In the spirit of christmas, my wife & I wanted to bring my folks into the 21st century, so I spent a few days looking for a decent set for their living room. Didn’t need to be high end.
With that in mind, I read alot of reviews & recommendations for 42" LCDs in the $1500 range - I kept coming back to the Vizio VU42LF.
I was apprehensive because We have a Vizio 42" 720p LCD in our bedroom which I am disappointed in. This set was cheap, and I’m paying for it, but I justify it because it is not the primary set.
Even though I had my concerns, based on nearly glowing reviews; the price point; and the pricing of set that had comparable specs / stats - it seemed a no-brainer.
In the end, I picked up the new VU42LF for $1,099 @ BJs.
Because this was a surprise gift, the folks did not have an HD feed - so I busted out the rabbit ears.
After calibrating the set in their Lvg room, & with 1080i HD OTA signal:
-this set is far better then I expected.
-Color & contrast are crisp.
-NFL action has no discernable blur @ ~12’… nor as close as 7’.
-The blacks leave a little to be desired, but maybe I’m spoiled by my Sammy DLP set.
-The onboard sound is far better then my Vizio.
-And, for the price, the VU42LF really blows away the competition that I was looking at.
I did not compare this set in store (for many, many reasons). Instead, I spent some time viewing 42" 1080 sets of friends - a Phillips LCD, Samsung LCD, & Dell Plasma - which were already dialed in. The VU42 is cleary & noticably better IMO.
http://www.vizio.com/products/detail.aspx?pid=31
Cliffs: I thought Vizio brand was in the shallow end (Olevia et al) of the pool - but this set benefited from alot of good reviews and very few common concerns.
Bought it, calibrated it, and for the Quality & Performance to Price ratio - this is a fantastic set. Based on HD OTA alone.
