Guy Low Price Electronic

Monday, 5 September 2011

Porter Cable Combo Pack - cordless drills, 18 volt

I bought one of these kits a couple of months ago. The drill motor is powerful and the batteries last a reasonable amount of time. The charger is very nice and informs you of the charge status. I really like the drill itself, but it has a few minor irritations.

After using it in an unlit closet in a house under construction, I noticed that the LED flashlight is in a perfect position to keep the line of drilling in the dark because the lower edge of the chuck is in a direct line between the tip of even the longest drill and the little LED. It's a neat idea, but it could be moved (perhaps to the front of the battery receptacle?).

Speaking of the chuck, having a keyless chuck is a nice thing if you need to switch drills a lot and don't need to continually use the same one for many hours. I've never been a fan of keyless chucks, because they always seem to lose their grip on the shank of the tool. This isn't a knock on Porter's chuck, but on keyless chucks in general. I don't switch drills or bits a lot, so I much prefer a chuck that I can crank down on and be sure that the chuck isn't going to loosen up.

Many of you may like the soft-sided bag that Porter gives you with the kit. It's nice, but it lacks a handle. It's far more convenient for me to use a handle on my tool cases than it is to fight with a shoulder strap that is continually sliding off, whereupon I have to pinch the case between my arm and my hip. I prefer the plastic hard case that my old Porter-Cable 12V Ni-Cd drill came with. PORTER-CABLE PCL180DRK-2 18-Volt Lithium-Ion Cordless Drill Kit

I bought this drill in a kit that included an extra battery , a flashlight and a charger for the batteries. The drill has performed well in what little use it has seen. The problem is that one of the lithium ion batteries will not take a charge now. When I put it on the charger, the indicator light on the charger blinks green for a few moments indicating that the battery is charging, but then it begins to flash red indicating a defective battery. This thing has only been used a couple times since it was bought as a Christmas present. I bought the one with lithium ion batteries because I was fed up with the memory problems of ni-cads, and now that one of my batteries is dead, when the other one depletes its charge, the drill is useless until it is recharged. If the second one goes bad, too, I'm out the total cost of the drill. Not much of a bargain.

My wife bought this for me for my birthday in November 2008. The chuck loosens when you let go of the trigger with a hole saw or heavy bit in it. The quick stop function causes the chuck to loosen. The LED light is totally useless where they mounted it, the chuck shades the drill bit point. The batteries worked OK for about a 6 months of low use. The drill stops right in the middle of drilling a hole. Then I let go of the trigger and it will work again but only for a few moments. I put the battery in the charger, blinks green for a short time, less than a minute, then solid green, put it in the drill and I might get half way through a hole and it cuts out. Same with both batteries. I checked the batteries with a fluke meter, reads over 18 volts. I have a friend with the same drill, same problems. I will never buy a cordless drill from Porter Cable again.... My drill is PCL1800 date code 2008 35-BM, Batteries PC18BL date code 2008 33-BM, Charger PCLMVC Type 1 Date code 2008 29DB. I have plenty of other gear, Unisaw, full workshop. My Milwaukee drill is 20 years old and still works great! Only a 3/8" chuck, only reason to buy this Porter Cable 1/2"

Yes, my review title may seem like grand hyperbole, however, I have used this drill on 2 chicken coops, a couple of bed frames, a sink cabinet, several livestock gates, and countless home projects and have never been let down. It seems like it just stays charged forever (not true for the PC skill saw, but that's another story!). This drill not only has a long life, but it also charges up in a hurry. It doesn't seem to take more than a few hours before the battery is fully charged and ready to go. The fact that you get 2 batteries is enough for any weekend warrior. If you are a professional carpenter/builder, this might not have enough torque for your needs. I would recommend this tool to anyone who wants to dabble in DIY and have a handy and dependable tool at their disposal.

