Introduction
Tour & Design
The front of the Vizio SV470XVT is bezeled in glossy black. Directly below the display on the bezel is a Vizio logo that lights up when you turn on the TV. Below that are the HDTVs speakers.
The front of the Vizio SV470XVT is clean and simple.
On the back of the Vizio SV470XVT you'll find most of the connections for the HDTV arranged in one long strip near the bottom of the back.
The only major feature on the back is the strip of ports near the bottom.
On the left side of the HDTV you'll find the on-TV controls.
On the left side youll find the on-tv controls.
The right side of the Vizio SV470XVT has a shorter strip of ports for easy access.
The right side sports a few additional ports for eaasy access.
The Vizio SV470XVT has a simple stand that comes attached to the TV. You can remove the stand for wall mounting, but will need to purchase a wall mounting kit that is compatible.
The Vizio SV470XVT's stand is removable so you can mount it on a wall.
The on-TV controls are found on the left side. From top to bottom you have Power, Menu, Ch+, Ch-, Vol+, Vol- and Input.
The on-tv controls are found on the left side of the Vizio SV470XVT.
The Vizio SV470XVT's remote is slim for most of its length with a bulge at the back and a glossy black face.
The Vizio SV470XVT's remote has a glossy black finish and is relatively thin.
The Vizio SV470XVT ships with the standard set of accessories including manuals and a power cord. A nice extra that most HDTVs lack is an HDMI cable. The TV was easy to get out of the box, and the stand is attached so no assembly is required.
The Vizio SV470XVT is not particularly attractive, but it's not ugly either. The glossy black bezel and textured speakers should blend in nicely with most decors, but it won't be a show piece.
Performance: Summary
The Vizio SV470XVT generally performed well across most of our tests for performance with a couple of noticeable exceptions. The biggest issue we saw was an unimpressive black level, which also impacted the HDTVs contrast. We also found that there were some problems in the color gamut, especially in greens, which may not be reproduced exactly as they should be. Most of the Vizio SV470XVT's scores were above average, however, and we were particularly impressed by its ability to reproduce whites accurately across a range of levels.
When you take your HDTV out of the box and turn it on for the first time we recommend that you take some time to calibrate your television. It is the rare HDTV where the factory settings will give you the best picture. Although you can pay a professional to come to your house and calibrate your TV you can also use our settings below and probably significantly improve your viewing experience without paying any money. To determine these calibrated settings we use professional software that is used by many HDTV manufacturers called DisplayMate.
One note about our calibrated settings specifically related to the Smooth Motion feature. This is found under the advanced Picture settings in the menu. We had some mixed experiences with this feature. We found that it could significantly improve blurring produced by motion, however we also noted that it could produce some artifacts when dealing with complex patterns. This may be a feature you want to turn on when you're watching a fast-paced movie or sports, but turn off otherwise.
The Vizio SV470XVT offers a wide selection of video modes, most of whom are targeted at various sports.
Just for kicks we use a 20x microscope to take a closer look at the elements that make up the dot pattern on the Vizio SV470XVT. You can see to the right how elements are arranged in groups of three, one red, one green and one blue. Each of this collection of three makes up one 'dot' or pixel on the display. Different combinations of red, green and blue light are combined to produce different colors. What you're seeing here is how the elements look when producing white. These elements have the typical angled-bar patterns that we see on many LCD displays. We didn't note any problem pixels in our close examination of the Vizio SV470XVT.
Performance: Blacks & Whites
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#blacklevel)
How well a display produces black is key to getting a good picture out of your HDTV. The Vizio SV470XVT's deepest black was measured at 0.41 candelas per meter squared (cd/m2). This is not very impressive. LCD televisions like the Vizio SV470XVT sometimes struggle with black level due to the fact that the backlight on the TV is always on, so some light will always escape. Even for an LCD TV, however, we've seen significantly better black performance from other televisions like the the 46-inch Samsung LN46A750. Compared to Plasma televisions, which do much better on black level because they have no back lights, the Vizio SV470XVT's performance is even less impressive.
