VIZIO is a brand name that you may not have heard of, or at least not heard that much about. But in a decade, chances are it will be more of a household name and could be poised to become the next Samsung or LG. Both those companies were practically unheard of only 10 years ago, and today they are major players--and their future success could be owed to delivering a good product at an unbelievable price. This includes the company's flagship 60-inch plasma set, the VM60P, which is available for the price of many similarly-sized rear projection HDTVs.

While the set doesn't have quite the picture quality of the top of Panasonic or Pioneer models, it does provide a reasonably good picture at am attractive price. It does lack some of the bells and whistles found in some of the competing brands, but it still manages to deliver quite a few notable extras, including a total of four HDMI inputs. In addition, this model features two component, two S-Video and two composite video inputs, along with a single RGB PC input, and optical digital audio output, analog stereo RCA audio output and even a headphone jack.

All of these are inputs are housed at the back of the set, which again features a massive 60-inches widescreen display. And while the VM60P is priced as a mid-range set, it has a look that is anything but. The thin brushed metallic bezel is one of the more handsome sets we've seen, yet is more "classy" than "geek chic." About the only complaint with the design is the speaker bar, which is located beneath the screen. This is provided to deflect the sound toward the viewer, and it does a reasonable job--but with a set this size you're going to want to invest in a dedicated home theater system for the full cinematic experience. For this reason, the speaker bar is detachable.

Because of the large size, this set weighs in at 179 pounds while being only 4.9 inches deep. Fortunately, there are a variety of wall-mount kits available from VIZIO, but any attempt with wall-mounting should be handled by a professional, lest you end up with a massive pile of broken glass and plastic where your home theater should be.

Where the VIZIO VM60P comes up short is in resolution. At 60 inches, this set is really meant for a big room, and with a native resolution of 1,366x768 you're likely to notice a bit of digital artifacts, as well as some picture noise. Of course 1080p resolution would make this much more expensive, so this is one of the considerations you'll have to make. The VM60P does a very good job with HDTV content, and upconverts standard definition sources according to the resolution.

Again because of the size, the picture lacks the sharpness of smaller displays, including those of other VIZIO models. This set doesn't feature the best black levels, and the colors were good but are far from the best we've seen. With HDTV from cable or satellite box this should be acceptable, but with content from Blu-ray or HD-DVD players the Vizio set doesn't compare to what the larger Panasonic sets can deliver.

There are plenty of picture controls, including temperature control, as well as color temperature presets. However, the VM60P clearly was designed to set up and go and not with true videophiles in mind. We were disappointed that there are no independent input memories, and if you're looking for endless controls and like to make numerous adjustments to get the absolute best picture for each input you need to consider another set.

But if you're looking for a huge set that provides a reasonable picture, and most of your viewing is HDTV rather than from the latest generation of video players, then the Vizio VM60P is worth consideration.

Pros: Great price, four HDMI inputs, great design.
Cons: Sub par black levels, no independent input memory, only 1,366x768 resolution.

Warranty
1 year, limited