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  • Introduction

  • Tour & Design

  • Performance: Summary

  • Performance: Blacks & Whites

  • Performance: Color

  • Performance: Motion

  • Performance: Viewing Effects

  • Remote Control

  • Audio

  • Connectivity

  • Controls & Menus

  • Formats & Media

  • Power Consumption

  • Conclusion

  • Introduction
  • Tour & Design
  • Performance: Summary
  • Performance: Blacks & Whites
  • Performance: Color
  • Performance: Motion
  • Performance: Viewing Effects
  • Remote Control
  • Audio
  • Connectivity
  • Controls & Menus
  • Formats & Media
  • Power Consumption
  • Conclusion

Introduction

Tour & Design

**Front**

From the front the Vizio VF550XVT is domnated by its large 55-inch LCD display. The display is edged with a simple black bezel. Vizio has added some styling below the bezel, with a grey and chrome speaker and a transparent plastic strip that sits between it and the bezel.

**Back**

The only major features on the back of the Vizio VF550XVT are the collection of ports found towards the right-hand side when facing the back toward the bottom.

**Sides**

The left side of the VF550XVT has the on-tv controls and an additional collection of ports. The right side is featureless.

**Stand/Mount**

The Vizio VF550XVT's stand is a simple glossy plastic affair that doesn't swivel.

**Controls**

The on-tv controls of the Vizio VF550XVT are found on the left side, just above a small collection of ports.

**Remote**

The Vizio VF550XVT's remote is standard fare from Vizio. On the front you have a glossy black finish with a textured metalic plastic bit at the bottom with the Vizio logo on it. The back of the remote is made from matte soft-touch plastic.

**In The Box***(8.0)*

The Vizio VF550XVT ships with a power cord, manuals, remote and batteries and, in typical Vizio fashion, also includes an HDMI cable, something most manufacturers don't include in the box.

**Aesthetics***(5.0)*

The Vizio VF550XVT will likely cause mixed reactions. The speaker bar at the bottom of the television is really it's only nod towards styling. Some will like it's somewhat retro/futuristic look, but others will find it hideous. We have to admit we weren't huge fans when we first pulled the VF550XVT out of the box, but do admit that it's grown on us a bit as we've spent more time with the television.

Performance: Summary

**Calibration**

In order to ensure that we are testing a television at its best we spend a significant amount of time calibrating the television using DisplayMate software. Our calibration process is focused on ensuring that the television produces the most accurate colors, white and blacks. You can pay someone to come to your home and calibrate your television if you wish, but you may want to give our calibration options below a try before you shell out your hard earned cash.

With the Vizio VF550XVT we did run into an interesting issue, specifically related to the Contrast level. Contrast is used to adjust the way white are displayed, but since whites on a television are made up of a combination of red, green and blue lights it also effects the way those colors are displayed. In our calibration process we want to ensure that colors can be differentiated across the maximum range of intensities, which range from 0 to 255. We found that with the Vizio VF550XVT we were able to get a good range of whites at a much higher contrast level than we eventually calibrated at, but found problems with the range of colors available. We had to turn it down much lower (to 25) in order to get the maximum range of all the colors. What this also means, however, is that the screen's brightness is significantly lower than it could otherwise be. We discuss this more in our testing sections below.

Performance: Blacks & Whites

**Black Level***(5.22)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#blacklevel)

We measured the Vizio VF550XVT's black level at 0.36 candelas per meter squared (cd/m2). This is an unimpressive black level, higher than the average of 0.25 cd/m2 we've seen for all televisions we've reviewed, although it is slightly better than the 0.41 cd/m2 we measured from the Vizio SV470XVT.

**Peak Brightness***(7.70)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#peakwhite)

Peak brightness is the opposite of black level, it represents the brightest white that a television can produce. The Vizio VF550XVT's peak brightness was measured at 251.3 cd/m2. This is probably a bit lower than we'd like to see. Our average peak brightness for all televisions we've reviewed comes in significantly higher than this at 295.76 cd/m2, and this includes Plasma television that usually have a much lower peak brightness. The Vizio SV470XVT for example achieved a peak brightness much higher than the VF550XVT at 374.93 cd/m2. That said 251.3 cd/m2 is plenty bright for most situations.

