lcd panel vizio quotation

TV repair costs between $60 and $350 with most spending $207 on average for LCD, LED, plasma, and 4K TVs; costs are higher if repairing older DLP, projection, and HD TVs. TV problems like display issues, powering-on problems, or sound issues can be fixed. Pickup and delivery fees may apply.

For example, the price of a new Samsung 40-inch LED TV is about $400, yet the cost of a replacement display panel for this model is about $380. This price is only for the replacement part and does not cover diagnostic costs, labor costs, or travel or shipping fees.

Unless you are trying to fix a TV from the ’80s or earlier, cracked TV screen repair is not feasible; the entire display panel must be replaced instead. The cost of a replacement TV display panel is more than the cost of buying a new TV, and that’s before labor and other service costs.

TV manufacturers do keep replacement TV screen panels on hand to support products under warranty in case the screen malfunctions, due to manufacturer defect.

If you still want to replace a damaged or malfunctioning TV screen, your best option is to find a used replacement panel or a broken TV of the same model on which the screen is still functional. You might find one on eBay, and you can hire a technician to change out the panel.

The cost of a used replacement TV panel ranges from $50 to $350 or more, excluding shipping, depending on the brand and size. Note that the chances of finding exactly the part you need in excellent condition are slim, and the cost excludes the cost of installation by a repair shop.

Whether your TV is LCD, LED, plasma screen, or 4K (Ultra HD), the cost to fix common problems ranges from $60 to $350, depending on the repair type and the brand of TV being repaired.

If an older model LCD TV or projection TV powers on and has sound but no picture, this may be due to lamp burnout, which is both common and expected. In this case, replacing the bulb will fix the problem. An experienced technician should be able to replace the bulb quickly and easily.

Flat screen replacement glass is not available. The only option for flat-screen TV glass repair is to try optical glass glue, which costs $1.70 for a 5-ml. tube. This may be an option for TV glass repair if the crack is only a few inches or less. TV panels are built as one unit at the factory, with the glass adhered to the display panel.

LCD flat-panel repair is not considered cost-effective. If the glass is cracked or the display is physically damaged, it is cheaper to replace the entire TV than to repair or replace the display panel.

Estimating TV repairs costs by brand is not something TV repair shops offer, however, there are general prices by type. When looking for specific repair costs for your TV, you’ll find them in the common repairs price list above. Pricing applies to brands such as Samsung, LG, Sanyo, TCL, Insignia, HiSense, Sony, Toshiba, Pioneer, and Vizio.

The cost of flat-screen TV repair ranges from $42 to $359. You cannot fix a broken screen, but the price of a new flat-panel TV starts from around $249 for a 1080-mp (non-4K) LED TV from LG to as much as $14,999 for an 85-inch 8K LED TV from Samsung. A TV referred to as a “flat TV” or “flat-screen” TV might be any of the following:

LCD TV repair typically costs $60 to $85 for diagnostics testing, and $200 to $300 to perform repairs. LCD TVs use backlighting, which may fail. Newer LCD TVs use LED strips for backlighting. Older ones might use CCFL. If CCFL backlighting fails, a technician can replace it with LED backlighting.

An LED TV is just an LCD TV that uses LED backlighting, which all newer models do (older models use CCFL backlighting). The cost to replace one LED backlighting strip ranges from $100 to $122, including parts and labor.

Circuit breaker - Check the circuit breaker for the power outlet that the TV plugs into. You can check the breakers by opening the door to your breaker panel and looking for circuit breakers that are in the OFF position.

Lamp burnout -In a projection TV or older LCD TV, no picture may be caused by lamp burnout. In this case, a technician can replace the bulb quickly and easily.

In most cases, a flat-screen TV can be fixed. The exception is a physically damaged display panel or screen. Most other issues including failing speakers, backlights, or power supply. Burned out fuses and damaged input ports can also be repaired.

Basically, there are three methods that you can apply to repair a scratched flat screen TV. You can remove those irritating scratches and continue enjoying the great picture quality on your Vizio TV with one of several simple methods:Auto rubbing compound and clear lacquer: You can remove the anti-glare coating on the screen where the scratched area is and carefully re-apply a permanent coating of lacquer in its place.

