The best value yet among 70-inch LED TVs Video

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The best value yet among 70-inch LED TVs
Created: 12/21/2012
Video description: Vizio's E701i-A3 is an outstanding value as the least expensive LED TV of its size that also offers Smart TV.

The best value yet among 70-inch LED TVs Video Transcript

-David Katzmaier from CNET. I'm standing with the 70-inch Vizio E71iA3. This is a relatively inexpensive 70-inch LED TV right around 2 grand right now and we consider it probably the best value among large screen LED TV. There's also 60-inch version. I'll deal with that in another review but its equally excellent value. This Vizio TV delivered all the features it expect including SmartTV. It also has pretty sleek styling. And of course the picture quality really decent. So we'll get to all that in a little bit. Let's start with the design though. The frame around the edge of this TV is really thin. So when you have it in a room, it looks almost all picture and that's pretty much a good thing with the TV this large and tried to be understated as possible. The bezel here is a little bit thicker on the bottom. The stand does not swivel. The TV course scene from the side is extremely thin as you'd expect from a LED TV. So all told pretty discreet for a 70-incher. You mentioned SmartTV, Vizio suite has excellent content that includes Amazon, Instant, plus, Netflix. All the big players are there and there's only plenty audio including Rhapsody and Pandora. So really one of the best in content selections out there amongst Smart TV Suites. The interface itself does seem a little dated. It pops up along the bottom. It can only see forward a time. So it's a lot scrolling. If you have a lot of apps installed. And then the nice thing about the Vizio is that you flipped the remove over, you got a qwerty keyboard that allows you to easily enter to searches and other information to the SmartTV. And really easy instead of using those on-screen keyboards found on most other SmartTV suites. The downside of the qwerty is that you have to keep it aim straight at the TV 'cause it doesn't use Bluetooth, it uses infrared instead. Well, back there's plenty event plus there's 4 HDMI, PC input and a component video input as well as pair of USB so nothing really missing. Picture settings on the Vizio are not quite as extensive as some other TVs out there. Although you do get a massive number of picture presets on sports. The advance setting is only included 2. grayscale. There's no gamma or color management system. But on a flip side, the TV is pretty darn accurate out of the box as long as you select the movie picture mode. The picture quality on the Vizio compare as well with a lot of other LED TVs out there although it's not among the best. One of its weaknesses is a relatively light black levels, you know, you don't get those deep inky black you see on some of the large green plasmas and some of the very best LED TV. On the flip side, it does a very accurate color. So we really appreciated that. The color does fall apart a little bit in the dark areas but all told is really nice. Off angle performance again, not a huge benefit to this television. It does wash out some [unk] scene from off angles. But of course the larger size does help meliorate that a little bit if you sit back. The TV also has a nice matte screen. So again, with a large screen you like to have matte to kinda get rid to some of those really bright reflections in a room. So [unk] in a bright room this Vizio will perform very well. Of course you can spend a couple of hundred more at 65 and 79-inches to get a lot of picture quality but if you're fine with the decent picture and you realize the Vizio's styling and SmartTV, it's a superb value. That's a quick look at Vizio 70-inch E71iA3. I'm David Katzmaier from CNET.

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Vizio E701i-A3 Review

The good: The Vizio E701i-A3 is an outstanding value as the least expensive LED TV of its size that also offers Smart TV. Its picture boasts highly accurate color and very good bright-room performance. Plenty of Smart TV content is on hand within a responsive interface, and the QWERTY remote makes searches and other Smart TV actions easier. With its thin bezel, the set has a more compact, sleeker look than many competitors.

The bad: The E1i-A3's picture can't match the black-level performance of some competing LED TVs, and suffers from some uniformity issues. Its Smart TV interface design seems a bit dated and cumbersome.

The bottom line: The Vizio E701i-A3 is the best value yet among 70-inch LED TVs.

Read full review

Vizio E701i-A3 Specs

Manufacturer: Vizio
Part number: E701i-A3

Product Specifications
  • Product Specifications

Read full specs