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  • Introduction

  • Tour & Design

  • Blacks & Whites

  • Color Accuracy

  • Motion

  • Viewing Effects

  • Calibration

  • Connectivity

  • Audio & Menus

  • Multimedia & Internet

  • Power Consumption

  • Vs Sony-NSX-46GT1

  • Conclusion

  • Series Comparison

  • Introduction
  • Tour & Design
  • Blacks & Whites
  • Color Accuracy
  • Motion
  • Viewing Effects
  • Calibration
  • Connectivity
  • Audio & Menus
  • Multimedia & Internet
  • Power Consumption
  • Vs Sony-NSX-46GT1
  • Conclusion
  • Series Comparison

Introduction

Tour & Design

Front


The front of the Vizio E470VA is surrounded by a glossy black bezel. The outside left and right edges are semi-translucent. Under the screen, in the center, is a Vizio logo that lights up when the TV turns on.

 

Back


The back of the TV is covered in glossy black plastic. There's a cluster of ports in the bottom right corner, some of which are facing down.

For information about the ports on the back of the Vizio E470VA see our Connectivity section.

 

 

Sides


The left side of the TV has a handful of ports and a dial-button, the TV's main control method.

For information about the ports on the sides of the Vizio E470VA see our Connectivity section.

 

 

 

Stand/Mount


The Vizio's stand is an oval shaped piece of glossy black plastic. It doesn't swivel.

 

Controls


The Vizio E470VA only has the standard array of on-set controls. They cover all the basic functionality.

 

 

Remote Control


The Vizio's remote is a fancy affair that slides open to reveal a tiny QWERTY keyboard.

 

 

In The Box*(8.00)*


In the box you'll find the TV, remote, batteries, and manuals. Nothing special or extra here. The TV also doesn't require any setup: the stand comes attached. Just extract your E470VA from its packaging, plug it in, and enjoy.

 

Aesthetics*(6.00)*


The high-end HDTVs of today are well-designed, metal and glass, barely have a bezel, and look more like sculptures than electronics. The Vizio E470VA has some aesthetic flair, but that's just not enough to cut it any more. The glossy black plastic might allow for a less expensive price tag, but attractive it isn't. We think the E470VA is better looking than average, but it's not gorgeous.

Blacks & Whites

Color Accuracy

Color Temperature*(8.74)*


The Vizio E470VA had a pretty even color temperature. It leaned towards the cool side, but not by an amount that was particularly perceptible. You shouldn't have any problems here.  (More on how we test Color Temperature.)

RGB Curves*(7.44)*


The E470VA would have great RGB response if it weren't for the blue curve peaking so low in the spectrum. The curves have a good slope and aren't jagged, meaning a nice, even progression from their darkest shade to to their brightest. The blue curve progresses far, far more aggressively than it should, and hits its maximum luminance very early. This means bright blue areas will likely look a bit flat, since the TV can't differentiate between the brightest shades.  (More on how we test RGB Curves.)

Below you'll find the red, green, and blue responses from the above chart plotted as gradient bars. We've also including the RGB responses of several competing models. Look for how aggressively the gradient blacks out, or for any vertical stripes. You want a nice, even progression that retains as much of the spectrum as possible; vertical stripes indicate a loss of detail.

 

 

Color Gamut*(6.08)*


A TV's color gamut is dictated by an international standard, called rec. 709. All TVs have to follow this guideline, but some come closer than others.

The Vizio E470VA came pretty close to hitting the different points on the gamut. The blue point was just about exact, which we don't usually see. The green point was close as well. The red was a bit oversaturated and the white point was slightly off as well. Overall, not a bad performance.  (More on how we test Color Gamut.)

We've listed our measurements for the color gamut above in the chart below.

Motion

Motion Smoothness*(8.00)*


We didn't see much motion blurring on the Vizio E470VA. We saw some very fine details getting smudged, such as eyes, or fine patterns, but otherwise the picture remained crisp. The TV also has some motion processing, which helps reduce the minimal amount of blur, but will make your movies look overprocessed.  (More on how we test Motion.)

