Beware when buying Vizio - I got the 37" version on Woot a few months ago. Picture is fine, but the speakers produce a buzzing sound that can be annoying when the volume is low. Did some online research (after the warranty expired ) and it seems this is typical of all Vizios.
Would be fine for a TV that is going in a large room where you use lots of volume that drowns out the buzz. Not good for the bedroom where I watch something quietly before sleep. Drives me NUTS!
I plan to add external speakers and keep the TV on mute.

I've been doing a lot of research for my first Flatscreen TV ever purchase and I have decided on the Vizio brand. I had narrowed my choices down to LG and Vizio before that. I'm shooting for the XVT473SV and hoping for a price break. I may have to settle for the 120 refresh rate one, but I do want the wifi and internet widgets.
Anyway, Vizio is the top selling U.S. Brand, and their quality has improved vastly with the 2009 and newer models. Best bang for the buck.
This is not a bad price delivered even for a refurb. Get a Square Trade extended warranty if you have any concerns!

I bought one of these new from Walmart on Black Friday for $700. GREAT TV. Vizio is NOT a no name brand. And yes, there IS a great different between 60Hz and 120Hz. Do some research, go to a store and watch the difference.

Does anyone know if the audio output includes a good ol' red/white RCA plug? Or just the digital audio hookup?

irenegade wrote:I've been doing a lot of research for my first Flatscreen TV ever purchase and I have decided on the Vizio brand. I had narrowed my choices down to LG and Vizio before that. I'm shooting for the XVT473SV and hoping for a price break. I may have to settle for the 120 refresh rate one, but I do want the wifi and internet widgets.
Anyway, Vizio is the top selling U.S. Brand, and their quality has improved vastly with the 2009 and newer models. Best bang for the buck.
This is not a bad price delivered even for a refurb. Get a Square Trade extended warranty if you have any concerns!

I've read a few references on here to Square Trade warranties. Has anyone here actually ever used one? I've never purchased an aftermarket warranty; I've always been skeptical of them (more so than retailer warranties).

donnie22hall wrote:Its a no name brand

Visio is most certainly not a "no name" brand. They rapidly rising to be one of the major players in the market.

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

I have a 27" Vizio and just purchased this exact 47" for our living room. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law both have the 42" models. My buddy has a 32" for his bedroom.

Not one complaint from anyone. I am not a pro on this stuff by any stretch - just average user. The picture seems very crisp to me, setup was easy, a good amount of connections as well for both hdmi and component.

I bought this one new at Costco for $649.00 a few months back so I can't speak to how the "refurbished" ones are.(it was originally $749.00 but the sale was for an instant $100 off)

Vizio - IMHO - is the absolute best bang-for-your-buck on an HD LCD.

I don't have this particular TV, but I love my Vizio. The only time I don't love it is when Sex in the City is on.

donnie22hall wrote:Its a no name brand

I have a 42 inch,that I have had for three years,and no problem with it.Picture is great.

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

I've had the 55 inch version of this same tv for a couple of months and so far, I love it. Only time will tell though.

@TV Picture.

WHY OH WHY!!! now I will have nightmares of these worm things all day!

Does this one come with a real life Beyonce along with the one on the t.v?

Where is the option to buy the extended warranty? Is it worth it because it is a refurbished item?

Thanks.

elwrayswrecker wrote:Does anyone know if the audio output includes a good ol' red/white RCA plug? Or just the digital audio hookup?

You can clearly see the RCA audio out in the pics of the I/O ports on the back panel. This should probably be added to the description. Woot?

elwrayswrecker wrote:Does anyone know if the audio output includes a good ol' red/white RCA plug? Or just the digital audio hookup?

Judging by the "audio out" box around a pair of rca plugs in the back panel pic, I would say yes.

is there any kind of warranty what happens when i recive this and there are pixels out?

codroh wrote:I bought one of these new from Walmart on Black Friday for $700. GREAT TV. Vizio is NOT a no name brand. And yes, there IS a great different between 60Hz and 120Hz. Do some research, go to a store and watch the difference.