Last summer I bought the PORTER-CABLE 18V cordless lithium drill/driver kit (PCL180DK-2) and one of the batteries didn't work right out of the box. I took it in to the local service shop where the guy tested it and told me it was faulty. He said he's seen this happen 'a lot' and he gave me a new one. Now, I pull it out this summer and both batteries are faulty (blinking red instead of taking a charge). So I've had three lithium batteries for this drill and all three didn't work.

With replacement batteries costing as much as half the drill kit, and a drill without power is an ugly paperweight, I'd advise you all to stay away from this product.

- Mark - Cordless Drills - Lithium Ion - 18v - 18 Volt'

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Mini Hdmi - mini hdmi cable, 1080p

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With many HDMI cables costing well over $50, I was very happy to see this one reasonably priced. The cable came promptly in the mail and does just what it is supposed to do. I am enjoying my 15.1 megapixel pictures from my Canon EOS in full HD 1080p on my 40" LCD flat screen. Premium Canon Mini HDMI cable (10 ft)

Canon wanted $70 for a similar cable, but I bought this cable for my Canon Rebel T1 digital SLR at this remarkable price. The cable is spectacular and my images and videos are very clear. The standard analog cable that was included with the Rebel is disappointing and there is a night and day difference between a digital signal and an analog signal. I'm very pleased with my purchase.

I have brought several products from Aamzon over the years, and it is the first time I have come across one that is a bad product. It could be an issue with the specific one I brought. The cable worked for few seconds and then it started creating output that was flickering. After wriggling the ends I figured it worked after I hold the end connect to the camcorder bent at an angle; that worked for 5 min, and then stopped working altogether. I guess it was a loose contact at one of the ends.

I got this to connect my Canon 7D to the TV. I like the low price and the quality of picture i get on TV but the cable is a bit hard to windup for storing in the bag. I wish the rubber compound used to make the cable is a bit softer to handle.

Quality of connection and video seems good with my Fujifilm F550EXR camera connected to my HDTV. 10 foot of cable really helps so I can sit comfortably in front of the TV at a little distance and manipulate the camera. - Hdmi Cables - Mini Hdmi Cable - Canon 7d - 1080p'

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1997 Cheverolet Door Handle - suburban door handle, interior

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The previous reviews on this have been mixed. I don't know if the ok reviewers have had bad luck but I've purchased two of these door handles, one for the drivers side and one for the passengers side. Both have been just as good as OEM. The price was ridiculously low (below $10 each).

One note when installing: DO NOT BEND THE RODS IN YOUR DOORThe lock rod or the handle rod. Doing so will cause premature ware out of your handle (having to pull to hard thus breaking the handle) or cause problems with the locking mechanism. Be gentle and take your time disconnecting your handle to be replaced. Dorman 77187 Chevrolet/GMC Driver Side Replacement Interior Door Handle

I was worried that this would be the wrong color for the gray interior of my 1996 GMC Suburban. Works like a charm though and is the right color. Can't beat the less than $3.00 I paid for it. Exact same handle (Dorman 77187) was available at AutoZone for $15 plus dollars. Can't go wrong here.

this was an alright product, but there was a couple of issues, first was the picture online did not match the real thing, also the lock plug for the door lock does not work, had to use the old one and cut the tab down for the old one to fit.

Initially, I paid about $2.39 for this product and for the passenger side handle. It arrived quickly and was easy to install. I could not notice any major differences between this product and the original product. Even after installing on the passenger side, the door is difficult to open. It worked fine on the driver's side door until today, when I noticed difficulty opening the door. Eventually, the lever snapped off the handle. I am not thrilled to have to keep opening my door from the outside when exiting the vehicle. Now, my interior handle needs to be replaced for the second time in one and a half months.

It was a stock door handle replacement for one that was broken in my old truck. Installation was a breeze and the new handle works great and as designed. The price was reasonable and it shipped quickly. - Tahoe Door Handle - Suburban Door Handle - Body - Interior'

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Western Digital - 2tb, western digital

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this is a great dvr expander, it is easy to install,took 15 minutes including the reboot. you will be able to record a lot more hd movies than they claim in the advertisement. i allready recorded 146 HD movies and only used 38 percent of the harddrive, i believe i will get 300 HD movies on the expander without going past 80 percent. Apricorn DVR Expander II 1 TB for DirecTV Dual eSATA / USB 2.0 Interface DVR Expansion System ADTVE2-1000, Black 1 TB

My DVR's internal storage was okay for standard def programming but when I updated to HD programming, it was woefully too small to handle this. So, I purchased this unit to provide additional capacity.

