You should have put a picture of the Challenger Space Shuttle blowing up on the TV since today is the 25th anniversary of the day it exploded.

acdawg wrote:Is 120Hz that big of an improvement over 60Hz? (Will I notice a difference?)

It looks very strange when you first get it. There's no good way to explain it besides me telling you to go to the nearest electronics store and ask to see their 120Hz TVs. I don't know if it's necessarily an improvement but 3D broadcasting requires the 120Hz refresh rate.

I have a 32" vizio and it's great except the sound. It goes nuts on volume when a commercial comes on (10X!) on certain channels. Does anyone else have this problem or is it something with the cable transmission or?

jpdowdall3 wrote:I have a 32" vizio and it's great except the sound. It goes nuts on volume when a commercial comes on (10X!) on certain channels. Does anyone else have this problem or is it something with the cable transmission or?

Happens on a lot of TVs because the channels suck. Some TVs have automatic volume leveling. Guess this Vizio doesn't?

Mitsurati wrote:Clearly that is not a photo of worms. That is an extremely rare photograph of FSM resting in its sacred garden.

As I see neither a beer volcano nor a stripper factory in that picture, I doubt very much that his noodlyness is at rest in his sacred garden. Rather, I believe that this is a photo of him doing his works here on earth.

I Wooted this tv in December '09 for a couple hundred more bucks--it is the best electronics purchase I ever made.

Anybody that sees it on, comments on the great picture.

Woot with confidence folks. I got a square Trade warranty and haven't needed it [knocking on wood]

montcoman wrote:I Wooted this tv in December '09 for a couple hundred more bucks--it is the best electronics purchase I ever made.

Anybody that sees it on, comments on the great picture.

Woot with confidence folks. I got a square Trade warranty and haven't needed it [knocking on wood]

Square trade for 2 years is $96 before taxes... is it worth it for this TV?

matthewhxc wrote:Hz is a per second refresh rate and the human eye can only detect about 30 frames per second. Therefore you probably will not notice a difference between 60Hz and 120Hz.

The human eye doesn't detect anything in fps; it's all about interpretation of the motion image, whether that's a flipbook, a motion blurred 18fps movie, 85hz monitor, or Real Life. It's much more complicated than saying "you only need x fps because that's all the eye can see" because the eye works on continuous streams of light and information.

Watch 2 televisions side by side with the only difference being the refresh rate. Then do it again in bright light and again in dark light or at different angles. Try again with identical televisions watching an action movie on one screen and a drama on the other.

Sometimes the refresh rate won't matter and it will seem like the lower rate is fine, or possibly even better.

For me, 60hz has a noticeable flicker when it isn't progressive. 120hz is a lot better. 240 is almost always smooth except if there are fluorescent lights on above.

Most people will do just fine with a 120hz screen, if for no other reason than the enhanced clarity during sports games and action movies.

Posters above are right about the contrast ratios, manufacturers like to play around with those numbers and they end up being fairly arbitrary.

Refresh rates on the other hand are not, if you watch a lot of HD sports or game on your LCD you will see some tearing at 60hz. Not enough to be a deal breaker, but annoying for some.

Also I see this particular model on Ecost about 3 times a week. Worries me that there are so many of these refurbed...

acdawg wrote:Is 120Hz that big of an improvement over 60Hz? (Will I notice a difference?)

Personally, I noticed a huge difference (mainly when watching older movies). with the 120Hz I went from watching tv (60Hz) to feeling like I was in the same room as the actors (120Hz). Also, I noticed a huge difference when watching sports. Now, I didn't notice that much of a difference from 120 to 240 since my eyes are that perceptive, but 60 to 120 really made a difference to me.

00000100 wrote:
120hz is cool and all, but it's mostly used for 3d. Your eyes will perceive (sp?) a maximum of approx. 60 fps, but 120hz will look (very) slightly smoother.

Actually, your eyes really only notice anything below about 24fps. DVDs are typically produced with a refresh rate of 30fps in NA, and 25fps for european/PAL.

Blu-ray is typically encoded at 24fps. 120Hz is becoming a standard monitor refresh rate mostly because it's a direct 5x multiplier of the normal 24Hz encoded FPS of Blu-ray (as opposed to the odd 2.5x multiplier for 60Hz sets).


The "smoothing" effect of 120Hz can happen when the TV has a logic set that interpolates frames in between instead of just repeating the fram 5 times off a dvd.

So, for watching Blu-ray or 3d, 120Hz can make a difference. Otherwise, it's really not necessary.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refresh_rate for more explanations, including why watching a Blu-ray video in Europe/PAL can finish 1-4% faster.

btdgreg wrote:If this included Vizio's internet apps and was smaller (strange, I know), I might be tempted. I'm looking for a 42" set to put in my bedroom, but want built-in Netflix, etc., if possible.

