Vizio VF550XVT

This big screen LCD looks unassuming for the most part, with the standard glossy black frame surrounding the picture area. But the nondetachable speaker bar along the bottom, with its silver coloring, reflective supports, bulbous shape, and see through panel exposing the wall behind the TV, assumes a bit too much, and we predict you'll either love it or hate it. We fall into the latter camp.

Vizio VF550XVT
We're not fans of the TV's big, nondetachable speaker bar, which brings silver and reflective chrome coloring to the aesthetic party. Vizio VF550XVT 55 inch VF550XVT measures 51.5 inches wide by 36 inches tall by 13.5 inches deep and weighs a svelte 86 pounds with stand attached. Remove the nonswiveling stand and its dimensions become 51.5 by 33.9 by 5 inches and its weight just 73.8 pounds.

We liked Vizio VF550XVT's large remote, with its oversize chrome colored cursor pad surrounded by well spaced, easily differentiated, yellow backlit keys. Highlights include a section that offers direct access to different input types, "A, B, C, and D" keys for other devices, such as cable boxes, that double as picture in picture controls, and the capability to command three other devices.

Many of the keys double up, but the remote handles these well we appreciate that the oft used key to control aspect ratio shares the bright red "record" key, for example. Vizio VF550XVT's main menu system, arranged along the left side of the screen, is a bit awkward to use. The company has revamped its menu system for the XVT models, squeezing it onto the left side of the screen and improving the graphics. The menus' usability has taken a step backward, however. We found ourselves annoyed at the fact that you can only see one parameter at a time and that too much scrolling is required to access all of the settings.