You should note that the peak brightness we measure is constrained by our calibration of the television. If you really want a much brighter screen you can achieve this by cranking up the contrast control on the television. Just note that in the process you will lose all kinds of color accuracy and detail in your scenes. We calibrate for maximum accuracy of colors and greyscale, not to produce the brightest white.

**Contrast***(5.49)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#contrastratio)

Contrast tells you how wide the range between a television's deepest black and brightest white is. As such we just take the two numbers from the scores above and divide them to produce the Vizio VF550XVT's contrast ratio of 698:1. This is not a very impressive contrast ratio, as you may have guessed as we were not particularly impressed by either the black level or peak brightness of the VF550XVT. In fact the VF550XVT's contrast ratio is the lowest we have measured to date.

What this means in practice is that the range in which the VF550XVT can make fine adjustments along the greyscale is relatively limited. The larger the contrast ratio a television has the wider this range the more likely your eye is able to pick up subtle changes in the greyscale. This is important for identifying fine detail in many scenes.

As we mentioned above the VF550XVT's poor contrast ratio is partly the result of our calibration decisions, which are focused on getting the maximum accuracy out of both color and greyscale. As we discuss in our calibration section we found ourselves setting the contrast of the VF550XVT much lower than we would have liked because turning it up further erased fine detail at the higher end of the color spectrum. If you really just want to boost the contrast ratio you can do so by turning the contrast number on the television up much higher than our calibrated setting, but of course you will run into the same problem with lost detail and color accuracy that we were correcting for.

**Tunnel Contrast***(8.54)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#tunnelcontrast)

Some televisions have trouble holding the black level steady as black takes up less and less of the display. This is what we're looking for in this test as we measure the black level with the percentage of black on the screen ranging from 5% black to 90% black. Below you can see our results in a chart.

What we found on the VF550XVT is that although the black level did rise a bit as the percentage of black on the screen decreased, the increase was minimal. We saw black level go from 0.36 cd/m2 to 0.56 cd/m2. Although significant in percentage terms it's not going to have a huge impact on your viewing experience.

**White Falloff***(9.80)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#whitefalloff)

In this test we are doing the opposite of our tunnel contrast test; that is we are looking at what happens to the peak brightness as we reduce the amount of white on the screen. Below you can see the results of our testing in a chart.

As should be clear from the chart there was almost no variation in the peak brightness on the Vizio VF550XVT. This is what we expect to see from an LCD television, white falloff is usually a much larger problem with Plasma television's like the Samsung PN50A760.

**Uniformity***(7.13)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#uniformity)

Here we are looking for how uniform black and white on the display are. To do this test we put up a totally black and totally white screen and check for areas of inconsistency. With the Vizio VF550XVT we found that the white screen was smoothly uniform with no obvious blotches and only minimal dimming at the corners and the edges. The black screen, however, did not fare as well. We noticed significant leakage at the corners and edges of the display, with these areas much brighter than the center of the screen. These areas of brightness extended over a large portion of the display, creating blotches that were easily seen. This is a problem because it means that you're unlikely to get consistent black levels across the display, something that you will likely notice in very dark scenes.

**Greyscale Gamma***(7.19)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#greyscalegamma)

Greyscale gamma refers to the curve along which changes in greys are made by a display from the deepest black, through middle greys all the way up to the brightest white. The Vizio VF550XVT did a reasonable job in this test, with a gamma of 2.67, just a bit higher than our ideal of 2.2. Below you can see a graph of the VF550XVT's gamma curve.

You'll note that the curve is very smooth, with no obvious bumpiness or plateaus that would indicate that there are areas where changes in the greyscale occur abruptly or in directions we would not expect. Below we graph the same curve logarithmically, which gives you a better idea of how the curve actually appears to our eyes as human eyes can only discern multiplicative changes in intensity rather than arithmetic. What that means is you actually need to double the intensity, rather than just increasing it by a fixed amount, for the human eye to see the change.

