Customer Reviews

VIZIO E422VA 42-Inch LCD 1080p HDTV with VIZIO Internet Apps, Black

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is my first review. Purchased this TV as a gift for my mother.

Out of the Box - easy to assemble TV. Vizio has the best boxes. No tape to cut. Just pull out 4 clips and lift the box top off. TV assemlbes easy. Screws for stand can be turned by hand, no tools needed.

Internet Connectivity - Lots of problems here. TV would find our Netgear router, but would not connect to it (the security password was correct as I could connect other computers, phones and Blu-Ray players to it). Called technical support. First wait wasn't too long, but the person I spoke to wasn't trained to support internet TVs. After a much longer wait I spoke to a person who was trained. That person said that the TV doesn't work with Netgear routers (allegedly due to some Netgear firmware upgrade). Very upsetting. But its a pain to ship it back so we bought a Linksys router. Well, that didn't work either. Called Vizio back. Long wait to get to first person who then had to re-transfer me to a person who could deal with the internet. That person was no help. Offered to send a repair person out. I just said I would rather send it back. He said fine.

I was frustrated, so I decided to see if I could figure out the problem. After trying lots of things, I then tried turning off the router password and all of a sudden the TV could connect. I then tried changing the password to 8 a's in a row. That worked. The password we were using was three words with a space inbetween the words. I then changed the router passord by deleting the spaces and then the TV could connect. Yeah! But meanwhile I probably had 4 hours into trying to make this TV work, counting the calls to Vizio.

TV Connections - first it was disappointing that the TV only has one set of non-HDMA connections. The one set doubles as both component (3 video cables) and composite (1 video cable). I could get the Wii to work with the component cables directly connected. However, when hooking it up to a surround sound receiver and then hooking the receiver up to the TV through component cables (receiver doesn't have HDMI) the picture was awful--shaky, blurry with too much color. I also hooked up the DVD player using component hookups. It was also terrible in the same way and it didn't matter whether it was connected directly to the TV or through the receiver. I was using Amazon Basic Component Cables. I tested them on another TV and they worked fine. I called technical support for a third time. They were no help and said I should take 2 pictures of the problem and send it to them. A special department would get back to me in a day or two. That wasn't an option since I was going to be leaving town. (I did tell them about the password issue and not using spaces, so hopefully they can pass that suggestion on to other customers. I also spoke to a supervisor to tell her that while her people were friendly, they could not do very much and that contrary to what they say, they don't have "first in class" customer service.)

I never could figure out the component input problem. In the end, I bought a Blu-ray player and used the HDMI connection. That worked fine. I also used an optical audio cable to connect the TV to the surround sound receiver.

Also, the Wii connection looked terrible initially. But an internet search told me that there was a firmware updgrade for the TV that wold fix this. Once I got the internet connected, the TV automatically downloaded an upgrade. The picture was fine then.

Internet Applications - a lot of them are really nice. Netflix and the Amazon Prime service worked great. Weather and CNBC also. I could not get it to log me onto facebook for some reason. It would not recognize my password (and it has no spaces). But other than that, I liked the apps.

Picture - Picture quality is really good, once one adjusts the settings. Very pleased.

Sound - seemed ok, but didn't use it much because the surround sound was set up. I couldn't really here the simulated surround sound from the TV.

Remote - very basic, but ok. Has a nice big button to activate the internet applications.

Overall - if you set this up with HDMI cables and you have a non-Netgear router with a password that doesn't have spaces, then the TV is great. If you have equipment that need component input, pick another TV. Now that the TV is working, I would give it 4 stars. But the technical support drops this to 3 stars. Now that I know the issues, I would consider this TV again. But I would consider other TVs with built-in internet. However, the pricepoint for this TV is very attractive. For $600, it was worth it.

set-up was a breeze, and i had no problem connecting it to my wifi. i really wanted an internet-ready tv, and don't plan on getting cable! the apps are great: mostly, i use vudu for movies, pandora for music, and hulu plus for tv shows - having weather/news apps is also nice. as promised, hulu plus came after an upgrade (to figure this out, i did some research, then contacted vizio customer service through their online chat support, they were very helpful - basically as long as your tv is connected to the internet you'll get it automatically). this is my first HDTV and i think the picture/sound quality are fantastic. the remote is ok but the buttons are sometimes inconsistent - i really wish we had the option to upgrade to the fancier vizio remote with the qwerty keyboard. overall, im very happy with it, especially at this price point - it feels like a smart tv (and i joke about relinquishing my phd to it)!

I just bought this TV from Costco and wanted to share my initial impressions. A more detailed review will follow after a bit of use.

Unpacking and Initial Setup: Very easy and smooth. It took me about 5mins to unpack and setup the hardware and another 5mins to go through the on-screen setup.

Apps: It was disappointing that Hulu Plus as NOT working out of the box. I spent over an hour researching the issue and finally found buried in the manual that the firmware updates automatically when the TV is off. That did happen and hulu and blockbuster apps were added. I still would want more music options such as rdio.

