VIZIO 55” Class Razor LED™
Smart TV with Theater 3D®

Customer Reviews

Great TV for the price but..... Review by JD

Well, this television is really nice and blows everything else in its price class out the water. Good black levels, excellent color and the WiFi is spot on. The TV is lacking a dedicated web browser but, the SMART apps make up for that. I stream Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Youtube without any issues. Another good thing about this TV is the ease of setup and customization. Even those with basic understanding of electronics can manage this set. 3D is the best I've seen with no ghosting or cross-talk as well.

Now for the bad news. This TV does not handle 1080/24fps well and during some movies and HD broadcasts I do notice some significant screen jumping. Its not bad enough to warrant not buying the set but, its there and noticable. Another issue is how long it takes the TV to load after turning it on; it takes a pretty descent time so if your trying to hurry-up and catch something you might miss it.

Bottom line, this TV is really nice and the price makes it hard to pass especially in this economy. Yes, there are better television out there but, they also cost a lot more money. This is my first Vizio and I will admit I was a little hesitant in buying due to the companys reliability but, I jumped. Hopefully it lasts me at least a few years.

(Posted on 12/20/12)

AWESOME! Review by Mike

The 3D is better than what you see in the Cinema's. Color is knock-down spectacular. Sound is equally good with the 40-inch sound bar. I personally don't use the Internet connection much, but it does open up an entirely new world, and the picture quality is just as good as the regular TV.

This is my first Vizio and I am more impressed enough to take the time to write a review about it. It has been a very nice surprise!

This tv delivers the goods.

(Posted on 10/16/12)

Excellent TV Review by Mike L.

This is my first 3D TV and my 4th Vizio - all bought at Costco. Picture excellent, 3D excellent. Debating between this model and the M3D550SR. Both were display models at my local Costco and this one was going for $800. What a steal. Out the door with Samsung BR player, 5 year warranty and the TV with all taxes just over $1000.

(Posted on 8/20/12)

Excellent Review by Kings

This is by far the best money I have spent in a long time. This TV goes above and beyond my expectations. I have been using VIZIO TV's for 5 years now and all I have to say is I AM VERY SATISFIED WITH THIS COMPANY.

(Posted on 7/24/12)

Worth Every Penny Review by TMEL60

Originally was going to buy the 65in but would not fit on the wall do to fireplace. Talk about an upset. So opted for the 55in and couldn't be any happier. Picture quality is good. Watched Cars 2 and Captain America with family and we were blown away with the 3D! Purchased at Sam's Club for $1,198.00 with 4yr warrenty. Luckiy they actually had the TV in stock at the store.

(Posted on 7/22/12)

Hands down, the best TV at this price point! Review by Bizwiz

Let me start off by giving you some background. I have owned 3 Sony HDTV's since 2006. The first was a rear projection LCD model that I purchased for about $3800 in mid-2006 and had a design defect with something called the "optic block" that ended up as the subject of a class action lawsuit. Sony extended the warranty for a year because of it. Some people got new flat panel TV's for free or extreme discounts. Mine was repaired once and by the time it broken again, which was inevitable, It was out of warranty and Sony wouldn't help me. I have bought Sony all my life and thought that sometime you just get a lemon, so I gave them another chance and in mid-2009 bought a KDL-52V5100 for about $2000. I had nothing but problems right out of the box. The TV's auto dimming feature would make the screen so dim that it went very dark in movies and video games and you couldn't see anything in dark scenes, EVEN WITH SMART DIMMING TURNED OFF! Sony sent me a firmware update, which didn't fix it. Then they sent me a new TV, same problem. It was obviously a software/hardware design issue. They sent me a KDL-52W5100 as a replacement, which was a slight upgrade. I was fairly happy with that TV other than the 8-bit panel which did cause noticeable banding at times. Then, in May of 2012 roughly 3 year old it started exhibiting a picture problem where the whole left side of the screen would turn green and horizontal line covering the rest of the screen appeared along with a terrible high pitched squealing noise. Sony, of course, refused to help me as this TV only had a 1 year warranty. I found out from a local shop that it needed a new LCD panel for about $1600, which of course meant that my 3 year old TV was now a big door stop. The Sony name used to mean quality, but after spending almost $6000 in roughly 4 years and then having now working TV is ridiculous. I decided I was done with Sony. It's really too bad. I've been buying Sony my whole life.