Scratch Kit: Whether it is an LCD, LED, or plasma panel, use a scratch kit to remove the scratches. These kits are for flat panel TVs as well as computer monitors. This is the safest and the easiest method to use on your LCD flat panel.

Petroleum jelly: Clean the surrounding area of the scratch with diluted isopropyl alcohol, apply a small dab of petroleum jelly to a cotton swab and fill in the scratched area flat-panel. Carefully and gently rub the scratch in a circular motion until the scratch disappears. You can strengthen the solution by adding alcohol in case you don"t realize any change. Also, be careful not to use too much alcohol as this can damage the LCD panel further. As soon as the scratch disappears, dampen a clean cloth with distilled water and use it to clean the excess alcohol off the panel.

If you"re talking about more than simple scratches, you have a problem. The bitter truth is that whether it is an LCD, LED, or plasma TV, you cannot actually repair a cracked or shattered TV screen; you can only replace it. Fortunately, there are replacement panels that you can order online, depending on the make and model. Most people would assume that the whole TV is ruined and would simply replace it with another TV. But if you really like the TV, and you want to keep it, replacing the panel might be a viable option. You will need to weigh the cost of a new TV against the cost of a replacement panel plus the amount of time and effort it would take to order and replace it.

Nationally, the average price range for TV repair is $60-$90. LCD TV repairs are one of the most common TV repair requests. A liquid crystal display (LCD) TV uses the same technology as your smartphone and most computer screens. Images are created on an LCD screen by electric currents that pass or block light through liquid crystals that are encased between two polarized, glass-like sheets. LCD TVs can be very thin and are relatively affordable, making them one of the most prevalent types of TV on the market. If you have a broken LCD TV, it can probably be repaired. Common problems that can be repaired include a blank screen, sound issues, power problems and digital connection problems. Here is one example of LCD TV repair cost:

Yes, you can usually fix a flat screen TV. Whether you have a plasma, LED, OLED, HDR, HD or even LCD, TV repair pros can repair your TV. Flat screen TVs are expensive, and when they stop working it can make your heart stop. But TV repair technicians have advanced along with TV technology and are equipped with the proper tools and training for major and minor repairs. If your flat screen is too massive to transport, most repair companies have pickup and drop-off service. For the most common problems, TV repair pricing might range between $175 and $200 on average. Here are examples of the most common problems:

The LCD was intermittently powering up and powering off. Replacing the main circuit board solved the problem.How do you fix a TV with no picture but has sound?

You may be able to remove scratches from your flat-screen TV by using an LCD scratch repair kit. If that doesn’t work, consider hiring a technician to fix it or buy a new TV.

If you are looking for an LCD TV repair service, you have come to the right place. Our company can fix any issue with your device in the shortest period. As soon as you call us, we will send a qualified technician to your house, who will estimate the repair costs on the spot and fix the problem.

There are many TV brands and VIZIO is among the most popular ones. However, the popularity of devices means many people might have issues with them. That is why we offer VIZIO repair service for all the models released after 2008. Below, you can find the common issues of VIZIO TVs that we can fix.

If your VIZIO TV will not turn on or keeps turning off, it usually means capacitors are blown on its power board. Fortunately, we have replacement power boards for all the models at our disposal. Give us a call and our repair center will easily fix the device. You will be able to use your TV the next day and get an extended warranty for all parts and labor.

When you see lines on your screen, bring up the TV menu. If they remain visible through the menu, replacing the panel is the only solution. Use our home service if you want us to fix VIZIO TV on the spot. You can also let us pick up the device and repair it in our repair shop. No matter what option you choose, TUSA’s qualified TV repair personnel will not make you disappointed.

When your device actually turns on but does not produce a picture, it means either your TV is on the wrong input or its mainboard is faulty. Try to change the input to see whether the picture comes back. If you are sure the input is correct, just call us. We provide VIZIO TV repair services right in your house or in our repair shop. You will be able to enjoy your TV within just one day after contacting us!

Faulty HDMI ports are yet another popular issue of VIZIO TVs. Usually, you will need to replace the mainboard in order to fix this problem. However, our experts can save you some money and repair the board instead. A highly qualified technician will replace the blown HDMI microchips to make the ports work again. For as low as $120, we can make your VIZIO TV operate properly.

