Vizio XVT 42'' SV420 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV

by Vizio

Product Details

• ASIN: B001G93SQ2
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,469 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 18, 2008

Product Description

Extreme VIZIO technology! VIZIO's XVT series epitomizes cutting edge technology. Full HD resolution giving you razor sharp clarity, crisp and clear images and an absolutely amazing viewing experience. State-of-the-art 120 Hz processing teamed with VIZIO's Smooth Motion Video technology reduces judder giving you a smooth and fluid natural picture with life-like detail. Experience rich bass and clear dialog to your TV's internal speakers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great bang for your buck, November 24, 2008

By 

Scott R. Tucker - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vizio XVT 42'' SV420 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV (Electronics)

I purchased the Vizio SV420XVT to replace my not-so-old Vizio VX42L, a TV that I had nothing but problems with. My first VX had severe backlight bleeding, and the replacement unit developed audio dropouts, so I decided that perhaps I should abandon that model altogether and upgrade to Vizio's 120Hz model.

Straight out the box, this TV makes a powerful impression. Its settings are nearly dead-on, but there are of course tweaks to be made. I am still undecided in my opinion of the Smooth Motion feature; it is far too unstable to use for movies, but decent enough for sports games. It essentially creates an extra 4 frames for every 1 frame of input, increasing framerates from 24 frames/sec to 120 frames/sec. During movies, this can lead to herky jerky movements in fast moving scenes, while at the same time create smooth as butter motion in slower scenes. The effect is very similar to watching a soap opera, and I definitely prefer watching my movies at 24 frames/sec.

There are many extra features built into the TV, but I find that the picture looks best and performs most reliably with them turned off, with the exception of Adaptive Luma. Even without these features enabled, the picture is jaw-droppingly good. Blacks are much more solid than earlier models, color accuracy is greater, and contrast is surprisingly good.

The addition of an optical digital audio output is a very nice feature to have on a "value minded" TV as well. This complements the gaming performance of this set nicely. Both PC and current generation consoles look amazing on this TV, and you will not be disappointed if gaming is your main reason for purchasing.

QAM tuning seems to be hit-or-miss, depending on your cabling. The tuner had some issues pulling in channels when the coax run was longer than 25 feet, but that is the weakest feature I have found so far in the entire unit.

The remote is a step backwards from the older units, in my opinion. Far too flimsy and lightweight, it offers many choices for functions like PIP, but has no PC/RGB input button as the older remotes did. That means switching to the PC input requires navigating a scrolling menu, something that is just downright ridiculous in this day and age of HTPCs. Kind of a moot point, however, since most people have a nice universal remote anyways.

In short, I think this TV is a great deal for the money. You have to remember that this is Vizio's first foray into the world of 120Hz LCD sets, and they are nipping at the heels of Samsung and Sony, who are already on their second generations.

Below I have provided the settings I have found to be the best for all around quality:

Picture Menu

Picture mode: Movie
Backlight: 33
Brightness: 49
Contrast: 50
Color: 40
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 4

Advanced Video Menu

Noise Reduction: Off
Color Enhancement: Off
Advanced Adaptive Luma: On
Enhanced Contrast Ratio: Off
Color Temperature: Normal
- Red: 127
- Green: 129
- Blue: 128
Smooth Motion: Off
Real Cinema Mode: Off

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Mid-Level Brand TV, Able To Hold Its Own Against the Big Boys (For the Price)!, April 6, 2009

By 

Hectic (AL, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vizio XVT 42'' SV420 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV (Electronics)

I finally turned my tax refund in a month ago and received the biggest return I've ever gotten. In planning my "Harry-Carry" for the money, I decided a new HDTV was the way to go. After doing much research and starting a discussion here on Amazon for different opinions, I finally made my choice for the Vizio SV420XVT1A. It was the size I wanted, 1080p and 120Hz. I found a really good deal for it on Dell's Storefront website with a discount and free S&H; just had to pay tax (sorry Amazon, they had the best deal). I would never buy a TV online before I saw the picture of it in person, but luckily my local Sears has it on display, so I went and checked it out. They had other 120Hz TV's on display next to the Vizio which were the high-end brands like Samsung and Sony. Although their pictures were a bit better, the Vizio still had one that could compete for the price. I ordered it and received a little over a week later via freight service called CEVA. (Anyone ever hear of them?).

It was packaged pretty well in the box, just like you'd expect it to be. The easiest way to remove the TV from the box was to cut out one of the thin sides of the box and pull it out sideways. This TV replaced an 8 year old Konka tube TV (27") and was surprisingly lighter (but not by much...approx. = 56lbs.). Anyway, after setting it up in the same spot as the old TV, I connected cable, a Sony upconverting DVD player via HDMI 1, and my computer (desktop) via HDMI 2. As soon as I turned it on, the setup process came up to scan for cable channels and some other basic picture setup. (I customized all the settings for picture which I will list below) The menu itself isn't very...graphic. For some items of the menu you have to click once or twice to access further settings, but is no big deal. Actually it's kind of good this way since you can navigate the menu, change picture settings and the menu doesn't take up much screen space so you can see what the changes look like without closing out of it.