The unit couldn't be easier to install. Just turn off your DVR, plug the Expander into the port on the unit using the included cable. Then power the DVR back on.

The DVR will then "see" the new storage area and will be available for use. Note, your internal storage is no longer visible to the DVR. This means all of your stored programming, TO-DO scheduling, and guide info will no longer be available. You will have to rebuild your scheduling and wait for the guide to populate over the next day or so, just like if you got a new DVR. You can always uninstall the Expander later if you want to access the internal drive.

The payoff is loads of storage space. I had 3 pages of programming saved before my free space dropped by 1%.

The unit works great, exceeding my expecations. The only complaint I have is the Expander unit makes the typical external hard drives noises and can be heard chunking away when the tv volume is low. However, overall, I would recommend this unit to anyone needing to have a lot of space for a DVR with a small internal drive.

This product is great. I connected to the DIRECTV H24, the newest DVR from DIRECTV. No problems recognizing the drive. Just hate you can't switch from the DVR internal drive to the DVR expander. But the only thing you have to do is turn the power button off on the DVR expander and restart the satellite and it connects to DIRECTV internal drive. It's great to have that extra hard drive space. I highly recommend this product if you have DIRECTV. - My Book - 2tb - Dvr Expander - Western Digital'

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Hd Camcorder - high definition, flip video

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I am highly impressed by this little camcorder. While the size of it is about the same size as a smart phone, this specializing in just recording movies makes this a must buy item. I have a android phone also, but I am happy to have this based on how fast I can record something. I can simply take this out, cut it on about 1-3 seconds and hit record. There is pretty much no load time whatsoever. While this isn't perfect, for the price it's worth every penny.

Pros

1. Speed - All it requires for you to do is cut it on and you will be recording immediately. If you see something, you will most likely have it on this device.

2. Convenient - It's small and compact. You can easily fit this in your pocket. Also the software that comes with it makes it extremely easy to use which is stored on the camera itself. Plug it in your pc, use it like a flash drive and install it on your pc. Everything else is self explanatory.

3. Technologically Efficient - The capacitive touch screen is easy to use. No where as near as well thought out as the Iphone or Android, but it does work. It's easy enough for my mother to use and plus while you are recording, you can snap pictures simultaneously. You can also load up anything easily to facebook or youtube through the included software. It also has a HDMI port to hook up to a High Definition Monitor.

4. Quality - It shows very well once I take the data off the Bloggie and add it to my pc. It does 720p x 30 fps, 720p x 60 fps, and 1080p x 30 fps. 30 fps shows extremely well and I have yet to try the 60 fps. Colors are great and the sharpness is good with some exceptions.

Cons

1. Size of space - 4 GB is too small. Only 2 hours of data could run out and that is on the lowest setting. 1080p runs out much faster. Plus I don't see a way to upgrade the size with a memory stick unfortunately. A 8gb might be better, but a way to upgrade with a memory stick would be the best solution. Nevertheless it is easy to add and remove on your pc.

2. Using Zoom and Dark Areas - If you use either, the picture looks a bit grainy.

3. No PC, No Buy - If you don't have a PC, there is absolutely no reason to buy this. You can only charge this through the USB port of a PC (there are things you can buy to use a charger although nothing is included with the Bloogie), plus if you run out of space, you wont be able to back up the files on your pc.

4. The touchscreen - It isn't as easy as Android or Iphone. No multitouch support and it's not always as responsive as I like, but it is definitely usable.