Today, flat screen TVs range from LED and LCD televisions that have been around for a few decades to upgraded models known as OLED and 4K TVs, which boast better picture quality. Plasma screen TVs were once a popular type of flat screen TV. However, they have fallen out of popularity. Most TVs sold today are also smart TVs, which means they can connect to the internet. Older flat screen models that need repair are sometimes not smart. The table below describes these common television types and how much each usually costs to repair.

Repairs for LCD TVs cost between $60 and $475. LCD televisions are one of the most popular options on the market, available in a wide range of sizes and styles. They use an LCD (liquid crystal display) with backlights to produce images. The backlights, screen, and other components may get damaged over time and need repairing. The most common problems for LCD TVs are bad power supplies and dead capacitors that may need repair or replacement.

LED TV repairs range from $60 to $475, depending on the scale of the problem. LED televisions are a specific type of LCD TV that use LED backlights to illuminate the liquid crystal display. These TVs usually produce more colorful and vibrant images and are more energy-efficient, but the LED backlights may need to be repaired or replaced over time. Another common problem is a broken inverter that requires repair or replacement.

Repairing horizontal lines on your TV costs between $150 and $475. It might be an issue with the motherboard, or it could be a problem with loose cables between the panel and the control board. Sometimes, the fix is as easy as resetting the television to factory defaults or updating the firmware. However, the problem may exist inside the TV, and to fix this issue, the repair person needs to open the television to diagnose the problem.

TV panel repairs average $200 to $2,000 because different types of televisions have materials that vary significantly in cost. An older LED TV might cost between $200 and $400 to fix, but a 4K TV may cost several thousand to repair. Additionally, some panels cannot be repaired. For this reason, many companies do not offer panel repair. So if your television gets a crack in the panel, you may be better off buying a new unit instead.

In some cases, your TV components may not be able to be repaired, or it might be more cost-effective to replace them with new ones. The repair price includes the cost of new parts, plus the labor required to fit them into place and remove the broken components. While some components can be replaced, they may be extremely expensive or cost-prohibitive to do so. This is mainly in the case of panels and screens because they often contain too many parts to replace on their own. The table below shows average costs for a variety of common replacements:

Fuse replacement in a TV costs between $60 and $150 and is one of the easier replacement jobs for a repairman. Glass and ceramic fuses on your TV’s power supply board may blow in certain situations and need replacing. To replace a fuse, the repairman opens the TV to access the power panel and swaps out the fuse. Bear in mind that the TV may have a more serious electrical problem if the fuse blows more than once.

TV bulb replacement costs average $100 to $200. Bulbs are usually found only in older models of LCD TVs or projection TVs. They are used to illuminate the display so that the picture can be seen. Bulbs are relatively easy to replace, but the material costs are a little higher with bulbs when compared to other components, leading to varied replacement prices from model to model. Replacing a bulb can fix a flickering television or a dark screen problem.

TV screen replacement costs at least $400 to $4,200 and may even cost more. The screen is the most expensive part of a TV. So usually, the cost of replacing it is higher than just buying a new unit because of the labor involved. In some cases, this is because the screen cannot be replaced without also replacing most of the other components, particularly for TVs like LED, LCD, or plasma. Most professional repair companies do not offer screen or panel replacement as a service. The only way to get a new screen is to have it fixed under warranty by the manufacturer.

TV panel replacement costs a minimum of $400 to $5,000 and often a lot more on some of the high-end 4K and Smart screen displays. Because the cost of a replacement panel is so high, it is usually more cost-effective to simply purchase a new television. Like the screen, this is due to the number of components involved. Therefore, most repair places will not offer panel replacement as a service.

The Vizio TV is known for its screen of death (a blank or black screen) and usually costs about $200 to $400. The problem is most often a blown motherboard, and replacement is the only option. A factory reset may be a solution. If that doesn"t work, the motherboard is the best possible answer. Vizio TVs also commonly have problems with lines on the screen. This issue is occasionally fixable with a hard reset or factory reset. However, it often requires a motherboard replacement, too.

