Got a new TV

[rplace]

Not quite HT stuff...but figured if anyone is looking for a decent priced LCD tv they might want to check the brand Vizio out.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I admit I am out of the TV loop. My 15 year old bedroom tube TV finally crapped out on me. So off we (wife and I) went to pick up another basic TV for casual bedroom viewing. I said we should get a flat screen for space reasons and the cool factor. My wife being more practical said its just for the bedroom why spend the 1200 dollars. Makes sense (as usual) but I tried.

So we get to Costco and look them all over. 20 something tube TVs up to 50+ inch giants. We see this brand we have never heard of in 32, 37, 42 and 50 inches. They are all way cheaper then any other brand. I figure they must be junk. Picture looks decent, specs seem fine and they have 1 year onsite warranty. Has a slew on inputs including HDMI.

So we decided to take a gamble. For just a few hundred more then a 30-someting tube TV we got the 32 inch widescreen Vizio. It was $799 all the other LCDs in that size at both Costo and Best Buy clocked in between 1200 and 1900 if I remember correctly. The 50 inch Vizio was only 1800 bucks and looked like it would make a killer HT source.

I'll throw up some quick and dirty pics of it.

Anyone ever hear of this brand or have any viewing time on one? What do you think?

Here is the new TV with my old 31 inch below it.

[rplace]

PIcked up a wall mount for it too. Here it is with the stand off and the old TV out of the way.

Pretty happy with the results. And so far we both love the new TV.

[rplace]

Forgot to mention. We never had a DVD player in the room either so we got a $59 upscaling Toshiba that came with a HDMI cable. Looks great! Man, mid-level equipment had gotten dirt cheap. I think I paid 400 bucks for my first DVD player.

Next project will be to move the equipment into that closet you see and get an IR repeater so all you see is the TV on the wall.

[garymd]

Looks great Rich. Amazing what great work those 4 and 5 year old kids can do these days.[]

Seriously, I just bought a 26 inch Sharp Aqious W/S on an omnimount for my kitchen and it cost me a little over a grand for the TV and about $189 for the arm. Tilts and swivels in every direction. Very cool stuff they have these days. Is yours Cable card ready? Comcast is coming out to install my card next week. You get HD/Digital with no box. Too cool.

[wuzzzer]

Anything is better than an old tube TV.

The things I notice as I look at different price ranges of TVs is varying richness in color and contrast ratio. Although, it could very well be the fact that someone went in the menu and messed all the settings of the TV up, too.

I think its a lot more noticeable on TVs that are a lot bigger than yours, too. When I bought my 42" rear projection HDTV a couple years ago I went with Mitsubishi's cheapest TV in that size because I could see a slight difference in picture quality of the more expensive sets, but not enough to justify almost double the price I paid for mine (which was actually less than $1000 back then!)

[rplace]

Looks great Rich. Amazing what great work those 4 and 5 year old kids can do these days.[]

Seriously, I just bought a 26 inch Sharp Aqious W/S on an omnimount for my kitchen and it cost me a little over a grand for the TV and about $189 for the arm. Tilts and swivels in every direction. Very cool stuff they have these days. Is yours Cable card ready? Comcast is coming out to install my card next week. You get HD/Digital with no box. Too cool.

I was shocked when I looked up Vizio and discovered they are an American company. http://www.vizioce.com/site/products/index.html Sure their products are all made overseas with slave labor...but then isn't everything these days []<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

TV is HD ready, but I live too far in the middle of nowhere to get cable...just sat. Have DirecTV HD in one room, but not the bedroom...easy change one sat box for another or can get OTA HD with nothing but an antenna.

As for the arm. Most I had looked at were in the 200 dollar range. Costco to the rescue again. Super beefy arm with three pivot points and movement in every direction including rotation so you can tweek the last bit of level if you don't quite get the arm mounted perfectly. Supports up to 60 pounds, my new TV is about 30lbs. It was 92 dollars. IMO nicer then the one a BBuy and less then 1/2 the price.

I am sure your Aqious has a better picture...but for 800 bucks this thing is a real bargain. Time will tell how long I think that way.

[strutter]

tv's come from the factory with all the settings way off. they run them way too hot. they do this so the consumer will notice the beautiful bright picture in the florecent lights of the store. these hot color settings will shorten the life of bulb. get a set up disk such as avia. and use it to calibrate the picture. i bet it will look even better to you and last longer too.

[Jay481985]

I remember my landlord has the vizio tv, he just brought it from costco too. I think he got the 37 inch tv and it does look nice as does the picture. Factor in the price and its great. I believe he paid 1100 for the 37 inch. The picture though is as said a little hot. Also one of the funniest things though is, I believe almost all lcd screens on tv are produced from one of thwo companies. One is samsung and the other I believe is Hitachi. They make the basic unit and size and then sell them to other companies to sell as tvs. But again the other companies might add some other stuff or fiddle with the picture quality to have their unique look. Once again great buy.