vizio e500i-a1 lcd panel free sample

It didn"t work as promised when we first reviewed it, but the most recent firmware has finally realized the television"s potential. The Vizio E0i series is a entry-level LED-dimming TV that performs like a much more expensive model. Its picture quality now rivals the pricier

The Vizio E0i series competes well against, or surpasses, the picture quality of other LCD TVs in its price class, while delivering plenty of Smart TV content and sleek minimalist style. Like the 60- and 70-inch E1i-A3 and the

Editors" note: Vizio introduced a firmware update in July 2013 that alleviated some of our earlier concerns with the local dimming system, so we have retested the TVs and rerated them accordingly. Portions of this review have been updated accordingly since its original publication. See the end of the review for more details.

Series information: We performed a hands-on evaluation of the 42-inch Vizio E420i-A1 and 50-inch Vizio E500i-A1, but this review also applies to the other screen sizes in the series listed below. All sizes have identical specs (aside from number of HDMI inputs; see below) and according to the manufacturer should provide very similar picture quality. According to Vizio, there"s no difference between the "A1" and "A0" models in the series. Other sizes and models in the E series not listed below have different-enough components that this review doesn"t apply to them.

While not as attractive as the 2013 M models, the E is still nice-looking in an unassuming, minimalist way. Its black plastic frame measures just over half an inch thick on the top and sides, although black masking on the panel between the frame and the picture adds another quarter-inch. Vizio"s subtle right-offset logo is a welcome change of pace from the prominent center logos on most TVs.

"Direct LED" backlighting makes this set about as thick (3.15 inches) as an old-school CCFL-backlit LCD TV, so it doesn"t get the "Razor" moniker Vizio applies to its edge-lit LEDs. The generic-looking stand doesn"t swivel.

Unlike some of Vizio"s higher-end Smart TV remotes, the one that comes with the E0i series lacks a flip-side QWERTY keyboard and Wi-Fi communication. The front side is not our favorite among entry-level clickers. It lacks illumination, the Menu, Exit, Guide, and Back keys are too small and there"s not enough differentiation between buttons. Its best feature is the inclusion of dedicated keys for Amazon Instant and Netflix; unfortunately, Vizio replaced the Vudu app shortcut key on previous clickers with one for M-Go (see below).

Vizio employs the same menus on this set as it has for every Smart set over the last few years. The menu system resembles an app in appearance, and we liked that the picture settings section is integrated into the main app taskbar. Responses were fast, explanations were complete, and I had no problems finding my way around. We also appreciated the easy guided-setup process.

Now that TV makers are starting to ditch CCFL-based backlights altogether, the Vizio E0i"s direct LED backlight itself isn"t that remarkable. As we mentioned above, it leads to a relatively thick cabinet, and as usual with LED it

Vizio actually uses the term "120Hz effective refresh rate" on this and other TVs, including the E601i-A3. But while that set has the smoothing and motion resolution we expect from a 120Hz TV, the E0i series has neither. That"s why we"re sticking with the "60Hz" specification on the table above, despite what Vizio says.

Vizio hasn"t changed the design of its Smart TV since it debuted three years ago, so it"s not as slick as most other TV makers" brainy portals. Its main interface, based on the original Yahoo Widgets, consists of a strip along the bottom of the screen. It shows just four widgets at a time, so finding the one you want is a tedious scrolling chore if you have more than 10 or so installed. Vizio doesn"t make finding new apps any easier, with a Yahoo Connected TV Store that"s crowded with entirely too much chaff, including way too many "apps" devoted to local TV stations.

Vizio (along with Samsung and LG) is ostensibly supporting M-Go, an on-demand video service with content from most major studios aside from Disney. We

Connectivity: On the 42-inch model, three HDMI and a single component-video input (which can be sacrificed to accept composite signals) are on-duty to handle high-def sources, while a single USB slot deals with multimedia. The 50-inch set adds a fourth HDMI input; Vizio claims this is the only other features-related difference between the two sizes. Vizio dropped the VGA-style analog PC input, however.