Also, refurx kind of scares me when it comes to TVs. Can't say why, exactly.

Specs are pretty good on this one, though and I think Vizio is an okay brand.

So you're probably going to buy a Bluray player for it anyways, right? Get a Bluray player with Netflix...

I have a 47" Vizio (different model) with smooth motion and I love it. The 120Hz makes things look more lifelike. At first everything looks almost too real but you get used to it and when you watch other TV's they end up looking, well, bad. On the one hand, it almost feels like you have someone standing in front of you and acting, on the other hand I have some friends come over and say "you have to turn the smooth motion off, it is creeping me out and making me want to hurl" and others who say that it makes everything look like you are watching unedited behind the scenes reels like you would see on Extra. I have also noticed that with some shows the framerate looks jumpy (Anthony Bordain's No Reservations does this with smooth motion on. I think it might be shot in a low frame rate or odd one; who knows?). My understanding of the technology is that the smooth motion trys to fill in extra frames if they aren't there with something in between so it can distort any strobe effects. Overall, if you hate the smooth motion you can always turn it off.


Also, you can't beat a 1080P 120Hz 47" for under $600. I am tempted to buy this TV and I have no room/need for it.

Bought the 37" Vizio (E370VL) refurbished from Woot right before black Friday last year. So far loving the TV and have had no problems with it. If you're looking for a solid 47" HDTV, highly suggest grabbing this now!

Ordered one of these last year from Woot and the UPS guy stole it, by the time everything was figured out Woot had no more so I was out of luck on this great TV. Mark sure to keep track of delivery.

stevothedog wrote:Ordered one of these last year from Woot and the UPS guy stole it, by the time everything was figured out Woot had no more so I was out of luck on this great TV. Mark sure to keep track of delivery.

Wow. Just wow. =[ UPS sucks... too bad they ship almost everything woot.

phacopida wrote:Anyone have experience with Vizio? How is the quality?

I'm disappointed, as I'm waiting to have my 47" repaired. My warranty is 1 year plus 1 year from Costco, but it should last longer than 11 months before parts fail. Look at all the poor reviews on Amazon for broken Vizios.

I am very tempted but I read an article that TV and 3D TV prices will be steadily dropping throughout 2011. I really want a 3D TV so I think i'll wait to see if they fall within my price-range.

Assoctw wrote:I obsessed over refresh rates and contrast ratios when I bought my first HDTV, but the truth is, unless I compared two of them side by side, I would have been fine with almost any 1080p HDTV. Now, I am more interested in how many HDMI inputs it has.

Yeah, a lot of the time you can only tell the difference if you're comparing two displays side-by-side at the same time, although not always.

Lesser companies put a photo of the ocean on their screens. They just don't understand marketing on the level Woot does.

xeju wrote:Darn it, this is too wide for the space I've got. Does anyone know the largest physical screen that will fit in a space 41" wide?

My 42" Sharp is 39" wide

Question is do I 'impulse' buy it now or wait til the morning to see if it's still available?! What to do?! Anyone know how often this size (or larger) comes around on Woot?!

misterjohnny wrote:
Interesting tidbit: they don't sell through Best Buy because the owners of Vizio don't like Best Buy.

That is reason enough to buy one!! Seriously I have a 32" 720p and a 26" monitor. Very happy with both.

I have had nothing but terrible experiences with Vizio. The volume has a mind of its own and it shuts off on its own. As for customer service, it took me three months to get a replacement when my tv (that I'd had for less than 4 months) crapped out on me. Never again.

It is true, the efresh rates and other thingamabobs are all white noise unless you have 2 tv's side by side. I thought I was compromising with a 60 Hz, and it is wonderful, never had any complaint, and my wife and I are sports guys

stevothedog wrote:Ordered one of these last year from Woot and the UPS guy stole it, by the time everything was figured out Woot had no more so I was out of luck on this great TV. Mark sure to keep track of delivery.

I find your story of the UPS driver stealing it dubious to say the least.

Supersox wrote:You should have put a picture of the Challenger Space Shuttle blowing up on the TV since today is the 25th anniversary of the day it exploded.

Um, that wouldn't go over too well. It would go up like the Hindenburg... Oh carp, did I just type that?

Oh Woot, why did you put this up on payday? I have a fridge/washer/dryer to pay off by October. This may well be my first big ticket purchase from Woot.

Oh, and I'm a pansy who's afraid of simple life forms, so vomit at the picture... Yet I'm still spending $554.99. Good Woot.

Ewwwwwww! Worm pile is a tough thing to look at first thing in the morning.

