Vizio SV470XVT LCD HDTV cuts the price of 120Hz

Vizio isn't known for high-end HDTVs. The by-now-ubiquitous flat-panel HDTV name made its hay selling cut-rate LCDs and plasmas at Costco and then Wal-Mart, avoiding the big-box electronics specialty chains like Best Buy to focus on reaching out the the bargain-hunting masses. The strategy paid off with sales strong enough to challenge heavyweights like Samsung and Sony.

Now Vizio encroaches even further into the territory of more well-known brands by offering its first LCD models with a 120Hz refresh rate. The 47-inch SV470XVT ($1,699 list), which we reviewed, and its 42-inch brother the SV420XVT ($1,399 list), are the least-expensive HDTVs available with that refresh rate and its accompanying de-judder video processing. Briefly, 120Hz is designed to address the issue of LCDs blurring during fast motion--something we've always found difficult to spot in side-by-side comparisons with real program material--but its main visible effect is to impart smoothness to moving images by removing judder.

That smoothness should be seen to be appreciated, and while we're not its biggest fans on any 120Hz HDTV, we were intrigued by the additional optional available on Vizio's version. The SV470XVT we reviewed has a second setting for 120Hz de-judder, called Real Cinema, that lets you tweak the processing more than with other HDTVs.

For more info, and our take on non-120Hz aspects of its picture quality, check out the full review.

Read our Vizio SV470XVT review