Often, you must decide whether it is worth repairing your TV. In some situations, the cost of repairs is higher than the price of a new TV. For example, when screens are cracked or damaged, the cost of replacing a panel is usually much higher than simply buying a new TV. For major repairs, it is often cheaper to buy a new TV. However, for minor repairs, it is less expensive to call a repair person and get the TV fixed.

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The Vizio VO32L LCD HDTV* has outstanding High Definition television quality performance with impeccable design details. The result is a perfectly balanced LCD HDTV that is ideal as a monitor with its integrated RGB connection. Experience more than 16.7 million colors of 1080i High Definition television performance while maximizing the connectivity of your video devices with 3- HDMI connections.

• HD 1366x 768 native Resolution LCD – Experience the best in High Definition television performance with enhanced picture quality technologies. VIZIO Full High-Definition Television.

• 178 Degree Viewing Angle – Our LCD HDTV’s deliver a viewing angle of up to 178 degrees, resulting in crisp and clear pictures that are visible from any seat in the house.

• Elegant Design – Designed for maximum versatility, the VIZIO VO32L HDTV is equipped with a wide variety of input interfaces including now three HDMI (v1.3) inputs, perfect for High Definition Satellite or Cable Box, gaming consoles, and HD-DVD players, and a component HD connection for other devices and an RGB input for your computer. Go ahead, plug it in.

From the front the Vizio V047L is dominated by the 47-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1080p. Below the screen is the Vizio logo, which lights up white when turned on and orange when turned off. On the same glossy bar as the Vizio logo to the far right is the remote control sensor. Below this glossy bar is the main speaker for the TV, which is textured in a grid pattern that extends up and around the LCD.

On the back of the Vizio V047L you find all of the TV"s ports, arranged in a single strip that sits in a cutout near the bottom of the TV facing down. Below the ports is a legend that tells you what each port is for, and is color coded.

On the right side of the Vizio V047L you find the control panel for turning the TV on/off, changing channels and volume as well as navigating the menu. Normally you"ll use the remote for these functions, but if you ever feel like getting off your couch, or if the remote has gone missing, this is where you"ll find the stuff.

The Vizio VO47L sits on a removable stand that does not rotate. In order to remove the stand you will need to remove the four screws that hold it in place. The TV can also be wall mounted with four mounting points found on the back of the Vizio VO47L.

TV controls are found on the right side of the Vizio VO47L, arranged vertically near the bottom of the right edge. From top to bottom you find Power, Menu, CH+, CH-, VOL+, VOL- and Input controls.

The Vizio VO47L ships with the TV itself, a universal remote with batteries, HDMI Cable, Power Cord, Safety Strap, Cleaning Cloth and User Manual. Getting it out of the box is a typical affair, nothing special here.

The Vizio VO47L is styled in black with a glossy bezel around the LCD and a textured edging around that. The TV measures 4.5 inches deep without the stand, which is not super slim, but better than average. The Vizio VO47L"s styling is not particularly impressive, but it"s not ugly either. Those who don"t need their TV to make a fashion statement will likely find it"s styling just fine.

Part of our standard calibration process is to put the backlight to maximum and then to find the settings that produce the closes to 6500k for the color temperature. For this Vizio, none of the color temperature settings were particularly close, so we used a manual setting.

the VO47L is built around a thin film transistor (TFT) active matrix display, which has full HD resolution and a quoted dot pitch of .5415mm on both the horizontal and vertical dimensions.  To further examine the specifics of this, we look at the dot pattern of the screen using a microscope. The photo on the right (taken at a 20x setting with a microscope), shows the dot pattern of the display and the slightly unusual sideways-V shape of the LCD elements; each < shape is a single element. They are in groups of three; one red, green and blue element forms a single pixel. Because they are so small, the eye blurs the colors together to form a single color. In this image, the screen is showing white; all of the elements are active.Vizio does not reveal the number of individual elements, but given that this is a Full HD display, there are probably around 5760 horizontal and 1024 vertical.

