Picked up a new TV (4k Ultra HD)

Clockwork

Clockwork

Well-known member
So a long time ago I used to be a real TV/brand snob when it came to my purchases. This was evident in me purchasing two Samsung TV's (A850 46" LCD about 5 years ago for $2200 or so and then a D6000 46" 3D LCD for $1800 or so which I ended up returning due to light bleed from the edge lit LED's and the fact that for 2D material my A850 still looked better).

Anyway, on Thursday I was shopping at Walmart for bathroom/hygiene odds and ends but I decided to walk over by the video games and also pass through the electronics.

I ended up buying a 50" Vizio P Series LCD (http://www.vizio.com/p-series) with the following features:

- 4K Ultra HD resolution (3840 x 2160)
- Full Array LED backlight (64 zones with local dimming)
- 4 HDMI 1.4 inputs (2 HDCP 2.0/2 HDCP 2.2) /1 HDMI 2.0 input (HDCP 2.2)
- 801.11AC Wi-Fi and Ethernet (for Smart features and apps like Netflix)
- USB 3.0 port
- Other legacy connectors (RF/coax, composite, component, optical, etc).

How much was this TV? $998.

After taking it home, calibrating it, and using it for a few days I have to say this TV is simply amazing and is probably the best bang for your buck value wise.

Picture quality is fantastic, contrast is top notch, and black levels are unbeatable (at least in the LCD space) due to the full array backlighting with local dimming.

I honestly did not expect to be as pleased as I am with it. I was very hesitant to buy it being that it was a Vizio and because the price seemed too good to be true (there had to be a catch). I must say I was completely wrong.

Now I will say if you read reviews they will all agree from a panel standpoint this tv is amazing as well. It really punches above its class in the regard and can compete with TV's costing hundreds if not thousands more. The one problem they will point out is the software. Vizio unfortunately does not give enough control over certain processing features which if you are a video purist can cause some anguish. One item in particular was that they appear to still be doing some image enhancemt/sharpening even when set to 0). Due to this a lot of reviewers really knocked their scores down, but echoed hope that Vizio would update their firmware to rectify this.

One other thing I did like is that Vizio does offer two gaming modes, one being a picture mode (I don't use it, I prefer my own calibration) and the other being an actual low latency setting for gaming. Based on my experience and some of the reviews this works wonders and makes it an excellent TV for gaming as well. For those who are interested this TV will also accept 120Hz input (this is not to be confused with 120Hz frame interpolation, which the TV can also do).

I guess all I can say is I am pleased with my cheap ass Vizio.

EDIT: Also upgraded my Netflix to the $11.99 plan (only one that allows for 4k content). So far the choices are limited but from what I watched so far it looks very nice.

:)
 
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Cool. The P series is pretty nice for the money. I thought about getting one but went with a Samsung again.
 
monkeydust said:
Cool. The P series is pretty nice for the money. I thought about getting one but went with a Samsung again.
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Did you go 4k? If so have you tried the Netflix 4k content yet?

It seems to look simply amazing for things that were shot digitally, more recently, or were rendered. Older movies shot on film have more detail but flaws and grain are more apparent so don't necessarily look better, just different.
 
64 zone back lighting is pretty lame, as back lit panels at their peak were reaching 512 zones. Then again direct back lit is better than edge lit any day.
Not only that, the 50" is a VA panel, so native contrast is already probably really good, it must look pretty nice. I say good catch.
 
Clockwork said:
Did you go 4k? If so have you tried the Netflix 4k content yet?

It seems to look simply amazing for things that were shot digitally, more recently, or were rendered. Older movies shot on film have more detail but flaws and grain are more apparent so don't necessarily look better, just different.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the ones I looked at weren't to impressive on Netflix. I couldn't get House of Cards to stream that high due to my connection being a few Mbps below its threshold for streaming at 4k. So, the only thing I've seen that looks great is a UHD Samsung Dubai video that I downloaded and viewed via USB.
 