The pros definitely outweigh the cons. It's a device worth having and I have never had so much fun using a camcorder. Sony Bloggie Touch (MHS-TS10/B) - 4 GB, 2 Hour NEWEST MODEL (Black)

This is a Great little camera for what I use it for. I am a martial artist and I use this camera for recording techniques for later study. I also use it for at home family use. No problems thus far. I would highly recommend it.

This is what it is... convenient as all get out. No cards to hassle with, charging is cake and the battery lasts a good while. Need video...no problem...oh and a snap shot too? No problem. Quality of the photos are good, but this isn't a great digital camera...it is simple and good quality. Wish it had better scene detection and a flash, but it does the job...better than the cell phone, and much smaller. Video is good, haven't dabbled too much with the HD, but you won't become a great film artist with it...but great for soccer and events around the house you'd like to capture...nicely and easily.

The software was cake...plug it in and get your goods. That simple. The built in USB and HDMI are a huge plus. No need for friggen propriety cables to loose...or cards..or batteries...this is simple.

The great...bang!! your taken vids and photos with ease...and just as easy to share them.

The not so great...this is not meant to be a high end camera, but one does come to expect more from a digital camera at 12mp.

I am extremely pleased...

As other reviews point out its agility and compact size. Here are some practical problems after I used for 2 months.

1. Self recording is very difficult as you are not sure if you aiming right in the frame of the camera.

2. Audio is good indoors but outside it degrades.

3. Quite slippery, accidents are expected. Must buy a small tripod.

4. The video is jerky sometime at high resolution.

5. Need to buy some professional video editing software as the bloggie software to edit the video is rudimentary

6. Indoor videos need good light.

7. Zooming while shooting the video is subject to shakes because of touch screen controls.

Otherwise a perfect camera, a must but when you plan to go out with kids and can't effort to use both of your hands to take that perfect short.

I bough this to replace another 12 Megapixel HD Video Camera that was getting progressively slower over time.

This little camera is great and is ready to go FAST, so very little waiting between shots and after turning it on. The touch feature is nice. Just make sure you upgrade the firmware to the latest version and you'll be good to go! The only negative I can think of is that it does not have a flash. I would buy it again.

Purchased to use for child's end of year program. I hate reading manuals, etc and I didn't need to with this. It's easy to use and the clarity is AMAZING (HD).

*I dislike the Bloggie software that is associated with it, but with so many other free options out there - who cares.

The camera itself is fabulous.

Overall

I thought when I opened the package, "Wow! This is gonna be great!" I bought it to take to the Rush Time Machine tour. What I didn't realize was that the battery time is less than two hours, and that the video time is pretty bad as well. In addition, if you want a nice wide screen look to your videos, the microphone is placed exactly where your finger will want to rest when you hold it.

Video Quality

The video is shaky, lacking any stabilization control software, and anything that creates a decent amount of light or movement on the screen will cause it to fall out of focus. Getting it back into focus isn't easy, and the only way I found to get it jumpstarted is to take a picture with it, which is going to shake the camera as you move your finger and press the button. Even taking a picture, however, is no guarantee that the camera will make its way back into focus, and you could end up like me during the sing Witch Hunt, panning the camera around trying to find something else for it to focus on so you can get in back into focus, touching the microphone in the process and generally ruining the whole thing.

Motion blur is also a problem. On nearly every video I took, blur is evident as I pan the crowd. Even though I'm moving slowly, it's noticeable and looks really really bad.

Sound Quality

The focus thing isn't the biggest issue, however. The microphone holes (three in all), aren't located in the front of the unit. They're on the side. Exactly where your finger will want to rest should you decide to turn your Bloggie on it's side so that you'll get a nice widescreen version of whatever it is you happen to be watching. Whoever decided to do that needs to be beaten soundly with a stick. It's a stupid thing to have done, and ruined nearly every video I managed to take at the concert. Even if you manage not to touch it with your finger, since it's right on the side, it picks up the scratching sound of your finger and leaves little scratchy sounds in your video. The sound quality also gets really rough if you're in a concert situation with a lot of distorted guitars and bass, or Rush, for example.