One thing to note here; our figures are different from the contrast ratio figures quoted by the manufacturer (such as Vizio"s 2000:1 for the VO47L) because they measure the ratio between the dark with the backlight turned down, and the brightest white with it turned up (sometimes called dynamic contrast). We measure the contrast ratio with the backlight on the highest setting, so our figures are usually much lower than the manufacturer quoted ones. Our figures are more representative of the performance you would see in the real world, though.

As you can see, the Vizio is pretty close to the ideal here; the curve is flat and ties in well with the trend. Form this we cna also work out a figure for the gamma; we look for a figure for this of between 2.4 and 2.5, and the VO47LF was at 2.33, just a touch outside of the ideal range. But that"s close enough that it won"t be an issue for most users.

As you can see from this, the graphs are all fairly smooth, although the red and blue are a little bumpy. This bumpiness translates into some minor issues, such as some slight evidence of banding on subtle color changes like blue skies and clothing. The blue also tops out a little soon, meaning that the blue elements of the screen reach their peak intensity before the signal does; they just have no more to give. This is a minor issue, though; we would not expect this to present a problem in daily viewing. Overall, the Vizio VO47LF had decent, but unspectacular performance on the RGB curves.

There are limits to most things in life, including color. For a HDTV, the limits to follow are defined by a group of international experts in a standard called Rec.709. This contains the limits of the colors that a HDTV signal should contain, and thus represent what colors a TV should show. So we test this and see how close every TV we look at gets to these limits. The results for the Vizio VO47LF are below; the solid line is the limits for the Vizio, while the dotted line is the limits set in the standard.

The viewing angle of the 46W4100 was a problem; we found that moving even a few degrees away from right in front of the display meant that the blacks got lighter, and the whites got much paler. We test this by measuring the contrast ratio of the TV at a variety of angles, and working out when the contrast ratio has fallen by 50 per cent. We found that this happened on the VO47LF at 39 degrees, for a total viewing angle of 77 degrees. This might not sound like much, but it"s pretty decent performance for an LCD; many have a significantly smaller angle (such as the 30 degrees total viewing angle of the Sony 46W4100). Plasma TVs (such as the Panasonic TH-46PZU) have a much wider viewing angle; in our tests, the Panasonic had a total viewing angle of 156 degrees.

We did also find that colors on the Vizio got somewhat pale at angles as well; reds in particular faded into pale shadows of their original selves when you were viewing from an angle of 35 degrees or more.

Like all HDTVs, the front of the VO47LF is a big piece of shiny plastic that shows reflections. But Vizio did put a matte layer on top of the screen that diffuses reflections to some degree, so they tend to be more diffuse patches than well-defined spots of light. And, as this screen is pretty bright, reflections do tend to be less irritating as all but the brightest are drowned out by the screen light. As long as you"re careful where you put your lights, there shouldn"t be a big issues with reflections on this screen.

The Vizio VO47L"s remote measures 8 1/8 inches long by 2 1/16 inches wide and tapers from 1 1/4 inches thick at the base to 7/8 inches at the front. The remote has a soft touch finish on the back that makes it easier to hold, and it is also contoured to provide a better fit in your hand. There are also a couple of ridges on the back near the middle that we believe are meant to help hold the remote better, but we did not find they helped.

When holding the remote with your thumb on the main directional pad (D-pad) we found the remote was a bit bottom heavy, something that only gets worse as you shift your hand up the remote to access controls above the D-pad. The Vizio VO47L"s buttons are backlit in a brownish/orange light whenever you hit a button. The light is easy on the eyes, which is nice to see when you are using the backlight in dark conditions.

The Vizio VO47L"s remote is pretty long at 8 1/8 inches, with buttons laid out along it"s entire length except for the very bottom of the remote. This means you"ll inevitably have to shift your hand up and down quite a bit to reach some controls. Of more importance are whether the most important controls are within easy reach. Sitting with your thumb on the D-Pad we found that most users could reach all of the central controls without a major shift of the hand. This includes the D-Pad, Menu, Last, Mute Channel and Volume controls. Those with smaller hands may need to shift a bit, but not too much.