Remote: Terrible. Feels cheap and buttons are hard to press and unreliable. Does not support the supposedly much better blue tooth remote.

Image: Good for the price.

Sound: Better than most TVs but not comparable to an external audio setup.
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Update after one week of use:

I'm considering returning the TV because of lackluster app performance, crashing, and the god-awful remote. If it weren't for the remote I may keep it and just got a Roku, but that thing is just a pain to use.

Apps: Overall, this is a bit of a downer. The apps are very slow, the navigation of many apps (e.g. the Amazon App) does not minimize the use of the (terrible) remote. Once video plays it is more reliable than on my PlayStation or Roku. However, the TV has crashed (!) twice within one week of light use.

Remote: Still terrible. An absolute joke. The right navigation button seems to be semi-defective.

Image: Still satisfied with the quality. I know it is 60hz only, but it is good enough for casual TV and movie watching.

Sound: Still satisfied with the quality. It's not amazing, but not bad either. Definitely loud and clear enough for the environment we use it.

The Vizio E422VA is an outstanding TV. The original remote with the on screen keyboard realy is hard to use, but an investment of $39.95 with [...] has really improved everything. The Vizio XRV1TV3D replacement remote has a keyboard on the flip side that works very very well. It is IR and works without a flaw.
Be careful NOT to buy the VUR10 remote which looks the same but is Blue Tooth as the E422VA set is not Blue Tooth.

This TV was well worth the price. I thought the internet aps feature would be more of a gimmick, but we LOVE it! Pandora is used frequently, along with Revision 3, TWIT, Web Videos, Vudu, and a few others. I'll list the pros and cons, and although the cons will seem longer, it's mainly for shoppers as discriminatory as I am. Keep in mind I still give it a 5 star rating.

Cons:
The only gripes I have aren't big enough to drop the rating at all, but are still a little irritating.
The casing of the TV seems to be very cheap and flimsy plastic. As I was attaching a wall mount bracket to it, the back of the TVs casing actually bent like a Frisbee. Which brings me to my 2nd gripe, but this was one is completely my fault. I tried to use the bolts that came with the wall mount on the TV, and after trying to screw the first one in, realized they were too long for the TV and I would have to buy different ones from a hardware store. In trying to take it out, I heard a snap and the bolt would not move. Thank goodness it was the bottom of the bracket, and I was able to put the correct bolts in the other 3 mount holes. I was worried it would not hold up well on the mount due to the bending and the bolt issue, but it's been hanging on my wall a few months now without issue.
The HDMI ports are awkwardly placed on the side of the TV, and although back fairly far, I still had to use a 90 degree HDMI adapter to hide one of my HDMI cables from sticking out past the side of the TV.
The lack of options other than HDMI was rather disappointing, but is clearly noted in the product description. Make sure you have read it before buying if you have more than one non-HDMI device to hook up.
The remote seems awkward, but I only really use it for the aps. I use my cable box's remote for everything else.

Pros:
The aps are awesome!
Great picture quality.
Lots of options to tweek your settings. I really love the football and game settings.
Fairly light for it's size, but that's pretty common these days.
It's a 42 inch HDTV with internet aps for under $600! How can you go wrong?

The picture on the Vizio E422VA is pretty good, the sound is okay, and it has a good number of inputs. Aside from that, there are better TVs on the market at the same price. The wost part about this TV is the remote, which does not respond well at all. It also sends phantom signals (an example is that you'll press up in a menu, and it will interpret that as moving right instead).

I've had this TV for nine months now and have already had to have it repaired once, and am having new problems with it as well (with the Internet apps), so I may need to schedule another repair before the warranty is up. The initial problem was that the side panel buttons did not work. Turns out the wire to them had never been connected. Vizio has been decent about the warranty repair, but not stellar; I had to call them several times to finally get an appointment scheduled.

If you're thinking of buying this TV for the Vizio Internet Apps (VIA) feature, don't. There are a good number of apps available, but they simply do not work well. The apps themselves run slow, and the problems with the remote mentioned above don't make it any easier. Apps like Netflix, Pandora, and Hulu take several minutes to connect to the service, and a few more minutes to load content. I also have a Roku and a Wii, and both connect and load at least three times as fast. Furthermore, both of those devices are WiFi only, and I have this TV wired into the network; it should be the fast one, but it's the slowest of the three.

This TV also has a tendency to shut off without warning and slowly restart. I'm not sure why. Sometimes it happens when it is installing software updates, but other times it seems to happen for no reason. It's one of the things I'm going to make Vizio address when I call for warranty service again.

The last issue is with the sound. If you do not know a lot about home audio, just know that there are a lot of TVs with better audio options out there. If, however, you are a tech nerd, be aware that this TV does not have any RCA audio outs, so if you don't plan on using the built in speakers (which do not sound good), then you either have to use an RCA to 1/8" stereo Y adapter, an optical audio cable, or use an audio receiver with an HDMI Audio Return Channel.

Overall, this is a good TV for the price, but I would not purchase it again. I would instead get a TV with a remote that actually works, has better sound options, and then just use my Roku for Netflix et al.