Before this I didn't really consider Vizio because it's always been a pretty low end brand. I did some research and found the M3D550KD, which had the same features as the $2400 Sony KDL-55HX850 (except for Gorilla Glass). In fact it scored better than the Sony by far in native contrast ratio and black level. A review from PC Magazine gave it 4 out of 5 stars and the editor's choice award. See review on pcmag.com.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/a/0,2817,2404054,00.asp

**After connecting to my WI-FI and turning the TV off for about 10 minutes, when I turned back on it had updated itself to the latest firmware.

First thing I did was calibrate the TV using Digital Video Essentials HD - DVE HD Basics Blu-ray. The settings I came up with are below.

User Menu Settings:

* Picture Modes

o Picture Mode : Custom
o Color Temperature : Normal
o Aspect Ratio : Normal/Wide

* Picture Settings

o Backlight : 55
o Contrast : 50
o Brightness : 42
o Color : 55
o Tint : -1
o Sharpness : 8

* Advanced Video

o Smooth Effect : Off
o Real Cinema Mode : Smooth
o Noise Reduction : Off
o Color Enhancement : Off
o Adaptive Lumina : Off
o Film Mode : Auto
o Smart Dimming : Off
o Ambient Sensor : Off

**XBOX360 Users Note: One thing that kind of freaked me out when I first hooked up my XBOX was that if you set resolution to 1080p most of the advanced picture settings disappear from the menu. Not just greyed out/unavailable, the menu actually changes. If you set the TV to the input your XBOX is connected to, bring up the TV settings menu, then power on the XBOX you can actually watch the picture settings menu change! The picture mode (Custom, Standard, Movie, Etc.) in gone, the advanced picture menu is gone and the only options available are Contrast, Brightness, Backlight, Game mode and Ambient Light Sensor. I called Vizio and after finally getting hold of a engineer rather than tech support he verified that it was by design. Apparently the XBOX can communicate with the TV and takes over all these settings. It knows what the TV can and can't do and takes full advantage of the TV's capabilities. If I set the resolution to 1080i it didn't do this. I was a little worried about this at first, but after setting to 1080i and using my tweaked settings I could not make it look nearly as good as the XBOX controlled settings when set to 1080p. The picture was amazing! The PS3 does not exhibit the same behavior when set to 1080p although still looks amazing with my custom settings.

PROS:

* Verifiable 10-bit panel, so no banding (most companies are not disclosing anymore).
* Very complete set of advanced customizable picture settings.
* Audio was surprisingly better than I expected and better than other LED backlit super thin TV's I've looked at.
* Excellent color and black level.
* Bluetooth Remote with built-in QWERTY keyboard.
* 3D is excellent, it really pops and the TV comes with 4 pairs of glasses (So far, testing with 3D Blu-ray and XBOX 3D games the TV auto detects if you turn 3D on and I haven't had to set the mode manually in the TV menu).
* LG panel (So basically it's generic LG)
* Inexpensive 3D glasses because of passive 3D. ($4 for a pack of 2 on Amazon)
* Lots of built-in web apps. (haven't had any crashing as others have reported)
* Better than expected Standard Definition picture quality.
* Customizable EQ audio settings are a plus. (Not quite as customizable as my old Sony but still very good)

CONS:

* Screen is more on the glossy side than the matte side so it's semi reflective which makes room placement more important (more so than my old Sony) but not full glossy like most of the Samsung's I looked at.
* No 2D to 3D conversion because of passive 3D.
* Noticeable blooming on really dark scenes (common in all edge-lit LED/LCD's).
* Noticeable "electronic" smell for about the first 3 or 4 days. It's gone now (common in new electronics also).
* As with all Vizio's I've seen, the menu and Apps are a bit slow and clunky (especially compared to the Sony, but it's literally half the price of the equivalent Sony!)
* No manual firmware updates check that I can see and none to download on Vizio's website (although it automatically updated itself almost immediately after I connected it to my WI-FI)
* No DLNA or web browser, which most brands include in a TV of this caliber (possible firmware update in the future?)
* Uses more power than most LED/LCD TV's this size (108 Watts).

Bottom Line:
The best "bang for your buck" TV out there! At this price, you will not be disappointed! This is my first Vizio and I love it. 3D is great, lots of features, and great built-in internet apps.

