It doesn't matter if you have the DVR option; just as long as you have the silver box. I'm assuming you have the silver comcast remote. If so you would press the following buttons in succession to get into the set up menu: "power" "setup" and the red "menu" button. This takes you to a hidden menu where you can make the changes. Once you do; just power down then turn it on again. The cable guy sometimes neglects to tell you this or they simply leave it to output 480i. On another thread I mentioned that I had friends that had the HD box installed but wasn't outputting HD signals because of this.

Ah, I'll have to check. I just picked up the box and did the install myself. It is outputting at 1080i currently, as the TV displays the source resolution when you switch, but I'll have to find that and play around with 720p vs. 1080i and see which looks better on my set once I'm out of the break in period and can calibrate it properly.

Thanks for the tip!

I had the Samsung at my house in Florida (VERY bright sun), and a room setup much like yours. The Samsung picture was AWESOME! Only problem was that the projection bulb filed after six weeks, and was very pricey to replace. Authorized service did it for me, but not free, in spite of the infant mortality. Good luck with your new screen, and I hope you'll choose the Samsung.

Well, I'm seriously considering making a new tv purchase this weekend. After many hours of research, I think I'm definitely going for a plasma. Right now, I live in an apt. and have a Sony 30" HD CRT which has a great picture but I want to upgrade, especially since I have HD DVD and Blu-ray.

I would love to get a 50", but I don't think I can afford that right now. So it appears a 42" is what I will get. These are the choices, from CC:

42" Panasonic $1349 (I've read nothing but raves about Panny)

42" Hitachi $1199 (3 HDMI) How good/reliable is Hitachi in terms of plasma?

42" Vizio $899 (most certainly the best price, but how good is Vizio? The 50" plasma is $1499, which I could probably get)

I just got that Vizio. Reviews for it are ok. I'm happy with it thus far, but can't give a fair review until I get done with the 100 hour break in period and can then tune it up to proper calibration.

But playing around with it a bit, I'm very pleased with the picture quality. DVDs look pretty good in 480p (may pick up a 720p upconverting player today), SD TV looks very decent for an HD Set and the HD channels look great.

The PQ is not as good as the Panasonic for sure, but I wouldn't say that the Panasonic is $450 better either IMO.

Watched my first full movie on the new set--Rocky Balboa (great flick BTW).

Figured it was safe since it was 1:85:1 movie and filled the set, so I knocked it up a little from the break in settings (and put it back down and popped the break in disc back in after finishing).

It looked great in 480p on my progressive scan Sony, so I'm super pleased as DVDs will look even better in 720p or 1080i with the upconverting player I picked up today (waiting on my HDMI cable from mono price) and with the TV calibrated with DVE after the break in period.

Definitely a hell of a picture for $900--rivaled my brother's Dell LCD as it doesn't do blacks worth a shit IMO. So count me in as very satisfied with the Vizio quality, now I just hope the reliability is ok.

Amazon has the Panasonic TH-42PX75U for $1249.88 w/ free s/h. If you want some 0% financing for 12 months get OneCall to match (also free shipping). You will avoid paying tax, too, unless you live in the state of Washington (OneCall) or wherever Amazon is (CA?).

Good deal on the 50" version...(stolen from Fatwallet)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...4jDUiqGdlzsfHA

Cost of shipping hurts the deal ($181). If you could get a more reliable place to price match then it could be a steal.

Just read a post on AVS where a member's kid busted his 42" Vizio set (same one I just got).

When he took it apart he saw that the glass and Plasma parts were made by LG. That makes me rest a bit easier knowing that they used name brand parts.

Great deal on the 50" Panny. I'd print that out and drive around and see if you can get someone to price match it if $1700 is in your range. That's the set I'd have gotten if I had that kind of money.

Really? So the Vizio is really a cheaper LG? That helps. I think this may be the one I get. $899 isn't a huge investment. By the time I'm ready for a 50" plasma, they should be cheaper. At that point, I can opt for a Panasonic. I should also be moved into a townhouse by then.

Josh,
did you have yours delivered or did you pick up? I have a 4-door Honda Accord. With the seats down, I'm wondering if the box would fit. If not, I was thinking of having them remove the tv from the box and I can fit it that way. I know I can have delivery, but I'd rather take the set home in my own vehicle, plus no waiting.

