Smooth Operator
Television manufacturer VIZIO has made a name for itself by offering affordable flat panels at a time when price is driving HDTV adoption into the mainstream. American consumers can be a cynical lot though (I know, I am one) and so we might be too quick to dismiss the quality of the California-based company's wares. With their new, higher performance SV470XVT, a 47-inch LCD with an eyebrow-raising 120-hertz refresh rate, I finally had the chance to spend some meaningful hands-on time with a VIZIO display and determine if they went beyond "affordability" and actually achieved real "value."
The 120Hz refresh rate denotes that the image on screen is being rendered 120 times each second, more "frames" as perceived by our eyes, more picture information to work with. The results can be smoother and more detailed motion than what we find on the more common 60Hz HDTVs. Features like 120Hz processing are rare in lower-priced HDTVs.
The physical design of the SV470XVT is distinctive, boasting a new esthetic with a slender piano black frame around the screen, above a convex silver center channel speaker, flanked by the black-clad left and right speakers. In addition, an optional speaker component with wireless dongle is available which, when paired with the TV's existing integrated left/right/center speakers, can provide wireless 5.1 by adding wireless rear speakers and a wireless subwoofer. We can activate this feature via a dedicated button on the remote control.
Set-Up-and-Go
Hooking up components to the set was a fairly straightforward affair thanks to the generous four HDMI inputs (most sets in the price range have three), but did they have to put two of them on the side? I'm all for a side HDMI port for hooking up a camcorder or a borrowed game console, but really two HDMI ports on the side? Are source components so transitory now that they can't even gain a permanent connection in a more discrete location? The unit also offers one each component video and S-video, two composite cvideo connections and a PC jack (db-15 VGA style connector with mini-jack for stereo sound from a PC).
Delving into the SV470XVT menus, I was quickly impressed by the sheer number of audio and video adjustments available to the consumer, often with such simple names as to put genuine tweaking within the power of the every Joe Sixpack and Sarah Hockeymom. The VIZIO Setup Wizard helps us automatically configure our basic cable and over-the-air channels, using the built-in NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuner. Audio-wise, we can set the left/right Balance, correct minute errors in Lip Sync, set the analog out to Fixed or Variable and the digital audio out to PCM or Dolby Digital.
Sound Effect defaults to SRS TruSurround XT enhancement, which is the most enjoyable choice overall from among those provided, if relying upon TV audio only. The Stereo + Center option leaves dialogue tinny and artificial, while plain Stereo is fine yet less engrossing than SRS TSXT, so why mess with it? There's also a five-band equalizer and presets for Flat, Rock, Pop, Classic and Jazz, plus Dynamic Range Compression (DRC).
The real action happens under the Picture heading. The first choice is Custom: We press Enter and can now adjust the intensity of the Backlight, the Brightness, Contrast, Color (all 0-100), Tint (-32/+32) and Sharpness (0-7) exactly how we like. The Advanced Video sub-menu proffers Color Enhancement (Normal, Rich, Green/Flesh, Green/Blue or Off), Advanced Adaptive Luma (Off, Low, Medium, Strong, Extend), Enhanced Contrast Ratio (On/Off), Color Temperature (Cool, Normal, Warm and Custom, with individual settings for Red Green and Blue, 0-255).
Then there's VIZIO's so-called "Smooth Motion," which brings up another sub-menu for their Smooth Motion Effect, different amounts of interpolation needed to bring the incoming image up to 120Hz standards. Smooth Motion can be set to Off, Low, Middle and High, in addition to a Real Cinema Mode at Off, Smooth and Precision. The official explanation for Real Cinema Mode is to, "Adjust the MEMC solve 'Low Halo w/Judder' in different algorithum" (sic), with MEMC referring to the necessary Motion Estimation, Motion Compensation processing. These two tweaks required the most trial and error in our testing, and your final settings will likely reflect your personal tastes. These aside, the TV required only minimal changes from the factory presets in order to achieve an optimal picture.
How HQ is Your V?
As usual, we reached for our copies of the HQV Silicon Optix Benchmark DVD Version 1.4 NTSC and the Version 1 Blu-ray for HDTVs. Blu-ray tests were conducted at 1080i over HDMI while the DVD ran at 480i over component video, since the PlayStation 3 will not pass a 480i signal over HDMI.
The HD Noise Test at 1080i exhibited a fair amount of noise on the surface of the petals and the stem of the telltale flower, plus the background and pretty much everywhere else, unfortunately. As a consequence, detail was not ideal. In the sailboat portion of the test, clouds were twitchy but we've definitely seen worse. The Video Resolution Loss Test (the black-and-white test pattern) was definitely clear, with sharp horizontal lines in the corner boxes, revealing full-resolution processing.