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#peakwhite)
Peak brightness is the opposite of black level, this tells us how bright the brightest white gets. We measured Vizio SV470XVT's peak brightness at 374.93 cd/m2. This is quite reasonable and should be plenty bright for most viewers. We were pleased to see this level of brightness even after we turned down the Vizio SV470XVT's contrast significantly to ensure we got sufficient detail in the display. If you absolutely need more brightness you can turn the contrast up, but note that you will lost significant detail at the high end of color accuracy. We calibrate for maximum detail rather than maximum brightness.
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#contrastratio)
Contrast is the ration between the blackest black and the brightest white. The Vizio SV470XVT's contrast was measured at 914:1. This is not as impressive as we've seen from some other displays, mostly due to the lackluster black level we saw from this display. It is in line with what we saw form the Vizio VO47L, but nowhere near as good as the Samsung LN46A750. You should also note that this is significantly worse than the 6500:1 contrast ratio quoted by Vizio. This is because manufacturers turn the backlight on their display as low as possible to get a black level that most users will never see. We do our test with the black level turned up to maximum, which is where most viewers will want it.
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#tunnelcontrast)
Of course most scenes you'll view on your HDTV aren't going to be purely black or white, instead scenes will have gradiations of both. As such we test tunnel contrast, which tells us how well blacks hold up as the amount of white on the display increases steadily. Below you can see a graph of black level as the percentage of white increases.
Almost all displays increase in brightness a little, but we were pleased to see that the increase on the Vizio SV470XVT was quite minimal with black level varying from 0.41 cd/m2 on an all-black display to 0.58 cd/m2 on a 95% white display. You can see on the graph that this variation is minimal.
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#whitefalloff)
This test is the opposite of our tunnel contrast test, so we look at how well whites hold up while the percentage of black on the display increases. The Vizio SV470XVT did very well in this test with almost no change in white level even when 95% of the display is black. You can see this in the graph below as the line indicating white level stays almost completely level as the prcentage of white on the display is steadily decreased.
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#uniformity)
In this test we look at how smooth and uniform blacks and white are on the display. The Vizio SV470XVT did well in this test, with only minor issues. In particular we noted that when the display was all black the corners were slightly brighter than they should be and there was a small patch on the left edge of the display that was also noticeably brighter. On the all white display issues were even less pronounced, with only a small amount of darkening along the edges and in the corner. We detected no banding or major blotches in the middle of the display, which would indicate a major problem.
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#greyscalegamma)
Update: We have rescaled our scoring for this section. The original score was 10.0.
Greyscale gamma refers to the shape of the curve as the display goes from black to white. The Vizio SV470XVT did exceptionally well in this test. Below you can see the graph of the Vizio SV470XVT's greyscale gamma curve. We plot the curve exponentially because the human eye works on ratios, not specific levels, so the luminance increases exponentially. Ideally a television would have a gamma between 2.4 and 2.5. The Vizio SV470XVT nailed this by posting a gamma of 2.46, right where we want it.
To make this a bit easier to understand we use a logarithmic scale to plot the curve along a straight line, which you can see above. The blue line represents our ideal, we want as little deviation from this line by the lack curve representing the Vizio SV470XVT's performance. You can see that the Vizio SV470XVT matches the line almost perfectly. What this means in practice is that the television will make adjustments between white and black in smoothly and accurately, without any sudden jumps, which could cause problems such as banding or lack of detail in subtle changes in brightness. The original curve can be seen below.
**Resolution Scaling ***(7.78)*[
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#resolutionscaling)
The Vizio SV470XVT is capable of displaying a full 1080p HD signal. The reality is, however, that the only way you're going to get a 1080p signal is by hooking your TV up to a Blu-Ray player, so it's important to see how televisions handle other signals. As such we run a 480p, 720p and 1080i signal through the Vizio SV470XVT to see how well it handled them.