The carton specs are at the bottom of the page:

http://www.vizio.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=28


Dimensions
Carton: 46.5" W x 35.8" H x 15" D
Net: 41.3" W x 29.8 H x 12.1" D
Without Stand: 41.3" W x 28.8 H x 4.3" D
Certifications: CSA, CSA-US, FCC Class B, ICES 003, BETS-7

Also, remember that Circuit City has a 30 day return policy, so if you don't like it you can take it back.


I did pick up, but I had to take it out of the box to get it in the back seat of my 2-door subaru. We left it in the plastic and were able to get it in pretty securely with the passenger seat leaning back to hold it in. I was only going a couple miles so I wasn't too worried about it.

The box is huge though, and it would be iffy on fitting it in your Accord in the box. But having them take in out of the box would work if you're comfortable doing that.

Also, you will need 2 people to carry it. Its 73 pounds, so not terribly heavy, but its long and awkward and the only way to carry it is having two people grab the ends and there's no way to grab it in the middle and carry it by yourself etc.

Okay. My brother will be there to help. I think I would want them to take it out anyways just to make sure it's not broken/damaged.

What I dread is having to move my Sony CRT, which weighs about 150lbs.

During the break-in period, aside from lowering all the pic settings, is it safe to still watch a 2.35:1 movie or cable with sidebars?

The Vizio seems to have mostly positive reviews at AVS. The only concern I see is the "buzzing" sound, but I think most plasmas have some sort of buzzing/humming noise in the rear.

I notice the buzzing when I'm playing the burn in disc you can download from the link in the AVS thread as it's just blasting colors out and I don't have any sound playing.

I couldn't here it when I watched a DVD last night, between regular content not beings screens full of bright colors (high brightness/contrast on screen at once generates louder buzzing) and having the surround sound on at a normal level (e.g. not all that loud as it was late and I live in a condo building).

So it seems like that will be a non-issue for me. And you're correct that most plasmas and CRT tvs have some level of buzzing.

I just bought a Pioneer PDP-4271HD Plasma to be delivered Saturday.

What is all this talk about break in-period, break-in settings, & break-in disc?

I never heard of such things when I got my Sony XBR Plasma in '03.

For the break in perrod (100 hours) you should avoid black bars and static images (logos, ESPN ticker etc.) In otherwords, try to stick to stuff that uses the full screen. Cable you can stretch in Wide mode or Panaramic mode and get rid of the bars--Panaramic is tolerable though not sure if I'll use it after the break in period.

I recommend getting the burn in disk mentioned at AVS which you can download at the link below. It just cycles through colors on the whole screen and helps the process go faster if you leave the set on 24/7 and play this whenever you're not watching something.

http://www.eaprogramming.com/

I'm at 65 hours of playing it so far, so I'll be done with it late Thursday night/early Friday morning.

Its just advised to turn the settings down, avoid static images etc. for the 1st 100 hours to reduce your risk of burn in as plasmas are most susceptible to burn in in the first few hundred hours when the cells are new etc.

See my post above this one for more details, link to a break in dvd etc.

Thank you. Is there a recommended level for the settings posted somewhere, or is it just general advice to keep the settings low?

Check AVS and you can probably find reccomended settings for your specific set.

In general, brightness, contrast (or picture on some sets) and color should be around their halfway points.

So 50 on sets that range from 1-100, 0 on sets that go -/+ 50 etc.

You should only need to calibrate properly, not drop them any lower than that.

Yeah, I've read varying opinions on that issue, so I'm going with a middle ground break in personally, by starting low and moving up in 1/3's of break in time..

I started with some recommended break in settings for my set that I found on AVS that were a bit under 50%. Ran that for 33 hours or so, then have bumped it up to 50% and keeping it there for the next 33 or so, when I'm going to bump it up a bit to some Avia calibrated specs that were posted for this set on AVS (waiting on DVE from the DDD 20% sale to calibrate it myself) for the last 33 or so hours.

Thanks again for the tip. Played around with it (after popping in Avia settings posted on AVS which look pretty good--have DVE ordered and will calibrate myself when I get it) and 720p definitely looks a bit better than the default 1080i.

Freakin great picture. I continue to be very impressed with this Vizio set. Can't beat it for the price so far.

I wouldn't take someone else's posted settings as gospel. They may be good for a good starting point or something fun to try out, but you have to calibrate for your own set. There can be variances between different units, and some settings may need to be changed over time (brightness/contrast as the set dims).