Software

The software is a little buggy, and it's faster to just drag and drop the files into Windows Explorer. Doing it with the Bloggie software is slow, cumbersome, and if you're using a little small netbook, you may not have the computing power to do it in a reasonable amount of time. Bear in mind also, that the Bloggie doesn't charge unless it's turned off, and that you can't offload it's visual cargo unless it's turned on, so while you're spending the 10-15 minutes it takes to offload all that video, you're burning your precious battery time, which is short indeed. Want it back? Good luck. There's no way to remove that battery, and charging it up to full takes about three hours.

Comparisons

I've seen video taken at Rush concerts with other cameras. The Flip being one of them. I don't know why I didn't buy that one. My whole experience may have turned out better. Kodak supposedly makes a smaller camera that is great for this sort of thing. Frankly I wish I had bought one of those rather than this. It's a gorgeous little thing, all sleek and polished and brushed metal, but it just doesn't live up to it's good looks. - Hd Camcorder - Mino - Flip Video - High Definition'

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4th Generation - 4th generation, amazon

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For anyone out there who is considering whether or not to make the leap and purchase the iPad 2, this review is for you. If you're still debating between the iPad 1 and the iPad 2 check out my review of the first generation iPad right here on Amazon to see a discussion of its strengths and weaknesses with a number of people commenting (both positively and negatively) over the past 11 months.

Let me begin by saying this upfront, I don't work for Apple, I don't own Apple Stock, and whether you buy an iPad, Xoom, a laptop or a pad of paper and pencil I don't get anything for writing this. I'm not an Apple "fanboy" although I can give credit where credit is due and lately Apple has deserved a lot of credit for some of their products.

Physical Characteristics

The iPad 2 is absurdly thin. More importantly than it's thinness is its tapered edge which feels more natural in your hand. One of the biggest complaints about the original iPad was it really wasn't tremendously comfortable to hold for long periods at a time. For a tablet device designed to be held, that's a pretty big deal. Apple really has done an amazing job of cramming everything into an even smaller space than before and the difference is really noticeable when you're holding the device. In addition to the tapered edge, Apple managed to reduce the overall weight of the iPad 2. That might not seem like a huge deal to most, especially when you consider the weight difference isn't tremendous when you're already under 2 pounds, but I spend a good part of my day holding the iPad in my hands and the weight difference is surprising by the end of the day. The first generation isn't heavy by any means, but the iPad 2 outshines it.

New and "Improved"

Apple doubled the RAM in the iPad 2 from 256MB to 512MB. What does that mean? For most casual users, probably not a whole lot. There is a performance bump that everyone will see the effects of in things like loading times for webpages that are open in the background, but 256MB was sufficient for most daily use and games. If you're planning to use your device for some of the more graphically intense games the iPad 2 does offer a better method of graphics processing that'll help deliver faster images with fewer jerky movements. If you're just playing Angry birds and reading e-mail you're not going to know the difference.

The screen is the same for all real purposes. It is technically a "new" part in that it isn't identical to the old, it's a bit thinner and more efficient, but it's the same resolution. The Glass is thinner though, and this amounts to a fair bit of the weight loss from one generation to the next. In playing with the device it seems surprising but despite feeling lighter it actually feels more sturdy in your hands. I still wouldn't suggest dropping it, but if it were to fall the iPad 2 certainly feels like it might stand a better chance to survive. Try not to drop it though.

The addition of 2 cameras was expected. Some were a bit surprised to see the first generation released without the cameras. Whether it was for a price point consideration, or a means to get people to upgrade, Apple held off until iPad 2. The cameras do a reasonable job, but they're not going to replace a dedicated digital camera, or really even the camera on your phone for most still images. The cameras do a substantially better job with video, and FaceTime is probably one of the best reasons to get the iPad 2 over the original iPad. For those who might not be familiar, FaceTime is Apple's face to face conferencing system, kind of like Skype, or if you'd rather, kind of like the Jetson's TV/Phone. With the push of a button you can be having a face to face chat with a loved one just about anywhere in the world (provided they're on a wireless network at the time). FaceTime doesn't work over 3G natively (it can be used over a wifi connection created by a 3G device however) so you're not going to be able to use it in your car anytime soon. This is probably a good thing though. It is incredibly easy to use and if you know other people with an iPad 2, iPhone 4, or Mac it's a lot of fun.

