying their bad, but I do believe you can run a higher risk. The final decision ultimately lies with the individual consumer to make. Ultimately I read reviews and let other people take the risks and rely heavily on others individuals opinions of different sets. My only concern with this approach is it doesnt always cover every base. It usually never covers longevity tests. But hey, with the costs of new units dropping every day and technology improving along the way, is it really worth it to invest a boat-load of money into something youll want to replace in a few years anyway? Im not sure yet. Ask me again in a few years.

I purchased a 55" Sony WEGA on the Internet and could not be happier with price, delivery and quality!

Price was $1500 and a shipping charge of $200. Circuit City and Best Buy were selling it for above $2400.

I read CNET just before Thanksgiving and studied your recommendations. Seeing the Vizio plasma as a best buy for price and being all I could afford I went for it. I happened to be at COSTCO in Helena, MT. on grand opening day when they had a one-day special for $999. I am in awe of my Vizio. I just love it. I too, am on DISH and the HD channels just POP!

As for only being 768P instead of 1080. Pffff! Any clearer and I'd never be able to tell the difference anyway. I already feel like Lana Lang is sitting right beside me!

I've looked until my knees buckled and for the price I paid I know I got the best deal in town. It's a great feeling!!!

Samsung 50"...best bang for the buck. At the time, LCDs were just not bright enough and the pixels blew out WAY too often. I know things have changed...and I am looking forward to getting back into the game for shopping for another television to go into the study to replace the "second" tv. Be interested to know who is going to win the HD DVD war...HD-DVD or BluRay? That is more on my mind...

Also, who on EARTH is paying the big dollars to buy a 1080p tv? I mean really...cable will only be broadcasted in 480-720p...maybe...just maybe it might be broadcasted in 1080p in 15-20 years...maybe...

If anyone out there bought this TV like I did, but kept their base, and now does not need it - please contact me as I would like to buy it

thank you

http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatv/plasmatv-lifespan.html

I bought a Viewsonic 37" for the basement a few months ago, primarily for the kids though I've watched it more than them. It's not the best quality, and I did not expect it to be, but for the basement and for half the price of the top brands I was happy to make a tradeoff.

Anyways there IS a wide variation in picture quality, IMO Samsung and Sony are by far the best quality LCD's (and yes they do share a panel manufacturing plant, so that makes sense). A lot of people say Sharp is in that top tier too, though from what I've seen I wouldn't agree.

Then I find among the brand names there is a second tier with companies like Sharp, Hitachi, LG etc that are definitely a step behind, but not bad.

Finally there is the third tier like the Digimates/Acers etc that make some pretty bad stuff.

A lot of the off brands have sets that belong in the 2nd tier based on quality, I think the Viewsonic is one of those.

Important things to keep in mind when looking at sets in the store is that a) often the signal quality they are getting is terrible, and HDTV will look bad with a bad signal because it reveals so much detail, and b) the sets in the stores are almost never setup properly, people are always playing with the settings, and sometimes even the factory settings are awful. That's the case with the Viewsonic, it's factory settings are unbelievably bad, and you have to go into the hidden service menu to fix them, but once you do I think the picture quality is very similar to the LG sets.

So anyways if you want the best PQ I think you have to go big name, namely IMO Samsung or Sony, but there are bargains among the off brands.

I had to replace TV's as a result of a fire and bought the VIZIO 42" Plasma with the HDTV TV Tuner included and love it so much when i saw the 50" also with the HDTV Tuner on a special at Costco, i got that and put the 42" in my bedroom.
Everyone who sees the picture is quite amazed. The surround sound feature is also great.
I love it and know of at very least 10 people who bought one as a result of seeing mine, none of us have had any problems and we all love them.
Go ahead and buy VIZIO without reservation

I owned a Vizio for about 2 months, and I can say I won't ever buy one again. I was initially attracted by the price and the picture looked quite good in the store, so I jumped on it. First thing I noticed is that every component felt cheap. The remote was horrible, the TV frame felt like cheap plastic, the dang thing didn't have a swivel to rotate the TV around. Since the price was so good I looked past these shortcomings, until about a month into it the TV would randomly make a very loud white noise sound, which could only be resolved by powering it off and on again. This happened about 5 times over a few weeks.

Thankfully at the time Dell had a great deal and I got one of their TVs and took the Vizio back. Although I can't personally recommend Dell TVs now because their prices are so insanely high, I can tell you that once that TV was setup everything about it screamed quality while everything about the Vizio screamed made in China. And not only was the build quality better, but the picture ended up being better too, better saturation, no more hotspots. Even though it cost me a few hundred more I don't regret for an instant my decision to go with the Dell over the Vizio and I suggest you make room in your budget to get a name brand TV over the Vizio as well.

...and where do you think your "Dell" was manufactured???

Between August and November 2006 I spent many hours in COSTCO, VIDEO ONLY and Best Buy, watching and comparing LCD and plasma screens. I'd take notes on my perceptions and then go home, get on the net and read all available info/reviews about the brands. I finally narrowed it down to LCD instead of plasma and Sony and Mitsubishi as the best pictures, controls and quality. I wanted to be impressed with Vizio, Polaroid, Maxent and Westinghouse because they were less expensive but was just blown away by the picture quality in the Sony and Mitsubishi. I finally chose the 46" Sony V2500 when that dealer beat the Mitsubishi price by $300.00. Vizio's blacks looked muddy, Polaroid gave me eye fatigue, Maxent's primary colors looked washed out and Westinghouse was totally non-impressive and looked "cheap". I truly enjoy my Sony and have no regrets for not saving a few hundred more, had I talked myself into accepting inferior picture quality and unknown return rates/refurbs from any of those off-brand.