- 55-inch direct type LED-backlit LCD HDTV with full 1080p HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels)
- Connect to the Internet via Wireless-N Wi-Fi or Ethernet to stream video, audio and news content from VIZIO Internet Apps (VIA)
- Smart Dimming intelligently controls LED blocks to produce 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio
- Two 15-watt speakers give you the power to fill your room with sound
- Includes removable stand- measures 51.5 x 35.91 x 13.47 inches with stand; Bluetooth remote with slide-out QWERTY keyboard
Extreme VIZIO Technology! The VF551XVT 55 inch TruLED delivers the best picture quality available on an LCD HDTV. This direct type, backlit LED HDTV is comprised of 960 LEDs divided into 80 control blocks and utilities Smart Dimming to intelligently control these blocks turning them on and completely off based on the content you’re watching. This cutting edge technology stops light leakage enabling you to achieve REAL 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio for rich, dark scen… More >>
Tags: 240Hz, 55Inch, Apps, Class, HDTV, Internet, Series, TruLED, VF552XVT, VIZIO
FINAL UPDATE 04/01/2010:
I have to return my Vizio due to the constant re-booting, happens a lot when I try to utilize the PIP/POP feature and just tonight when I tried to activate the CC when I was using the input for TV. VIZIO tech support has said that this is not normal and wanted to ship a replacement but I said no because:
1) Weird side panel which VIZIO now admits they will be correcting in a re-design of the exterior housing by late spring 2010 or early summer 2010
2) The very unlit remote with too few special feature buttons and poor spacing between the buttons
3) Tech support unable to say when or if the USB ports will ever be turned on!
4) Tech support also said the use of LED back lighting is the reason for the poor on-screen space utilization when the PIP/POP feature is on. Tech support said this will be resolved in the PRO series which they say will have more LED zones to allow for better on-screen space utilization when POP is activated.
I do not know what I will be getting but one room is about to have no TV soon…egad!!! I will soon have some pretty upset teenagers in my house.
Updated review 03/08/2010: Since the review below I would like to add some updates for those interested. One reviewer stated something about “stains/shadows” in the right corners but I could not find any on my unit nor the 4″ shadow that from the reviewer’s description would run diagonally across the screen. I am looking but nothing. I still rate the picture a 5 and the audio a solid 4 but the remote though is just too difficult to use in the dark or even in low lighting situations. Given VIZIO’s design for the remote to replace your other remotes it is not useful as that due to lack of a glow button. The remote is still good but only for part of the day and again the remote still is lacking many dedicated “special” feature buttons.
My biggest concern though is the TV “locking up and re-booting” which it seems to do more frequently when I utilized the PIP/POP feature. I have a call in to VIZIO and several e-mails and they are currently researching the issue. I think for the price the TV is a great bargain and while I am no videophile/audiophile I think again for this price range the quality of the audio/video is excellent but they do need to fix certain issues. The re-booting, the missing glow and extra feature buttons on the remote, the side panel toggle switch functions, turning on all the USB ports, and the PIP/POP to better utilize the screen space and fix the audio shutting off from the main screen when you turn off the PIP/POP. The VIA apps rock and really make the TV a joy to use, I hope they add YouTube soon.
Like other reviewers, myself included: BE WARY OF THE REVIEWS ON THE VIZIO SITE.
The TV itself is great but not as slim as I expected it to be given how much slimmer my one year plus old VIZIO SV470XVT1A” LCD is. Let’s start with what is good about the VIZIO 55″. The remote is good and basically takes over all your other remotes and the on screen set-up of the unit is relatively straight forward as well.The wired Ethernet connection worked flawlessly but I can not speak to the wireless capabilities as I did not use that feature. The picture for me was much cleaner and brighter than my VIZIO 47″ and to me needed no further adjustments. The VIA apps were easy to access, use and more are being added such as PANDORA…added 2 days after I got my TV. One of the main reasons I love VIZIO is the PIP and more specifically the Picture outside Picture (POP)capabilities of their TVs. I believe VIZIO is the only company that provides the POP to their TVs. PLEASE NOTE as of 03/01/2010: My earlier review said the volume level needed to be very high to be heard clearly but I now realize I am “deaf” lol and so to me the sound is now very good.The price for features and quality was very good to excellent and really can not be beat but…
This Vizio 55″ was really put out before its time as many items are either not working or will be at a supposedly later time or the design layout was weird and needed to be corrected before being sent out. I think VIZIO skimped on the number of non-HDMI connections giving you just one each of Component and A/V inputs, if your like me you have several legacy non-HDMI components. I say skimped because VIZIO seems to be reducing inputs on its TVs compared to models from less than a year ago, the VF551XVT has 2 components and 2 AV inputs per the online manual. Yes the VF552XVT has Ethernet capability and VIA apps but I mean if they want to continue to be a standout from SAMSUNG and other high ends then they need to keep these extras as well.
