Vizio m321i-A2

[Bluesun311]

Got this extremely thin 120Hz SmartTV to use as a dedicated monitor. At the time (not but a month ago) I didn't understand 120Hz and how it related to HDMI and Display Port technology at all. I still don't know a lot but what I do know is this:

I got 120Hz rock solid stable over HDMI on this TV with my new EVGA 780. I had a Radeon 7950 before and it had trouble with 100Hz+, I figured it was the HDMI input port.

This TV doesn't have a Display Port. If it did it wouldn't be $378.

Personally I think this display is a huge win. Wondering if anyone else uses it or has has a chance to demo one at home?

The only thing it doesn't have that I want is instant auto on/off on HDMI signal (it has 10min auto shut off) and a power button with an LED on the front (very plain on/off on back). It is a very minimalist TV and I continue to be more and more impressed with it. It boasts a dedicated Game display setting as well as a stunning Computer picture value preset that makes text and movies look absolutely gorgeous.

32" inches is a lot more immersive than 27" imo

 

[jedolley]

I got one of these last week with the plan of hooking up my Macbook and my PS4 too it. Within an hour it was freezing on me and the left side was really hot. I ended up exchanging for another model, but when it did work it looked amazing. I may have to give it another shot... Do you have any shots of it hooked up to your PC (i.e. while using a browser or word processor)?

 

[Bluesun311]

Heya, sorry didn't see that reply... maybe I should set up email alerts for threads I start...




From Youtube@720p

OK!

After 45 days I noticed 2 very VERY tiny dead pixels, not far from each other. They were invisible unless on a solid color background and from a certain angle. I took the TV back from where I got it... Walmart--they didn't have any more and plopped down a cash refund without noticing I had forgotten to bring the remote. I didn't mean to forget the remote. Now I have a spare, which is good because you pretty much have to use the remote even if you just need to turn the TV on/off, which is a pain. Overworked girl who processed my return said she's been seeing a lot of them come back.

So I went and picked up a Samsung UN32F6300 32-Inch 1080p 120Hz Slim Smart LED HDTV figuring the extra 90 dollars would get me better performance. I loved everything about that TV except the picture. Blacks were bad, text looked awful, I suspect it needed to have settings changed somewhere important because I was getting underscan, the picture was being cut off all around as if it were scaled too large. And this was at 60Hz because that's all I could get.

Went back to Bestbuy and picked up another Vizio 32" m321i-A2 and my 90 dollars back. Guy in a suit in the home theatre section said 120hz over hdmi shouldn't have been responsible for dead pixels on the first Vizio. I'm not so sure. His theory was that it could technically damage the GPU but not the display. To me anything is possible, here's one caveat I didn't let him in on, though: I attempted to run that particular television at all sorts of refresh rates using EDID overrides when I had a Radeon card and no software that I knew of to make custom resolutions that would WORK with it. I used an EDID override to force windows to install a driver for an ASUS 27" monitor that enabled refresh rates higher than 60. The TV would operate strangely that way but I could compensate for dark color shifting so I ran it that way at 100Hz for a while. The scary thing is it would flicker at anything higher than 100Hz. I wonder if I overheated something at some point and caused a couple pixels to die earlier than they normally were scheduled to! Once I switched to GTX cards and used the Nvidia Control Panel resolution tool to set auto settings for the correct monitor driver and only change the refresh rate, I was able to get gorgeous 120Hz with no flickering or color shifting of any kind on that TV. It still looked fantastic with the tiny 2 dead pixels even.

Back to the new m321i specimen. Again-right out of the box-the thing looks stellar set on "Computer" picture mode (any mode really) and there is no overscan or underscan connected to my GTX 780s. This set has even less backlight edge-bleed than the last one I had, which was already pretty good. 120Hz rock solid on UFO test again with Nvidia custom resolution auto settings and 120hz progressive. I told the guy that processed the return if it made it through the 90 days I'd keep it as is when he tried to sell me a protection plan. These TVs are cheap $378.00 and they do look fantastic. I will keep an update on this but I suspect if we keep our settings to auto and only mess with refresh rates we wont kill too many of these TVs. 90 days is a good long time. If I see any more dead pixels before then I'll probably move to the 39" because there is nothing in between comparable and the bigger ones do 240hz and there's no way 120hz overclock could possibly overheat them. The 32", however, is 120Hz but NOT 3D, all the other TVs in the series are 240Hz+ and 3D.

If 32" wasn't pretty much the perfect display size for the space I have to work with it wouldn't be such an issue. I had a 46" Sony in this space before but it was absolutely overwhelmingly too large. For whatever reason they jump from 32" to 39" in LCD televisions across the board. I think it's stupid, there may be some exceptions but I haven't seen any good ones. In the old CRT days 36" was standard and that would be even better for me if I could find it. I'd spend 200 dollars more on this exact same display as this m321i if it had a on off button on the front and turned itself off with the signal. That would be too much to ask, I suppose.

