Review By Goldengate
UPDATE 4/11/14: Amazon just released this morning the new Amazon Instant Video app for this TV, which is great news. The TV now streams Amazon Prime videos... the interface is a little strange - instead of the format of the Netflix app which is full screen the Amazon Instant Video app just takes the left third of the screen... however I was able to navigate just fine and streamed a movie in crystal clear HD. (Until today, this TV displayed a "coming soon" message when you tried to access Amazon Instant Video). My original review follows below....
Overall summary: The brand-new (as of February 2014) just-released Vizio 32 inch HDTV is a huge improvement over the 2013 version (the E320i-A)VIZIO E320i-A0 32-inch 720p 60Hz LED Smart HDTV in both size (much thinner) and in sound quality. Picture quality is also excellent. With the exception of the Amazon Instant Video app (see below), the apps work well - they are fast and are updated versions to what I had on my Samsung TV that this replaced (e.g. the Netflix app is much more streamlined). Advanced features like DLNA networking need more development. No web browser that I could find but not an issue for me. Overall this is the first 5-star review I've given to a Vizio product... I am very happy with this TV!
Longer review:
I have spent the last 12 months trying to find a 32 inch TV for my small home gym. Basically I want to be able to watch Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and other internet based video offerings on this TV. I began this quest with the predecessor to this TV, the 2013 Vizio E320i-A0. I found that TV to have an acceptable picture, but the sound (just like on a 37" Vizio I purchased the year before) was TERRIBLE. I decided to "upgrade" to the Samsung UN32F5500 Samsung UN32F5500 32-Inch 1080p 60Hz Slim Smart LED HDTV (2013 Model) which had higher video resolution (I didn't notice) and much better sound (which I did notice). That TV worked OK until last month when Samsung released a firmware update which crashed Netflix for thousands of users (including me) and they were unable to resolve it. Amazon stood behind that TV and now I'm back to Vizio with their new 2014 model which I really love. I'm done with Samsung and was happy to see that Vizio is rated #1 in customer satisfaction (no, I don't work for them, I just love my new TV ha ha)
Pros:
- Picture: WOW, just an amazing, clear, bright picture. Yes I know it's 720p vs 1080p but it doesn't matter to me.... it looks better to me than the Samsung which was a 1080p. Blacks are black. Motion is handled well. The edges are the same as the center near as I can tell. It has different video modes (game, vivid, etc) so you can set it how you want it. Note that the factory default is energy saving and they recommend other video modes for the best picture. And speaking of energy savings, the rating says this uses $7 a year, down from $9 last year.
- Sound: VERY decent. Note I'm not going to say this is surround sound with big bass and Captain Kirk whizzing by your head. For that you need an external sound system. But the tinny AM-radio sound of prior year's models is replaced by very very decent sound. There also different sound modes in the settings area to allow you to customize. Sound and picture are very subjective but I'm happy with both and I sure wasn't with my other two Vizio's. (The first Vizio I added a sound bar, the second Vizio I returned for the disastrous Samsung model mentioned above).
- Set up / etc: This TV is significantly lighter than last year's model. And the narrow bezel means that basically it's almost ALL Screen you're looking at... you don't even notice the very small frame around it. Even the box this comes in is smaller than the 32" Saumsung box ( I still have it so I can return that model ) and the 32" box from the Vizio last year. Literally I can lift this TV with one hand -- it's that light. It was a pleasure to install. Speaking of installation, you turn it on and it immediately guides you through a few basic questions (language, how to you get your TV service), it scans some channels and then BAM it's up and running. The Samsung spent almost an hour scanning channels (this TV is plugged into digital cable directly so it only gets 1 free channel) and then another 20 minutes deleting the scrambled ones. The set up on this is very intuitive and FAST.