After the firmware update described below, which improves the performance of the its local-dimming direct LED backlight, the E0i series is able to generally outperform other LCD TVs in its class--and quite a few more expensive models. While there are some obvious dimming effects, and the 42-inch review sample had some issues with uniformity, shadow detail and black levels are very good. On the other hand color accuracy is a bit of a weak point on the Vizio, as is its video processing compared with actual 120Hz TVs.

During the "hill" sequence of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II (45:52), the E-series TVs were able to identify that there were figures on the mound as the camera circles around them, something that the Toshiba 50L2300U couldn"t do due to its lack of contrast. Panasonic"s own E60 LCD did better though it wasn"t able to go as dark.

There are several side-effects of this deeper black level, however. In the case of the E500 some of the darker details in shadows were obscured, and in both E-series TVs iwe noticed an obvious dimming effect. With the very hill sequence the E-series dimmed a little too much and then lightened obviously, which could be a little jarring. As the camera swings around you see a figure approach Voldemort, and on the Vizio M-series and the E420 you can make out the detail on his vest, while on the E500 you can only see a black blob.

A expected the ST60 plasma suffered no obvious fluctuations in brightness and had a more natural picture, with deeper black levels, than any of the LCDs.

Color accuracy: Although not terrible in this department, the E0is still looked less accurate than most of the past Vizios we"ve tested. The main weakness came in saturation; for example, the green grass and young Lily Potter"s red hair looked a bit duller and less vibrant than on most of the other displays. Meanwhile, blues, like the water in Chapter 9 as the friends come up from the lake, had a redder cast than on the other Nets. On some skin tones the E500 could look a little rosier.

Like the other LCDs, the Vizio E420 occasionally showed a bluish tinge in dark and black areas although it was not as bad as the Samsung E550 or the TCL. This wasn"t an issue with the larger 50-inch Vizio. Skin tones were a strength on the E series; the faces of Ron and Hermione in the cave (50:01) looked realistic enough, although still not as true as on the plasmas or the other Vizio.

Uniformity: To its credit, the screen of our E420i-A1 review sample showed no obvious flashlighting (bright corners or spots during dark scenes), and so outdid the Toshiba and TCL in this category. With the new dimming enabled there were some occasional blue uniformity issues/blooming in the bottom right corner which wasn"t visible on the others in the lineup. From off-angle the Vizio lost black-level and color fidelity about as quickly as most of the other LCDs.

On the other hand the larger E500i-A1 had more stable uniformity with almost no blue-black issues and off-axis the black levels and colors were much more consistent.

Bright lighting: The matte screen of the Vizio reduced the intensity of glare from reflections nicely, and also did a solid job of retaining black-level depth. It was no better or worse under the lights than the other matte LCDs in our comparison lineup, but as expected it outdid the Samsung plasma handily in this area.

Editor"s note: CNET originally reviewed the 42-inch E420 in February 2013. One of the criticisms was that the local dimming system led to degraded picture quality, and hence reviewer David Katzmaier left it off. Then Vizio notified us that it had upgraded the local dimming system in a new firmware release. As a result we requested a new set and the company sent us a 50-inch model, the E500 reviewed here. At the time of review its firmware version is 2.04.3PR1.

We also asked Vizio how to upgrade the firmware of the 42-inch model we had originally reviewed. The company originally informed us that the TV would receive its firmware automatically "over the air" via WiFi.

Vizio said that unlike us, users in the field will receive the updated firmware, version 3.12.6. on the 42-inch TV, automatically while the TV is off. Unfortunately, Vizio was unable to give us the number of TVs out in the field and how many were still awaiting firmware. If you"re unsure you have the latest firmware, you should call 888-849-4623 (888-VIZIO-CE) to check with the company.

As a part of our testing we compared the old E420 to the already upgraded E500, and then compared the two models again with the new E420 firmware. Also, despite the differences we noted in the review, Vizio assured us that the 42- and 50-inch samples have the same type of LCD panel and the same number of dimmable backlight zones.