I bought this to replace our 10 year old 32" TV. This is the first flat screen TV in our house. I wanted a TV with WiFi built in so I wouldn't have to buy a separate piece of equipment to provide that function. I checked Consumer Reports and read the reviews here and elsewhere. This looked like a good buy and I got free shipping and no sales tax plus 30 days no cost return. I decided that if I didn't love this TV for any reason it was going back in the box and out the door. I kept it.

It was well packaged and easy to unpack and set up. All I had to do was attach the base to the bottom so the TV would sit on a shelf. The WiFi set up was a breeze in spite of what other reviewers had to say. I hooked up to my existing home theater without any problems. Then I got Netflix streaming all set up and was watching something on Netflix the same evening.

Other reviews complained about the remote being difficult or temperamental. I have had no problems with the remote. Due to other reviews I almost upgraded my purchase to the unit with the bluetooth remote. I decided to stick to my guns and go cheap. Glad I did. Now that I have this TV and remote I realize that what probably bothers some users is that there is no keypad on this remote and the bluetooth unit is like a slide phone with a full keypad. The only place where I need a keypad is when searching Netflix. The Netflix app has a hunt and peck kind of thing for spelling out titles - slow but it works fine. If I really want to browse on Netflix, I go to the computer.

By the way, the apps that come with the TV are very glitchy. If you are making a buying decision based on the included apps you will be disappointed. For instance, If I run the Pandora app it may play one or two songs then it locks up every time. I was just curious about it but I gave up on it. I didn't call anyone about it because I don't care.

We think the video is great on this TV. It is a 60Hz model but we haven't really noticed much blur. I read that the difference between 60 Hz and 120 Hz is hardly noticeable by most poeple - I have to agree. I chose not to pay more for a 120 Hz or more. The sound is better than expected. I like watching most stuff with just the TV's speakers. Of course, if I want better sound (like when watching a concert) I turn on the home theater system. Incidentally, I didn't want to have to turn the TV sound on and off for certain programs so I just leave the TV sound on when using the home theater. This works just fine and I am not having to mess with the TV settings.

Great TV. Works perfectly. I am very happy with the purchase.

I bought this television for my living room home theater set up. I am pretty happy with my Vizio internet enabled television. I originally bought it so that I didn't have to have other components attached to the TV to play things such as netflix and pandora. After using this TV for 2-3 months now I can say I should probably have just opted to have a regular television with an attached device such as a PS3 or apple TV. the quality of the picture for things like netflix don't come out in 1080p. As well as the netflix app for some reason doesn't stream everything the internet site does. The apps are slow and make the TV run slower than it should sometimes.

AS far as picture and sound quality, this television is great. WHen i play blu ray or rent movies off of vudu the quality is wonderful. the sound is great even when i dont have my surround sound hooked into it.

the remote is TERRIBLE.
absolutely archaic, huge, and terrible range. I can't sit on one side of my room and use the televsion.

also READ THE SPECS. if youre looking for a thin low profile attractive TV to wall mount, this is not the TV for you. because of the internet option the TV is a lot thicker than most modern day flat screens.

if youre looking for a good bedroom TV this would be a good choice, but if you want a professional living room set up, go with a more legitimate option.

Just picked up the E422VA at Costco for $499. For 42" 1080P screen with Wifi, Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora I figured it could not go wrong! I was somewhat mistaken!

Pros
Well the good first is that Hulu works great.
It picks up my OTA channels in glorious HD.
Screen resolution and colour is beautiful.
Speakers seem to put out good sound.
Wifi works great out of box

Cons
Netflix app does not work! It crashes TV and resets it within 30 seconds of entering it.
No support for media servers or movie files placed on a USB stick
IR remote will encourage your throwing arm after typing in a user name
Menus can get rather laggy
Screen auto brightness sensor gets thrown off by the light emitted by TV, thus you can get a Bright Dark repetition till you are dizzy or disable the feature.

Summery
For a bed room TV that has native Hulu support and WiFi I think I still got my monies worth, however for any real media TV it will need something like a WD TV or Boxee Box.

I have kids and video their sports and games and store them on youtube as do many parents. Its nice to be able to watch games filmed by other parents via youtube when I can't be there myself. So I bought this TV and it's 37" little brother. The smaller one does not have the internet apps so I got a Logitech GoogleTv to use with it. Both TV's have excellent video and were affordable when compared to Samsung or Sony. Great buys. The TrueSound feature does a reasonable job of controlling audio elevation during commercials. The only complaint is that the internet application - Vizio Web Apps are absolutely useless to me. All require accounts, and the feature that I really wanted - youtube, is not supported. On the other hand, the GoogleTV is excellent and has an awesome keyboard that makes web surfing and youtube browsing a breeze. It was only $99. I would recommend that you save the money and get a Vizio TV but without the internet feature, and combine it with a GoogleTV box from Logitech or Sony. I really don't know what Vizio thinks they are providing with their internet feature but trust me its useless.