VIZIO 42 inch GV42LF 1080p Flat Panel LCD HDTV $999 at Dell, good deal?

[Trevor]

Was leaning towards starting smaller and cheaper with the 37" Vizio at Costco for $750.

But larger and 1080p for only $250 more has me thinking about this one day sale.

Any thoughts?

[Brian Shannon]

The price looks good but personally I would never buy a tv I could not first see or speakers I could not first hear.

Here is a review I found

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,137445-pg,1/article.html

Good luck!

[Trevor]

The price looks good but personally I would never buy a tv I could not first see or speakers I could not first hear.

Good point, I was going to run up to a store and demo it.

All the reviews look decent. Not the best 42", but close enough and half the price of the best ones.

But the more I think about it, I'd be willing to pay $100 or so more to be able to get it at Costco, with their better return/warranty, plus not having to deal with being home for UPS/Fed Ex.

[JustinCleveland]

It's not a bad set at all. It's got good image quality but the contrast ratio is pretty low, so it will wash out in bright environments.

Definitely run out to a Circuit City and at check it out there. They have at least similar models.

[SoSpacey]

Good point, I was going to run up to a store and demo it.

All the reviews look decent. Not the best 42", but close enough and half the price of the best ones.

But the more I think about it, I'd be willing to pay $100 or so more to be able to get it at Costco, with their better return/warranty, plus not having to deal with being home for UPS/Fed Ex.


Costco's return policy is not what it used to be. It is now 90 days from the date of purchase.

Also, Tier 1 42" 1080p LCDs are NOT twice the price. There was a 46" Samsung 1080p that was selling for around 1300 around Christmas time.

[Trevor]

Costco's return policy is not what it used to be. It is now 90 days from the date of purchase.

Also, Tier 1 42" 1080p LCDs are NOT twice the price. There was a 46" Samsung 1080p that was selling for around 1300 around Christmas time.

I know, but in addition to the 90 days they also add a year to the manufacturer's warranty.

[Bill Geiger]

Best Buy has a Westinghouse 42 Inch 1080p for $949.99

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8386285&type=product&id=1181831586462

[hahn]

1080p on a 42 inch screen is a waste of money. At 50", you MIGHT consider it, but even then, it's iffy. If you care about the picture quality, go with a Panasonic plasma screen. Either the 42px75u or the 50px75u. Both are 720p plasmas, but I swear you won't be able to tell the difference. I spent weeks of visiting stores trying to see if I could tell. More importantly, their contrast, color saturation, and black levels are FAR superior compared to any of the LCD's in this price range. The 42 inch can be found as low as $850. The 50" I got for $1329 at Sears (0% financing till Jan 2010), but I've heard of people getting it for as low as $1279 delivered, from Frys. I promise you it will blow away the picture quality of any of the 1080p Vizios or any other 1080p panels in your price and size range. Go ahead and Google the reviews.

BTW, Costco has a similar model: Panasonic 50pc77u (equivalent to the Panasonic 50px77u with minor speaker placement differences), which is similar, but it has an anti-reflective screen, which is useful if your TV room has a lot of windows and you do a lot of daytime TV watching. But if you can control the lighting, the px75u has (IMHO) a slightly "punchier" picture.

Oh, and BTW, since CES 2008 just happened and new products were announced, AND the Superbowl is coming up, wait till your local stores announce the Superbowl deals. I'm expecting to get to go back to Sears to have them honor their 60 day price protection guarantee.

[Trevor]

Thanks Hahn, great advice.

I'm hoping that Best Buy ends up with a great "Super Bowl deal", as I have a pile of gift cards and RZ certificates to use.

[hahn]

Thanks Hahn, great advice.

I'm hoping that Best Buy ends up with a great "Super Bowl deal", as I have a pile of gift cards and RZ certificates to use.
The other thing to consider is what your viewing habits are. If you mostly watch broadcast or cable television, none of the channels (that I know of) broadcast in 1080P. They are all either 720p or 1080i, both of which arguably look better on a 720p set. The only way to take full advantage of 1080p is with HD-DVD or BR, and even then, you will see many examples of people who really can't see much (if any) improvement even over an upscaled DVD. See this thread: http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/67909965/m/347005679831/p/1
Basically, not only does your TV need to be 1080P, the TV needs to be big enough that you would see ANY difference (greater than 50 inches), the player needs to be 1080P, AND most importantly of all, the source material needs to be of high enough quality that 1080P matters (which, currently is very rare). So if you're getting it for the superbowl, just remember that the superbowl is NOT being broadcast in 1080P.

The 1080P is more a marketing point than anything else. Black level, contrast, and color accuracy are much more important in having a good PQ (picture quality).

Oh, and the other BIG advantage of plasma (if you entertain guests/friends at all) is that you don't get a drop in the picture brightness if you move off center, like you do with most LCD's.

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

If you mostly watch broadcast or cable television, none of the channels (that I know of) broadcast in 1080P. They are all either 720p or 1080i.

That is a common misconception. If the original source is film, then 1080p can be perfectly reconstructed from the 1080i signal. Almost all prime-time HDTV is film-sourced. Many current 1080p sets are capable of extracting the full 1080p image.

Here is more info from 2006:
http://www.hometheatermag.com/hookmeup/1106hook/
and a pertinent quote from that page:
So, regardless of what you may have read elsewhere-or what your local TV-store sales clerk has told you-if a 1080p display's processor is capable of content based on HD 3:2 inverse telecine (and properly deinterlaces, as well), you can see all of the content in full 1080p resolution. You don't need to wait for 1080p broadcast or HD DVD disc players with 1080p output to do so.

[Superman07]

That is a common misconception. If the original source is film, then 1080p can be perfectly reconstructed from the 1080i signal. Almost all prime-time HDTV is film-sourced. Many current 1080p sets are capable of extracting the full 1080p image.

Here is more info from 2006:
http://www.hometheatermag.com/hookmeup/1106hook/
and a pertinent quote from that page:
So, regardless of what you may have read elsewhere-or what your local TV-store sales clerk has told you-if a 1080p display's processor is capable of content based on HD 3:2 inverse telecine (and properly deinterlaces, as well), you can see all of the content in full 1080p resolution. You don't need to wait for 1080p broadcast or HD DVD disc players with 1080p output to do so.

You're still making the same argument - that 1080p sets will "upscale" the image due to the processor in the tv set. Just like I don't need to wait for this fancy HD technology. <<witt>>I can simply go out and buy an upconverting dvd player and get the same great detail. Obviously the source of my movies on dvd isn't 480!! <</witt>>