Vizio vs. Sony vs. Samsung
Although I am not a videophile or audiophile I'd like to comment on this product.
To be honest I purchased at the Cost** Warehouse store because of a $50 savings over Amazon a 90 day no-questions-asked return policy and an extra year of manufacturer warranty included in the price. Since this is a new technology in this size set and sales usually come up on TV's around the Superbowl it made sense to me to have the option of return if the price drops and to be protected by an additional year of warranty.
So far I'm glad I have a 90 day return option because I just might have to take advantage of it regardless of any price movement. Unless there is something wrong with the set or we can't figure out what we are doing the poor quality of the sound might necessitate it's return.
Having prior experience with a 19" Sony and a couple of 26" Samsung LCD sets I can report that the sound on this set is extremely poor compared to the others. So far no matter what we do to adjust the sound it just does not perform. Using the SRS surround setting is just horrible. This set replaced an older Sony 720p LCD that had a simulated surround setting and it sounded fine. The other options you have include several pre-sets that do not allow for equalization adjustments if you choose them or the setting called 'flat' which does allow for setting the bass and treble. So as of this writing the best sound we can get from this set is to use the 'flat' setting and then turn the bass up to 100% and the treble at 60%. Using this setting the TV still sounds very 'tinny' like you are listening to a 2" speaker! If you turn down the treble any more it begins to sound muddy and if you compensate by reducing the bass you get more tinny.
Aside from the sound (which may prove to be a deal breaker) the picture looks very good on a par with my other Samsung sets. I think the size is very nice the old Sony was 19" and this makes a nice difference giving you more screen area than the 20 or 22 inch alternatives. The form factor is very sleek the remote is poor (but we use a combo cable remote anyway). We do not connect directly to cable so I can't comment on 'channel lag' as has been reported but can tell you it takes an annoyingly long time to start up making you watch a 'vizio' splash screen then a blue screen then finally your picture.
If you have a very bright room be aware that there is the potential for a lot of glare from the reflective glass surface of this set and that may be a deal breaker for you because there is a lot of reflection from some angles. If you can train yourself to look through it you might be fine.
So in summary we are happy with the picture and performance of the set overall but if we can't find a solution to the sound problem the set just may go back. I will update this review if there is any news to report.More detail ...
0 comments:
Post a Comment