@chococrispy1 a replacement screen,if even available, will most likely cost you more than a new TV. If you do want to see if you can find one, do not search by TV model but search by LCD panel number. For that you will have to disassemble your TV and take a look at the panel manufacturer sticker. There will be a model number. With that number, start a google search and see what you get.

You should know that Vizio televisions are not made by Vizio, and yes, that is indeed true. Vizio televisions are made by electronics OEMs. These companies design the TV models, negotiate the price, and then produce the TVs under the VIZIO brand name. Making TVs to order for companies that own a particular brand is a fairly common practice today. According to the Chinese website https://themoney.co/ VIZIO TVs are made by OEM companies BOE, Foxconn, Innolux, KIE, Tolly, TPV, Zylux.

If you need to know the model number of your VIZIO TV or the serial number. The easiest solution is to look at the model number on a sticker on the back of the TV. There you will see a sticker with information about the TV.

Depending on the year of manufacture of your TV and what factory it was manufactured in. The location of the information label varies, you will have to look at the entire back of the TV, some models may have two information stickers. The first is a fuller, larger sticker, the second is in the form of a barcode with the model number and serial number on the side of the back panel, closer to the edge. Of course, if your TV is mounted on the wall and access to the back of the TV is difficult, there is another solution.

If you can’t find the model number on the sticker, missed the second way or just don’t want to look there, here is the second way to find the model number and serial number of your VIZIO TV. You can find the model number of your TV in the menu. To do this with a few keystrokes on your remote control, follow these steps. Depending on the version of your operating system the procedure may be different, I’ll show you some options, if your TV has a slightly different menu, the search will still look something like this

Since the TVs are made by OEM companies, VIZIO TV model numbers do not give much information about the technical characteristics of the TVs. The model number is only needed for information on screen size, TV series, and year of development. More detailed specifications can be found in the description of the particular TV. However, you can get some information from the model number of your TV as well. VIZIO TVs are divided into series, e.g. M, P, D series. Depending on the series, the technical characteristics of the TVs differ greatly. But you should know that VIZIO TVs mainly belong to the budget segment.

M – The first letter indicates the TV series. Vizio divides its TVs into series, which are indicated by letters or the full name, such as OLED or Quantum. You should know that series may be available for several years, for example, the M series has been available since 2013. But the 2013 TVs are very different from the 2022 TVs. You should keep this in mind when choosing a TV.

VIZIO TVs are sold in the North American market in the United States, Canada. Vizio does not have its own factories, the televisions are assembled by custom electronics assemblers. TVs are assembled in Mexico and China, but at the factories of what companies – is unknown, there is no reliable information, the company modestly keeps silent about it. Vizio followed the way of aggressive pricing; the TVs, where the declared parameters are similar to the TVs of leading manufacturers, cost 10-30% cheaper.

Because users in the U.S. and Canada pay little attention to technical specifications. The main thing the buyer pays attention to is the picture quality, price, access to network resources, such as Netflix and the like. VIZIO took advantage of this by building a business model focused on the North American market. The company’s employees work in two areas: sales, design and service. The company tries to keep up with the technology of other manufacturers, and it seems to succeed, although the picture quality is somewhat worse than that of the leading manufacturers, but the TV sets are popular among customers.

How to find out when made TV Vizio. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to find out. The manufacturer does not specify this information. Indirectly the production date can be found in the model marking. But the following information should also be taken into account. For aggressive sales, Vizio starts production of TVs in Q3, and assigns them the model numbers of the next year, this was the case until 2018. Now new TV models are released every year. Anyway, if you see that the TV model is, for example, 2021, you can orient yourself, this TV model was produced from Q3 2021 to Q3 2022.

In 2021, VIZIO did not introduce any models of its premium TV lineup. All TVs have displays with a maximum frequency of 60Hz, which of course is not enough if you use the TV as a monitor for gaming consoles. I think the sales of premium models in previous years have not lived up to expectations. So the company management decided to produce more budget TV models.

In 2020 there was an experiment from VIZIO, OLED TVs with screens from LG. But it was also a single experiment, there are no new OLED TV models in VIZIO’s lineup anymore.

