Vizio VF551XVT LCD HDTV First Impressions Review - Intro

The flagship model in their 2009 lineup, the Vizio VF551XVT is a 55-inch LCD screen that's the first from the company to use LED backlights instead of fluorescent lights. This allows the VF551XVT1A to do a  neat trick called local dimming, the display can dim parts of the screen to make parts of the image darker. Other interesting features on the VF551XVT include 240Hz motion processing, full 1080p support and a free 1Gb thumb drive. The VF551XVT will be available in the summer with a list price of $1999.99, and we'd expect to see it on the street for considerably less; probably around $1799. We looked at a pre-production unit at the CES show in Las Vegas.

Note: Later this year we discovered that in addition to the VF551XVT with LED backlights and local dimming Vizio will also be releasing a VF552XVT that includes internet connectivity via ethernet or built-in Wi-Fi. This includes access to Yahoo widgets, Amazon on-demand and Netflix services.