Friday, August 13, 2010

VIZIO SV472XVT 47-Inch Class XVT Series TRULED 240Hz sps LED LCD VIZIO Internet Apps HDTV REVIEW

By J. Gowan (Bay Area, CA)

I've had my Vizio SV472XVT TV for around 2 months so far (I bought it directly from Vizio in a special deal they had pre-release). I can't say enough good things about it.



First, the LED backlit screen produces an excellent picture. I would go so far as to say it's on PAR with any Samsung or Sony that I've seen. Blu-ray movies and PS3 games look perfect.

The collection of "widgets" is amazing. Netflix Streaming, Amazon-on-Demand, Vudu, Pandora, Rhapsody, Twitter, Facebook, eBay, Flickr, various Yahoo widgets, the list goes on. Some games like Sudoku and Texas Hold'em, which are neat, but would be better if you could watch TV while playing them. They have even added widgets since I bought the TV. That was actually an unusual experience seeing my TV doing an automatic firmwear update. My TV is connected to the internet through my wireless G router and a cable internet connection and streaming video quality is excellent. I've taken to watching a lot of Netflix HD streaming (there's a good amount of TV shows that stream in HD. The movie selection isn't as great), but I've also watched streamed HD video from Amazon on Demand and Vudu (HDX on Vudu which is 1080p). I haven't had a single video quality problem streaming from any of these sources.
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The bluetooth remote is a bit of a love/hate relationship though.
The Loves:
1. Having a full qwerty keyboard is awesome, especially while searching through the widgets, or posting to twitter or facebook through the TV.
2. The bluetooth connectivity is great. I don't have to point it at the TV to change the volume or turn it on. It unfortunately still needs to be pointed at the cable box. That's something I can live with.
3. It was very easy to setup.

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The Hates:
1. I was hoping a bluetooth remote to be able to communicate with my PS3, unfortunately I'm still using a PS3 controller when watching blu-rays.
2. It's just not very comfortable. It's square and there was no thought to ergonomics. And the shiny finish is a fingerprint magnet.
3. It doesn't have all the buttons that I would like from my cable remote. Page Up/Down and Day +- are the main ones. The absence of Page Up/Down can be a drag and at times leaves me reaching for the cable remote, the Day +- isn't as much of a loss.

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All-in-all, it was absolutely worth the price and I would buy it again. Although, I would consider the 55-inch as well.

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