Plotted logarithmically you'll note once again that the VF550XVT's performance is relatively smooth. On some television's you'll see significant jumps or zig zags on this curve, not so with the VF550XVT.

That said the gamma curve is a bit steeper than we would like, what this means is that changes along the greyscale occur more aggressively than ideal. This is likely related to the limited contrast ratio we saw above as well as a more aggressive gamma curve means that any change you make along the greyscale takes up more 'space' than a shallower gamma curve would.

**Resolution Scaling***(7.78)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#resolutionscaling)

Although the Vizio VF550XVT is a 1080p television, which means that it can handle the highest quality of HD content, you will find that this level of content is actually rare, limited to Blu-Ray discs. In practice you will find yourself watching a wide variety of standard definition and high definition content, which is available in three major formats apart from 1080p: 480p, 720p and 1080i. In this section we look at how the VF550XVT handles content at these different resolutions.

480p**(7.60)**

Commonly known as standard definition this is the resolution of old-style televisions and is still what you get from a lot of sources including DVDs and standard definition broadcasts. On the VF550XVT we saw the standard issue with overscan using 480p content. This means that about 3% of the screen on the top, bottom left and right are all slightly cut off. As you would expect from a lower resolution we had some trouble reading very small text on the display, but we didn't see any problems with moire patterns.

720p**(8.00)**

This is a common HD standard that is used by many sports broadcasts and online HD content like what you would get from the iTunes store. Sometimes overscan is a problem with 720p content, but we were pleased to see that this wasn't the case with the Vizio VF550XVT. We did still have some legibility issues with text on the screen, but otherwise resolution was not a problem and neither were moire patterns.

1080i**(7.75)**

This is the most common type of HD content that you actually receive from your cable or satellite provider. 1080i content is used instead of 1080p because the 'i' in 1080i stands for interlaced. This means that what appears on your screen is interlaced between two separate signals of 540 vertical lines. This means that broadcasters only have to send half the data that a 1080p signal would require.

1080i content on the Vizio VF550XVT looked good, there was no overscan or moire problems and we were able to discern a much smaller font size on the display. We did notice a problem that we had noticed with the display when viewing 1080p content as well, namely a greenish tinge to some patterns of alternating black and white lines. Although it won't cause problems with standard content most of the time, it will crop up occasionally so we deducted a point for this.

Performance: Color

**Color Temperature***(9.82)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#colortemperature)

Just like stars, which give off white light in a variety of colors ranging from cool red to super-hot blue, televisions also have a temperature for the white light that they give off. In our calibration process we set the television to have a color temperature of 6500 Kelvin. A good television will keep this color temperature constant across the greyscale from the deepest greys all the way up to the brightest white. In this test we look at whether that is indeed the case with the Vizio VF550XVT.

Above you see a graph which plots the color temperature of the VF550XVT against the greyscale. Right in the center you see 6500 Kelvin, with the VF550XVT's performance graphed around it. You can see that there isn't a lot of variation away from the center, even once you get to darker greys, where we expect to see the greatest variation, the Vizio VF550XVT's performance in this test is very good compared to many other televisions.

The reason that we aren't concerned about the small amount of variation that we do see is because the human eye isn't super sensitive to variation in color temperature. Above you can see the same date form the first chart plotted slightly different. Each dot on the chart represents one of our readings. You can see that most of the data points lie right in the center of the chart, where we want them. More importantly they lie within the red circle. This circle represents the area within which variation in color temperature is not discernible to the human eye. You can see clearly here that the vast majority of the Vizio VF550XVT's data points lie within that circle. In fact the VF550XVT's performance is amongst the best we've ever seen from a television in this test.

**RGB Curve***(7.86)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#rgbcurves)

All colors produced by an HDTV are created using combinations of three different colors: red, green and blue. In this test we look at the accuracy of those colors, which is obviously very important. Below you can see each of these colors graphed in intensity. What we're looking for here is a smooth, slightly concave curve that moves up steadily all the way to the end.