Motion Artifacting*(7.25)*


We didn't see much in the way of motion artifacting either. There was some slight shudder as static images moved around the screen, which gets slightly worse if the image being displayed is a fine pattern. Otherwise, however, the TV didn't have any issues here. We did notice turning the motion processing up created slightly more artifacting issues, such as ghost images or, in some cases, created a minor flashing effect.

We also ran the motion tests with Smart Dimming enabled. It can create some problems, especially with the the rigorous test patterns we run. The issue with this and all local dimming features is that there are simply too few zones (the areas of the screen that have their own dimming). If a bright object crosses a black background, the objects takes on a wide, diffused halo because the blacks that occupy that same zone are getting brighter, as well. It presents a real problem with movies set in outer space, or during credit sequences, or in any scenes of high contrast.

3:2 Pulldown & 24fps*(9.00)*


Just set Film Mode to Auto and you won't see any issues with the E470VA's 3:2 pulldown or 24fps playback.  (More on how we test 3:2 Pulldown and 24fps.)

Resolution Scaling*(6.23)*


The Vizio E470VA has a native 1080p resolution, but unless you're exclusively watching Blu-ray discs, your TV will have to display nonnative content. The TV has no problem with 480p and 720p content, but it definitely had a problem with 1080i. Many fine patterns appeared green or yellow in 1080i. Some flashed for a few seconds when they came on screen. What's interesting is we saw these same issues with native content too. Typically these sorts of errors are due to problems with the processing used to upscale or downscale content—it's rare to see a 1080p HDTV have trouble with 1080p content.

The TV also had issues with its native resolution. We saw all se issues were also present in the TV's native 1080p resolution.  (More on how we test Resolution Scaling.)

480p

The TV forced a small overscan at this resolution, but didn't have any issues otherwise. We thought images looked sharp and were relatively free of artifacting.

720p

The TV did a great job with 720p. The minor hiccups were limited to some very faint flashing and discoloration, but you these issues only happened when the TV choked on a very fine pattern. 

1080i

This wasn't the best performance we've seen. Fine patterns had some serious discoloration: greys were color shifted to yellow or green hues.

 

Viewing Effects

 

Formats*(10.00)*


The Vizio E470VA is a 1080p HDTV, although it had some issues displaying native content.

 

Viewing Angle*(6.88)*


 

The E470VA had a decent viewing angle for an LCD. You can get up to 36° off-center before your contrast ratio will be reduced to about half. The average LCD will drop below 50% contrast ratio in about half that distance.  (More on how we test Viewing Angle.)

Reflectance*(8.00)*


External light will create a large diffuse glow on the E470VA's screen, assuming the light is shining directly at the screen. If the light is shining at the screen from an angle, it'll catch the bezel but otherwise won't bother you. (More on how we test Reflectance.)

 

Video Processing*(4.00)*


The Vizio E470VA has a few processing features, described below. You should probably leave most of them turned off.

Calibration

Calibration


[

](http://www.displaymate.com/)An HDTV will rarely come out of the box perfectly calibrated. Since we want the TVs at their best before we test them, we first fiddle with the settings. Our calibration rig consists of a CS-200 ChromaMeter and DisplayMate.

 

 

 

 

 

Video Modes


The Vizio E470VA has quite a few video modes: Standard, Movie, Game, Vivid, Football, Golf, Basketball, Baseball, and Custom.

Connectivity

Input Ports*(5.50)*


The Vizio E470VA has a good selection of ports with a small degree of extensibility. The TV has 4 HDMI ports, 1 composite video port, 1 component video in, 2 analog audio inputs, and 1 3.5mm audio in. Additionally, the set comes with three adapters you can use to convert the USB ports into another composite video in and analog audio input.

 

 

 

Output Ports*(2.00)*


The TV has two output ports: an analog audio out and a digital audio out.

Other Connections*(4.00)*


The Vizio E470VA has an ethernet port and built-in wifi (802.11n). You can use either to connect to the TV's online content. 