What I think is the real design FLAW: the side panel controls in the manual on page 11 shows a logical layout of the controls but the actual TV itself does not look like that layout but rather: Menu and Channel Up are on the same toggle switch; The Channel Down and Volume Up are on the same toggle switch; and the Volume Down and Input are on the same toggle switch. When I called VIZIO (twice) both times they said the manual picture is generic and applies to many of their TVs and the picture is not an accurate reflection of this model but at the same time did acknowledge that the design of the side controls was non-intuitive.
The first time I used Netflix it seemed to lock up my TV and I was unable to turn it off via remote or the side panel off button. I finally unplugged it and called VIZIO who said that the TV can lock up and in the future hold the side power button down for 30 seconds or more, the issue never happened again. UPDATE 03/01/2010: Over the past few days since the NETFLIX LOCKUP the TV will on its own for no reason I can discern “reboot”. I will update if it continues but it has happened now about 5 times. I think it may be because of updates to the apps but I am guessing. I have not called VIZIO yet on this batch of reboots but will if it continues. I am very happy with my VIA apps and the new addition of PANDORA but wish the other apps that already have icons were active, I am greedy lol.
I should also mention that none of the 3 side USB ports are activated as well but I saw that an earlier reviewer says they are but on my TV they are not. I called VIZIO and they said not at this time. This again is weird as the model before this has one USB port and that is active per the on screen manual. If you look at the on-screen manual for the VF551XVT it indicates in the manual the port is active and even has a corresponding button to use the port on the remote control. No such control is on the VF552XVT remote, in fact…
I think the VF552XVT has a good remote and while it does take over many of your other remotes flawlessly, the remote given its size does not have ANY dedicated buttons to call up many of the most used features of the TV. Features such as: changing the TV aspect ratio; changing the PIP size; changing the PIP input source and changing the audio from the Main screen to the PIP input; a mode button to switch between all the pre-set color settings; nor buttons to select the input source. My old VIZIO 47″ remote had ALL THESE EXTRA FEATURE BUTTONS AND MORE, some were used a lot and others not so much but always better to HAVE THAN NOT HAVE. TRUST ME FROM PRIOR EXPERIENCE THE ABILITY TO CHANGE THE PIP INPUT SOURCE AND AUDIO AND SIZE IS FANTASTIC AS WELL AS BEING ABLE TO CHANGE THE TV ASPECT RATIO AND MODE. I believe VIZIO either spent too much on the QWERTY keypad or just went giddy adding the QWERTY keypad and forgot how having these special feature buttons on the remote make using the TV much easier. Easier in that use of…
The on screen menu is fantastic but calling it up blocks out about a 25% of the left side of the screen from top to bottom which is very disconcerting especially if you are trying to make adjustments to the picture. It would have been more prudent if the menu had to be so large to then have the balance of the screen show the movie/broadcast but in “squashed” form without having that portion of the picture covered by the menu. Further the POP feature shows the two images side by side but with black bars top and bottom which reduces the overall size of the POP images by about 40-60%…no kidding. I mean you have a big screen with all this unused space when you utilized the POP feature.
I love the VIZIO TV price point with features but clearly this TV NEEDS the USB ports activated and the side panel issues addressed and many more dedicated buttons on the remote to avoid having to always call up a very distracting on-screen menu. The remote while very good is LACKING A MUCH NEEDED GLOW BUTTON and more separation between the buttons. If you buy the TV you will see what I mean by button separation. Look at the on screen manual for the VF552XVT and look at the remote page (enlarge that page about 300%) and compare it to any remotes you have at home and look at those button separation distance, in the dark you will appreciate those button separation distances especially with no glow button. In addition I think the TV is too thick given these are newer models and should be to me much slimmer. My old VIZIO (47″ LCD) is about 3 1/2″ at its thickest and 2″ at its slimmest while the VF552XVT at its slimmest is over 4″ thick and at its thickest about 5″.