480p**(7.83)**
480p signals are what you will get from standard defnition TV or DVDs. With the Vizio SV470XVT we noticed few problems with legibility and resolution, items were clear on the screen with no moire patterns and only the smallest font sizes will be difficult to read. Where we noticed more of a problem is with overscanning and placement. In particular we noticed that three to four percent of the display was cut off at the edges. We also noticed that the screen seemed to be slightly shifted down and to the right. Unfortunatelly we were unable to get the TV to scan correctly using any of the options available, so you're just going to have to live with this. Luckily most 480p content is meant to be slightly overscanned so this isn't a huge issue.
720p**(8.0)**
With 720p content we saw none of the overscanning and alignment issues we saw with 480p content. We also found that resolution was very good, with no moire patterns causing blotches or discoloration. Legibility was also very good, once again only the smallest font sizes we tested showed any problems.
1080i**(7.5)**
Most broadcast HD content comes in 1080i format, so this is a particularly important test if you want to watch HD content from your cable or satellite provider. We found that the Vizio SV470XVT showed no overscanning while legibility and resolution were both good. Where we did detect a problem, however, was with moire patterns appearing in tightly packed patterns. The Vizio SV470XVT's showed a distinct greenish cast to most of our test patterns. We should also note that we noticed even more obvious blotches on the display when the Smooth Motion feature was turned on, we recommend turning this off in the settings.
Performance: Color
**Color Temperature***(9.96)*[
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#colortemperature)
The Vizio SV470XVT did very well in our test of color temperature, which looks at how whites are displayed across a variety of intensities. Ideally a television would display white the same whether it's a bright white or a pale grey. The chart below shows the color temperature of white across a range from black to the brightest white. Ideally we would see very little variation from the center line, which the Vizio SV470XVT manages admirably.
This second chart shows the same information in a slightly different way. Here the measured colors are plotted onto the Lu'v' color space, which provides more information than just the color temperature. The center of the chart is the measured white at the maximum intensity. You can see here that the vast majority of whites on the Vizio SV470XVT fell within this circle, meaning you won't be able to tell the difference. Even when the whites fell outside of the circle they remained close to the edge. The effect is that whites on the Vizio SV470XVT will be displayed very accurately without the color cast that we see on some displays when whites are innacurate.
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#rgbcurves)
The Vizio SV470XVT did well, but not great, in our test of how colors in the signal are interpreted. When a display produces the range of colors you see they accomplish this by mixing red, green and blue. Interpreting the signal received for each of these colors is vital to ensuring colors are displayed accuracy, and this is what we look at in this test. Below you see three graphs, one for each color, that shows you the performance of each color.
What we look for here is how smooth curves are. We want a nice slightly curved slope like a slide. If the curves are jagged with obvious steps or are closer to a straight line this represents problems. For example subtle color changes will be lost and you will see problems like color banding in skies and foliage. You can see that the Vizio SV470XVT's RGB curves are relatively smooth and nicely sloped, avoiding such problems. Where we do see a small problem, however is with peak levels. You can see that the red graph ends in a small plateau and the blue one has a more pronounced one. What this means is that at higher intensities the ability of the display loses the ability to differentiate between colors. We also noted that there were no significant artifacts or loss of detail as we ran through various scenes on the Vizio SV470XVT.
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#colorgamut)
The color gamut is the range of colors that a television is capable of displaying, ideally the color gamut will match the international standard for high definition tvs. The Vizio SV470XVT's color gamut did have some minor problems, but was otherwise good. Below you can see the Vizio SV470XVT's color gamut graphed against the standard, called ITU Recommendation .709. The Vizio SV470XVT's color gamut is shown with a dotted line while the standard is shown with a solid line.
You can see that there are some innacuracies in the color gamut, in particular in the greens and the blues. The slight shift outward of the green means that greens can appear more intense than they should. The shift in the blue is less of an issue but can still cause some inaccuracies in color reproduction. Reds were right where we would like them to be. Below you can see the exact color coordinates that we measured and how far they deviate from the ideal. D65 refers to the color coordinates of white.
