Vizio's 42-inch SV420XVT LCD HDTV gets reviewed

Even with the big boys lowering prices this year to cope with bulging inventories and a flagging economy, Vizio sets are still apt to be one of your cheapest options. That said, if you've been cautiously eying the 42-inch SV420XVT, this here review should certainly provide a little guidance. Reviewers were pleased (and somewhat surprised) to see that Vizio included everything an HDTV virgin would need to get it up and running in ten minutes (or three hours, we guess): a remote, power cord, the set itself, cleaning cloth, safety strap and an HDMI cable. Furthermore, they found the out-of-the-box picture settings to be remarkably solid, but things began to turn slightly south when checking out the image quality. Black levels weren't awesome and the image sharpness "left very little to be desired," but again, you're not realistically expecting KURO-like qualities out of an $1,100 set. Overall, the 1080p HDTV was still impressive enough to net an 8.3 out of 10 rating, and so long as you're not anticipating world-beating performance, you'll likely be quite stoked for the price.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 4th 2008 8:53AM]

Well, I'm no scientist or English Teacher, but isn't "left very little to be desired" a good thing?

as in...

"When it comes to image sharpness, the Vizio SV420XVT leaves very little to be desired. We tested two dozen Blu-ray movies and a dozen different console games on this 42-inch HDTV. Each time, the crispness of the on-screen images was outstanding."

Come on guys, at least read the review before you dog a set 1/3 the price of a Kuro.

Marshall Guthrie

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 4th 2008 10:08AM]

I second that notion. I have a 42" Vizio, and, while it's not this model, you can't beat the picture quality that you get for the price. Not everyone has $4-5k to spend on a TV.

[daaper Posted Nov 4th 2008 2:13PM]

Agreed, I think the article was misread to say "leaves much to be desired". Had they said that, it would be a negative. You're right, though, Daily Game was saying that it had outstanding sharpness...nice catch.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 5th 2008 12:03AM]

yeah what's up with that? so the only negative is mediocre black levels? the 'leaves very little to be desired' misinterpretation is, on its own, fairly minor, but in this case it invalidates the entire meaning of the article.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 4th 2008 10:19AM]

I agree that not everyone needs an expensive HDTV, but if you are patient, you can often find a premium brand TV for the same price as a the Vizio model of the same size (I do own both a Vizio and an LG and the LG is far superior).

For example, I picked up my LG 42LG70 42" 1080P 120Hz LCD HDTV from Frys.com for just $999 after finding the deal on TechDealDigger.

These deals come and go quickly, so you need to go to a site like SlickDeals or TechDealDigger and check regularly (or set up an alert). Here's the HDTV Category on TechDealDigger.com - http://www.techdealdigger.com/hot-deals/hdtvs-sale/63

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 6th 2008 2:55PM]

I bought a Visio 42 inch model 1080 13 months ago. Did not buy the extened warranty. stopped working so i took to repair shop it will cost $ 500.00 to fix. Visio said that the 1 year warranty had expired so your on your own. Any help on what to do would be great.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 4th 2008 2:33PM]

PWNED

OK, here's an idea. Assuming you can find the same model still on sale somewhere, buy it again from a retailer that will allow you to return it, swap it for the broken one and return it. Simple. Costco is great for returns so that could be your first solution.
Be careful though, some retailers scan the serial number as well so you may get assed out. Also, if you registered the broken TV through VIZIO, you are likely out of luck since they could trace the return back to you through the serial number.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 6th 2008 2:58PM]

I have the SV420XVT and it has been great. The picture quality is fantastic and for the price I just couldn't find anything that came close to the features and extended warranty options that I got with mine. Vizio also was great with their customer service on the few little things I called to ask about. I think it's a great TV.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 2nd 2008 2:31PM]

I have owned this Vizio model for about one month. A non-glare, non-glossy screen was important to me, as was a modest price. I found the set up easy. The picture looks very good right out of the box with the standard default settings. After a month of experimenting with the basic adjustments, the picture looks even better. (I still have not experimented with the fine adjustments.) The 120Mhz image smoothing feature is what makes this set great. I would not buy any set without this feature - 120Mhz is that good. The effect is a picture so vivid, sharp and real it is almost 3D. The stock 3 speaker surround sound is pretty good. Vizio sells an optional subwoofer and rear speakers. One suggestion: If you have the space and a bit more money, knock yourself out by buying Vizio's 47" model.