New TV Time

[Huey]

So yesterday I had some time to kill and was in the electronics section in Walmart. I see they had a 70 inch Vizio 4K tv for a little under $1300. Wife has a one day shopping event coming up, where we get 25% off everything we buy that day, so it would put the tv at a little under a $1000. They didn't have the 70 inch on display, but the Vizio 4K tv's that they did have, looked good.

I get home last night, and notice that the indicator light on the tv, which was off, was red. Uh oh, that didn't seem right, and sure enough, the tv wouldn't turn on, but the indicator did turn green. This tv, one of the last DLP's that Mitsubishi made, has always been a little glitchy in the fact that it will will randomly turn off and the indicator will flash green. It's always came back on after a couple of minutes, and it didn't happen that often that it was a major pain in the ass. I just replaced the bulb within the last couple of months, and the tv has never looked better. It's probably a cheap fix, at least in parts, service call probably another matter, so I don't know whether to upgrade, or get it fixed. I've read some of your guys thoughts on Vizio tv's, but if anybody has anything to add, please feel free to do so. The other problem I have, is I'd have to upgrade my receiver as well, as it's just old enough it won't do the 4K pass through.

 

[The DirtMerchant]

Labor day weekend, I found a Toshiba 55" 4K TV for $399. I was looking for the cheapest entry into the 4K world.
$1k for the 70" seems like an absolute steal and Vizio generally tops the bang for buck lists.
I say BUY BUY BUY!!!


And...I'm interested in the receiver answers...

 

[Towen7]

I have a 2017 Vizio 75” E series and I’m pretty happy with it. The biggest flaws are off axis viewing and that only one of it’s HDMI ports are 4K capable.

 

[Huey]

Thanks for the replies guys. The way our room is setup, I don't think off axis viewing will be a problem, but one 4K HDMI input may be, especially if I don't go and buy a receiver right away. One other minor thing I'm struggling with, is that the Vizio would be 3 inches smaller than my current tv, and according to my wife, 3 inches is a big deal, although maybe she wasn't talking about tv's.

 

[Batman]

3” less (diagonally) in actual viewable real estate is about an 8% loss, if I understand you correctly and you’re saying you’d be going from a 73” to the 70” Vizio.

 

[Huey]

3” less (diagonally) in actual viewable real estate is about an 8% loss, if I understand you correctly and you’re saying you’d be going from a 73” to the 70” Vizio.

Yes, from a 73 inch to a 70 inch, which I can live with.

 

[Akula]

I'm not sure a service call on that DLP will be worthwhile. While I still like my Mitsu DLP, I highly doubt there's a lot of parts out there for it. Anything more than a bulb (which I still haven't replaced) would have it getting replaced for a flat panel.

We're pleased with out Vizio 4K... it has a little bit of an issue in keeping the corners as bright as the rest of the screen, but it's not really noticeable when watching (if you look for it you'll see it, but I never look for it). My biggest complaint is they put the remote receiver in the bottom left where it's hard to hit (WHY OH WHY can't they put it top dead center?). Otherwise we're happy with it.

 

[Huey]

I'm not sure a service call on that DLP will be worthwhile. While I still like my Mitsu DLP, I highly doubt there's a lot of parts out there for it. Anything more than a bulb (which I still haven't replaced) would have it getting replaced for a flat panel.

We're pleased with out Vizio 4K... it has a little bit of an issue in keeping the corners as bright as the rest of the screen, but it's not really noticeable when watching (if you look for it you'll see it, but I never look for it). My biggest complaint is they put the remote receiver in the bottom left where it's hard to hit (WHY OH WHY can't they put it top dead center?). Otherwise we're happy with it.

I tend to agree with you Akula about repair. If I was more knowledgeable, I might tackle it myself, but I can't see paying two or three hundred dollars for a repairman to fix it. Since I just replaced the bulb in September, and I can hear the color wheel spin up, I'm guessing it's the ballast or something similar. I'm going to check and make sure something didn't come loose with the bulb before trashing it though. Btw @Akula , do you know what bulb your tv takes? If I do end up trashing the tv, I'd be happy to send you the less than two month old bulb at no charge, if it works with your tv. Link to the bulb that my tv uses.

 

[Akula]

I tend to agree with you Akula about repair. If I was more knowledgeable, I might tackle it myself, but I can't see paying two or three hundred dollars for a repairman to fix it. Since I just replaced the bulb in September, and I can hear the color wheel spin up, I'm guessing it's the ballast or something similar. I'm going to check and make sure something didn't come loose with the bulb before trashing it though. Btw @Akula , do you know what bulb your tv takes? If I do end up trashing the tv, I'd be happy to send you the less than two month old bulb at no charge, if it works with your tv. Link to the bulb that my tv uses.

I appreciate the offer, but I don't think that will work with ours... I have a 57" one and I think the bulb is different.

The performance on these is really nice, but when the non-user-replaceable pieces go it's probably time to upgrade. I might even upgrade before ours is all the way dead, but it's going to take the LG OLED sets dropping a bit in price.

 

[Huey]

No problem, just thought if you could use it, it would at least not go to waste.

 

[Haywood]

For that money, it would be very hard to go wrong.