At this time 03/01/2010 I am think of doing more research and maybe getting another LCD brand, SAMSUNG as I like their picture quality but really would like to stay with VIZIO if they can fix the remote issues and USB activation soon. I also hate to give up my POP feature which seems to be unique to VIZIO?
I RATE THE OVERALL TV A 3 BUT PICTURE IS A 5 AND SOUND IS A 4. WOULD I CONTINUE TO BUY VIZIO? YES BUT I WOULD TRY TO CHECK OUT THE FEATURES AND REMOTES NEXT TIME AT A STORE BEFORE BUYING SIGHT UNSEEN. I TRIED TO POST THIS REVIEW AT VIZIO WEBSITE 3 SEPARATE TIMES I ALSO SENT AN EMAIL TO THEIR CUSTOMER SUPPORT AND THEY RESPONDED THAT IT IS IN MODERATION. YET OTHER CUSTOMER REVIEWS ARE BEING POSTED DAILY IF THEY ARE GOOD SO PLEASE BE WARY OF THE REVIEWS AT THE VIZIO SITE. VIZIO SEEMS TO ONLY POST RAVING REVIEWS OF THEIR PRODUCTS ON THEIR SITE. I HOPE THIS HELPS THOSE ABOUT TO PURCHASE. IT IS A GOOD TV BUT GIVEN IT IS THEIR CURRENT FLAGSHIP I THINK IT NEEDS TO BE BETTER ACTIVATED AND MORE BUTTONS ON THE REMOTE AND A GLOW BUTTON TOO. I HAVE UPLOADED IMAGES OF THE SIDE PANEL ISSUE,THE PICTURE OUTSIDE OF PICTURE (POP) ISSUE AND THE ON SCREEN MENU.
Rating: 3 / 5
I bought my first HDTV nearly ten years ago. It was a pain to hook up with a mass of wires and complex antenna adjustment for broadcast reception. Took hours to set up. The Vizio VF552 was unpacked, put on the stand and hooked up in about ten minutes. I have three Direct DVRs and a blueray DVD player. Just plugged in the HDMI cable and went through the simple start up process. Even the wireless hookup to my secure router worked the first time. I think the remote is reasonably sturdy. The remote is light and easy to use. I like the input button on the opposite side of the remote from the tv on/off button. On an older Visio tv, the input button was next to the main on/off switch and I was forever turning the tv off when I wanted to switch inputs.
One problem with the sharp, bright picture is that you can see set lighting. Programs such as “Chuck” are so realistic you can tell when they are on a set.
My wife told me not to mess with the color adjustments. I think the as-received adjustments are a bit too bright with over saturated colors. I backed off the settings slightly and I think it looks better. Trouble is that programs seem to have drastically different color values and saturation (e.g. “Miami CSI” seems to be grossly saturated.) Not the tv’s fault.
I don’t understand comments about this unit’s color accuracy when the sources seem to vary all over the place. When one program looks good, another looks cold, another warm. The source gamma seems to run the gamut, and I’ve given up trying to make adjustments for each program. With my old set, I always reduced the saturation and cooled the color tem for “Miami CSI”. This unit’s dynamic range (i.e. white whites and really black backs) makes it tolerable for me.
We really like the wireless remote that you don’t have to point at the set to make changes. It has worked flawlessly. Earlier Vizio models don’t have a wireless remote. The keyboard works fine, when needed.
After several weeks, we are completely happy with the performance of this unit.
Rating: 5 / 5
Alright, first things first: This isn’t an 8800 series Samsung LED. Get that right out of your head. Now, this IS a XVT series Vizio that offers some serious dollar stretching for all you get.
As others have said, the remote leaves a lot to be desired. Flimsy, a little clumsy, yeah, it could *probably* use a backlight (not a deal breaker by any means, but it would be nice). The keyboard is a wonderful touch, just wish they spent more time on that hinge.
