Best Buy HDTVs Reviews

VIZIO SV471XVT

I bought this tv about a week ago and have been really pleased. I previously had a 37″ sharp 720p 60hz, and did not like it at all. Well after much research I had narrowed it down the Samsung LN46B750. Only problem is that tv is $1500+ dollars. So I wanted another choice and researched and for the price and quality, this Vizio is a no brainer. This XVT is Vizio’s best model other than their new 55″ LED.

Appearance: It looks really nice. Simple, clean, black and silver. Some people hate that the vizio light will stay orange when the tv turns off but its not really noticeable and doesn’t bother me at all.

Sound: Definitely better than my old Sharp, but still nothing to write home about. I have some really nice Logitech 2.1 speakers I use if i’m really wanting the theatre experience but the built in speakers are fine.

Picture quality: This is where I was a HUGE stickler. I wanted at least 120hz, 1080p, and 4ms response time as I’m a gamer. Well this tv has all of those and even goes to 240 with the scanning backlight. The smooth motion when enabled (recommended low) is a little jarring at first, but you quickly get used to it. Not only does smooth motion help with blur, it seems to just make the entire image on screen more crisp whether its moving or not. Very pleased. Watching Dexter on showtime hd was AMAZING! The detail in the intro is just jaw dropping. And this is only in 1080i. Xbox 360 really shows how crisp it can really get. I thought Dexter details were amazing, I hadn’t seen nothing until I popped in Modern Warfare 2. Its a sight to be seen. The smooth motion works beautifully on videogames. No problems with blurring at all. Very rarely will there be any judder problems and even when you see a hiccup its for like 1 second, my wife never notices it. Hopefully getting a PS3 soon and check out blurays. But if the other content is any indication of what to expect, it will be great. I just can’t imagine it getting any better. We’ll see.

Cons: As with all tv’s there are always some quirks. I did notice the faintest of flash lighting at the top of the screen in a tiny small area. This is a problem with MANY LCD tvs and is really only noticeable when the screen is completely black, even then its barely noticeable. I only notice it cause I set out looking for these things. Compared to the flash lighting and clouding I’ve seen on some tvs, this one if by far and away one of the better. DO NOT at all let this problem scare you as all tv’s are different and some may not have it at all. PLUS most tvs need 50-100 hours of break in time to fully get everything warmed up so most likely it will fade. Even still my wife can’t see what I’m talking about lol.

Conclusion: For the price and quality, bar none the best deal you are gonna find for a while. I was able to snag mine at SAMS for $997. 360 & PS3 users, you will not be disappointed. Will update after I’ve had it for a while!

UPDATE: 12/28/2009

Well I got a PS3 for christmas and got to see if blurays were any better than hd cable I had been viewing. I have to admit it looks incredible and does indeed look better. I got my wife the Harry Potter bluray collection, and we popped them in, absolutely CRYSTAL CLEAR. Sharp as can be, great colors. So yes, it did indeed get better than I thought. The tv handled the bluray beautifully with its motion and the colors looked dead on.

Also the flashlighting I mentioned earlier in my review has subsided quite a bit and I have to really set there and stare at the blank screen to even be able to see it, so that is good news as well.

Once again I 100% recommend this TV! Thanks for reading and hope I was a bit helpful in your search.

Reviewed by : John Matrix,   Dec 10, 2009

VIZIO VA370M 37-Inch Full HD 1080p LCD HDTV

This TV is an excellent TV marred by a dumb and short-sighted design choice.

Vizio doesn’t make it easy to compare across models with their seemingly pointless array of models with overlapping audiences. Their website is also quite poor in that regard. When I couldn’t find the “compare” button on their website after adding various models to the “compare list” I called their 1-800 number. Their rep also couldn’t find the button!! It’s been that way for the past two weeks.

Coming back to this TV — the picture, sound, the looks everything is great with this TV. But I am really mad that they decided to leave out a simple analog Audio-out for such a high-end TV. It has FOUR HDMI inputs, two composite inputs, and a component input, and an RGB input — going quite overboard as far as the inputs are concerned if you ask me, but inexplicably skimps on when it comes to the output side.

The USB input, which is functional in this model instead of “service only” as in many other comparable models, is okay for an occasional slideshow of a photo album or something. But keeping a drive (thumb drive, or hard drive) connected all the time would require you to press “okay” for a prompt every time you turn the TV on. Quite annoying.

I haven’t had much luck with the pause-live feature which allows you to pause live-TV similar to Tivo if you plug in a blank USB drive. I am hoping it is because of some issue with the speed of the thumb-drive; Even then, if it means having to press okay every time I turn the TV on I would much rather skip using that. Please see above.

The lack of analog out, in my opinion, is very irritating, annoying, and frustrating. In fact, I have some choice words for the people responsible for this decision at Vizio, but Amazon would not print the review if I include that.

Because of this I cannot connect my wireless headphones which I would use for all my late night TV watching. This model does have a headphone out, but plugging anything in that disconnects the main audio. So it is all or nothing, and hence not usable for connecting something permanently. Now, I have to look for a digital to analog converter which retails around 70-80 bucks.

It is well known that many people hook up these TV’s to home audio systems. Given that it is quite audacious on Vizio’s part to assume that a single optical digital out is all is needed. So I am giving this otherwise very fine TV only 3 stars.

Reviewed by : kb-hunter “good hunting”,  Jan 6, 2010