I don’t delete old pictures explaining the model number of the VIZIO TV. If you are interested in model numbers of older VIZIO TVs that are not covered in this article. You can ask a question in the comments I will definitely try to answer and help you.

The number of special 3D eyeglasses included with the 3D TV. Some 3D TVs omit this item to control costs. Some 3D Blu-ray players may include these glasses. Retailers may offer a "3D TV + Blu-ray" bundle that also includes the glasses. All of the 3DTVs in our Ratings require the viewer to don special eyeglasses. So-called "active" 3D sets, which require "active" battery-powered LCD shutter glasses, may come with one or more pairs, or none. Additional pairs generally cost from $50 to $150 each. Most so-called "passive" 3D TVs come with four pairs of passive polarized glasses, much like the ones used in theaters, which don"t require batteries. Additional sets cost from $10 to $30 each. You cannot use passive glasses with 3DTV that requires active glasses, and vice-versa. You also generally cannot mix active 3D glasses from one brand of TV with another"s, though TVs made in 2012 and later may share glasses. (Passive 3D glasses can be used interchangeably with any passive 3D TVs.) There are some "universal" active 3D glasses you can buy as an after-market item .

The height of the TV in inches, rounded up to the nearest 0.25-inch. Dimensions include the base and detachable speakers, important if you plan to place the TV on a stand or in an entertainment center. See "Panel size without base" if you plan to wall-mount only the display.

The width of the TV in inches, rounded up to the nearest 0.25-inch. Dimensions include the base and detachable speakers, important if you plan to place the TV on a stand or in an entertainment center. See "Panel size without base" if you plan to wall-mount only the display.

The depth of the TV in inches, rounded up to the nearest 0.25-inch. Dimensions include the base and detachable speakers, important if you plan to place the TV on a stand or in an entertainment center. See "Panel size without base" if you plan to wall-mount only the display.

Dimensions of the display panel only, not including the base, rounded up to the nearest 0.25-inch. Also see "Overall height (in.)", "Overall width (in.)", and "Overall depth (in.)".

Fixed-pixel display types such as LCDs and OLEDs have a native resolution. It sets an upper limit of how sharp images may look. Native resolution is expressed in horizontal by vertical pixels (for example: 1920x1080 for an HD display, 3840x2160 for UHD).

A "REFRESH RATE" or "CLEAR ACTION RATE"(as VIZIO likes to use) IS NOT THE SAME AS A NATIVE PANEL"s hz. It is not a native 120hz panel, it is a native 60hz panel across the entire E-Series Line. Some E-Series models have a refresh rate of 120hz and the new for 2014 models have have a refresh rate/"CLEAR ACTION RATE" OF 180. It is more important for the panel to be built with native hz"s than to have a high "artificial" refresh rate/"CLEAR ACTION RATE". A refresh rate is created in the background with artificial processing known as Backlight scanning. For example, previously THE M-SERIES had A 120hz NATIVE PANEL BUT ALSO HAD AN ARTIFICIAL REFRESH RATE of 240. The new M-Series models for this year have a 120hz NATIVE PANEL with an artificial refresh rate/"CLEAR ACTION RATE" OF 720.

To "Others": In the future try not to take manufacturer website "tech specs" claims as a fact. There is a reason professional reviews and semi-professional reviews like mine exist. It"s so customers can avoid marketing hype and false advertising claims made by manufacturers. I gave the 50inch E500i-B1 a 2-star review for exhibiting the same problems as the previous E500i-A1.

For the record allow me to state I was the "Amazon Verified Purchase" owner of 2 edge-lit VIZIO E500i-A1 Televisions that I purchased in December 2013, and eventually had to return back to AMAZON.COM for the exact same reasons that plague and affect this Television model, the newly introduced for 2014 VIZIO Full Array Local Dimming(FALD) E500i-B1, which I will try to describe in full detail below. This model was introduced in between Mid January/Early February 2014 over at Costco and available right now at VIZIO"s main website. PLEASE TRY AND REFRAIN FROM BEING A FANBOY, I give you my word I am being as honest and objective as I possibly can be and I am giving you the most accurate detailing that I can provide. This review is from my personal experience with this TV set.