I agree, you will notice a difference between 60 and 120 Hz. Particularly when your are watching any sports and playing video games. Just make sure you have an HDMI cable that can handle 120Hz. They are a little more expensive but worth it. My 240Hz HDMI cable was 50$ for six foot.

cappomutato wrote:This is exactly what my wife should buy for us. Now, can somebody talk her into it for me?

I'm with you, but it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. I just pulled the trigger on this purchase so I'm now working on forgiveness speech. May not be the only trigger pulled today.

so I'm new to the "big" tv thing, the warranty seems a bit sketchy. Do these tvs last or should I look at getting one from Best Buy with a 4 yr warranty? I have two little boys...possible baseball into tv...would Soni's warranty cover that?

What do you think?

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

My son has a Vizio 37" TV. He's had it for about 3 years and the ligher colors are starting to mess up.

where do you get the square trade warranty?

I've had this TV now for about 8 months. I absolutely love it.

The 120Hz motion makes viewing regular TV feel like movement is sped up, but you get use to it quickly.

Games and Blu-rays are incredibly vibrant and smooth.

The only complaint or concern that I've noted is that during very fast movement (Mostly in video games) there is a slight border of pixilation surrounding whatever is moving. It tends to happen once the TV has been on for a little while. I have no idea if this is actually a problem or not. It doesn't bother me enough to warrant a real complaint.

Overall, though, absolutely wonderful TV for the price.

FSM!!!!!!!!!!!!

nvoll84 wrote:Where is the option to buy the extended warranty? Is it worth it because it is a refurbished item?

Thanks.

The squaretrade warranty link is immediately under the description. its $79.something for one year, hadn't looked at longer time period. Squaretrade is legit and from my understanding, basically if it fails they give you back your purchase price. Less hassle than a manufacture, but no replacement item.

As far as if its worth it... These are my own thoughts but if you can't take the hit if it dies after 90 days, this refurb plus squaretrade is cheaper than buying it new. My personal feeling on refurbs is this: not every new product that leaves the factory is fully tested. If you buy a refurb they had to crawl around the insides, diagnose it, find the problem, probably noticing if there's anything else majorly wrong, fix it, and MAKE SURE IT WORKS. I have never had a problem with a refurb. I am sure it happens but I feel like the odds are probably lower, and i am good at fixing electronics and expect it to fail sooner if there is a major fault, caps/components failing i can fix on my own 2 years down the road.

brk300 wrote:Any Idea if this would be delivered in time for the super bowl?

That's my exact same question. Can anyone say for sure?

We purchased this TV at Target in November and it works great! I use it with my Mac for an extra screen while doing homework and watching HULU. I recommend it at this price because it is $650 - $700 normally.

To be considered a quality post does it have to be a positive review? just curious.

I'm out of town at the moment but, if my memory serves correctly, this is the exact model I purchased from Wal-Mart in late October.

I've never been a fan of large tvs but I figured if I were going to drop more than $200 on one, I might as well go big.

Looking at this tv on display, I was very skeptical about buying. The display unit did not have a great picture quality but, I was told that Wal-Mart has a special display setting for their televisions. You don't get live shows as you would in an electronics store. And since I had no desire to travel out of town to shop for televisions, I bit. I have never regretted it.

The picture on this television is FREAKY!!! I have Mediacom and the HD is phenomenal! It took a while for me to get use to how real everything looks on this screen. I've had no less than 3 people stop and stare at the tv when visiting and then ask why the picture is so scary! I haven't asked them to look at the tv. Didn't tell them anything about it because, tv is just tv to me. Nothing impressive. However, they all mentioned that the characters look as if they are going to walk right out of the screen! So much so that we have yet to try a horror movie on it!

The sound is excellent to me. I'm very sensitive to the buzzing of lights and electronics and there is NONE with this television. The person that mentioned the buzz when the unit is at low volume got a faulty unit and should have returned it (much easier to do when you shop at Wal-Mart vs electronic store with restocking fees, etc) or have it repaired under warranty. (I purchased Wal-Marts extended warranty.)