Performance: Motion
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#motion)
Unike the Vizio VO47L the Vizio SV470XVT has a refresh rate of 120Hz, and the difference is noticeable in our motion tests. The Vizio SV470XVT displayed significantly less blur at 1080p than the VO47L, especially when we turned on the Smooth Motion feature, although we would keep it at low as higher settings start to produce something of a cartoonish effect. The Smooth Motion had less of an impact with a 1080i signal, where the principal problem was some banding caused by interlace effects most noticeable on white objects. Blurring was minimal with or without this features. We were quite pleased with the Vizio SV470XVT's performance in this test.
**Motion Artifacting***(8.0)*[
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#motion)
We saw no major issues with artifacting on the Vizio SV470XVT, another major improvement over the VO47L. As we noted above there was some cartoonish effects if you turn the Smooth Motion feature on too high, and with it off completely we noticed some ghosting of white objects. Turn it onto low, however, and these problems disappear.
**3:2 Pulldown & 24fps***(9.75)*[
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#3:2pulldown)
To make TV shows look more like movies, many broadcaster use a process called Telecine, or 3:2 pulldown. To use this, the display has to be able to detect and correctly process the signal, which is what we test here. The Vizio SV470XVT did a much better job than the Vizio VO47L with telecine effects. We detected none of the blockiness and jerky effects we saw on that HDTV with the Vizio SV470XVT. Our biggest issue was an occasional glitch in one area of the screen, something most viewers would barely even notice when watching regular content. The Vizio SV470XVT also did a good job with dealing with content at 24 fps, which lends a more film-like feel.
Performance: Viewing Effects
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#viewingangle)
In this test we look at the angle at which the contrast ratio of items on the screen falls below 50%. On the Vizio SV470XVT this angle was 38 degrees from center, for a total viewing angle of 76 degrees. This is about the same as what we saw from the Vizio VO47L and significantly better than the Sony 46W4100, with a total viewing angle of only 30 degrees. The Vizio SV470XVT's performance was quite reasonable for an LCD display, which tend to have worse viewing angles than Plasma displays like the Panasonic TH-46PZU, which posted a viewing angle of 156 degrees.
Beyond the range of 38 degrees from center you'll notice a drop-off in contrast with the Vizio SV470XVT, with colors fading slightlly. What we didn't see, however, is any evidence of colors inverting, aside from some fading colors on the Vizio SV470XVT held up well across the range of viewing angles.
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#reflectance)
Reflectance can be a big issues from some televisions with glossy displays especially in poorly lit rooms with with lights that reflect right onto the screen. Thankfully the Vizio SV470XVT has a more matte display where even light shined directly onto the screen was somewhat diffused. The effect can still be annoying, especially when there's a lot of black on the display, but for the most part reflectance wont have a major impact on your viewing experience.
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm)
As with most televisions the Vizio SV470XVT offers a variety of video processing features that claim to address or improve certain viewing features. As we have found in most cases the impact these features have on an actual picture are limited. If you have a particularly bad picture you may want to try turning some of these features on in a case-by-case basis, but most of the time we recommend leaving them off.
Remote Control
**Ergonomics & Durability***(5.7)*
The Vizio SV470XVT's remote is a slim piece of plastic with a glossy finish on the front and a grey back. The remote is very thin at the middle and front and bulges larger at the back. There's no particular curves or finish to make it easier to hold, and the edges are very sharp, especially on the top. The slightly slick plastic means you'll probably drop it more than you might like. We're not particularly impressed by the durability, although the battery cover is secure we worry that if you accidentally stepped on the remote it might snap in two very easily.
We also found that the balance of the remote was not particularly comfortable at neutral as it is heavily back weighted, and this becomes even more apparent as you shift your hand forward to access the keypad or power button. Key travel was good and most of the buttons are made of soft and comfortable plastic. The directional pad is hard plastic and is more difficult to press, but it does give you a reassuring click when pressed. It's also the only item on the remote that's backlit.