I recently had the opportunity to go and stay over at the home of a friend for a period of 3 weeks who had purchased the 2014 VIZIO FALD E500i-B1 and was allowed to familiarize myself with this set in it"s entirety. First allow me the pleasure of telling you that the picture quality regarding the brightness, colors and contrast levels of this Television in comparison to the edge-lit E500i-A1 can go from far better to absolutely astoundingly and astonishingly drop dead gorgeous when given the very best calibration possible. I used the Spears & Munsil HD Benchmark and Calibration Disc 2nd Edition BLU-RAY disc that I own to calibrate the TV.

I am giving this Television set 2 stars because it is plagued and affected by the exact same issues that destroyed the experience for me with the 2 edge-lit E500i-A1"s that I previously owned, and also affected the edge-lit E601i-A3 and the E701i-A3 that I also personally witnessed happen(THIS HAPPENED SO MUCH THAT VIZIO FAMOUSLY ISSUED A RECALL ON BOTH TELEVISION MODELS). The issues being the Television would lose the HDMI Signal every 5-15 minutes for 3-5 seconds and then the Picture would return, interestingly You could still hear the audio, The HDMI INPUT PORTS in question are 3&4. The other issue is that it still suffered from very minimal edge light bleed, and yes FALD displays can still suffer from edge light bleed. For example in the edge-lit M601d-A3R as well as this new for 2014 FALD E500i-B1 if you look up close carefully along the edges you can see some of the light bulbs. That is due to Subpar Manufacturing Practices, essentially the panel placement methods aren"t as best as they can be, in the case of the E500i-B1"s light bleed it has nothing to do with it being a FALD display, although light bleed is more pronounced on edge-lit displays, light bleed isn"t due to a display being edge-lit it has more to do with the method of manufacturing. There are currently many edge-lit and FALD displays that have absolutely zero light bleed. The last issue is also rather bothersome and disheartening that it plagues this model just like the edge-lit E500i-A1, and that is the occasional ghosting/clouding. It happens often enough that it is going to be very noticeable with certain and frequently watched programs.

Ladies and Gentlemen, at this point these issues have to be attributed to POOR VIZIO QUALITY CONTROL substandard parts and careless manufacturing Standards & Practices. Remember 3 other models have been plagued and affected by these exact same issues that I can personally attest to witnessing, the edge-lit E500i-A1, E601i-A3, E701i-A3 and finally the "new for 2014" FALD E500i-B1. Personally speaking I am honestly not able to tell you if this affects other 2014 E-series models but I definitely can attest to dealing with this problem on this E500i-B1 model during my extended stay at my friends home. The idea that this is still happening in the year 2014 among VIZIO E-Series Televisions is quite alarming and should give any potential customer a momentary and cautionary pause because clearly THE QUALITY CONTROL OF THE E-SERIES PLAIN AND SIMPLY IS STILL NOT THERE. In my personal opinion It is rather unfortunate because as described in the second paragraph the Picture Quality when properly calibrated can be astonishing for the price, however the PQ in this television does not make up for the very serious and noticeable issues that still plague the E-Series line. VIZIO"s very slow firmware updates can only do but so much to improve things. In my experience firmware updates can introduce or take away features and can even improve certain software faults, but historically HDMI signal loss and Light Bleed are a faulty hardware(HDMI inputs) and build quality problem(Light Bleed) that a firmware update simply will not be able to fix. A firmware update might be able to address the Ghosting/Clouding issue, but based on VIZIO firmware update history, then it is a high probability the issue will NOT BE RESOLVED as illustrated and proven by the edge-lit E500i-A1, E601i-A3, E701i-A3 that I can personally attest to witnessing and other E-Series & M-Series models that are still dealing with the issue.

