Vizio M221NV

[heathkit tv]

Just got this 22" set the other day. Had ordered it online from Costco as I couldn't find it in stock locally. Long story short it was on sale for $199.99 ($70 off, sale is now over).

This is a 22" model featuring internet connectivity. Among the many widgets of questionable value was Netflix. Being the cheap bastard that I am, this appears to be the way to go in order to watch unlimited movies/tv shows without subscribing to cable or satellite.

Another neat thing about this is that the screen is edge lit by LEDs instead of a conventional lamp. Color and clarity are quite good as long as the program is from an original digital source, anything analog is no where as good. This is typical of my experience with non CRT sets. A CRT television is of course the opposite of this.

Sound is typically mediocre of flat BPC sets as the speakers are small and rear facing...plus there's not enough cabinet volume to develop any bass. Plugging it into a stereo or sound system should remedy this. And yes, I've tweaked the various audio sub menus to try to optimize it.

So far the things that bother me is that there's a pregnant pause when switching channels (seems all digital sets do this). This causes me to be unsure of whether the set is actually in the process of changing channels or if it didn't intercept the command from the remote.

Another nuisance is when waiting for Netflix to download you can't view another source such as off air or DVD etc inputs.

The only thing I presently have a problem with is that the built in wireless isn't as sensitive as it should be, at least not as sensitive as my laptop. Am going to have to move the router or get some sort of repeater...barring that I'll have to run an ethernet cable which I'd rather avoid.

It pained me greatly to buy a modern set, and one which wasn't made in America but I had no choice...at least in the size and price range I had. At least this wasn't built in china, it was made in southern America (Mexico).

[Eric H]

Congrats on joining the 21 Century!

Once you get used to HD you'll wonder how you got along without it.

My set doesn't have Internet built in but I have a Roku box that'll stream video from Amazon, Netflix, Hulu etc and it's wonderful, perfect for watching the occasional missed show or a movie you don't feel like going out and renting.

I usually buy the SD versions of TV shows and they look fine, standard DVD quality almost though that may it may depend on the speed of your Internet Connection.
On FIOS it usually never takes longer than 4 or 5 seconds to load a show.

[heathkit tv]

Thanks for the welcome to the 21st Century but I'd rather go back in time LOL This isn't my first LCD set, that was/is a Sony 27" that I bought 3 or 4 years ago. Nothing wrong with it but it also suffers from channel lag and crappy looking analog images. Sound isn't much better on that set either!

Netflix is a little slower to load on my laptop than when I view a episode of South Park on South Park Studios website. Not quite instantaneous, just a little buffering. Have noticed that on many YouTube videos that they may either suffer from long buffering times or stall occasionally. As Elwood Blues once queried: "Eh, whadya want for nuthin? RUBBER BISCUIT!"

[Eric H]

Yeah, SD isn't very good on a HD set, DVD's look really good though and that's mostly what I watch.

Thin TV's all seem to suffer from bad sound, no room for good speakers inside I guess, they probably figure most people are going to use external speakers anyway, I do most of the time but when watching an old TV show on DVD it just isn't worth the effort to turn on the stereo.

My older (2005) Sony LCD projector TV has a great sound system built in, it even has a subwoofer, 30 watts per channel and no rattles or distortion on that set!

[heathkit tv]

Latest news: night before last night it updated it's software when I turned it on. Last night the widget toolbar froze on two occassions and only turning the set on and off would unfreeze it. Guess they're running a Windoze based OS LOL

If this reoccurs with any regularity I'm going to return this set. Another thing I find most inconvenient and annoying is that there's apparently no provision for it to remember the password for my secured wireless connection. ARGH

[heathkit tv]

Snide comments regarding a spammer deleted