I've connected my netbook to it a few times when I have guests over and I'm still impressed with the video quality. After seeing mine, my parents purchased the 37" or 42" model for their bedroom.

Now, I only wish I had waited so I could have saved $200! I'd buy one today if I had somewhere to put it.

The blur you are seeing is the Smooth Motion function. If you go into the menu and turn it off, life will be much better! I very much disliked the way things looked when they moved fast, not used for regular viewing.

donnie22hall wrote:Its a no name brand

Obviously you didn't watch any of the NCAA bowl games on ESPN sponsored by "VISIO". It's hardly a "no name brand".

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?

It's the way commercials are made these days. I've seen a few states attempting to pass laws against commercials broadcasting at such extreme volumes. If you are using the volume controls through your cable box, you probably can't control it. However, I do believe the television does have the option to control the volume.

I'll admit that vizios do have great picture quality, but because they have a terrible customer service department and the 'pop of death,' I will never own a vizio ( unless they get a lot better with customers.)

Just google 'pop of death' and you will find thousands of vizio results. Plus these are refurb, obviously.

$100 off for a refurbished TV is not a good enough deal.

Does anyone have any idea how long you have to buy the Squaretrade warranty after purchase?

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.

If that is true, that your next purchase needs to be at an optician's office!

unksol wrote:This is from a forum, so take it for what its worth, but it seems consistent with everything else i am reading.

"The infamous Pop of Death Randy was referring to was a particular panal that they purchased from LG which was the y and x sustainer boards were faulty. This was a few years ago and yes you are correct during that time period and still to date the particualr models of LG plasmas and Zenith plasma's as well all suffered this infamous PoP of death so it wasn't just Vizio, it's was also LG, Zenith and I thinks some Insignia Plasma's as well. Vizio just get's the brunt of it all because of how many they sold during that period. The problem was recognized by LG and the problems was solved. "

The only thing faulty on the boards was some capacitors. They were not rated for a high enough voltage. When an electrolytic capacitor fails the top gets blown off the base making a sound like a shot gun. You can by replacement capacitors on-line for less than $1.00 each. Any one with a soldering iron could replace them. It is pretty easy to do. You are correct, they no longer have this problem.

audreyann wrote:is there any kind of warranty what happens when i recive this and there are pixels out?

Vizio Warranty PageThey have a ZERO bright pixel warranty. Bright pixels are what you are really going to notice. I am reading they have a zero dead pixel warranty too but i can't find that specifically stated on their site at the moment. Keep in mind though, as a refurb, someone had to test this sucker and make sure it was ready to go out.

Not that this is directed at you in peticular audreyann, especially since your concern is pixels. but does no one ever read the product description? I swear the 90 day warranty is right there.... lol

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

the only way you'll really notice a difference is when watching a blueray or dvd. films are recorded in 24fps. 120 divided by 24 is a nice even number (5). where 60 divided by 24 is not (2.5). so what happens is that there is a slight jutter to the film that most people do not even notice.

cable TV is broadcasted at 720p at 60Hz. so the only real benefit of having a 1080p and 120Hz is if you really are into blueray films. Mind you that DVD is only 480i. BUT, if you are really into a good "home theater" experience, then you wouldn't even consider a Vizio....you'd spend the extra money on the only display worth buying....a SAMSUNG!!!

pdkleock wrote:The only thing faulty on the boards was some capacitors. They were not rated for a high enough voltage. When an electrolytic capacitor fails the top gets blown off the base making a sound like a shot gun. You can by replacement capacitors on-line for less than $1.00 each. Any one with a soldering iron could replace them. It is pretty easy to do. You are correct, they no longer have this problem.

Yup, I just replaced some bad caps on a friends monitor the other day works perfectly now, they are usually the likely component to fail. Even properly rated, cheap electrolitic caps can fail after several years. Happens on motherboards or power supplies routinely. They dont have to explode, sometimes they are just a little swollen or the top wont be perfectly flat, but you probably know some nerd (like me) who will recognize it immediately and can fix it in a hour or 2

bop13 wrote:My 240Hz HDMI cable was 50$ for six foot.

wow...they saw you coming!