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Introduction
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01.Tour & Design
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02.Blacks & Whites
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03.Color Accuracy
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04.Motion
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05.Viewing Effects
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06.Calibration
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07.Remote Control
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08.Connectivity
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09.Audio & Menus
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10.Formats & Media
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11.Power Consumption
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12.Vs Panasonic TCP42S1
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13.Vs Samsung LN40B610
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14.Vs Sony KDL40W5100
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15.Conclusion
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16.Series Comparison
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17.Ratings & Specs
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18.Comments
VIZIO VL420M
Previous: Page 5
Viewing EffectsNext: Page 7
Remote Control
Calibration Summary
Editorial Note: This is a review of the Vizio VL420M. The other sizes of TVs in this series include the VL260M, VL320M, VL370M and VL470M. Test results are for this model, but should indicate the general performance of other models in the VL series. Read here for more details on series differences.
• Our calibrated settings are based on the Movie mode
• Calibration done using DisplayMate Software
Calibration
Very few TVs come out of the box precisely calibrated to offer the best possible picture. To make sure we're scoring based on a TV's best possible performance, our first step in the review process is to calibrate the set. To do so, we use a CS-200 ChromaMeter to take measurements and DisplayMate, which is a television calibration program.
Below are all the settings we used to achieve optimal picture quality. While these settings will be fine for most users, you can alternatively pay someone to come into your home to calibrate your TV for you. The bonus of purchasing this service is your TV will be specifically calibrated to fit your viewing environment.
| Setting | Default | Calibrated |
| Picture Mode | Movie | |
| Backlight | 55 | 100 |
| Brightness | 50 | 51 |
| Contrast | 50 | 51 |
| Color | 46 | 50 |
| Sharpness | 3 | 0 |
| Color Enahncement | Normal | Off |
| Auto Adaptive Luma | Extend | Off |
| Backlight Control |
DCR | Off |
| R/G/B | 128/128/128 | 48/73/37 |
Settings other than those shown above are left on their default. We had to do some tweaking to get these calibrated settings. On the default settings, we found that there was severe clipping, where the colors couldn't reproduce changes in colors at the brighter levels. To try and deal with this, we set the RGB controls to lower values. This didn't completely deal with the problem, but it did produce much less clipping. We also set the display to the Norman color temperature mode, which produced a color temperature of about 5500k. That's some way off from our ideal of 6500k, but it is the closest we could get.
Video Modes
The VL420M has a large number of picture modes on offer, but most of them are extremely similar.
| Mode | What it Does |
| Custom | Customized mode for user settings |
| Standard | For everyday use; moderate contrast and brightness |
| Movie | Decreases backlight for watching movies in a darkened room |
| Game | Increases backlight, turns off video processing to stop any lag |
| Vivid | Boosts color saturation |
| Football | Turns sharpness off to smooth image |
| Golf | Increases sharpness, shifts colors towards green |
| Basketball | Smooths the image for better motion |
| Baseball | Shifts colors slightly to red |
Sports fans may enjoy the selection of modes on offer, but others may find the lack of options frustrating. We would have preferred to see more custom modes and fewer sports modes, but that's because we are the sort of geeks who prefer chess to football.
| Other Models in the VL Series | |||||||
| This is a review of the Vizio VL420M. The other sizes of HDTVs in this series should be similar in terms of performance and usability. For details about any differences, click on the image to jump to the Series Comparison page. | |||||||
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| VL260M 26' |
VL320M 32' |
VL370M 37' |
VL470M 47' |
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