(Posted on 7/17/12)

Great 3D, Great HD Picture, NO 2D to 3D Review by Tom_Orlando

I just purchased this television from Costco after watching for it's release. I've had it for a week now and love the television with some apprehension. I purchased this television because of its features vs. price and overall I am very happy with the television.

PROS: 3D is Stunning! Shutterless glasses are the way to go. HD Picture is Extremely Clear (Also stunning), Remote has Bluetooth, but TV also has IR so responds to Universal Remote Commands - I didn’t even have to reprogram my Universal Remote , YouTube App has been added!!

CONS: No 2D to 3D (biggest disappointment as all other 3d vendors do this), Applications seem glitchey but I’m still learning, Needs an Internet Browser, “Movie” Preset should also turn off Smooth Picture because it makes all movies look like cheap TV soap operas (common to all HDTVs). Can’t stream content from a PC, and USB ports do not support USB Hard Drive Media, only Zip Drive Media. I’m having trouble with fat fingers using the pull out QWERTY keyboard but again may get used to it.

3D was a big feature for me; I don’t understand folks that review a 3D television but say they really didn’t buy it for the 3D. I did. The 3D is in one word STUNNING! I have been floored by the 3D capabilities where some programming literally fills the room overflowing the physical size of the screen. The 3D is very clear and smooth. We see some “ghosting” when in some 3D content, but for us it is because our TV not placed at “Eye level” as it is on a shelf above our fireplace so too high. If I see 3D ghosting and stand up, the 3D picture is perfect. 3D even looks good from the side of the set. One of the first 3D content that I watched was a Brighthouse Networks Free 41 minute 3D feature called “African Adventures.” The opening shows an animated Earth that zooms out and then using 3D effects to project the earth into the center of the room right into your face, similar to 3D effects you may have seen at a theme park. Another part that blew me away was a scene with baby elephants and their ears protruded over the edge of the television literally making the 55 inch screen appear so much larger. 3D Games are also cool. 3D content is limited, but as VUDU has just added 3d, I believe other streaming providers will begin adding 3D content. There are already many YouTube videos with excellent 3D content (streamed in “Side-By- Side” mode). My son had several 3D movies that he downloaded (also in Side-By-Side mode) and streams to our tv using “Apple TV.” Interesting, because Apple claims that ATV cannot stream 3d. It CAN and they should start streaming more side by side 3D content! And of course using the shutterless 3D glasses is a plus all the way around including that we had six pairs of glasses from the local cinema that work perfectly with this set. On the negative side, Vizio is one of the only (that I found) vendors that does not have 2D to 3D conversion built into their set. With 3D content limited this would be a feature that I would have wanted to play with. I may purchase an external device that does this on the HDMI interface… still less than the price differential between this set and the ones that have this feature included.

For a 3D Blueray player I’m using an old “fat” Playstation 3 and it is working well after having trouble trying figuring out how to get it to recognize 3D (you just have to “reset” the display settings and let it “Auto” discover the HDMI connection… for me it did not work because I had an HDMI splitter that splits the HDMI signal to the TV and HDMI Audio Receiver. I had to bypass this splitter to get it to activate 3d… later reinserted it and all is working fine). I’ve read that the 3D BlueRay player will introduce variability into how good the 3D effects work and some claim the old fat PS3 is not as good as the newer slim one. I’ve only watched two 3D Blueray movies but they looked great.

3D Gaming
I love playing “Major League Baseball –The Show” on the PS3, and this game just happens to support 3d (Since MLB11 the Show), and playing in 3D really enhances the game. I was skeptical that 3D would be anything more than a frivolous effect, but it really enhances the game experience where 3D helps you see and judge the pitches as the batter. We also already had Call of Duty Black Ops which also supports 3D and that game has some stunning 3D effects in it too.

Watching Movies
The first thing you notice when you watch a movie on the TV (from ANY source), is that there is something wrong. It looks funny, and you WILL notice it. Note before you read on, know that you can adjust the picture so that it looks “normal,” but out of the box, including in Viso’s “Movie” preset (which does nothing to address this), you will find ALL movies look funny on your new TV. You MAY like it, but many find it troubling. What is “it?” It is that your TV is VERY high definition and has a super fast refresh rate of 240 Hz. So how is that a problem…. Isn’t that why we bought an HDTV in the first place? Yes but you will notice movies look funny, more like cheaply made television video camera shot soap operas rather than movies made on film. We put on the Star Wars Blue Ray and it was very funny looking. Back to the Future too. I mean ROFL funny. The actors looked like they were on a live tv show very bright and very clear, but not at all like a movie film. I actually thought I saw a black square box around one of the starfighter ships in Star Wars, probably a mating effect that I was not supposed to be able to see. There is way to turn off the 240 hz fast refresh (Picture Advanced Options) and when off, movies will look like we are used to on our TVs. I wish Vizio would save this option in their picture presets so that “Movie” preset actually did something rather than just change some brightness and contrast settings. How about it Viso?

