The Short Form

$1,400 ($1,700 list) / VIZIO.COM / 888-849-4623

Snapshot

Vizio's first 120-Hz LCD isn't perfect, but its good overall performance and affordable price make it a tempting HDTV option for tough times

Plus

• Crisp high-def picture detail • Good screen uniformity and viewing angle for an LCD • Natural out-of-box color • Great value

Minus

• Just-average black-level performance • Smooth Motion/Real Cinema feature generates picture artifacts • Can't separately adjust picture presets for each input

Key Features

• 120-Hz display • Smooth Motion processing •Inputs: 4 HDMI, 2 component-, 2 composite-, and 1 S-video, RF Ant/Cable, PC RGB • 44 x 29¾ x 10 in, 62½ lbs (w/stand)

Whenever the economy takes its inevitable cyclical trip southward, consumers make compromises, and they also start shopping around to find better deals. You might have had your eye on a Lexus, but those new Hondas all of a sudden look good. A new iPhone would be cool, but maybe next year's model will be even slimmer -- and cost less. Word is that the new LED-backlit 120-Hz LCDs finally give plasma a run for its money, but what about Vizio? I hear it's also got a new, inexpensive 120-Hz TV.

Vizio made its name by selling flat-panel sets at prices that are substantially below the more well-known brands -- usually through bargain-club outlets where HDTVs are just one of hundreds of product categories lining the forklift-friendly aisles. And while price is usually what draws attention to Vizio sets, our past reviews have also found that they deliver solid performance. The 1080p SV-470XVT ($1,400) is Vizio's first stab at a 120-Hz LCD model. As you might expect from a company that has led the charge in beating HDTV prices down to affordable levels, this 47-incher sells for almost half the cost of similar-size, similar-feature models from such big-name brands as Samsung, Sony, and JVC.

While Vizio TVs have always been average-looking, this new model is eye-catching. A gloss-black 11?2-inch-thick bezel surrounds the screen, while a slightly taller strip housing the set's speakers runs along the bottom. The right side has an unusually well-equipped A/V convenience input with both composite- and component-video connections and not one but two HDMI jacks. (There's a second pair of HDMI jacks on the back panel and another component-video input as well.)

Vizio's remote is a bit flimsy, and the tiny buttons for controlling features like picture-in-picture selection, picture mode, and aspect ratio are concentrated in a dense, non-backlit cluster at the bottom. To switch sources, you either hit the Input button and scroll through an onscreen menu, or select from the row of direct-input buttons at the top. And once you locate the Wide button, you can change the set's picture-display modes. For standard-def programs, your choices are Normal (4:3), Wide (16:9), Zoom, and Panoramic stretch. With high-def, however, options are limited to Wide and Zoom -- a meager picture-formatting assortment.

SETUP

The numerous picture modes include a Custom preset and ones tailored for various sports like basketball and golf. But if you want the TV to put out a natural-looking picture, you should begin with the Custom and Movie modes. Settings for each of the Vizio's presets can be customized, and the TV remembers the adjustments, but your modifications can't be stored on a per-input basis -- the changes that you make to a particular preset apply globally to all of the TV's inputs.

I was surprised by how easy it was to get the Vizio's picture looking good. Its Movie preset only required a few basic tweaks, while the Normal color-temperature mode delivered natural-looking color right off the bat. The Advanced Video menu includes Color Enhancement, Advanced Adaptive Luma, and Enhanced Contrast Ratio settings. For my viewing, I left these switched off: The Color Enhancement options made hues look overly rich or unbalanced, while Advanced Adaptive Luma altered the set's gamma and Enhanced Contrast Ratio made dark images appear too dim.

Another setup feature worth mentioning is Smooth Motion, which has three options in its menu: Low, Middle, and High. These work to control the level of judder smoothing in the set's Real Cinema processing, which provides Off, Precision, and Smooth settings.