You can see that for the most part the Vizio VF550XVT's curves look good. There is a very slight slackening off at the top of the red curve and a more pronounced plateau at the top of the blue curve, but this is very minor. Unfortunately the Vizio VF550XVT did lose some points here due to a processing issue that we noticed.

This occurs when there are alternating black and white lines on the display. In many instances we noticed a very strong and noticeable greenish tinge when this occurs. Although this won't cause problems all the time, it will be very noticeable in some scenes, enough that we chose to deduct half a point from the VF550XVT's score in this section. If the Vizio VF550XVT hadn't shown this problem it would have put up a score well above average, as it is color performance is still above average, but only slightly.

**Color Gamut***(5.05)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#colorgamut)

All televisions are designed to produce colors in the same color gamut according to an international standard known as ITU Recommendation .709. This is done so that when a television receives a signal to produce a certain color it actually produces the color that the creator of the content expects. In this test we look at how closely the Vizio VF550XVT's color gamut matches this standard. Below you see the results of our test graphed.

What the graph above tells us is that the Vizio VF550XVT's color gamut (represented by a solid line) does not match up exactly with Recommendation .709 (represented by a dashed line). In particular you can see that there's some significant error in the blue and greens. What this means in practice is that these colors will be 'off' compared to what the creator of the content actually wanted to show you. Many televisions have problems producing color gamut correctly, and we've seen worse performance than this before. That said the VF550XVT's performance in this test is below average.

For those who like the raw numbers, the chart above gives you the exact color coordinates and error of our measurements.

Performance: Motion

**Motion Smoothness***(7.0)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#motion)

The Vizio VF550XVT did have some issues with the smoothness of moving objects. When using our test patterns we noticed a particular problem with faces losing a lot of detail as they moved across the display. In addition we noticed some blurring in moving complex patterns. That said we have some much worse performance from other televisions and we were happy with the performance of more mundane solidly colored objects moving across the screen. We did try playing with the VF550XVT's motion smoothness option but did not see any significant improvement with this feature turned on.

**Motion Artifacting***(8.0)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#motion)

The only major artifacting issue we saw form the Vizio VF550XVT was a banding effect that occured in solid white and grey bars moving across the screen. This is a common issue for televisions and apart from that we did see any additional artifacts in our testing.

**3:2 Pulldown & 24fps***(9.75)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#3:2pulldown)

The Vizio VF550XVT did an excellent job handling 3:2 pulldown content. 3:2 pulldown is a process whereby a signal that should be displayed at 24 frames per second but is delivered at 60 frames per second is converted so that it looks like it should have originally. This is most often done with broadcast signals. Some televisions have trouble with this conversion and produce inconsistencies and 'jagged' artifacts on the display. The Vizio VF550XVT displayed none of these issues.

In addition the Vizio VF550XVT is capable of handling content that is fed to it directly at 24 frames per second. Such content usually comes from a Blu-Ray disc. 24 fps content lends a more film-like feel.

Performance: Viewing Effects

**Viewing Angle***(6.75)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#viewingangle)

The Vizio VF550XVT's viewing angle is a bit below average. We found that the television's contrast ratio fell below 50% at about 34 degrees from center, which means there's a total effective viewing angle of about 67 degrees. This is below our average viewing angle of about 42 degrees from center, although it's not the worst performance we've ever seen, some televisions have viewing angles as little as 15 degrees from center. Below you can see a chart of the VF550XVT's contrast ratio versus the viewing angle to the left and right of center.

The red line indicates the point at which the contrast ratio falls below 50% of the maximum. The Vizio VF550XVT's means that it should be ok for rooms where you'll have a large couch or even a couch and a love seat that sit in front of the television. If you want a television for a very large room with a very wide angle of seating, however, the VF550XVT probably isn't your best choice.