I got a Vizio 42" during a wootoff in august.
Love it. After reading all the comments, I love it more.

pkagel wrote:I bought a 50" Plasma Vizio off of Woot a couple years ago and it has been a very nice TV with no problems whatsoever. I don't regret the purchase one bit.

Their plasmas were such poor quality the quit making them

I have this TV. Bought it around Christmas for 599 from amazon with free shipping. It's been great so far.

I have seen comments about the 120Hz screen and smoothvision - people don't understand that DVD video is normally 29 frames per seconds so the video is only at 29Hz. Well, smoothvision ramps that up. It looks very different at first. I'm a big PC gamer so what you think there is how much closer it looks to playing a video game on the PC at a high frame rate.

The only difference between the PC and the TV would be that the TV is actually making the video play at a higher frame rate automatically. The PC is going to play the video at whatever frame rate it was encoded/recorded at.

acdawg wrote:Is 120Hz that big of an improvement over 60Hz? (Will I notice a difference?)

For Movies YES, for any broadcast TV NO

120hz has been the ultimate number TV makers have been striving to achieve ever since DVD first came out.

TV broadcasts at 30hz.
Film is shot at 24hz

60hz/30hz = 2
60hz/24hz = 2.5
So if you watch broadcast TV it simply displays every frame 2 times. Now DVD (and now Blu-Ray)is not that simple. A TV can not display half a frame. It has to do something called 3:2 pulldown. It displays the 1st frame 3 times, then the next one 2, the 3rd frame 3 times, the forth one 2, and so on and so on threw the entire movie.

120/30 = 4
120/24 = 5
When you watch TV it displays every frame 4 times. When you watch DVD it displays every frame 5. You just created the perfect TV to display both video and film as it was originally shot.

Now 240hz? Means NOTHING= ALL MARKETING
240/30 = 8
240/24 = 10
Both numbers divide in evenly. TV you watch every frame 8 times before it updates, DVD you watch it 10. Is the TV faster? Yes! Do you get any advantage out of it? NO.

Now to qualify my last statement. I am speaking only of the raw numbers. As everyone knows the 240hz TVs are most expensive. That means the the manufacturers will put there latest technology in their top of the line products. So, if Samsung comes out with a new smoothing chip, it will go in the 240hz model 1st before it trickles down to the cheaper sets. So yes, side by side, within the same brand, a 240 is typically better than a 120, but not for the reason you think.

phacopida wrote:Anyone have experience with Vizio? How is the quality?

I've got the 720p version of this TV. Excellent quality, great contrast, good viewing angle. I highly recommend Vizio products from my research through cnet, consumerreports and other peer reviews and personal experience. Vizio is a very early adopter of the lower energy use standards that make it easier on the budget (when you have it on all the time like me).

Ryfiel wrote:The higher the better is how contrast ratios are supposed to work, but each company has a different way of measuring them. In the end they are useless numbers because you can't do anything useful with them.

Not to mention that the ACTUAL contrast ratio is the only really useful number. "Dynamic Contrast" only applies when the screen is displaying a completely dark image as it underpowers the backlight lamp to simulate deeper blacks.

If any part of the image is bright, it really doesn't help. This is a typical marketing ploy with LCD televisions. It's an attempt to level the playing field between LCDs and Plasmas or at least that was the idea when it first came about. Plasmas still have deeper blacks but typically consume more power and generate more heat.

In summary, ignore dynamic contrast ratio specs. They don't mean much of anything. Go watch the TV in person if you can find a store that carries it, but keep in mind that the lighting, source video, & contrast/brightness settings are probably designed to make it look as good as you or anyone else will ever see it.

I purchased a 42" Vizio 120hz 1080p LCD HDTV refurbished about two years ago for $700, and I've been extremely pleased with it. No problems at all. I turned off the smooth motion functions on it and tweaked the settings a bit, but overall it's a great TV that's been through VERY heavy usage and I've had no need to call customer service for anything.

The only thing I didn't like about it was the brightly flourescent blue screen it comes up with when there's no input. It'd be really creepy to wake up to when my computer went to sleep in the middle of the night.

stevothedog wrote:Ordered one of these last year from Woot and the UPS guy stole it, by the time everything was figured out Woot had no more so I was out of luck on this great TV. Mark sure to keep track of delivery.

I assume you have proof that the UPS guy stole it or you would not post this. Can we also assume UPS guy is doing time somewhere?

acdawg wrote:Is 120Hz that big of an improvement over 60Hz? (Will I notice a difference?)

You will notice if you are a big sports fan. Quick movements during games can often blur a little with 60Hz.

Um, couldn't you have used a better picture? Um, like Kittens and Rainbows? :D

harmonicminor wrote:Guess they really opened up a can of worms with this one, huh guys?

+1

Any Idea if this would be delivered in time for the super bowl?