2. Under The Hood

The Vizio P50HDTV has a native resolution of 1366x768 pixels (768p), which is standard for most 50" plasma displays. The brightness is 1000 cd/m2, which is a decent measurement and potentially important since historically, brightness has been an issue for plasmas. Contrast is rated at 10000:1, which seems to be the new hot benchmark, which many industry leaders are now claiming for their plasma displays. As previously mentioned, this measurement is highly suspect as different manufacturers test contrast in different ways. Other features include 60,000 hour half-life, 24-bit color processing, and internal 15-watt speakers.

The Vizio P50HDTV includes two HDMI, two component video, two S-Video, two composite video and one VGA input. The viewing angle is rated at 170 degrees horizontal and vertical. The Vizio P50HDTV has independent input memory settings, so viewers can calibrate their displays using different settings for each video source.

The remote has a nice look and feel and is just the right size. While there are a lot of buttons on the remote (it can be used as a universal remote), they are laid out reasonably well and are easy to understand. Vizio's remotes are all similar in appearance, but their newer Galleva displays have a backlit remote, which is sorely missed here.

When reviewing the Vizio GV42L Galleva LCD display, I found the backlight feature a big plus, especially when watching movies. The system menus were easy to access and adjust using the remote, and it has a separate button for each input. Using the system menus was relatively easy, with clearly labeled adjustments for each menu section. The P50HDTV has fewer advanced picture adjustments than most of their competitors, and there is no color temperature adjustment when using the HDMI input. However, they do offer a dedicated red, green and blue level adjustment that seems to help calibrate color temperature effectively.