- The remote. This is the same as least year's remote. No back light. No big buttons. But you know what, I like it. My Samsung remote had a backlight and looked like a 1990s-era cell phone, 12 inches long and tons of buttons that I never used. Yet it was missing a few things this remote has, namely hot key buttons to go straight to Netflix, M-Go and Amazon video. I love those buttons. Also this remote is light, easy to hold, and when it falls it is sturdy (yep, already dropped it on a hard floor, no damage). Even though the buttons are small, they are logically laid out and I found myself not looking down after a few minutes of using it.
- Screen mirroring (sort of..): New for 2014 is what Vizio is calling "Second Screen Interactivity" which means that supported apps (right now it's just Netflix and Youtube) allow you to stream videos to the TV similar to Apple's Airplay functionality. You see a little icon on the screen as you are playing a video in one of these apps and it then plays on your TV. Right now this is limited to just those two apps and does not work with videos stored on your ios device or with other apps (e.g. Amazon Instant video app). I have only tested this on the iPhone but Vizio's materials say this also works on Android devices. I hope more apps take advantage of this feature in the future.
- Online user manual: Normally I don't get excited about an online user manual but this one is clear and easy to navigate. 62 pages long.
The cons:
- As of this writing, when you go to the Amazon Instant Video app you get this message: "The Amazon Instant Video application is currently unavailable while we are working hard to bring you an updated, feature rich application. For more details, visit amazon.com/videohelp" I'm guessing / hoping this will be fixed soon, but not too cool to ship a TV with an Amazon button where Amazon doesn't work. I spoke with Vizio (great customer service via phone by the way, short hold times and good representative) and they said that Amazon is updating the app to comply with FCC requirements around closed captioning. I spoke with Amazon and they said they are working on the app but have no date of resolution. So for now, no Amazon Instant video on this TV. I PROMISE that when they fix this bug I will come back and put an update RIGHT HERE.
- DLNA sharing. As you might know, DLNA is a standard which allows media devices on the same home network to "see" each other and exchange files. So for example, this TV uses DLNA to see my movies I have stored on my computer. While Vizio gets a plus for the TV immediately seeing the rest of the network and being able to browse files on my computer, it gets a big negative for not being able to play video files that my Roku can. It was able to play some .avi files but struggled with .mp4 and .mpg files. In some cases it displayed a message that the "codec is not supported" and in others it just ignored "play" commands. I tried using my PlayOn server to see if the encoding that Playon performs would help this TV play the aforementioned files. Nope. In this area Samsung was stronger and Roku is still the best at being able to play anything you throw at it.
- No web browser. Most of the Smart TV's I've used have rudimentary browers. I haven't found on one here so far. I wouldn't use my TV to browse the web but some might be looking for that feature. I will keep looking for it and will update this review if I find one but a Google search indicates this is a long-standing yet unfulfilled feature request.
- No update feature. I assume this TV downloads updates but I've searched all over the menus and I cannot find an "update now" feature for firmware or apps. This might be a plus if it's all seamlessly automatic in the background.
That's it. This is a phenomenal TV at a great price. Vizio has come a long way from last year's model in picture quality and especially sound.
Hope this helps!
UPDATE Feb 20th: As of today, the Amazon app still doesn't work.. TV still displays a "under development" message. Also I have not had the issues with the TV cutting off that some others have had... that concerns me. I hope that doesn't start or else this goes down to 1 star!
UPDATE March 6th: Still no Amazon Instant Video and they have taken all references to Amazon Instant Video off the product page... not a good sign. I'm updating the headline of this review to reflect the lack of Amazon as this seems like it could be a permanent change? Strange since there is an Amazon button on the remote.
UPDATE April 10th: Amazon still says they are working on this app. I just bought a second unit of this model for my sister and it has the same Amazon issue. ALSO the wireless setup was problematic -- until I plugged it into an ethernet (hard wire) connection and let it update.. then wireless works GREAT. So if you are going to do a WIFI only install, be sure to turn it on and let it sit about 10 mins connected directly to the internet to download new firmware.
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