Post by dkennedy on Mar 6, 2006 5:16:22 GMT -5
Vizio The Bargain Brand For HDTVs
March 3, 2006
By Kevin Hunt, Hartford Courant
In an extremely unscientific poll, I've determined that Vizio HDTVs are the most popular flat-panel televisions among bargain hunters, coupon-clippers, thrift-shop regulars and "Rough Guide" readers.
That's precisely the type of customer William Wang, founder of computer-monitor makers MAG Innovision and Princeton Graphic Systems, sought when he introduced the Vizio brand at the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Wang's V Inc. sells Vizio-brand televisions through its website (www.vinc.com), and only two primary retailers - the monster wholesale clubs Costco and Sam's (and, soon, BJ's), with all those card-carrying bargain shoppers. Wang uses his connections in the monitor industry, minimal advertising, a bare-bones 26-person staff at the company's Costa Mesa, Calif., offices and restricted distribution to produce LCD and plasma sets that immediately attract attention for their bargain-basement prices.
Last year, Vizio offered the first 32-inch LCD under $1,000, the first 42-inch plasma under $2,000 and the first 50-inch plasma under $3,000. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the company introduced a 42-inch $1,800 plasma that will be discounted to $1,500 for one week during March Madness, the NCAA men's basketball tournament. And that 50-inch plasma, the P50HDM, has dropped to $2,500 - at least $1,000 less than some name-brand competition.
How good are they? The company's 37-inch LCD set ($1,500) is a typical Vizio HDTV. It's called simply the L37, when we've come to expect from other companies something mind-numbing like the PRO37968BIGTV. It has an easy-to-read manual (with color pictures) that doesn't appear to have been garbled by some wayward translation software.
It's loaded with a digital tuner for reception of local high-definition channels via antenna, picture-in-picture and picture-on-picture (side-by-side) modes, an HDMI digital video connection, a full-size remote and a lamp expectancy of 50,000 hours, or 20 years at six hours daily.
The L37 isn't as pretty as Sony's Bravia LCD sets. And Sharp's 37-inch Aquos LCD set, the LC-37D4U, has a more enticing picture - for double the price. Yet the L37 has the same 1366x768 resolution (1,366 horizontal lines, 768 vertical lines) as the Sharp, ensuring a high-quality hi-def picture.
The L37 weighs less than 63 pounds, including its already-attached stand. There's a lot of plastic, but the L37 looks distinguished, with its screen framed in black and the speakers mounted below, behind a gray plastic grille. A set of touch controls are mounted discreetly, just below the screen.
Now let's turn it on. The LC37's attention-craving on-screen menu makes it extremely difficult to accurately fine-tune the picture using a test DVD to adjust color, brightness, contrast and sharpness. The menu remains flush on the screen, obscuring most of the picture, instead of dropping to a single line at the bottom.
Through its HDMI connection, the L37 passed most tests, though it produced a mushy moiré pattern when converting a sequence to video that was originally shot in film. More ominously, it did not reproduce black level - the amount of light in the darkest part of an image - properly, so it lost some low-light, or shadow, detail that some other HDTVs show.
With the Toshiba SD4980 DVD player, which upconverts DVDs to high-definition quality through its HDMI connection, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" still looked terrific (for a DVD trying to look like high-def). Sports action, fed from a high-definition cable box to the L37 via component video cables, looked even better. Not as vivid as the Sharp and nowhere near as dimensional as a good plasma, but still a very good picture.
So should you spend $1,500 on a 37-inch LCD set when, for the same money, a 42-inch plasma set beckons? No contest: The plasma wins. At lower prices and smaller screen sizes, with plasma out of the picture, LCD sets rule. Vizio's L32HDTV, a 32-inch LCD set with a built-in digital tuner, coming in March at $999, should become one of the company's hottest sellers.
But watch for the P42HDTV, a 42-inch plasma Vizio will introduce next month at $1,800. Then comes the fast-break price drop to $1,500 for one week starting March 20. If Vizio's 42-inch plasma is anywhere near as good as its 50-inch plasma - called "the best value in its class" by Cnet.com - it might be wise to wait.
