Vizio E3D420VX

Wanting to keep up with the times, Vizio doesn’t forget to offer latest generation devices which perform well and are able to offer you the advantages almost all other devices in the branch offer. Moreover, Vizio has always been smart in coming up with a good price as well, besides the quality.
Actually, this is Vizio E3D420VX’s stronger point, the price, as we can guarantee you won’t be very impressed by its design.

CCFL backlighting

The TV itself is very simple when you look at it and unless someone points it out, there is a big possibility that you pass right by it. It has noticeable enough black bezels which are also thick, a larger bottom bezel due to the incorporated speakers and a black plastic stand which is thicker on the rear, tapering down towards the front. It is also thicker than what we have been used to see, mainly because it uses CCFL backlighting, pretty old for today’s requirements. Therefore, as you have probably already noticed, there is not much of the Vizio E3D420VX’s design, so it’s much a function TV rather than a fancy piece of furniture which happens to be a TV as well. We are not actually against this “policy” and this is why we were curious in reviewing this model, so we could let behind the look and concentrate on the content. So let’s see how it went during our tests.

Vizio E3D420VX Passive 3D technology

First of all, we should begin by saying that our 42inch review model is part of a 3-piece line, including a 32 inches and 47 inches models, all having identical specs which means they should also have the same picture quality- at least that’s what the manufacturer says.

What Vizio offers are a lot of needed features which are hardly found on other non LED TVs. The E3D420VX includes passive 3D technology and ships in with two pairs of passive glasses which, to our surprise, are not identical. One pair is like those shipped with more expensive Vizios, featuring a curvy design while the other pair is not that glossy and has a more common looking with flat lenses.

WiFi included

The TV comes with built-in WiFi which really saves you from using the messy cables and which also performed ok during our tests, leaving a good impression on us. Having internet at hand, it is obvious that it offers support for the whole range of Internet services like Netflix, Amazon Instant, Facebook, Twitter, Hulu Plus, Pandora, Vudu and also Flickr, Cinema Now, some Yahoo widgets and some other. There is no support for YouTube and Skype unfortunately, but at least for YouTube there are the other replacing apps. There is also no web browser and we had the feeling that going through widgets was a bit annoying and that there were too many apps in the gallery, which crowded the place.

As for the picture settings, there are nine adjustable picture modes you can choose from, four color temperature presets and two points for fine color temperature control. The bad part is that you don’t have gamma presets or any other available adjustments, so you don’t fully control picture settings.

Good connectivity

In terms of connectivity, the E3D420VX features three HDMI inputs, two on the back and one on the side, composite, component, one USB port, VGA-style PC input and Ethernet support.

During our tests we noticed a good color rendering for 2D pictures, not very good result with good black levels but true colors. With 3D we weren’t really impressed but we must say that the 42inch E3D420VX showed little artifact signs and edged were smoother than on other TV sets, like the LG 47LW5600 for example.

Test and review conclusions

To sum up the review, we are convinced that the Vizio E3D420VX is a good TV with a wide feature offer and impressive performance that would meet your needs.

Specs

• Manufacturer: Vizio
• Product type: LCD TV
• Diagonal size: 42 in
• Refresh rate: 120 Hz
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080
• Display format: 1080p
• Image aspect ratio: 16:9
• Dynamic contrast ratio: 200000:1
• Viewing angle: 178 degrees
• 3D Technology: Yes
• Pixel response time: 5 ms
• Speakers: 2 x Right/left channel speaker
• Surround mode: Yes
• 3 x HDMI input (19 pin HDMI Type A)
• 1 x Digital audio output (optical) (TOSLINK)
• 1 x Composite video/audio input (RCA phono x 3)
• 1 x Audio line-in (Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm)
• 1 x VGA input (15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15))
• 1 x Audio line-in (RCA phono x 2)
• 2 x USB (4 pin USB Type A)
• 1 x Audio line-out
• 1 x Network (RJ-45)
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 40.2 in x 3.3 in x 25.9 in – Without stand
• Weight: 31.3 lbs