If you are definitely interested in the new 2014 50" VIZIO models then you should wait for the 50" VIZIO 1080p M-Series M502i with 32 zones of FALD local dimming expected to cost $729.99USD or the 50" VIZIO Ultra High Definition P-Series P502ui with 64 zones of FALD local dimming expected to cost $1000.00USD or under. The M-Series has been known to be "slightly better" than the E-series in terms of build and picture quality. As far as the new for 2014 P-Series is concerned, there isn"t any reliability, build or picture quality testing data available, but a year of availability on the market should hopefully provide some by research labs like Consumer Reports as an example, but as far as the P-Series is concerned, it is expected to be the better of the 3 model lines when available according to the "Professional Reviews Media and Press". Otherwise I would skip VIZIO until vast & definitely needed Quality Control and manufacturing Standards & Practices improvements are introduced amongst the E-Series model line. If you don"t care about frequent HDMI Signal loss, Light Bleed and Ghosting/Clouding problems then by all means get this Television set. At least you can say "the Picture Quality is good for the price". Once again so unfortunate for a TV with great PQ.

I usually do not consider an extended warranty in regards to TV"s to be necessary, but given VIZIO"s history, if AMAZON offers an extended warranty please do consider one for your own peace of mind. Thank You potential AMAZON Customers for taking the time to read this Customer Review.

Now available by some "AMAZON RESELLERS" over $150.00USD extra dollars. Please don"t succumb. The VIZIO MSRP of this model is $599.99USD and is sold by AMAZON at $599.99USD and eventually will be in better stock supply and/or rotation in the weeks ahead by all major retailers. Most major retailers are trying to sell/get rid of their edge-lit E500i-A1 model stock before they introduce the 2014 FALD E500i-B1 model stock.

Now it was time to try the internet features. One feature I really looked forward to on this TV was the ability to watch Amazon Prime videos. If you don"t have Amazon Prime - what are doing? You are doing it wrong. The best $79.99 you will ever spend. Anyway, I pressed the dedicated Amazon button on the remote and got no response. I tried the Netflix and M-Go buttons located in the top row as well and they worked find. So checking the quick start guide, I was directed to the V.I.A. button to get started with Vizio internet apps. I was then directed to select "connected tv store" to search for apps that were not yet installed. Since I did not see Amazon prime anywhere in the menu, I was hopeful I could find it here. Upon selecting, I was advised that there was an update to this app and to select "OK" to download and update this app before I would be able to use it. This took only a minute or two and upon finishing I found that Amazon Prime was now one of the available apps. I went through the sign up process so the tv would recognize my Prime account and allow me access to content. This brought up an on screen code and I was directed to my computer to enter this on the amazon site. Once completed the tv recognized that I had registered it with amazon and allowed access to the thousands of shows and movies available to me as a Prime subscriber.

​You"re on the right track to successfully repairing your Vizio E500I-A1! Now that you"ve identified your model, we highly recommend matching the part number on the part(s) you"re replacing to ensure compatibility. ​If you don"t see your part listed below, please try searching by your part number or contact us for help!

The ideal viewing distance for your VIZIO television depends on the screen size. As a rule of thumb you can assume that approximately 2.4 times the screen diagonal is the ideal viewing distance.

With VIZIO Mobile, you can control your entire entertainment experience with your Mobile Device. Browse & discover movies, TV shows, music, live streams and more across multiple apps at once. Power on/off devices, play/pause content, modify advanced settings and more.

VIZIO Crave Speakers cannot output audio from TVs/displays or be connected as an additional channel to an existing sound bar or sound system. Additional supported SmartCast or Chromecast-enabled audio products are required (not included) for Multi-Room feature. Streaming different songs to different speakers at the same time is not supported when using a single app running on a single mobile device. To stream a different song to different speakers at the same time, you’ll need to stream from a different app or a separate mobile device.

The applications and content pictured herein or described on this page may only be available in certain countries and languages, may require additional fees or subscription charges, and may be subject to future updates, modifications, interruption and/or discontinuation of service without notice. VIZIO has no control over third party applications or content and assumes no responsibility for the availability or interruption of such applications or content. Additional third-party terms, conditions and restrictions apply. High-speed/broadband Internet service and access equipment are required and are not provided by VIZIO. Not all Google Cast-enabled apps are integrated with VIZIO SmartCast and may require additional steps to cast.