The audio is acceptable, nothing game changing at all. It provides some pretty room filling sound, though, you’d be better served with a stand alone sound system. Games sound pretty anemic; live sports sound very-very good. It’s exactly what you would expect for HDTV 15w speakers.
So, you bout a 240hz, LED, 55” HDTV for the picture, nothing else. Let’s touch on that. It’s INCREDIBLE. Yes, you can, like I mentioned above, spend thousands more and get a better picture; barely. There is absolutely no sacrifice with this monitor, it does it all and keeps you “oooh’ing” and “awwe’ing” all night. I fought for weeks about what would be the best for my money. What would provide the best experience, what would give me the least amount of buyers remorse (hey, spending this kind of money hurts these days!). This product whole heartedly delivered.
Everything else it provides is the icing on the huge cake! The apps are fantastic, especially the Yahoo integration…oh and Netflix, how can you forget about Netflix?! My 360 is going to be lonely, what, with only playing games on it =P
If you’re on the fence, I can’t really give you anything to sway you one way or another, but really, at this level of consumer electronics, you aren’t going to get anything *bad*, just some better than others. This is one of those that is VERY MUCH better than others, second to very-very few.
Rating: 4 / 5
Let’s start out by stating the obvious. This television is very good. I really don’t have any problems with it’s performance. However, it’s not great. Now, very good is usually quite acceptable, but this television is striving to be great. I pre-ordered it and received it early this morning. I have been testing it out all day today. I will discuss a few of my issues and concerns with this television. My only major concern with this television is that from a performance standpoint, it’s identical to the VF551XVT. I assumed that this television would not only be upgraging the internet apps, remote control, and other features, but that Vizio would also fine tune the performance and really make this TV shine. I knew that it was technically the same panel as the 551 (that Vizio wasn’t changing the panel being used), but I still hoped they would tighten the screws a little bit, so to speak. The verdict is in. They did not. This television performs exactly like my 551. If you already have a 551, only upgrade to this 552 if you need Wi-Fi connectivity, and a full QWERTY RF remote control. With this said, let’s get to a few of the concerns about this televisions performance. It is definitely a very good performing television. However, it just doesn’t compare to it’s main competitors. Vizio begged to go up against, and stated many times that they are pitting this against every top of the line local dimming set available. Well, they lost. The absolutely flawless UNB8500 is down to $2,900 now, so for only $900 more you can have a television that handily defeats — absolutely crushes — this 552 in every measurable aspect (with the exception of the features). I have 4 different local dimming LED LCD televisions — Vizio 551, Vizio 552, Sony XBR8, and the B8500 — in my home, and this one — along with the 551 — is easily the worst performing television out of the bunch (I should add that I did own the LG LH90 for about 6 months, and this one does — albeit barely — outperform the LG). Let me give a quick recap of the issues: First, the color accuracy is simply nowhere close to the accuracy of my Sony XBR8 or more specifically, my Samsung UNB8500. Second, it’s not a true 240Hz television. It is a 120Hz television with a scanning backlight. Vizio calls it “True 240.” It uses 120Hz technology and then has the backlight scan the signal continuously to achieve what Vizio calls 240 scenes per second. Well, I’m not looking for 240 scenes per second. I’m looking for a television that resolves all 1080 lines at all times. Only my Samsung UNB8500 can do that. (The video processing and motion resolution of this television does perform on par with the XBR8 though) Third, this television exhibits blooming a lot worse than either the XBR8 or B8500. Blooming is when the light from a brightened area of the scene causes darkened areas and/or letterbox bars to light up. It looks like light flooding or light leaking into darkened areas and is quite distracting. This television keeps this to a minimum, and doesn’t do it nearly as often as the LG LH90, but it is still noticeable from time to time. Fourth, the black level is just not as deep and endless as the XBR8 or more specifically the UNB8500. The black level on this television seems to get as dark — probably a little bit darker — as the edge-lit LED models, and Panasonic Plasma’s from 2009, but just can’t compare to the XBR8 or B8500. (I should add here that I paid over $4,500 for my XBR8 which is well over double the price of this 552). The B8500 can especially get so dark that it looks like you have turned the television off. The 8500 literally disappears during dimming for a scene changeover. I was expecting the black level on this television to come close to and/or potentially even match that. It doesn’t come close. It does still get incredibly dark black though. These 4 issues are really the only things that hold this television back from being an excellent or outstanding performer. I have noticed a fluctuating backlight from time to time when a scene changes from dark to bright quickly. I have also noticed a few issues with the consistency of the black level. It seemed to get unbelievably pitch black dark during high contrast scenes, but only 75% that dark during darker/lower contrast scenes. My XBR8 and B8500’s black level remains just as dark and endless regardless of the type of scene being viewed. All in all, this is still a great television. It is at least equal to — and in my opinion, outperforms — the comparable LG, and is by far the best budget high end television you can buy. The features are incomparable and beat out every other competitor. I just wish that Vizio had put more time, effort, and funding into the performance of the picture. I think I was just hoping for more from Vizio this time around. I am excited for the PRO series that they are going to release later this year. I will no doubt sell this once the PRO series comes out to pick up one of those.