**Button Layout & Use***(5.85)*
When you hold the Vizio SV470XVT at neutral the D-pad is comfortably within reach, but those with small hands may find that they have to shift their hands down a bit to get to the Volume and Channel buttons. You'll definitely have to shift your hands further to reach the keypad, power button and playback controls that sit above and below the main controls. This become readily apparent when you try to switch to a specific channel using the keypad. We were not impressed with the sensitivity of the infrared sensor on the Vizio SV470XVT's remote. We found that unless you're within a narrow band in front of the TV and pointing the remote directly at the IR sensor at the lower right of the TV it has trouble picking up commands.
**Programming & Flexibility***(6.0)*
The Vizio SV470XVT can be programmed to work as a universal remote, a nice extra. There are clear instructions for doing this in the manual along with a chart in the back with all of the codes you'll need.
Audio
We were quite pleased with the sound quality we got from the Vizio SV470XVT's built-in speakers. Obviously it's nowhere near as good as a real surround sound setup, but those of you who aren't audiophiles should find it clear and clean, without the distortion or lack of detail we have found from some other televisions.
The Vizio SV470XVT does have a simulated surround sound mode, and we found that it did a better than average job. Once again we have to warn you that even a cheap surround sound setup is going to give you better overall quality, however the Vizio SV470XVT's simulated surround sound did a decent job of providing more depth. It did this without losing a lot of the details, like conversation, as we've seen on some other simulated surround sound systems.
We measured the loudness of the speakers built into the Vizio SV470XVT at 80.4 decibels. This is at the low end of the range of what we've seen from other televisions, but frankly it's quite loud enough that you should have no problems unless you watch TV in a giant cavern.
Connectivity
The Vizio SV470XVT has a reasonable selection of input ports. We especially liked the four HDMI ports. You also have two component video inputs, two composite video inputs, VGA, Antenna, three analog audio inputs and a 3.5mm audio port for use with the VGA port.
Most of the ports on the Vizio SV470XVT are found on the back but there are a few useful ones on the right side.
As with most HDTVs the only output ports on the Vizio SV470XVT are one digital audio out and one analog audio out.
The Vizio SV470XVT does not support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or any other connectivity solutions.
There is no support for memory cards or connecting a hard drive to the Vizio SV470XVT.
Most of the Vizio SV470XVT's ports are located on a single strip on the back of the television near the bottom. These ports are very difficult to reach, especially if you have the TV up against a wall or corner. Thankfully there are a handful of ports located on the right side of the HDTV, with two HDMI, one Composite, one Component and one Analog Audio input. These are much easier to reach if you want to quicklly connect a device to the TV.
Controls & Menus
The Vizio SV470XVT's menu system is very simple and straightforward. Enter the menu system and you get three options, Picture, Audio Mode and Setup. The first two can easily be adjusted to one of several presets by selecting them and pressing left/right on the Remote's directional pad (D-Pad). Press the center select key to see more discrete options for each, most of which can be adjusted using left/right once again. We also like that the styling of the Vizio SV470XVT's menu has been improved over the Vizio VO47L, which had a much less elegant tabbed interface.
The main menu is very simple and straightforward.
At the top level of the menu system you can choose from a variety of presets that change several controls to try and provide a better viewing experience. These presets include Custom, Standard, Movie, Game, Vivid, Football, Golf, Basketball and Baseball. You can see that if you like to watch sports you're set. If not you may want to delve further into the Picture menu.
Most of the common picture adjustments are found in the main Picture menu.
Here you can manually adjust some standard settings like Backlight, Brightness, Contrast, Color, Tint and Sharpness. There's also an option to access Advanced Video controls.
There's also an advanced picture menu for more escoteric settings.
