Tour & Design

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The front of the Vizio VT470M sports a glossy brown bezel with silver accents. Below the bezel is a long speaker bar, also in silver.

Back

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We weren't able to take a photo of the back of the VT470M. The only thing you'll find there are a collection of ports towards the right side when facing the back as well as mounting points for mounting the television on the wall.

Sides

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On the left side of the Vizio VT470M you'll find a collection of ports for easy access. On the right side you'll find the on-tv controls.

Stand/Mount

 

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The Vizio VT470M sits on a plastic stand that does not swivel.

Aesthetics

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Vizio is highlighting the aesthetic features of their M-series televisions. The Vizio VT470M has better styling to our eye than the all brown VL420M we also saw, thanks mostly to the silver accents that break up the monotonous brown.

Performance Features

Display Size & Technology

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The Vizio VT470M has a 47-inch display, which is the largest size offered in Vizio's M-series lineup. Like most of Vizio's HDTVs the VT470M uses LCD technology, as opposed to Plasma. LCD televisions usually offer much brighter displays than Plasma, but have more variance in black level.

Formats & Resolution

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The Vizio VT470M is a full 1080p HDTV, with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. This means the VT470M is capable of natively supporting the highest quality HD content available. It is also capable of playing lower quality content, including standard definition.

Brightness, Blacks and Contrast Ratio

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We won't be able to give you reliable information on these until we actually get the Vizio VT470M into our labs. We can tel you that Vizio indicated specifications for the VT470M are a contrast ratio of 20,000:1 and a maximum brightness of 450 candelas per meter squared. Such manufacturer provided numbers rarely reflect the numbers we get in our testing, however.

Color

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Until we get the Vizio VT470M into our labs we can't make a definitive claim about color quality of the VT470M.

Motion & Refresh Rate

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The Vizio VT470M sports a 120Hz refresh rate, which should help improve motion performance. We've seen other Vizio HDTVs do significantly better than average with 120Hz refresh rate and we hope that the VT470M does as well. We can't make a definitive call, however, until we have the television in our labs.

Viewing Angle

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We weren't particularly impressed by the Vizio VT470M's viewing angle. Colors seemed to fade out a bit at pretty small angles from center. We won't be able to make a definitive call on the viewing angle until we have the television in our labs, but a poor viewing angle is not uncommon amongst LCD televisions.

Connectivity & Media

Audio & Video Ports

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The Vizio VT470M arranges ports in two groups. The first is found on the left side of the HDTV. Here you will find a headphone jack, S-Video, composite, analog audio in, USB and HDMI ports.

On the back you will find the rest of the Vizio VT470M's ports. There are three HDMI ports, for a total of four on the television, cable/antenna input, VGA port and 3.5mm audio input, digital audio out and two component video inputs with associated analog audio inputs. Interestingly there's no analog audio out on the Vizio VT470M.

Media & Other Connectivity

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The Vizio VT470M has a USB port that can be used to play back photos and music from a USB mass storage device. We weren't able to determine if video playback was supported. We were only able to take a look at the photo interface, which is a pretty simple grid of thumbnails.

Placement

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The Vizio VT470M's are well placed, with several easily accessible from the left side, and the rest found on the back just around the left side. They would have been even more accessible if the television had a rotating stand, but alas it does not.

Audio

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We weren't able to get an impression of the Vizio VT470M's audio quality. The VT470M has two 10 watt speakers behind the long speaker bar found underneath the bezel.

Controls, Menu & Remote

Remote

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We weren't able to access the Vizio VT470M's remote control.

Controls

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The Vizio VT470M's on-tv controls are found on the right side of the television. They are small round buttons, with the exception of the power button, which is more elliptical in shape. From top to bottom there are power, menu, Channel +/-, Volume +/- and input. The channel and volume controls have dimples facing in or out to help you distinguish up and down.

Menu

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The Vizio VT470M's menu system is the same interface we've seen on other recent Vizio HDTVs. There's a very simple principal interface with three options that allow you to quickly set the picture and audio mode. Going deeper into the menu system lets you access more advanced functions.

Conclusion

 

Series Comparison

VTXX0M Series

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Vizio's VTxx0M series has only two televisions, at 42 and 47 inch sizes. Both sport 120Hz refresh rate, full 1080p resolution and a USB port for viewing photos and listening to music. There are also 4 HDMI ports on both models, but they lack the internet features of Vizio's higher-end models.