The “Break it Down” Blog

While grinding through the 20-page AVS Forum thread for the Vizio VF550XVT 120hz LCD, I noticed that there was talk of “waiting until July” because Vizio had some much-anticipated plans to release an LED-based 551 model bump to the 550. 

One thing I ntoiced in the Vizio thread was a lot of comparisons made between the VF550XVT and the Samsung 650-series set. The most common +1 given to the Samsung 650-based sets was “superior black levels” when the two sets were compared side-by-side. Fortunately this is one of the things that the LED-based VF551XVT will improve upon.

Right now the only other hot LED-set on the market that I’m aware of is the Samsung LN55A950 which boasts some hot specs, but a $3200 price tag.

With the existing Vizio VF550XVT hovering at $1800 at Costco.com, the hope is that when the Vizio VF551XVT drops, it shouldn’t be much more than $2000-2200 — hopefully offering a $1k price premium over the Samsung.

Overall I’m just excited to seeing LED-based LCD sets go mainstream like this to help bring down prices.