DigitalDemon said:
64 zone back lighting is pretty lame, as back lit panels at their peak were reaching 512 zones. Then again direct back lit is better than edge lit any day.
Not only that, the 50" is a VA panel, so native contrast is already probably really good, it must look pretty nice. I say good catch.
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Regarding the above, the most I am aware of was the Sharp Elites with 400 zones and even the Vizio "R" reference series with 384 zones. Other FALD tv's I'm seeing recently vary from 32 to 128 zones depending on brand and size. I do agree that manufacturers should task themselves with increasing this though, as I do notice some haloing going on. Then again, you probably wouldn't see a unit for $998 if they did this. At least not for a while.

Regarding the panel, yep I knew that. The strangest thing is that for some reason Vizio made their 55" with an IPS panel. The rest all use VA panels believed to be sourced from Sharp.
 
monkeydust said:
Yeah, the ones I looked at weren't to impressive on Netflix. I couldn't get House of Cards to stream that high due to my connection being a few Mbps below its threshold for streaming at 4k. So, the only thing I've seen that looks great is a UHD Samsung Dubai video that I downloaded and viewed via USB.
Click to expand...


Time for an internet upgrade! :P
 
Clockwork said:
Regarding the above, the most I am aware of was the Sharp Elites with 400 zones and even the Vizio "R" reference series with 384 zones. Other FALD tv's I'm seeing recently vary from 32 to 128 zones depending on brand and size. I do agree that manufacturers should task themselves with increasing this though, as I do notice some haloing going on. Then again, you probably wouldn't see a unit for $998 if they did this. At least not for a while.

Regarding the panel, yep I knew that. The strangest thing is that for some reason Vizio made their 55" with an IPS panel. The rest all use VA panels believed to be sourced from Sharp.
Click to expand...

The last great backlit tv was the Toshiba ZX900, which had 512 zones. It never made it to the US as it was right when the edge-lit era began and everyone wanted super thin panels. My previous tv was the Toshiba ZV650U with 80 zones, and it was a beauty. Then I got stupid and wanted 3Dtv so now I am stuck with "micro-dimming". At least it's also a Sharp VA panel.

Now I am waiting for 4k OLED with acceptable lag and price, though I feel I will be waiting forever..:(
 
I picked up the 70" version yesterday, the vizio p702ui-b3. Beautiful set, excellent picture using the "Calibrated" setting and a few minor tweaks to sharpness, brightness, and tint. Gorgeous displaying 4k material, excellent upscaling of 1080p content.

Extremely satisfied with the purchase.
 
So I went online today at Walmart has the TV on sale until midnight tomorrow for $698.00.

I called Walmart and they said they would not price match since it was past their 7 day price match policy. When posing the question "What is to stop me from returning the TV and repurchasing it at the lower price" the customer service rep on the phone said "Nothing."

So I went to the store to talk to a manager and got the same answer. When I explained that they would lose more by me returning the tv (since I get my full refund plus they have to deal with having an open item/used stock) the manager said he understood but could not do what I was asking as it would promote other customers to try to do the same thing.

I ended up saying okay then walked over to the stack of them and said I would like to purchase a new one for the $698 price and that I would be returning the other one tomorrow.

*sigh*
 
Clockwork said:
Time for an internet upgrade! :P
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I managed to get my internet speed doubled and wound up paying $10 less a month after an hour on the phone with Brighthouse. So, an hour well spent.

Anyway, event with 35-40 Mbps download speed, House of Cards still won't do over 1080 for some reason. Anyway, they have Marco Polo on there now at 4k which looks really good.

I'm currently sitting about 6' away from my TV and don't think I would want to go much further than 2 more feet to still enjoy the 4k experience at that size. Since it is my basement and have nothing mounted, it is still easy to adjust viewing distance. I imagine once I finish the basement and mount the TV, I'll probably be sitting about 8' away from the TV on my couch. At that size, sitting 6-8' from it helps with the immersion of 3d movies as well (which we having surprisingly been watching quite a few). Of course I wish I had a bigger TV but once you start going above 60", the price rise exponentially. I'm never going to waste 7k on a 70" TV whose technology will be ancient in a decade.

I've had my Samsung for 28 days now and am going to exchange it tomorrow for another of the same TV (30 day return/exchange policy). In many situations, the backlight bleed from the bottom left corner is just too much. From what I have read, not much you can do about it other than exchange (tried gently massaging with Microfiber cloth too). I hate to go to all the bother of boxing it back up and exchanging, but it bothers me enough that I feel I gotta do it.
 
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