**Reflectance***(6.0)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#reflectance)

We found that the Vizio VF550XVT did have some problems with reflected light off the screen. Light shone directly on the screen did not diffuse very well, we were able to make out every one of the LED  lights we use for this test. As you would expect the effect was more pronounced using a black screen versus a white, but it was there in both cases. Even when we shifted the light to an angle away from the screen we found that in many positions the light was still annoyingly obvious. We recommend you get some soft lighting for your room if you buy the VF550XVT, or just make sure that none of the lights are in a position to reflect off the display.

**Video Processing***(2.0)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm)

As with most televisions the Vizio VF550XVT offers several different video processing controls that claim to help improve your picture quality in certain situations. Below is a table with our experience for each. The bottom line is that we saw some effects for three of the controls, the most noticeable was with the Advanced Adaptive Luma.

Remote Control

**Ergonomics & Durability***(5.25)*

The Vizio VF550XVT's remote looks to be the same one we saw on the Vizio VO47L. This means it's long and hefty, although it does have a soft-touch finish on the back that makes it easier to grip. When holding the remote with our thumb over the directional pad we found it to be a bit bottom heavy, something that only gets worse as you shift your hand up the remote. Whenever you hit a bottom you get a soft orange light from the keys, which make them easier to see in the dark without hurting your eyes.

The buttons are soft rubber and offer good key travel, but we would have liked to get a bit more tactile feedback when pressed. We are a bit concerned about durability, specifically in regards to the battery cover, which doesn't have a strong latch and slides on/off. This sort of design can get broken or worn out easily.

**Button Layout & Use***(5.5)*

Due to the Vizio VF550XVT remote's length you'll find yourself shifting your hand up and down a lot, especially if you have smaller hands. That said the main controls are within easy reach of the directional pad when the remote is held at neutral. Everything else, however, is going to require you move your hand about, and as we mentioned above the remote is a bit bottom-heavy in all held positions.

The VF550XVT's remote doesn't offer the extreme range of angles for control as some other remotes we've seen, it stopped working for us at an angle of about 20 degrees from the plan of the television's screen. We did like that the remote is well labeled. There are a few controls that will require a manual to figure out, but most are clearly labeled.

**Programming & Flexibility***(5.5)*

If you wish you can use the Vizio VF550XVT's remote to control other pieces of your home theatre setup. There are clear instructions in the manual on how to do this and there's also a list of access codes for other pieces of equipment at the back of the manual.

Audio

**Sound Quality***(7.0)*

We were very happy with the audio quality of the VF550XVT. Vizio's sound bar may not necessarily be the prettiest thing in the world, but the quality of audio it provided was amongst the best we've heard from a television's built-in speakers. Unless you want a real surround sound experience you should find the VF550XVT's audio quality to be more than acceptable.

**Surround Sound***(4.0)*

Like most televisions the Vizio VF550XVT offers a simulated surround sound mode. We did notice that audio had a bit more depth when this feature was turned on, but the difference from the standard, and already very good, audio quality was not huge. The reality is that despite the solid sound quality from the VF550XVT you're still going to be better off with a real surround sound system if you want that experience. Even an inexpensive setup will be better than the VF550XVT's simulated surround sound mode.

**Loudness***(7.25)*

Despite having a very obvious and very big speaker right on the front of the television the Vizio VF550XVT's maximum volume came in at a less than overwhelming 72.5 decibels. This is at the lower end of the range we see for HDTVs, which falls between 70-90 decibels. This means that if you're really going to want to get some super loud sounds out the VF550XVT you'll want to get your own speaker system.

Connectivity

**Input Ports***(8.0)*

The Vizio VF550XVT offers a very good selection of input ports, highlighted by five HDMI ports. Four of those are found on the back and one on the left side. Also on the left side you'll find a component input, analog audio input and analog video input.

On the back you'll find an additional component input, two analog audio inputs, another analog video input, VGA input and an associated 3.5mm audio input for audio from your computer. You'll also find the antenna port on the back, with support for digital and analog cable and OTA signals as well as the S-video input.