Smart Covers aren't really "smart" but they're really very useful. Not only do they provide a stylistic enhancement of the device, but they serve a practical and functional purpose of doubling as a screen protector and stand in 2 configurations. You can find them in a variety of colors and from third market suppliers, and it's a safe bet that more will be out soon to capitalize on the magnetic sensors in the iPad 2. It's unfortunate that this same feature can't somehow be retrofitted to the iPad 1, I wouldn't have thought a case would be a compelling reason to consider a product over it's competitor, but these covers are really so useful it's hard to understand why they've not been there since the beginning.

Multitasking Support

One of the biggest knocks against the iPad when first released was the lack of native multi-tasking support. Jailbreakers added the feature quickly and Apple soon realized it would be a requirement for any future device's success and released an OS update that included the feature. The iPad 2 capitalizes on that progress and takes it a step further with the increased RAM enabling more open applications to be suspended at once, and the time to open or close an application has improved as well. That said, even the first generation managed to open and close apps faster than most people would be used to on their computers, so while this is an improvement it's more akin to showing off.

Apps

One thing that Apple has clearly the advantage in for the moment is app availability. The App store has close to 70,000 iPad specific Apps, all of which will work on the iPad 2. The new cameras will undoubtedly see this list expand rapidly, as will the inclusion of a gyroscope for gaming and motion based uses. There are also a substantial number of professional applications ranging from document creation to photo editing and vector drawing. Chances are if you can dream it, there's an App for that (and if not you might want to get started on one to fill in the gap). The Android market is making a strong showing, and ultimately it'll likely be a strong competitor, for now it still has a ways to go, but any potential buyer should consider the strength of the application market before buying a tablet.

Pros:

Weight. Seriously. The minimal weight of this thing is by far the most impressive feature about it in my opinion. It seems to defy physics and logic that so much could be in such a small space working that hard for that long.

Battery Life. From full to dead my iPad 2 went just over 11 hours with the movie Robin Hood showing twice during that time, the screen at half brightness, wifi turned on, an Angry Birds marathon and a good portion of a book in ibook. That's better than a work day and that's constantly on.

Books. This is definitely a Pro, but reading itself could go either way. The great benefit to the iPad is having access to Google Books, ibook, Nook, and Kindle. This allows for some comparison shopping and price competition (although for the most part they're all usually about the same). Reading in the evenings in bed is great as the back light means you don't have to worry about keeping others awake, but the glass screen causes some glare trouble when trying to read outside or near a sunny window. If you're an avid outdoor reader the Kindle might still be your best bet.

Cons:

Still no dedicated USB support. While there is a camera add-on that allows for certain USB devices to be used there is no option for mass storage. Some of the Android Tablets allow for this and if you find yourself wanting to use your tablet as a standalone storage device this might be something to consider. The device can read from certain flash drives though, but is largely limited to photo and video files. Jailbreaks offer solutions to this, but those come with their own issues as well.

Still no dedicated SD card slot. This is troublesome on two fronts. First, if you want to import pictures from your camera you have to have an adapter which is just one more thing to carry around. Second, the lack of expansion means you're limited to what you purchase in terms of storage. I purchased a 32GB iPad last time and never filled it up completely, so for me capacity wasn't an issue. If you want to be able to have your entire movie collection with you though... you may want to consider whether the iPad 2 can meet your space requirements.

HDMI output. Really this is a Pro and a Con. The iPad does allow for HD output over HDMI but again it requires an adapter. All of these adapters are additional purchases for features that some tablets offer built in. This can be a pain, but then again if you're not likely to ever use HDMI Output then you're not paying for something you won't use.

