Vizio's 60-inch Maximvs VM60P plasma: $2,999, shipping February

Vizio is back at it again, this time promising a new 60-inch plasma HDTV with an MSRP of only $2,999. Of course, for a 60-inch plasma under $3k, you can't have everything, and this set features a native 720p (1366x768) resolution instead of the newer 1080p, but still compares well in terms of price to other sets in its class. The Panasonic TH-58PX60U, and Pioneer Pro-1540HD are a similar size and resolution, but carry MSRPs of $5,499 and $8,000, respectively. Vizio's Maximvs VM60P set pleases with four HDMI inputs, two component inputs, VGA jack and ATSC / QAM / NTSC tuners integrated into the set itself. The included Genesis Faroudja DCDi scaler can accept any signal from 480i to 1080p to display on the 7,000:1 contrast ratio screen with its 1,200 cd/m2 brightness. Like its popular Black Friday 42-inch plasma and 1080p 47-inch LCD, the company aims to bring HDTVs with attractive features at mass market prices. Comparing the price tags, it looks great next to the competition, but we'll see how the picture quality holds up when they start shipping next month.

[Via Cnet]

[ariza @ Jan 5th 2007 8:34PM]

wow! thats a great price.

so since it has the Genesis Faroudja DCDi scaler chip built in does that mean that SD will actually get scaled up to HD well enough to be watchable??

I know my OPPO DVD player with the Faroudja DCDi scaler does an awesome job of scaling up DVD to HD resolution.

[xVariable @ Jan 5th 2007 8:48PM]

That's a *shiat*-load of inputs. Too bad it's not 1080p but, at this rate, it seems I'll be ahead of schedule to relegate my 8th generation 42" Panasonic plasma to the bedroom, in lieu of a 60+ incher for the livingroom...

[sc00ter @ Jan 5th 2007 9:11PM]

does anybody actually own a vizio tv that might be able to give a review as to how well the operate?

[Chris @ Jan 5th 2007 9:53PM]

I have a Vizio 37inch LCD and let me tell you - I love it. I've had it for a year now and it has the best combination of inputs and picture quality for the price. And with the Costco guarantee, I never have to worry about an extended warranty or other nonsense. I've had no issue at all with the set and it's survived two moves. Works as great as the day I opened the box.

[alan @ Jan 8th 2007 5:59AM]

I have the 42 inch plasma i bought from costco for 1099 and so far it is fantastic. I have had it for only 2 weeks and so far it is very good. I may buy the 60 inch if it goes for 2700 at cosco in a month or 2

[buzzbuzz @ Jan 5th 2007 9:43PM]

Anybody who buys any HDTV in the next 3 months will be buying an already-outdated model. In late March/early April HDTV's with a new color scheme will become available which will improve the gradations of colors and make the SD/HDTV improvement even more remarkable.

The change will NOT be backward/downward compatable so all the existing HDTV hardware will be out-of-date.

[Ken @ Jan 5th 2007 10:12PM]

What you are forgetting is to reference your claims. Otherwise people don't know what the f*ck you're talking about.

HDMI 1.3 is on the horizon and is capable of higher color depth. HDMI 1.2 currently supports 8bit color at 1080p. The new spec has provisions for 10, 12, & 16bit palettes.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6449_7-6679129-1.html
http://www.hdmi.org/press/pr/pr_20060622.asp

[Jim @ Jan 8th 2007 9:25AM]

hey buzz, thats cool and all, but since there isn't even a standard in existence to transmit those extra colors, it is pretty useless.

[Geoff @ Jan 5th 2007 10:08PM]

buzzbuzz: what are you referring to? I'm sure I'm not the only one that would like for you to elaborate a little on the new technology you are referring to. ;)

[Ken @ Jan 5th 2007 10:20PM]

Most monitors (HDTV's included) currently support 24bit color depth. It may be the media and/or media players that have been limited to 8bit by the HDMI 1.2 spec. I haven't seen any claims that the current tv's won't support the color improvements.

[Chris Heinonen @ Jan 5th 2007 10:34PM]

What else you aren't mentioning is that nothing has any support for deep color, even if it is in HDMI, and no one has announced plans to support it. HDTV almost certainly won't broadcast in it, DVD's aren't mastered for it, HD-DVD and BluRay aren't planning to support it anytime soon. If anything supports it soon, it would likely be video game consoles, but buzzbuzz is blowing the importance of this way out of proportion.

[Kevin @ Jan 6th 2007 1:50PM]

HDMI 1.2 does not do 8 bit color at 1080p, it does 8 bits per color. I.e. 8 bits for red, 8 bits for green, 8 bits for blue or 24 bit color. HDMI 1.3 ups this to 16 bits per color, or up to 48 bit color. It says this in the hdmi.org link that was already posted.

What I've read of HDMI 1.3 is that it in fact IS supposed to be backwards compatible. Of course you won't get 48 bit color out of a current screen, but I don't think you're going to see that on any HDMI 1.3 screen in the near future either.

[Lee Glantz @ Jan 5th 2007 10:50PM]

I think what he was actually trying to reference was the new international standard, which was invented by Sony and friends (xvYCC or xv Color.) There was an article on this earlier today on engadget as well as the other tech sites.

[Geoff @ Jan 5th 2007 11:33PM]

8 bits? 8 lousy fucking bits? THAT explains the banding a frequently see on HD games, movies, and TV. Every time I saw it I was, like, "WTF?! It's *HD* fer chrissakes!"

[GhostDoggy @ Jan 6th 2007 3:20PM]

While I, too, had hoped the next plasma from Vizio would be 1080p in resolution (ahem, 1920 by 1080), I cannot fault them if they decided not to give up everything in the piggybank. Maybe toward the end of the year a 1080p 60" plasma will be around from them.

Anyway, toward the end of March you can find $300 off coupons at Costco making this a $2700 purchase opportunity. Of course, you can get the 50" now for about $1600 (Costco or Circuit City).

[BJHARLEY @ Feb 14th 2007 8:30PM]

Got a good look at the VM60P today (2/14) at Costco in Bridgewater NJ. Very nice. It was next to a 58 (720P)Panny. The Panny was a little better overall (color, crisper picture) but it was minimal difference. The bronze finish is a very high quality and makes the set look far more expensive. The finish outclassed Panny and all others. I was about to invest in a Mitsubishi 65732 RPTV (1080P) but have changed my mind and will buy this when the promotion starts. Costco emailed me a date of 3/26 thru 4/1. Can't wait.