I found it a bit surprising that I WAS able to get 5 HD channels (the major networks) without a digital box. (We have a digital/HD package with our cable co., but I didn't think you could get any of the HD's without a box!) When watching channels in regular SD quality, some look better than others. It depends on what channel and what they are showing. Older TV shows and movies do not look that good (fuzzy, jittery) but are still watchable. The newer the program, the better it can look. I've watched reruns of MASH on the Hallmark channel that look nowhere near as good as they did on the old TV, but watching newer shows or movies on channels such as FX, Comedy Central & Sci-Fi look much better. It's understandable of course that SD programming will not look as good on a HDTV as a SDTV, but you're investing in the future. If you're fortunate enough to be able to receive (and afford) all HD programming, then you're already living in it! But eventually, everything will switch over to HD, and SD will go the way of 4:3 TV's! Anyway, the few HD channels I receive look GREAT. Not as good as a blu-ray, but better than an upconverted DVD. (Those 2 things I will talk about below) The picture is quite clear and colorful. I just finished watching Heroes on NBC-HD and the motion in the picture is great, improved by the 120Hz refresh rate. Speaking of the 120Hz, again, it only looks good for certain SD content. Other programming will stutter and jutter (just at some moments) with it on. This is a MINOR annoyance, so I just keep it on, disregarding the picture when it occurs. (It's too much trouble to keep turning it on and off when switching between cable and everything else, so I just leave it on all the time)

Now to the upconverted DVD viewing. So far, I have watched a few TV shows and movies and they too look quite good. Some of these TV shows are copied and shrunk to a DVD 5 disc, so the quality is not as good as the source, but it still looks better than any SD show. The first true (not copied or shrunk) DVD movie I watched was Event Horizon and the picture as well as the sound was like I'd never seen before! The picture showed details I'd never seen when watching the movie before and the sounds (for TV speakers) was pretty great too. (The sound isn't comparable to a surround sound system or anything, but it's better than my old TV!) This is also when you really start to see the 120Hz coming into play. The motion was much smoother and fluid, for example; when the movie begins and you see all the objects floating around on the ship in the zero-g environment.

Next, blu-ray. I initially tried to watch a blu-ray from my computer connection, but found this to be too problematic. First off, the display was only cloned and the monitor I use is 4:3, so the picture on the TV wasn't the best. (The black bars on the top and bottom were WAY TOO THICK!) Also, the picture did the old stutter and jutter, just like it did for some of the old movies I previewed on SD cable. On the plus side, the actual picture was pretty good though. Next I tried using my laptop, connecting it to one of the HDMI connections that reside on the right side of the TV. Once connected, the display switches from the laptop screen to the secondary display (TV). The picture was allowed to be adjusted to the full 1920x1080 which looked better than my desktop did. I popped in the Matrix and started watching. The picture was breathtaking! It had been awhile since I watched the Matrix and I saw and heard things that I never had before with stunning fluid motion. Blu-ray is definitely the way to go! The only bad thing was, I STILL got the shutter and jutter here and there throughout the film! I had to know if this would occur with a standalone BR player, so I borrowed my dad's and hooked it up. I watched some of the most action-intense scenes from the Matrix and no, the stutter and jutter was gone! Great picture, motion, sound, EVERYTHING! A standalone player is DEFINITELY the way to go. I'll have to get one (maybe as a graduation present) sometime. The current one I'm eyeing is the LG BD370. Besides getting rave reviews, it can also play many different codecs including .MKV, which I already have a few HD movies in! Just plug in a USB drive, and start watching! (From what I've read anyway, awesome!)

This TV is one of the best buys I've made that I am sure I won't regret! This TV isn't top of the line, best thing you can get out there, but if you're on a budget (like me), then this is probably the best deal you're going to get! Upconverted DVD's and especially Blu-rays are the best!

After watching many different forms of programming in both SD and HD, such as cartoons, TV shows and movies (both new and old), all on cable, DVD and BR; the following are the settings (that I adjusted at least half a dozen times) I found to be best all around for viewing any format:

Picture:
* Backlight = 40
* Brightness = 49
* Contrast = 53
* Color = 50
* Tint = 0
* Sharpness = 3
* Advanced Video
o Noise Reduction = Off
o Color Enhancement = Off
o Advanced Adaptive Luma = Low
o Enhanced Contrast Ratio = Off
o Color Temp. = Custom
' Red = 125
' Green = 128
' Blue = 128
o Smooth Motion
' Smooth Motion Effect = Middle
' Real Cinema Mode = Smooth

Audio:
* Equalizer = Rock
* Balance = 0
* Digital Audio Out = PCM
* Analog Audio Out = Fixed
* Sound Effect = SRS TSXT
* DRC = ½

Setup:
* Wide = Panoramic (=Wide for HDMI inputs)

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the best HDTV I have ever owned!!!, November 19, 2008

By 

Andrew Columbia "Ange" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vizio XVT 42'' SV420 120Hz 1080p LCD HDTV (Electronics)

if you are looking for the biggest bang for your buck television and you want a 42" look no further this is simply the greatest HD I have ever owned I can go on and on about it Bluray movies look completely spectacular in 1080p full HD resolution the images are so crisp and look like they are popping off the screen its almost too real I have sony bravia surround sound home theater system hooked up to this set as well and I could not ask for more also I am a gamer and let me tell you PS3 in full 1080p high definition glory looks absolutely breathtaking on this TV!! Call of Duty World at War looks so real its unbelievable! anyway I believe Vizio is the next big contender to the likes of Sony, Samsung, and all these other high priced brands the quality is the same as them if not better, and you cannot beat the price! definatly would 100% recommend buying not only because its 1080p (full high definition resolution) but the refresh rate of 120Hz and the True Surround technology built in really put this set over the top!!!