**Output Ports***(2.0)*

As is typical with most televisions the Vizio VF550XVT features only two output ports, both for audio and both found on the back. These are one analgo audio out and one optical audio out.

**Other Connections***(0.0)*

The Vizio VF550XVT has no wireless connectivity options.

**Media***(0.0)*

Despite being at the top of Vizio's lineup of televisions the Vizio VF550XVT doesn't include any media connectivity options like card readers or a USB port, which most high-end televisions do.

**Placement***(7.0)*

We were very happy with the placement of ports on the Vizio VF550XVT. Unlike the Vizio VO47L, which placed its ports on a long strip across the entire back, the VF550XVT arranges its ports in two tight groupings. The first is found right on the left side of the television near the bottom, making them very easy to access. The ports on the back are a bit more difficult, but definitely easier than the VO47L as they are found just around the left side of the television very near the edge. This means you won't have to try and reach the middle of the back of the television to access some ports. Unfortunately the Vizio VF550XVT's stand doesn't swivel to make accessing these ports even easier.

Controls & Menus

**Ease of Use***(7.0)*

The VF550XVT uses Vizio's new menu interface design that we saw on the Vizio SV470XVT. This menu interface is simplified and more elegant than the older design. At the top level you see three (or four if you have cable or antenna plugged in) options. From the top these are Picture, Audio and Setup. At this level you can easily change between the various picture and audio modes. Those who want more control can drill deeper into each menu to see a variety of options. Unfortunatley not all is perfect, some of the options in the menus are arcane enough to send you digging through the manual to figure out exactly what they do.

**Picture Controls***(7.0)*

At it's most basic you can choose from several different presets at the top level of the menu by pressing left/right when Picture is selected. These presets are Custom, Standard, Movie, Game, Vivid, Football, Golf, Basketball and Baseball. The custom option will enable whatever settings you have picked form the last time you adjusted more advanced  Picture options. To access these features press the center select key on the remote's 4-way control to see the first level of Picture options.

Here you will see the basic picture controls, including Backlight, Brightness, Contrast, Color, Tint and Sharpness. These stretch across two pages. The second page includes two additional options, one to reset all of these features to their default and a second to access Advanced Video features.

In the Advanced Video section you will find the following options: Noise Reduction, Color Enhancement, Advanced Adaptive Luma, Backlight Control, Color Temperature and Smooth Motion. Many of these features are discussed in our Video Processing section. Many of these features offer multiple options and some even offer more fine control, for example in Color Temperature you can adjust the intensity of RGB directly. Overall Vizio offers a good selection of picture controls while keeping the interface relatively simple for those who don't want to muck around with more advanced features.

**Audio Controls***(6.0)*

As with picture controls you can select from some audio presets at the top level of the menu by pressing left/right. These presets are Flat, Rock, Pop, Classic or Jazz. Entering the main audio menu you will be greated with several more advanced options, including an equalizer, simulated surround sound and controls for your digital and analog audio outputs. Although not quite as extensive as the options available for picture controls, Vizio still offers a good selection of audio controls on the VF550XVT.

**Other Controls***(8.0)*

In addition to the Picture and Audio controls there is also a Setup menu available on the Vizio VF550XVT. Here you can make adjustments to things like picture in picture, parental controls and the sleep timer. When you are viewing content directly from a cable or antenna connection there is also a menu option available to control channel settings.

 

**Manual***(8.0)*

We were very happy with the Vizio VF550XVT's manual. Like most manuals from Vizio it's a large magazine sized booklet in full color. The manual's font is large and easy to read, there are plenty of pictures available to explain the options and there's both a table of contents and index. Vizio makes some of the easiest to use television manuals in the business and the VF550XVT's manual is no exception.

Formats & Media

**Formats***(10.0)*

The Vizio VF550XVT is a 1080p television, which means it is capable of natively dispaying the highest quality HD content currently available. Of course you'll need to invest in a Blu-ray player and discs in order to take advantage of that quality HD. Broadcast television is delivered in the 1080i format, which the VF550XVT is also quite capable of playing back. It also supports 720p, which is the HD format most often used by online HD broadcasts, as well as standard definition content, which comes in 480p and 480i flavors.

