This is an older model Vizio plasma TV that has received a lot of attention lately due to significant price drops. This article is a brief review of the 42” HD Vizio plasma TV. You can find this television for sale at Costco, Target, Sam’s Club in addition to many online retailers.

Vizio plasma TV Overview

It comes with a remote control, integrated NTSC/ATSC Tuner and detachable side mounted speakers. The only color offered on this model is black. The 42” Vizio plasma TV has a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. While on the surface this may seem to be great, once you have a chance to see the TV you realize why the cost is so low. Budget plasma TV’s seem to be at the forefront these days and this television is leading the charge.

Out of the box the picture quality on this model is not stunning, but definitely not horrible either. Colors appear muted when compared to higher cost models, but again are not completely unpalatable. Some slight tweaks inside the color settings can help to bring a little more life to the Vizio plasma TV, but are unable to recreate the stunning images of the higher priced new models.

Users are left with only DVI inputs to connect up your components and these are only capable of carrying a 480p signal. With today’s high end televisions boasting 1080p this television is far less that capable of keeping up. In addition the picture in picture feature of this TV is completely lacking. While you can have two television channels up simultaneously, you are completely unable to have images from another source – DVD, VCR, Video Game, etcetera – up at the same time.
This television also exhibited problems with false shading, and effect where colors band together as opposed to slight shading. This picture problem is easily observed even for people with untrained eyes. While the picture quality was at best adequate, the additional features on the Vizio plasma TV did nothing to impress. A distinct lack of ways to input HD sources to this television was the most glaring omission.
This renders the picture in picture pretty much useless. The one area that the Vizio does excel at is price. It is far and away one of the cheaper models on the market, but for the extra money you probably are better served getting a high quality product. That is not to say that the you should not get the Vizio, but be warned that you are getting what you pay for.