Tour & Design

---

The front of the SV422XVT is dominated by the screen itself, a 42-inch LCD panel that can display the full HD quotient of 1920 by 1080 pixels. Around the edge of the screen is the dark shiny plastic bezel which nicely offsets the screen, although it does show reflections occasionally. Below this there is a metal plate that proudly displays the processing capabilities of the screen, and the two speakers are located on either side of this. The wide stand is on the bottom of the display.

Back

---

There are two main areas of interest on the back of the SV422XVT: the power socket on the left side, and the ports on the right. We'll discuss the ports in more detail later on. Another thing to note here are the screw holes for a standard VESA mount and the two hand holds at the top for carrying the screen.

Sides

---

There is nothing on the right side of the display, but the controls and side ports are on the left side of the display. From the top, we have controls for power, Widgets, channel up and down, volume up and down, and the input switch. Below this are three USB ports for connecting devices such as USB thumb drives, hard disks or digital cameras.

Stand/Mount

 

---

The stand of the SV422XVT is a pretty standard affair made from plastic, with a wide base that should hold the screen level and avoid it tipping over.

Aesthetics

---

The SV422XVT has a clean, smart design that's more about function than form. Our only issues are the glossiness of the bezel and the metal plate below the screen, which slightly distracts from the image on the screen.

Performance Features

Display Size & Technology

---

The SV422XVT is built around a 42-inch LCD panel.

Formats & Resolution

---

The LCD screen of the SV422XVT has a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, so it can display every pixel of a high definition signal in every format.

Brightness, Blacks and Contrast Ratio

---

Vizio claims a contrast ratio of 50,000:1 on the new models in the VXT line, but we were unable to test this ambitious claim. Our tests of TVs usually reveal a significantly lower contrast ration than the claimed one in a real-world test. One thing to note here as well: the SV422XVT is lacking the local dimming feature that is on the VF551XVT model: this uses a conventional CCFL backlight that can't be dimmed.

Color

---

We weren't able to test the color accuracy of the SV422XVT, but the demo screens that we saw seemed to have pretty bright and sharp colors.

Motion & Refresh Rate

---

The SV422XVT has 240Hz processing, but Vizio's approach to this is slightly different to some other manufacturers. They refer to it as 240 SPS (scenes per second), meaning that the TV can output up to 240 individual frames per second, although the way they create these scenes differs from other manufacturers.

Viewing Angle

---

We weren't able to do our full tests on the model that we looked at, but it did seem to have a decent viewing angle in the test video that we were shown.

Connectivity & Media

Audio & Video Ports

---

There are a good selection of ports on the back of the SV422XVT. On the input side, these are three HDMI inputs, a cable/antenna port, a VGA port with accompanying analog audio, component video, composite video and analog inputs and a pair of analog audio inputs that are tied to one of the HDMI ports fotr devices that don't send digital audio (such as computers). There are only a couple of outputs: one for digital optical audio and a pair of photo jacks for analog audio. In addition, there is a wired Ethernet port

There are some additional inputs on the side of the display; a single HDMI port and three USB ports that can be used to connect USB thumb drives, digital cameras or other devices that contain digital media.

Media & Other Connectivity

---

The SV422XVT includes an Internet connection in the form of both a wired and wireless (802.11g/n) Ethernet interface, which can connect the internet through your home or office network. This connection is used by the widgets that run on the display, which can pull down Internet data such as news, RSS feeds and even audio and video, such as music from Rhapsody and videos from Amazon, Netflix and many other sources. Screens from a couple of the included widgets are shown below.

We have mixed feelings about widgets like this. The ability to stream music, movies and TV shows straight to the TV could be a big selling point, but these features can also be easily done with some set-top boxes and media center PCs, and these also provide extra functions that widgets can't handle (such as the ability to record TV). 

This display can also play music and video from a USB device connected to one of the USB ports on the side of the display, but this function was not enabled on the unit that we looked at. Vizio claims that it supports MPEG-2, H.264 and WMV-9 video as well as JPEG photos and MP3 audio.

Placement

---

The side HDMI port is conveniently located for plugging in and removing devices that use it (such as camcorders or digital cameras), but we would have also liked to see an analog video input or two on the side as well.

Audio

---

The speakers on the SV422XVT are TK Watt models, located on either side below the screen. In our limited testing with these, we found that they produced good quality sound with decent volume, but we'll have to wait

Controls, Menu & Remote

Remote

---

The remote of the SV422XVT is something of a change for Vizio; it uses Bluetooth to connect to the display and contains a QWERTY keyboard in a slide-out panel underneath the main set of controls. This slide-out keyboard makes the remote thicker than most, but it fits well into the hand, with the thumb falling over the channel up and down buttons.

The main controls on the remote are pretty standard, although they do include buttons for controlling a device such as a DVD player; an IR emitter is present on the top of the device for controlling standard devices.

The QWERTY keyboard that slides out from under the main controls has small keys, but they are bigger than the typical cell phone keyboard. The keys themselves felt rather squidgy on the test model that we looked at, but we weren't able to get an accurate feel for the device as the keyboard was not working. Our feeling would be that the keyboard would be fine for entering things like movie titles or twitter posts, but it wouldn't work well for anything longer.

Controls

---

The controls on the display itself are in a recessed area on the left side. This means that you can use them by reaching your fingertips around the edge of the bezel, but you'll need to do so by touch; the labels are only visible if you look around the side of the display. The buttons are (from the top) for power, VIA  (for the widgets), channel volume and input. 

Menu

---

Vizio has changed the menus from their previous VXT models; rather than the 3-tabbed approach, the menu is broken down into 8 sections: inoyt, wide screen, Closed Captioning, Sleep Timer, Picture In Picture, TV settings, Network and Bluetooth.

 

Conclusion

 

Series Comparison

The Vizio XVT Series

---

The XVT series is Vizio's premium line of displays, with the widest set of features and the larger display sizes.