 

[Bluesun311]

And on not even through 2 hours of operation this 2nd m321i-A2 also developed 1 total dead pixel (visible on black) others were only visible in colors not black...

Don't know what to think other than these monitors have a power/heat problem. I haven't even run this monitor at 120Hz barely 2 hours, last one made it 45 days. Clearly this TV either needs to stay below 120Hz even though it appears to look great running like that or it just plain is a bad design. It must have some sort of protection circuit because I tried to run it above 120Hz and it just black screens with no apparent damage.

Now the question... what to get instead.......

 

[jedolley]

I tried another Vizio M32 and got the same problem I had with the first (really hot left side and no response from remote or power button). I ended up going with the Samsung you mentioned UN32F6300AF and the reason the PC looks bad is because you need to change it to "PC mode". Unfortunately Samsung documentation and menus aren't quite clear on how to do this, but google was my friend.

Source - Tools - Edit Name and change to PC or DVI PC depending on how you have it connected.

Also, many of the "calibrations" you see on the web for this TV have sharpness set to 0, but if you have that while connected to PC mode then the text will look awful. I have my sharpness set to 50.

 

[BearOso]

And on not even through 2 hours of operation this 2nd m321i-A2 also developed 1 total dead pixel (visible on black) others were only visible in colors not black...

Don't know what to think other than these monitors have a power/heat problem. I haven't even run this monitor at 120Hz barely 2 hours, last one made it 45 days. Clearly this TV either needs to stay below 120Hz even though it appears to look great running like that or it just plain is a bad design. It must have some sort of protection circuit because I tried to run it above 120Hz and it just black screens with no apparent damage.

Now the question... what to get instead.......

Dead pixels don't typically "develop." They're usually there from the start and you only just notice them later. Rest assured, running at 120Hz definitely didn't cause them.

 

[Bluesun311]

I tried another Vizio M32 and got the same problem I had with the first (really hot left side and no response from remote or power button). I ended up going with the Samsung you mentioned UN32F6300AF and the reason the PC looks bad is because you need to change it to "PC mode". Unfortunately Samsung documentation and menus aren't quite clear on how to do this, but google was my friend.

Source - Tools - Edit Name and change to PC or DVI PC depending on how you have it connected.

Also, many of the "calibrations" you see on the web for this TV have sharpness set to 0, but if you have that while connected to PC mode then the text will look awful. I have my sharpness set to 50.

Hey thanks for the response. I was pretty sure there was going to be a way to make that Samsung look really nice at 60Hz. But I was also positive it wasn't going to run at 120Hz off HDMI; not a huge surprise there but it was worth a shot.

I still haven't settled on a display at all. I am seriously considering a Benq or Asus 27" and take the hit on real estate. The extra space on my physical desktop is nice as a sort of bonus. Testing a Viewsonic right now but unless I'm willing to live with 60Hz I'm either going to have to shell out a lot more money or buy a 27" display. I feel like it's such a loss, the 32 vs 27"...

Dead pixels don't typically "develop." They're usually there from the start and you only just notice them later. Rest assured, running at 120Hz definitely didn't cause them.

Well I must admit I know very little about dead pixels. What I do know is that when I took the TV back to BestBuy they couldn't see them and I couldn't either. There were a bunch before I shut it off and packed it up so I don't understand that but I wouldn't try a 3rd Vizio after all the weirdness. Plus they were kinda irritated with me at BestBuy because they didn't understand what I was talking about with 120Hz over HDMI. The GeekSquad guy testing the set was saying things like "I have a 240Hz LG TV at home and I feed it native 240Hz through HDMI with my GTX 580".

So literally it appears I can't get a native 120Hz display that can actually accept 120Hz source material without ordering one. Pain in the ass.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BV9AOL4/?tag=ufomonitors-20
BENQ XL2720T

or

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00906HM6K/?tag=ufomonitors-20
ASUS VG278HE

Well I sort of wanted the Benq but the stand looks like it might be a pain to work around. Ordered the Asus from NE (no tax in TX) for about $369 after 5% coupon--it's a lot cheaper than the Benq would have been for me on Amazon @ $442.62 + $36.50tax. I'm sure I'll be happy with the Asus.

 

[Bluesun311]

As an aside I decided to pick up the next size up in Vizio's M series, the M401i-A3 to test its abilities at 120hz. Like the 2 321-A2s I tried, the 40 exhibits no strange qualities with nvidia custom res set at 120hz. Curious to see after a benchmarking session if it gets hot or anything. If it will hold up at that freq. I'd call it a winner but only time will tell.

 

[slats]

I just picked one of these up on clearance from wal mart for $247 out the door and I am very impressed. I experience zero realized lag while playing BF4. The colors are nice and the extra real estate over my PB27Q is a good trade off from the 1440P resolution. I can always watch netflix or amazon video at the touch of a button.