No Flash Support. This is becoming less and less of an issue as the internet and web developers are moving away from Flash for many websites, but there are a lot still out there relying on Adobe's Flash to run properly (including a lot of web based games). Before you pick a tablet consider what kind of websites you frequent and try and determine if they are Flash driven or not. If they are you may really want to consider something from the Android offerings as it is expected that they'll have at least some Flash support.

If you're in the market for a tablet device the iPad 2 should definitely be on your short list. If you're uncertain it is always best to go and play with these things hands on first if you can. Best Buy is a good place for that, so are Verizon Stores since they have the Xoom and 3G iPad. Don't get pulled into the hype and mania that comes with an Apple release. They're exciting and new, and they're impressive enough to warrant some excitement, but it will die down and there will be other products that prove a strong competitor to the iPad 2. If you're looking for right now though, this is probably your best bet. I gave the device 4 stars, as I did the iPad 1. I did this in contemplation of the features offered by competitors that are absent from the iPad, most notably the requirement for adapters for USB/SD/HDMI. While these features are there, they aren't as convenient as in other tablets. With that in mind I firmly believe that the iPad more than makes up for this in usability, reliability, and design and in those areas far exceeds its current competitors. Apple iPad 2 MC774LL/A Tablet (32GB, Wifi + AT&T 3G, Black) NEWEST MODEL - Amazon - 32gb - 8gb - 4th Generation'

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Sunday, 4 September 2011

Led Backlight

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I primarily bought this TV because I was using my Samsung XL2370 23" monitor for playing my Xbox 360 and it was difficult having to sit so close to the screen (Console games are designed to be played on a largish screen from a further distance, as opposed to PC games which are designed to be played on a smallish screen from a close distance). I bought this TV for my Xbox 360 and also to watch 1080P movies because the HDMI port on the Samsung isn't very good, it's not native support so it's blurry.

Anyways, the picture quality on this TV is excellent. The smart dimming may not be quite as expensive as a TV with a full-array LED backlights, but it works wells enough that really dark scenes look a little bit better, you can usually notice when only one area of the screen has dimmed or is dimming, it just doesn't follow the movement of light colored objects as well as a full-array equipped TV. The contrast and shadow quality is great, and the colors are well saturated. I haven't seen the non-LED version of this TV but it seems that this one does have better contrast because it's the best I've seen on a TV under 40".

The sound is pretty good, it's better than a lot of flat-screen TV's, especially because flat screens prevent the speakers being able to have deep mounts. It's why LCD's always have tinny sound, but the bass is fairly good on this TV. 10 watts each is actually better than average for built in speakers.

Standard definition TV looks pretty darn good if you put a lot of the post-processing on such as noise reduction. Everyone knows SD looks worse on an HDTV than a SDTV, but the plethora of post-processing options help a lot to make up for that as much as purists may not like those. There is a lip-sync option in the audio or video menu that can help make up for the input lag that is added for using these processes.

Movies are awesome. It's pretty cool that this TV has a Toslink/Optical output built in so that if you have a speaker system with an integrated amp such as Logitech 5.1 speakers for computers, you can just plug it right in and get 5.1 from your HDMI. Note that this TV does NOT have a miniplug (3.5mm headphone jack) output so it will not work out-of-the-box with stereo or 2.1 computer speakers or non-Bluetooth headphones. The movie setting in the video menu worked well for Iron Man 2 and the 120Hz and smooth motion stuff makes action scenes a lot less nauseating.