If you want to get your hands on the number pad or playback controls, however, you"ll have to shift your hand quite a bit. In particular we found the number pad to be annoying to use as shifting your hand up makes the bottom heavy remote more difficult to use. This also makes it a bit of a pain to switch to another channel that isn"t in easy reach using the Channel up/down buttons. We were able to control the Vizio VO47L with its remote at an angle of twenty degrees from the plane of the screen.

On the plus side the Vizio VO47L"s remote is well labeled. As with most remotes there are a few arcane items, what does MTS mean for instance? That said the number of unintelligible labels is far fewer than many other remotes and most are easy to understand, making it easy to pick up the remote and use it without too much confusion.

The Vizio VO47L"s remote can be used to control additional items in your home theater setup. To test this functionality we set up the remote to control our cable box provided by Comcast. We found the process simple, set the remote to the cable mode with the button found near the top. Point it at your cable box and press and hold the SET button until the LED blinks twice. Then enter the appropriate code for your cable box or other device, a list of codes is found in the back of the Vizio VO47L"s manual. Sometimes there are multiple codes for a single manufacturer so repeat the process until you get the LED to blink twice letting you know the process is complete.

The Vizio VO47L"s audio quality is nothing to write home about, but it isn"t terrible either. Voices can be discerned easily, even with a lot of background noise in the scene, and we detected no major problems that will throw people off. If you"re used to the standard sound quality that a TV provides the Vizio VO47L will neither impress you nor disappoint you.

The Vizio VO47L offers a simulated surround sound system, as is typical of most TVs nowadays. Unfortunately we found that it did not do much to actually simulate surround sound. The major effect seems to be to turn up the volume on background sounds, so you can hear that footstep coming a bit better, but at the cost of foreground sounds being muted, so you"ll be straining to hear the dialogue. Compared to even an inexpensive surround sound system there"s no comparison. We recommend that if you want surround sound to go buy a set of speakers, even a cheap set, and otherwise leave the simulated surround sound off.

The Vizio VO47L"s speakers measured 87.6 decibels in our test of loudness. This is quite loud enough that no one should have any trouble hearing the TV, in fact we believe that anyone who turns it up this loud will likely be deafened in short order. We made this measurement using a sound pressure meter from five feet away with the volume at maximum and using pink noise as our reference sound.

The Vizio VO47L has a good range of input ports, but it lacks the large number of some port types that other TV"s have. Below you can see the input ports available on the Vizio VO47L. In particular we note that there are fewer analog video and audio in ports than some other TV"s have. There are 4 HDMI ports, however. The antenna port supports an antenna for digital over the air (OTA) tv and digital cable. It does no support analog cable. Analog OTA is TK. There"s also a one eight inch audio input for getting audio from a computer or Mp3 player to your TV.

The only output ports on the Vizio VO47L are an analog audio out and a digital audio out that supports SPDIF, for content that includes digital audio.

The Vizio VO47L"s ports are all placed along a single strip, facing down, found on the back of the TV at the top of a cavity that sits just above the stand. This means you know where you need to look to find the connection you want, which is good, but the placement means that if getting to the back of your TV is difficult so is getting to any port on the TV. The fact that the stand does not allow you to rotate your TV makes this even more problematic. If you have your TV stuck up against a wall or corner you"ll have to physically move it or or climb behind it to connect or disconnect any cables, not very convenient at all. On the plus side the ports are well labeled and organized, but since you can"t read the label unless you get behind your TV this doesn"t mitigate matters very much.

The Vizio VO47L"s manual does a good job, with large color illustrations, a good table of contents and large headers at the top of each page that make it easy to find what you"re looking for. There"s even an index in the back, a feature that many TV manuals don"t include.

The Vizio VO47L supports 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p and 480i content. The Vizio VO47L does not support 24p or 3:2 pulldown, which are used to enhance content produced on film or to look like film. It also doesn"t support xvYCC, which is a new system for increasing the range of colors available to content.

At a cost of $37.40 per year for power the Vizio VO47L"s power consumption is just above average. We test power consumption by setting the screen"s brightness to 200 cd/m2, a level that is good for watching in dark or lit conditions. We play back a standard sequence and get an average power use of six minutes. As with all LCDs how high you set the backlight will have a significant impact on your power consumption. You can see below that setting it to maximum pushes your annual cost up to $60.67. This assumes watching five hours of television a day and uses the average national cost for electricity. For this reason we recommend that you keep LCD displays at the lowest backlight setting you find comfortable.

