TV Reviews

The Vizio’s local-dimming backlight definitely worked magic with Blu-rays like 2001: A Space Odyssey and other reference-grade sci-fi space operas. In shots with starfields, pinpoints of light retained their brightness while the empty space beyond came across as a rich, inky black.

Another sorta sci-fi film, Her, provided many great examples of the Vizio’s black-level performance. As I watched the scene where Theodore first loads the OS1 operating system (his soon-to-be girlfriend) onto his computer, shadows in the dim apartment conveyed excellent depth, and there was plenty of detail in the futuristic furnishings. Lights from buildings in the background, seen through the apartment’s open windows, also helped give the Vizio’s picture a strong sense of 3D space.

One more thing that impressed me about the M602i-B3 as I watched Her was that even in dim light, colors like Theodore’s bright red-orange shirt and his pale magenta desk lamp came across realistically. The movie’s distinctive color scheme was definitely shown to advantage on the Vizio TV. For example, in a scene at Theodore’s workplace (beautifulhandwrittenletters.com), the wide range of hues lining the interior space gave it a vibrant, almost pulsing quality.

The M602i-B3 performed flawlessly on HD and SD video-processing tests. Its picture was also very uniform on both full-field test patterns and regular program material; during my time with the set, I didn’t encounter one instance of spotlights, screen clouding, or any other backlight-related issues. Off-axis screen uniformity was very good, with pictures retaining good contrast and color to around 20 degrees off from a center seat.

Conclusion
Zipping back to the question I posed at the beginning of this review: Does the M602i-B3’s 32 dimming zones make its black-level performance three times as good as that of Vizio’s 12-zone model? While I didn’t get a chance to do a direct comparison, that less expensive set was described in our review as having “impressive black level, excellent contrast, and good shadow detail.” All of those characterizations apply equally to the M602i-B3. Still, the E series set’s local dimming had an “oddity or two,” and I didn’t note anything odd about the M602i-B3’s performance. So maybe it’s not three times as good, but it’s definitely better.

To sum up, I’d say that at $1,250, Vizio’s 60-inch local-dimming LCD is an excellent HDTV for the money. Maybe not quite the bargain that the company’s 60-inch E series model represents at $900, but still damn good. And in a time when HDTVs are expected to do everything from search the Web via voice to let you Skype with relatives in other states, the M602i-B3’s simplicity and its focus on picture quality are a welcome change.