Now the main con I have (which I will update if I remedy it with instructions). Vizio TV's are apparently known for their input lag, which is due in part to their circuitry design, partially to their over-use of post-processing (color enhancement, noise reduction, smooth-motion, smart dimming etc.) and the last one is actually a blessing and a curse: they use IPS-Pro or S-IPS panels (I forget which), which have superior off angle viewing angles and color accuracy, but have far inferior response time (input lag) except in the most advanced and expensive displays. Despite going to a larger screen with way better contrast and twice the refresh rate, my Halo: Reach scores are WAY down because of the input lag. I've tried turning off ALL post-processing and trying with the "Game Mode" (not picture setting, there is something called "Game Mode" in the general options that isn't defined. Usually this turns post-processing off or goes into overdrive mode to improve response time) and turning them on, separately, I haven't been able to get the input lag to improve enough (there is a small difference so I'm on the right track). I tried using VGA with a crappy VGA adapter and it was better, so this is likely due to un-disable-able post processing (VGA is raw there are limited video options when using VGA) that occurs when using HDMI. I also tried setting my Xbox to 720P and I don't think that made any difference (probably because of added upscaling). I'm going to try buying a wired controller (supposedly removes up to 1.78ms of input lag) and using Component to see if it's better. A lot of time analogue inputs are faster for various reasons).

The Vizio Internet Apps are pretty awesome, albeit slow. Because it uses Yahoo! widgets, you can count on their being more options to surplus the already existing options (Great! There is even an app for seeing what my Xbox Live friends are playing! Most awesome show-off app ever, + Yahoo! Finance, weather, Wikipedia!! Vimeo, Vudu, Amazon Video On-Demand, Web Videos...) regardless of whether Vizio is committed to continual support, which is a nice comfort. The only thing that could make this more cool is if you could play Pandora in the background while playing Xbox.

Other cool things, picture in picture controls are intuitive. This seems to be a kind of neglected option in TV's these days so it's nice and nostalgic. The resolution of the screen is nice enough that using the side by side option you can watch both, or switch to cable with Xbox in the corner looking for multiplayer matches (best use in my opinion). Digital and analogue closed captioning (whatever that means). The menus have a nice elegant slate blue and grey scheme with shadows and anti-aliased text that follows the widget layout, and is consistent in little things like volume adjustment. First-time-start setup is cool you can create an account on the TV and choose a picture avatar, you can set parental controls on a profile you make for your kids, set your zipcode so the weather and other appropriate apps can give appropriate information, the remote is bluetooth so you can point it anywhere, the QWERTY keyboard makes text entry so much better, you can turn your Xbox off with the remote! I'm trying to think of little cool things that other reviewers haven't mentioned... Easy switching of picture zoom modes for TV, there is a somewhat useless but cool power button on the side that rotates to change channels, but trust me, do NOT lose the remote. Once you go QWERTY it's hard to go back!

One other thing to note, which may be a big thing to you, this TV is a little quirky. My remote and physical controls on the TV were non-functional randomly while watching TV. The manual suggests a hard shutdown by unplugging it: this seems dangerous and sort of barbaric for such a big ticket item. There is a rather large troubleshooting section: I think Vizio is admittant there that you really are getting what you pay for, this TV saves money on getting the most reliable or consistent components.

I'll edit this post with my Xbox antics. Please leave comments if you have any questions or a solution to my problem.

PS: I would assume everything in this review applies to the 32" (XVT323SV) version as well.

EDIT: 10/16/10

So I believe there is a "break in" period in which the response time has gotten better. I've been using the same HDMI port (side) since I got the TV because I can't find the HDMI cable for my laptop so I've been taking it out of the Xbox and putting it into my laptop and vice versa. Either I'm getting used to it (doubt it, it was really bad) or the response time is getting better. LCD's aren't really supposed to have a break in period, but maybe Vizio does less hours worth of testing so whereas a Sony or Samsung would be broken in by the time it leaves testing, a Vizio is still "cold" per se. I am now able to play Halo: Reach just fine. I'm pretty sure the menus are a little more responsive too. I'm pretty sure it's not just me getting used to it because I'm able to track enemies a lot better in close quarters and the sound seems more synced up well. Because of this, I can recommend this TV for gaming in all but fighting games like Street Fighter because I know you guys need the best-of-the-best response time. I played Iron Man 2 in 1080p on loop overnight and it seems to have improved the response of the screen and/or broken that specific HDMI port in.

Because of this I am changing it to a five-star review. It really is the best value and the best 37" TV as far as I know. VIZIO XVT373SV 37-Inch Full HD 1080P LED LCD HDTV with VIA Internet Application, Black'

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