Vizio has gained a large chunk of the HDTV market by producing decent, low cost screens, and the VO47L continues this trend; it provides great value for money for the TV buyer on a tight budget.

Sharp LC-46D64U - The Sharp is at a similar price point to the Vizio, but the Vizio has an edge in image quality. Neither TV is going to win any gold medals in the imaging olympics, but the Vizio is a better screen overall.

Panasonic TH-PZ80U - This plasma screen is similarly priced to the Vizio, so the choice comes down to the pros and cons of the LCD vs plasma display types. The LCD-based Vizio is significantly brighter; put the two screens side by side and the Vizio is much more appealing to the eye. The Panasonic plasma does has better viewing angle and color accuracy, though, and those who assume that plasmas are expensive will be pleasantly surprised by the price.

JVC LT-47X899 - The JVC has significantly better image quality than the Vizio, but it is much more expensive. Is the improved image quality worth the extra? For most people, the answer is probably no; the Vizio is good enough for general use and is much cheaper.

The front of the VF551XVT has fairly classic Vizio styling, with a shiny black bezel surrounding the screen. But the big change on previous models is the red sound bar under the screen, which holds the speakers. Vizio said that they haven"t decided if this will be the final color or not, but it"s certainly striking. The glowing Vizio logo is below the screen, but previous models have allowed you to turn this off if it is distracting.

Because of the way that the demo unit we looked at was placed, we weren"t able to get a good look at the back. However, the major feature on it is the slightly recessed panel that holds most of the ports, plus a series of screws that allow for a standard VESA wall mount to be used. There are also a number of grills that allow air to circulate from the components inside so they don"t get too toasty.

The stand of the VF551XVT is a pretty standard affair; a simple plastic stand that does not allow for rotation or tilting the screen. But we"ve found that the stand on previous Vizio models were tough enough to stand up to everyday use, and we see no reason to expect that this one won"t be the same.

The VF551XVT has a pretty simple, straightforward design that won"t get in the way of the main business of showing video. Our main concern from an aesthetic point of view is the red sound bar; it could be somewhat distracting. However, Vizio did stress that this is not confirmed; they may change the color of the sound bar in the final model. The shiny bezel may also be a bit distracting if it catches reflections.

The VF551XVT is built around a 55 inch LCD panel that has about 2 milllion pixels and a claimed response time of 5 milliseconds. That"s pretty standard, but the innovation is behind this, where Vizio has replaced the standard CCFL backlights with an array of about 2000 LED lights.

This 55-inch panel has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels,  for a total of just over 2 million pixels. This means that it can display every pixel of a 1080p signal without having to downscale or reprocess the image.

Vizio"s decision to go with an array of LED backlights on this model means that they can do some fancy stuff, such as local dimming, where the backlight can be dimmed in portions of the screen that are showing a dark image. There are about 2000 individual LED backlights, and these are grouped into zones of 20, which means there are about 100 individual zones that the display can dim as required. This increases the theoretical contrast ratio of the display, and Vizio gives a ratio of 1,000,000:1 in their specifications. We"ll have to wait to get the display into our test lab before we can test the veracity of their claims, but the demos that they were running at the show certainly seemed to indicate that the technique improved the depth of the black in some movies; the blacks in a scene from Batman: The Dark Knight that they were showing were significantly darker than a similar model that used conventional CCFL backlights. Vizio quotes the peak brightness at 500 cd/m2, which is pretty bright.

Vizio went with the 240Hz motion processing that seems to be de rigeur on high-end models this year, and claim to have upgraded their motion processing for smoother motion (they refer to this as Smooth Motion II), Again, the demos of this model looked impressive, but we"ll reserve judgement until we get a unit in for a closer look in our labs.

Vizio claims a viewing angle of 178 degrees, which means that you can be up to 89 degrees away from straight on, and still get a good picture. This is an ambitious claim, but we saw a decent viewing angle from the VF551XVT; colors started to fade a little at about 40 degrees away from straight on,but the contrast ratio was still good at this angle. Vizio has also upgraded the anti-glare coating on the screen, and this seems to have made a distinct improvement; we noticed that refelctions were much less noticeable than on previous models.