In addition the Vizio VF550XVT supports 3:2 pulldown and 24p content, which allows you to view content that is produced to give it a film-like quality. It does not support the xvYCC extended color space, however.

**Photo Playback***(0.0)*

The Vizio VF550XVT does not support photo playback, something of a dissapointment for a television at the top of Vizio's lineup.

**Video Playback***(0.0)*

Video playback from a storage device is not supported by the VF550XVT.

**Streaming Playback***(0.0)*

The Vizio VF550XVT does not support streaming playback directly from the internet, you'll have to purchase a separate set-top box to do this.

**DVR***(0.0)*

The Vizio VF550XVT does not have a built-in Digital Video Recorder.

Power Consumption

**Power Consumption***(7.44)*[

](https://reviewed.usatoday.com/televisions/content/How-We-Test.htm#powerconsumption)

Once you've paid for your television your expenses don't end. Every television uses a lot of power, in the case of the Vizio VF550XVT power costs will be $51.29 every year. That's for a typical family at the average cost of power with the television calibrated to our settings as explained in the calibration section with the exception that the backlight has been turned down to 70 instead of 100. We do this last because we want every television we test in this section to have a brightness of 200 candelas per meter squared (cd/m2), which allows us to compared power costs across televisions. 200 cd/m2 is a good brightness for almost all situations. We also look at the power expenditure with the backlight turned up to maximum and the backlight turned down to minimum, you can see all our results in the table below.

The Vizio VF550XVT's power draw using our calibrated settings at 200 cd/m2 is not the best we've seen, not surprising for a 55-inch television. Still, it's better than what we've seen from some Plasma televisions, which tend to use a lot more power than LCD televisions.

Conclusion

The VF550XVT sits at the top of Vizio's lineup. It's their biggest LCD television at 55-inches and sports high-end features like 120Hz refresh rate. It's also amongst the most expensive of Vizio's HDTVs, with prices ranging from $1800 to $2200 depending on the retailer. Vizio's MSRP is $2000. Lacking some of the bells and whistles you see on other televisions in this price range, like networking capabilities or photo and music playback, the VF550XVT needs to stand on the quality of its display.

In this it has mixed results. The VF550XVT did not impress us with either it's deepest black or peak brightness, which resulted in a low contrast ratio of 698:1, one of the worst we've seen. Much of the fault for this lies in the fact that we had to push the VF550XVT's contrast way down in our calibration process to ensure color accuracy.

The VF550XVT did return some good color performance as a result, with very good reds, greens and blues and a rock solid color temperature across the greyscale. This did have to betempered by some significant problems in producing an accurate color gamut, however.

Motion performance was above average, with no significant artifacting, however even here we have to qualify ourselves by pointing out that we saw some significant problems with complex patterns like faces. The viewing angle on the display was average, and we also saw some problems with reflections, so be careful where you place lights in a room with the VF550XVT.

One place where the VF550XVT did a very good job was in connectivity, with five HDMI ports and very good placements to make all the ports easy to access. We were also very impressed with the quality of audio the VF550XVT was able to produce, amongst the best we've seen from built-in speakers, although it won't replace a real surround sound setup.

Almost all televisions make compromises, but the Vizio VF550XVT makes a few more than we're comfortable with. The 55-inch size of the VF550XVT is no minor issue, however. If size is your primary motivator, and we know there are people out there for which biggers is always better, the VF550XVT may be a good choice for you. If you're willing to go with something a bit smaller, however, you might want to look at alternatives like the Samsung PN50A760,  or Vizio's own SV470XVT, both of which offers better picture quality at a similar or lower price.

Meet the tester

Alfredo Padilla

Alfredo Padilla

Editor

Alfredo Padilla is a valued contributor to the Reviewed.com family of sites.

See all of Alfredo Padilla's reviews

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