Rating: 3 / 5
I sold my Vizio 551 after only 4 months of owning it to purchase this unit in the hopes of getting the “latest and greatest”. Sadly, outside of picture quality, it was a step down in almost every other regard.
First the Remote. Maybe I was spoiled by the beautifully designed remote from the 551. Great looks, backlit keys, good tactile feedback…it had everything that the remote on the 552 lacks. Start with appearance: it literally looks like a prototype. Cheap black plastic with tiny black rubber keys…I have remotes from $29 DVD players that are better looking. And from a functional standpoint, it commits the 3 cardinal sins of bad remote control design: 1) no backlighting of any of the keys…forget about using it without lights blazing. Kinda ruins the theater experience 2) keys provides tactile feedback without executing their function…this means you’ll press the Chnl Up key, feel the indent beneath your finger and you’ll still be watching the same channel you were. 3) tiny tiny keys…unless you’re an elf, you’ll be fat-fingering. It’s just a bad design. I sincerely hope Vizio provides all of their early-adopters (like me) with a free replacement of the newly designed remote when it’s available (and they WILL redesign this, as this device has no place with their flagship set).
Next, the USB ports…they don’t work! It says so right in the manual (though not in any of Vizio’s promotional literature). I LOVED the single USB port on my 551…plug in a thumbdrive with pictures and music and you had your own custom Slideshow. Can’t do it on my new TV. Tech support says there’ll be a future firmware upgrade to fix ‘em…I ain’t holding my breath.
Another item that’ll be “fixed with a future firmware upgrade” is the ability to turn off the backlighting behind the annoying Tech Logo on the bottom left-hand corner of the set beneath the screen (another menu function my 551 was able to perform that the 552 can’t). Here you have a six inch long, 1 inch tall feature list (i.e. VIA LED LCD 240 HZ 1080P and other stuff) backlit by bright white LEDs…again really annoying when in a darkened setting. Until the “fix” comes in, I have a piece of black electrical tape covering them up on the front of my $2000 TV…irritating (NOTE: the manual SAYS that you can turn this off by navigating to the ‘Help’ portion of the menu system, but the choice does NOT show up on the screen in the list of Help options)
Onto the network connectivity, the reason I bought the set: at this point, I’d say it’s working to Vizio’s advantage more than mine. It gives them a method to ‘upgrade’ the product with automatic firmware updates, which is great. But it also gave them latitude to introduce something that clearly ain’t quite “baked” yet. The Widgets are ‘cute’, but (at this stage) they’re nothing that you can’t get from a feature-laden BluRay player with networking.
More importantly (and more annoyingly), I’ve found that while exploring / navigating some of the Widgets, they will actually make the 552 ‘reboot’ (i.e. shut itself off, then (sometimes) turn itself back on. Other times it just remains ‘off’ and you have to hit the Power button). I can only imagine that the app itself crashed and that the reboot is the equivalent of the old ‘blue screen of death’ in Windows. Again, nothing that a firmware update (or tighter quality control on Widgets) won’t fix, but this thing definitely ain’t ready for prime time…it performs more like a Beta unit
You may think this critique is nitpicking, but keep in mind that i was expecting an “upgrade” from my 551.
Having said all that, it’s still the best bang for your LCD buck. But if you’re a current owner of a 551, there’s no compelling reason to make the switch just yet.
Hope this helps in your buying decision (and in getting me a new remote…anyone from Vizio reading this? ; )
Rating: 3 / 5