Applications
I have not played a lot with these applications, primarily because we have Apple TV attached and are used to watching NetFlix and You Tube Videos on that, but I did play a bit with the Visio applications and not too impressed yet. I’m thrilled that they added YouTube, I know that is new for Viso and did not notice it the first time through the loaded apps (you can download many more than what is preloaded), but went back through them and found the YouTube app and started playing with it. The first couple of videos that I selected appeared to get stuck in the streaming function without ever finishing so it would start and stop over and over. I think Visio needs to tweak this app and should force it to buffer 10 seconds of video before trying to play it… this is what the Apple TV appears to do and YouTube works much better. You can also control the YouTube (or other app) stream from the transport controls on the top of the Visio remote so you can manually pause the stream while it buffers and then play it smoothly. It also appeared that Vizio’s YouTube app limited the number of videos returned on each search. VIZIO has to add a Web Browser to this television.
I also wish VIZIO would add an application to allow streaming from a PC To the TV (the other shtterless 3D tv vendor has this). Without this I was hoping to move my content to a portable hard drive attached to the tv via the USB ports but Vizio does not support hard drives, only zip drives. I think Vizio needs to improve media support with either or both of these functions (PC Streaming and USB Hard Drive media support).

3D Content
3D Content is limited, but look for 3D Side by Side or Top Bottom and you WILL find content on YouTube and other sources. Brighthouse has nearly a dozen free 3D features that work great (streamed in Top – Bottom mode). Brighthouse also has many 3D pay per view movies. VUDU has started to offer 3D movies and I’m sure others will follow suit. It’s not hard to stream 3D movies, the picture just has to be sent in side but side or top and bottom format. My son downloaded some 3D movies (side by side) and streamed them from his laptop to our tv using Apple TV. Apple claims that Apple TV does not support 3D but it does.

So in summary I love my Vizio 3D HDTV. For the price and performance it cannot be beat. There are some areas that should be improved, but it is a great HDTV and a great 3D television. I would definitely recommend this television to friends and family and those that have watched 3D on this television will want one.

(Posted on 5/27/12)

Great 3D!!! Review by Gunther

I just purchased this at Costco May 24th. Setting up was fast. Got a Panasonic 3D Blue way player at the same time. (VIZIO 3D BrueRAYnot at Costco) Played Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D. WOW! Fantastic effects, image, color!
First impression of TV is extremely Satisfied.
I will put in another review after I have used the TV for a few months.

(Posted on 5/25/12)

Amazing Review by GottaHaveIt

Bought mine at costco today, comes in a red and white box. the costo website did not show it but they had it in store for 1200. the KD model that i got is better than the SR model in that it has double the contrast ratio.

This TV fixes all the problems with the previous versions of vizio 3d. This Tv uses the same glasses as the RealD theaters, so you can get extras for free when you go see a 3d movie. There is NO blue ghosting issues on this model. Just Make sure you are using a newer HDMI Cable 1.4. You can get High Quality Monster brand for less than $40 if you shop around. dont pay 120 for an HDMI cable. The 3d is spectacular, the colors are perfect. i changed the picture mode to vivid for a better picture. the tv speakers sound just ok, but i watch movies thru my 7.1 surround stereo anyway so its not an issue. The internet streams movies without a glitch, this is dependent on your internet speed, i would not recommend an internet service with less than 15MB for flawless streaming.

(Posted on 5/21/12)

Excellent unit, worth the investment! Review by KawasakiNinjaDude714

Just got this TV yesterday and its AWESOME! The colors are awesome! The black levels are awesome! And most of all the 3D is out of this world! I enjoy the Netflix app, glad it comes up with a click of a button. What needs improvement is in the sound department, not a big deal though I’m going to correct this with Vizio’s sound bar, VHT215. Overall this is an excellent unit, It’s worth the investment. Go Vizio!

(Posted on 5/16/12)