Vivitek is okay, but you can buy better for the same money

I bought this TV two years ago. I am still enjoying it to this day. But honestly, if I can do it again...I would go to best buy or Circuit city and buy myself a Hitachi, Mitsubishi or Sony instead (these have newer and more features for the same money I spent on the Vivitek).

But let us say you are thinking of buying a Vivitek and you are wondering about some of the features. Well, I am going down the list here and am going to give you my experience and comments of what I know now.

First, these are some facts you need to know and understand before you buy this TV. I am also writing these facts for the people that have bought the tv and don't have no where to turn to for basic information about Vivitek.

Vivitek is also The Delta Group in California. They are a OEM.

OEMs are manufacturers who resell another company's product under their own name and branding. The company rebrands a product to its own name and offer its own warranty, support and licensing of the product. In other words...if they are left with 10,000 DLPs they made for Toshiba in their warehouse...they will slap their brand on it and sell it as theirs.

The website is www.vivitek.us. If plan to buy this tv and you got $200 to spare. I recommend calling them in 6 months and ordering a bulb before the one on your TV burns out. So when it does, you don't have to wait 3 weeks to get a replacement. And it will take 3 weeks to get it. That is my only real compliant with them.

Now to the review on the TV itself. Please read carefully cause am naming the feature and then writing my comments next to it. I know this is long but I did not want to miss anything.

This is first time I ever had a large screen TV with hi-definition. But it is truly a magical cinematic experience. If you have an HD cable box you will just be in awe with the HD channels. DVDs look great at 720p and better if you have a HDMI DVD system...then you can see them at 1080i. Non-HD channels look blurry and awful...it takes a bit to getting use to. But keep in mind almost all HDTVs, LCD, plasma and projection...non HD content will look bad. Except for the HD CRTs...they are native 430p and small screen size, so it looks a lot better. Everything else is 720p native...which the tv trys to upconvert from 430 to 720 which is why it looks blurry.

So here is the run down before we get on the details. The Vivtek is a decent DLP. The HD content looks great. The DVDs great. Regular tv sucks. But you know now why it does. Is it a great deal from ShopNBC or HSN...no it;s not. You can do a lot better. Because its models are 2 years old. They haven't updated them yet to the next gen of DLP tech. I know the 6 value pays look great. But you can save that 269 for 6 months and then buy a better DLP with the newer tech and features.

I hope this helps with you choice to buy or not to buy. I hope you feel a bit better understanding the tech too.

Below are the specs with a few comments. These are things I found out and am just sharing my knowlegde.

Vivitek 56" DLP TV with Built-in HDTV Tuner Features:
Built-in HDTV tuner which I have not use yet, cause I use a HD cable box.
Digital cable ready, bit it doesn't have a cable card slot.
Crystal clear image...only in HD and with DVDs. Regular content looks blurry.
HDMI ready...which i recomend to buy a HDMI DVD system
Dual tuner with Picture-In-Picture and Picture-Outside-Picture which looks great.

DLP ...here is a brief definition:
DLP¨ technology is a ground-breaking display solution that uses an optical semiconductor to manipulate light digitally. It is a highly dependable, all-digital display chip that delivers superior picture quality.

Keep in mind, there is a 2nd generation of DLP now that is more refine and displays more colors which is not on this TV.

Multiple video format support

DCDi by Faroudja...here is a brief definition:
DCDi removes the jagged edges that appear when standard interlaced video is viewed on progressive scan displays. All digital TVs have this tech.

3:2 (60Hz)/2:2 (50Hz) pull down for smooth pictures
3D motion adaptive comb filters
15 watt HD3D BBE VIVA audio sound system. Not the best. Then thats all TVs.

Specifications:
56" diagonal DLP TV
Aspect ratio: 16:9 widescreen
Brightness: 600 nits
Contrast ratio: 2000:1 (typical)
Resolution: 1280 x 720 pixels
Light engine: DLP HD4 DMD
Display capability: HDTV (720p) native
Signal compatibility: 480i (SDTV), 480 (EDTV), 720p (HDTV), 1080i (HDTV)...keep in mind that you can find DLP HD TVs with 1080p which is true HD for about the same price.

PIP (picture-in-picture) and POP (picture-outside-picture)
PAL video decoding via RF (antenna, cable or satellite) or Video
Progressive scan video via Component YPbPr, VGA or HDMI
Colors: 16.7 million
Viewing angle: 100 degrees (horizontal)
Two 15W detachable speakers...I have the 30W version which are better.
Closed captioning
V-Chip
Lamp power: 120W
Lamp life: 6000 hours...now this is important. The bulb will only last about a year. The nice thing is that it's a standard 120w Phillips bulb. So if Vivitek ever disappeared. Call a DLP buld and lamp provider, explain your situation and he will ask you for a brand of bulb. It's a TOP 263 L4 uhp 120w 1.3 Phillips bulb.

Rear Inputs
Two RF antenna...one digital and one regular. You will need to buy a HD antenna in order to get HD in. Your 11 year old one won't do.

Two composite video
Two S-video
Two component
One RGB
One HDMI
One center channel...this is worthless. Your center speaker of your home theater system will always be better. Even if it's a cheapo Wal-Mart system.

Front Inputs...actually they are on the side
One composite video
One S-video

Rear Outputs
One stereo audio
One coaxial
One optical