VIZIO E420i-A0 Smart LED HDTV Review

VIZIO E420i-A0 Smart LED HDTV is excellent Smart TV in America. Introducing the new E-series slim frame design. The VIZIO E420i-A0 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz Smart LED HDTV is shattering the mold in a way only VIZIO can, with high-quality design and picture at the best value. Enjoy crystal-clear action and eye-popping images in 1080p Full HD and 120Hz effective refresh rate. A stunningly slim outer frame lets you enjoy TV with a narrower border around the picture for a more immersive experience. VIZIO Internet Apps with built-in Wi-Fi gives you instant access to a world of streaming movies, TV shows, music, and more -all with the push of a button on the smart remote. The VIZIO E-Series 42-Inch Class LED Smart TV gives you more of what you love about TV with all the brilliant picture quality and world-class service you’d expect from America’s LCD HDTV Company.

This is an incredibly well designed 42-inch Smart TV with a stunning picture, slim profile, plenty of useful apps, and absolutely low price. The only thing holding it back from being a perfect 5-star TV is the lack of a QWERTY remote to make proper use of the apps otherwise must buy separately and having only 1 HDMI connection.

DESIGN

All black with a very slim bezel and less than 2" total depth. This thing is pretty sexy, especially for a "budget" TV. The stand will make some happy, other no so much. It's basically a fixed picture frame style where the TV itself sits directly on whatever surface you have it on. This gives it more of an all-in-one PC appearance than that of a TV. It sits at a fixed angle that I didn't care for at first, but it's actually the perfect angle for sitting on a kitchen counter, which is where I have it. At any rate, I like the design as does my fiancee. It looks much more high-end than its price would indicate. At less than 8 lbs and with a VESA 100 mounting pattern, you could easily and inexpensively mount this pretty much anywhere.

SET UP

Setting up the TV itself took about 5 minutes. Unboxed it, plugged it into the wall and cable box, turned it on and set up the WiFi. Everything worked perfectly. The picture calibration out of the box on "normal" was one of the most accurate default picture representations I've ever seen. I've been seeing this comment a lot with Vizio's new E-series line. This is rare, as I usually spend between 15 and 30 minutes tweaking the picture settings. About 2 minutes with this one and I was happy. Logging into the apps was more challenging than it should have been because VIZIO E420i-A0 Smart LED HDTV inexplicably doesn't include their nifty little QWERTY remote with this set. More on that in the Apps section below. All-in-all...pretty easy to set up. The lack of a 2nd HDMI port bothers me a bit. It's 2013 and everything connects via HDMI. Add a 2nd port, Vizio.

PICTURE

Having previously owned the 43 inch Samsung Plasma, I can definitely say the blacks are nicer on the Samsung, but that's be supposed to be a strength for a plasma TV. Being an LED, this VIZIO E420i-A0 Smart LED HDTV has more than adequate blacks in its display of HD and even standard channels. The overall display of standard channels on this VIZIO E420i-A0 Smart LED HDTV have a decent looking picture. HD movies are true 1080p and beautiful.The picture on this TV is stunning with vibrant colors and deeper blacks than I expected from an edge lit LED setup. The slim bezel really helps the picture pop and, as I noted above, the default picture settings are very accurate. There are several picture mode presets, including an eye-popping "vibrant" setting for those preferring boosted color saturation. I've never seen a TV of this size at any price point with a better picture.

SOUND

This set has stereo 2W front-firing speakers built-in which can be set to mono, stereo, or a simulated surround setting. If you're going to be gaming or watching movies on this set, you'll want a sound bar or a decent 2.1/3.1 setup, for everyone else these built-in speakers will suffice. I think the sound quality of this TV is adequate, not awesome, but adequate. If you're wanting an impressive home theater experience from an audio standpoint then I think a sound bar or a surround sound system would be the way to go here.When set on the simulated surround mode the sound stage is surprisingly wide to the point where it will occasionally bounce a sound so that is seems to be coming from behind you. It's nothing earth-shattering and there is no real bass, as expected, but as far as built-in TV speakers, they do a pretty good job. For my kitchen use of this TV, they're perfectly serviceable.

APPS

I have been waiting for this TV specifically because it's a 42" 1080p LED Smart TV. It is currently the only 42" Smart TV on the market. The apps available are most of the ones you would hope for; Netflix, Amazon video, Vudu, Hulu Plus, Rhapsody, Pandora, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Notably missing is HBO Go and MLB.tv, neither of which are currently available on any Vizio TV. The apps that are available respond quickly, and most can run while the current program is playing (you can tweet while watching the game, for example). With all of these great apps, I was absolutely floored that Vizio chose not to include it's QWERTY remote with this TV. It's a puzzlingly stupid decision as the lack of this QWERTY remote makes using the apps unnecessarily difficult. Once you're logged in to all of your apps, basic searching is OK, as the included remote is functional and responsive, but the lack of the QWERTY keyboard on the back makes using Facebook and Twitter highly unlikely, which is a shame because otherwise they are solid apps.

Functionality
The TV, out of the box takes about 15 minutes to set up if you're taking your time. The remote is a little small, but unless you have massive hands it shouldn't be an issue. When you go to turn on the TV it takes about 15 seconds from when you press the power button to when you see the screen display the picture. Maybe that's too long for some people, it doesn't bother me. The Wifi connection process is fast, smooth, and seamless. As far as the Smart TV features go, it's very non-invasive. Pops up at the press of the big "V" button midway up the remote and it displays the scrollable bar along the bottom of the screen with everything from Netflix & Hulu Plus to YouTube, Twitter, Skype, and Facebook.

Overall, I would say if you're looking to go bigger than the 40 inch range with a HDTV that really delivers in quality and performance without breaking the bank, then this is the TV for you!

This is an excellent no-frills smart TV. the picture is excellent and the sound is surprisingly good. While it is missing some features and has fairly limited menu options the excellent picture quality and built in apps make this well worth the low price.

After living with the TV for less than a week my main complaints are:

can't rename channels
no channel favorites
firmware updates seemed to wipe out most of the customization I'd done to the apps and widget dock
cheap remote without lighted buttons
Just one HDMI Connections

Pros VIZIO E420i-A0 Smart LED HDTV

great picture
decent sound (I had assumed I'd immediately need a sound bar but have decided I can wait for now)
built in Netflix, Amazon, etc.
attractive design with very thin bezel around the screen
large screen size for a low price