Media*(3.00)*


The TV has three USB ports, but they can't be used for additional media playback. The TV comes with three adapters that allow for another composite input and analog aud

Placement*(4.00)*


The TV does not have good port placement, primarily because a handful of its ports are facing downward. Downward-facing ports are a pain to access. That, coupled with the lack of a swiveling stand makes makes the E470VA kind of a pain to hook up to.

Audio & Menus

Audio Quality*(6.00)*


The Vizio E470VA has decent audio performance for a TV in its size and price range. There are few options in the menu to change the sound quality. It's mostly limited to turning the surround sound emulator on or off (we liked it 'on') and an automatic volume limiter.

For best sound quality, we always recommend an independent audio system.

Menu Interface*(7.50)*


The menu on the Vizio E470VA has been completely redesigned from the 2009 Vizios we reviewed, with significant improvements. Response times are faster, the look is cleaner, and the organization is more effective. Combined with the excellent remote control, we were impressed with the whole menu interface.

The main menu is broken up into a grid pattern with icons. The choices here are fairy straightforward. Once you select an option from here, you're taken to a vertically-aligned menu with all the options spelled out. For better or for worse, the menus will not disappear from the screen unless you explicitly exit the menu.

Instruction Manual*(8.00)*


The instruction manual is a big, magazine-sized, color document. Some of the pictures inside and cheap and cheesy, but we liked that all the information was spelled out. There's a table of contents and an alphabetical index to help guide you. You can find the Vizio E470VA's manual online here.

Multimedia & Internet

Internet Features*(10.00)*


The Vizio E470VA has a number of streaming content features. The main feature set is simply a plug-in of Yahoo TV widgets, which is found on several other TV manufacturers. So long as Yahoo keeps adding content partners, Vizio owners will keeping finding offers for new apps to download. A complete list of offerings (to-date) can be found in this massive comparison chart.

 

Photo Playback*(0.0)*


Although the TV has three (3!) USB ports, they can't be used for media. The TV does include adaptors, however, that turn these ports into another set of A/V inputs.

Music & Video Playback*(0.0)*


The TV doesn't have additional music or video playback functionality.

Other Media*(0.0)*


The TV doesn't have any other media capabilities.

Power Consumption

Power Consumption*(8.68)*

 


The Vizio E470VA doesn't require that much power to run. Assuming average use, the E470VA will only cost about $26.37 at its highest backlight setting. That's about on par with other LCDs in this size range: It's under a dollar more per month over the average.  (More on how we test Power Consumption.)

Below we've listed a few competing TVs' yearly costs, which are all roughly the same.

Vs Sony-NSX-46GT1

Value Comparison Summary


The Sony NSX-46GT1 isn't so much about value as it is about its one defining feature: the Google TV platform. This software allows the Sony to browse the internet just like you could on your home computer, providing someone replaced your keyboard with an XBox controller. If you don't mind paying extra for this feature, the NSX-46GT1 is pretty much the only game in town at the moment. If you'd rather save some money and just buy a vanilla TV—because it's not like the TV does anything you couldn't do on a computer—the Vizio is a much better choice.

Blacks & Whites


The Sony had a deeper black level than the Vizio, but the Vizio was capable of outputting more light. In the end, though, black level is significantly more important to a good contrast ratio than brightness: the Sony NSX-GT1 ended up with a much higher contrast ratio.

Color Accuracy


Both TVs had roughly the same color performance.

Motion


The Vizio didn't have as many motion problems as the Sony.

Viewing Effects


Practically speaking, these two TVs' viewing angles are about the same. If you want to get technical, the Vizio has a wider angle, but it wasn't by much.

Connectivity


The main difference between these two TVs has nothing to do with picture quality—neither TV soundly bested the other. In terms of connectivity, however, the Sony has a bit of a trump card: an ethernet port. Not only does this give the Sony NSX-46GT1 online features, but the Google TV platform give the TV an actual internet browser.

 

Conclusion

 

Series Comparison

Exx0VA Series


The Exx0VA series is a very basic set of LCDs from Vizio. Don't expect online connectivity or the greatest picture quality.

Meet the tester

Mark Brezinski

Mark Brezinski

Senior Writer

@markbrezinski

Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.

See all of Mark Brezinski's reviews

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