Diagonal Filtering "Jaggies" Test Pattern A delivered a clean reproduction of the three lines bopping along the inside of the dial, save for some very minor artifacting on the ends of the lines, and even less so on the long sides of the bars. Diagonal Filtering "Jaggies" Test Pattern B did reveal stair-step edges on the single rotating plank, but not until it hit the green portion of the dial, between the satisfactory 10/-10-degree marks.
In the Film Resolution Loss Test there were indeed clear horizontal lines visible in the all-important corner boxes during the prescribed side-to-side shimmy of the black and white test pattern. However, both sides of each of the boxes were at some point plagued by mild-to-serious artifacting, suggesting theat the de-interlace processing could be a tad quicker to engage. And an undeniable flickering devolved to a full-on moiré in the upper stands by the end of the long, slow panning camera move of the Film Resolution Loss Test - Stadium. So while moiré and video noise were concerns, the SV470XVT at least handled high-def jaggies admirably.
Next up, the skies and the roller coaster were unpleasantly noisy in the Motion Adaptive Noise Reduction footage, the cars blurry, with minimal motion trail. The boat here was surrounded by a blurry haze, and the scene was generally noisy. On the Film Detail/Super Speedway clip, moiré was there for only a split second and then it was gone, quickly and reliably which shows that the set has no trouble locking to a 3:2 film cadence. Results varied across the Cadence tests but most were compromised by jaggies on the illegible, artificial-looking newspaper and flickering on the coffee cups, some severe, some moderate. Often, both of the above anomalies could be seen at once. Lastly, both the horizontal and vertical crawls on Mixed 3:2 Film with Added Video Titles showed only brief tearing/combing during their initial fade-in, and were solid and crisp thereafter. So noise remains an issue, while jaggies on real-world content posed a bit more of a challenge than did video test patterns.
Putting the "Motion" in Pictures
Over the course of the HQV tests I was pleased with the color reproduction of the SV470XVT and found the overall look to be promising, so I was eager to pop in a couple of my favorite Blu-rays. In short, the image delivered is effortlessly detailed without sacrificing the natural feel of film content. Blade Runner achieved just the right balance of organic realism and digital polish, but only after I rolled up my sleeves and took charge of the video sub-settings, particularly Smooth Motion.
My problem with the Smooth Motion effect is, as I mentioned earlier, a matter of personal taste, as the results can be so smoothed as to appear almost sped-up, and more like video than film, as the minute judder of the original 24-frames-per-second movie has been all but eradicated. With Smooth Motion active, the motion smearing normally apprent on LCD flat panels does appear to be under control, but occasional minor anomalies or weird blurs were introduced. I didn't miss the effect when it was switched completely off.
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing director D.J. Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) for the upcoming issue of E-Gear and he expressed mixed feelings about smooth motion technology as well, at one point calling the effect "weird." But others prefer the smoothed out look, thinking it's a closer approximation of real fluid motion if not a true capture of the "look" of 35mm film. Fortunately the Smooth Motion processing has multiple levels of engagement, including an OFF setting for those who like it rough.
The SV470XVT blew me away with the lush gorgeousness of Disney's Sleeping Beauty; the range, strength, and subtlety of hues; but even on animation I am bothered by the smooth motion effect, the bizarre-looking fluidity to the movement, even at the lowest setting. Big Picture Big Sound Editor Chris Boylan was quick to point out that what I was actually responding to was a lack of the choppiness we've all grown so used to over a lifetime of movie-watching, now closer to the "infinite refresh rate" of normal human vision. He's right of course, and I suspect that my young kids would adapt more easily. Turning the onboard noise reduction up too high can also introduce unwanted artifacts, but within a few minutes you'll likely find the right combination, as I did.
The illusion of depth in Warner's 2008 Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (Blu-ray review coming soon!) is displayed wonderfully, meanwhile, revealing multiple levels of focus within certain shots. The image is rendered with such realism in fact that I almost reached out and touched the screen a few times. Okay, drop the "almost," but fingerprints wipe off of the SV470XVT in a jiffy. I have no complaints about the uniformity of brightness across the screen, and the matte finish helps by reducing reflections from overhead or other lighting sources, although the viewing angle was no better than average compared to other LCDs I've tried. Black levels, while not awful, were neither as deep nor as nuanced as I might have liked.
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Final Thoughts
VIZIO might just be swinging for the fences with their serious SV470XVT LCD, which ups the ante with a 120Hz refresh rate and the onboard controls to back it up. While I can't quite declare it a home run, its video prowess and competitive price point do qualify it as a bona fide value, a big-screen flat-panel definitely worth a look.
Where to Buy:
Vizio SV470XVT LCD HDTV
Manufacturer's Specifications for Vizio SV470XVT LCD HDTV:
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Manufacturer's Contact Information:
VIZIO, Inc.
39 Tesla
Irvine, CA 92618
Phone: 949-428-2525
Toll Free: 888 VIZIO CE (888.849.4623)
Web: http://www.vizio.com/
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