Colors in the demo unit that we looked at at the CES show looked good; we saw bright,sharp color with decent levels of detail in the highlights and shadow details. Vizio has typically eschewed using the extended color gamuts that other manufacturers have been adding, and the VF551XVT is no exception to this; it does not support any wider color gamuts.

There are two sets of ports on the VF551XVT; one on the side of the case, and one on the back in a recessed panel. The first set of ports is designed for devices such as camcorders or digital cameras that need to be connected and disconnected on a regualr basis, while the back panel is for devices that are constantly connected. On the side panel there are right and left analog audio inputs, analog video input, component HD analog video inputs an HDMI port and a service port that is designed for custom installers and serious users to allow them to configure the display.

One omission from the list of pots is any USB ports for connecting digital cameras or hard drives to play media from; the VF551XVT does not include this sort of functionality. This is somewhat surprising since the VF551XVT comes with a USB jump drive. This will change: Vizio has recently announced a new sytem called Connected HDTV, where compatiable models will be able to access Internet content and run Widgets over a built-in wireless connection. But this is not available on this model, and models that include it won"t be released until the fall.

The remote that will come with the VF551XVT is the standard Vizio remote that we"ve seen with previous models, such as the SV40XVT. We found that this is a little uncomfortable in the hand, but it can be programmed to control a cable box or other media device as well.

The control buttons for the VF551XVT are located on the left side of the screen in a slightly recessed panel. This means that you will either need to learn their location by touch, or look around to figure out which is which. Fortunately, the buttons that you will use most often (such as power and volume) are well differentiated, and shouldn"t be difficult to learn by touch.

Note: Later this year we discovered that in addition to the VF551XVT with LED backlights and local dimming Vizio will also be releasing aVF552XVT that includes internet connectivity via ethernet or built-in Wi-Fi. This includes access to Yahoo widgets, Amazon on-demand and Netflix services.

As far as I know there are no caps behind the panel. There should be LED strips that provide the back light. These LEDs can fail, but when that happens, usually the entire strip or sometimes the entire back light will fail. Depending on how the strips are powered, the LEDs on the strip are connected in series which means that if one fails, the entire strip will be effected. Some sets power each strip while others have all strips in series. From your description, it sounds like one LED (or 5 if there are 5 "rings") is brighter than the rest. This may indicate an LED that is starting to fail.

Plasma televisions continue to offer the best value among the larger flat-panel displays, and the Vizio VP42 HDTV is an attractively priced 42-inch plasma TV that delivers a well-contrasted picture and, for the most part, accurate color representation.

The VP42 HDTV weighs nearly 90 pounds, and Vizio wisely recommends that at least two people tackle the task of unpacking and hefting it onto its new perch. Including its factory-attached base stand, the VP42 measures a full 44.3 by 29.8 by 11.4 inches.

The back of the poster outlined the initial setup process. Vizio also includes information about professional installation-service options for owners who wish to take a hands-off approach.

Style is certainly subjective, but the Vizio VP42 offers a modern appearance that features a glossy black bezel and fixed bottom-mounted stereo speakers (2 x 10 watts) concealed behind a silver colored mesh grille.

An acrylic accent centered on the grille is engraved to let people know the VP42 is a plasma HDTV, not an LCD, and on-display controls were within easy reach along the lower right edge of the TV.

Like most plasma HDTVs at this size, the VP42"s native resolution is 1,024-by-768 pixels (rectangular pixel shape). The maximum HD input resolution with this TV is 1080i. Vizio recommends that PCs connected via VGA use the relatively common 1,360-by-768 widescreen resolution.

That said, the VP42"s result was nowhere near the total loss of detail I experienced when viewing the same content on the Westinghouse LVM-42w2 1080p LCD monitor.

Although similarly sized LCD panels can offer up to twice the native resolution, plasma displays such as the VP42 generally perform better when displaying video containing fast motion.

The VP42 also delivered excellent image contrast and color quality, and it did so at wider viewing angles than all but the most expensive LCD HDTVs can manage.