Vizio VF550XVT

At first glance, I liked the on-screen menu--a smart-looking, 3D black box--very much. It's easy to read and attractive to look at. But I soon discovered just how unintuitive and unhelpful the menus are. For example: Select an item and press Enter, and nothing happens--you're supposed to press the Left arrow button instead. Also, there is no small, convenient menu for gaining quick access to frequently changed options.

The programmable remote has very useful backlighting. Press any key and all of the others light up. Most of the labels are on the buttons, which makes them readable in the dark. But the remote is big and clunky, and several commonly used buttons (including Menu and Inputs) are small and easy to miss.

The VF550XVT has picture-in-picture, which works fine as long as you've turned off the parental control Rating option. And there's a PIP button on the remote, unlike with Samsung's recent PIP-equipped TVs (such as the LN55A950, the LN46A650, and the PN50A760).

In my experience, Vizio TVs usually deliver very good pictures at a reasonable price, but I was quite disappointed by the VF550XVT's performance. Let's hope it proves to be an aberration.