The bargain-hunter knows a bit of patience often pays off.
March 3, 2006
By Kevin Hunt, Hartford Courant
In an extremely unscientific poll, I've determined that Vizio HDTVs are the most popular flat-panel televisions among bargain hunters, coupon-clippers, thrift-shop regulars and "Rough Guide" readers.
That's precisely the type of customer William Wang, founder of computer-monitor makers MAG Innovision and Princeton Graphic Systems, sought when he introduced the Vizio brand at the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Wang's V Inc. sells Vizio-brand televisions through its website (www.vinc.com), and only two primary retailers - the monster wholesale clubs Costco and Sam's (and, soon, BJ's), with all those card-carrying bargain shoppers. Wang uses his connections in the monitor industry, minimal advertising, a bare-bones 26-person staff at the company's Costa Mesa, Calif., offices and restricted distribution to produce LCD and plasma sets that immediately attract attention for their bargain-basement prices.
Last year, Vizio offered the first 32-inch LCD under $1,000, the first 42-inch plasma under $2,000 and the first 50-inch plasma under $3,000. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the company introduced a 42-inch $1,800 plasma that will be discounted to $1,500 for one week during March Madness, the NCAA men's basketball tournament. And that 50-inch plasma, the P50HDM, has dropped to $2,500 - at least $1,000 less than some name-brand competition.
How good are they? The company's 37-inch LCD set ($1,500) is a typical Vizio HDTV. It's called simply the L37, when we've come to expect from other companies something mind-numbing like the PRO37968BIGTV. It has an easy-to-read manual (with color pictures) that doesn't appear to have been garbled by some wayward translation software.
It's loaded with a digital tuner for reception of local high-definition channels via antenna, picture-in-picture and picture-on-picture (side-by-side) modes, an HDMI digital video connection, a full-size remote and a lamp expectancy of 50,000 hours, or 20 years at six hours daily.
The L37 isn't as pretty as Sony's Bravia LCD sets. And Sharp's 37-inch Aquos LCD set, the LC-37D4U, has a more enticing picture - for double the price. Yet the L37 has the same 1366x768 resolution (1,366 horizontal lines, 768 vertical lines) as the Sharp, ensuring a high-quality hi-def picture.
The L37 weighs less than 63 pounds, including its already-attached stand. There's a lot of plastic, but the L37 looks distinguished, with its screen framed in black and the speakers mounted below, behind a gray plastic grille. A set of touch controls are mounted discreetly, just below the screen.
Now let's turn it on. The LC37's attention-craving on-screen menu makes it extremely difficult to accurately fine-tune the picture using a test DVD to adjust color, brightness, contrast and sharpness. The menu remains flush on the screen, obscuring most of the picture, instead of dropping to a single line at the bottom.
Through its HDMI connection, the L37 passed most tests, though it produced a mushy moiré pattern when converting a sequence to video that was originally shot in film. More ominously, it did not reproduce black level - the amount of light in the darkest part of an image - properly, so it lost some low-light, or shadow, detail that some other HDTVs show.
With the Toshiba SD4980 DVD player, which upconverts DVDs to high-definition quality through its HDMI connection, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" still looked terrific (for a DVD trying to look like high-def). Sports action, fed from a high-definition cable box to the L37 via component video cables, looked even better. Not as vivid as the Sharp and nowhere near as dimensional as a good plasma, but still a very good picture.
So should you spend $1,500 on a 37-inch LCD set when, for the same money, a 42-inch plasma set beckons? No contest: The plasma wins. At lower prices and smaller screen sizes, with plasma out of the picture, LCD sets rule. Vizio's L32HDTV, a 32-inch LCD set with a built-in digital tuner, coming in March at $999, should become one of the company's hottest sellers.
But watch for the P42HDTV, a 42-inch plasma Vizio will introduce next month at $1,800. Then comes the fast-break price drop to $1,500 for one week starting March 20. If Vizio's 42-inch plasma is anywhere near as good as its 50-inch plasma - called "the best value in its class" by Cnet.com - it might be wise to wait.
The bargain-hunter knows a bit of patience often pays off.