Vizio VF550XVT LCD HDTV Review - Performance: Viewing Effects

The Vizio VF550XVT's total viewing angle was average, at best, and we saw significant problems with bright lights reflecting off the screen. Most of the tests in this section were completed using DisplayMate software.

Viewing Angle (6.75)
The Vizio VF550XVT's viewing angle is a bit below average. We found that the television's contrast ratio fell below 50% at about 34 degrees from center, which means there's a total effective viewing angle of about 67 degrees. This is below our average viewing angle of about 42 degrees from center, although it's not the worst performance we've ever seen, some televisions have viewing angles as little as 15 degrees from center. Below you can see a chart of the VF550XVT's contrast ratio versus the viewing angle to the left and right of center.

The red line indicates the point at which the contrast ratio falls below 50% of the maximum. The Vizio VF550XVT's means that it should be ok for rooms where you'll have a large couch or even a couch and a love seat that sit in front of the television. If you want a television for a very large room with a very wide angle of seating, however, the VF550XVT probably isn't your best choice.

Reflectance (6.0)
We found that the Vizio VF550XVT did have some problems with reflected light off the screen. Light shone directly on the screen did not diffuse very well, we were able to make out every one of the LED  lights we use for this test. As you would expect the effect was more pronounced using a black screen versus a white, but it was there in both cases. Even when we shifted the light to an angle away from the screen we found that in many positions the light was still annoyingly obvious. We recommend you get some soft lighting for your room if you buy the VF550XVT, or just make sure that none of the lights are in a position to reflect off the display.

Video Processing (2.0)
As with most televisions the Vizio VF550XVT offers several different video processing controls that claim to help improve your picture quality in certain situations. Below is a table with our experience for each. The bottom line is that we saw some effects for three of the controls, the most noticeable was with the Advanced Adaptive Luma.