Advanced Video controls give you access to the following features: Noise Reduction, Color Enhancement, Advanced Adaptive Luma, Enhanced Contrast Ratio, Color Temperature and Smooth Motion. For more information about what these options do see our Viewing Effects section.
You can switch between several different Audio preset options at the top-level of the menu system. Your preset options are Flat, Rock, Pop, Classic and Jazz. Enter the menu to get access to more advanced controls. Here you can access the Equalizer, Balance, Digital Audio Out, Speakers, Analog Audio Out, Lip Sync, Sound Effect and DRC. That last items turns dynamic range compression on or off.
The audio menu provides two pages of audio options.
All other options are found in the Setup menu. Here you can adjust the Language, PIP, Sleep Timer, Screen Mode, Input Naming, Closed Captioning and Parental controls.
The setup menu is where you'll find all the other features.
The Vizio SV470XVT's manual is the size of a magazine and has nice large font and bold orange headers, which makes it easier to use. We also like that it has both a table of contents and an index, so you can find exactly what you're looking for. it's much more accessible and easy to use than some of the small-print book-like manuals that you see for other televisions.
Formats & Media
The Vizio SV470XVT is a 1080p television that also supports 1080i, 720p and 480p content. 3:2 pulldown and 24p material is also supported, which means that it can handle content that has been processed to give it a more film-like feel. The Vizio SV470XVT does not support Xvycc color, which is a feature of some TVs that expands the color gamut beyond the standard.
The Vizio SV470XVT does not support playback of photos from a memory card or hard drive.
You cannot play back videos from media like a hard drive.
There is no support for streaming video content from sources on the internet like Youtube or Hulu.com.
The Vizio SV470XVT does not have a built-in DVR.
Power Consumption
](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#powerconsumption)
The Vizio SV470XVT did reasonably well in our test of power consumption. To do this test we set the HDTVs backlight to a level that produces 200 cd/m2, a level that is reasonable for viewing in both dark and daylight situations. For the Vizio SV470XVT this was achieved by setting the backlight to 75. We then measure how many Watts the HDTV uses, taking several measurments over time. As you can see below the Vizio SV470XVT drew 203.67 Watts, which works out to an annual cost of $39.85 with typical usage. If you prefer your TV brighter and turn the backlight up to maximum you will spend significantly more, as you can see below. We should note that our calibrated settings are oriented to a TV with the backlight set at maximum so if you use our settings you will pay the higher price indicated below.
Value & Comparisons
The Vizio SV470XVT can be had for between $1300 and $1400, a reasonable price for a 47-inch HDTV. It is about the same price as it's sister TV the Vizio VO47L, but did significantly better in many of our tests, leading us to believe that it's a solid value.
Vizio VO47L - The Vizio SV470XVT's sister TV will cost you about the same, and the difference in performance between the two is slight, but we'd lean towards the Vizio SV470XVT here simply due to its support for 120Hz processing, which significantly improved how it handled motion.
JVC Procision LT-47X899 - You may believe that you will be getting twice the performance with the JVC Procision LT-47X899 given its price tag of $2600, but the reality is that the Vizio SV470XVT actually performs significantly better in most of our tests. Save yourselve the money and go with the Vizio.
Samsung LN46A750 - The Samsung LN46A750 will cost you a few hundred dollars more, but in return for that money you'll actually get some value, including significantly better blacks and a much improved contrast. This is definitelly an upgrade so if you're willing to spend the extra bucks we say go for it.
Conclusion
The Vizio SV470XVT is an excellent HDTV. We were quite impressed at how well the TV performed in our tests of whites, colors and motion. It does lack some of the more advanced features you might see on a more expensive HDTV like a card reader or support for streaming media, but at a $1400 price point we're not surprised to see these features missing. Our biggest problem with the Vizio SV470XVT was the mediocre black-level performance, which also impacted its ability to produce good contrast. If you can live with that, we say this is a good value HDTV.
Meet the tester
Alfredo Padilla
Editor
Alfredo Padilla is a valued contributor to the Reviewed.com family of sites.
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