Comments on: Vizio VA26L Review – 26-inch LCD HDTV

By: Trent

Trent — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:05:11 +0000

Okay, here’s the reason your surround sound won’t work-
There’s no audio output on this set. Don’t make the same mistake I did and buy speakers to go with your new TV because they won’t work! I have one of these sets and, although the picture is great, the inputs are all neatly labeled, and it looks very stylish, it drives me crazy that there is no kind of audio output besides the headphones jack. Since my surround set has no hdmi-in, I have to run separate audio and video to every device I want to be in both HD and surround. Another thing that bugs me a bit about this TV is that the stand doesn’t tilt, so you pretty much have to buy a wall mount. That 160 degree viewing angle is nice, but that’s only left to right. If you’re ten degrees down from the TV you can’t see a thing- sadly the dresser I put the TV on is quite a bit taller than the couch, so I always have to stand up to play xbox or watch anything. In the end, this is a pretty good set but don’t let the price fool you- once you add on the price of a wall mount and a much more sophisticated surround system than is necessary for most other sets, it’s not such a great deal anymore.

By: Scott Berry

Scott Berry — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:24:16 +0000

I purchased three of the VA26Ls two for my self and 1 for my mother all three of them have an issue with the Composite Video dropping in and out. I tried multiple cables and players but they all do the same thing. I took one back for a replacement and it did the same thing. When this happens you have to switch from the AV port back to the TV and back

By: Kevin Woodworth

Kevin Woodworth — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:45:42 +0000

There is a setting in the “menu” portion of the set and you can turn surrond sound on or off so check that Jim . Push “MENU”
There are 4 blue squares on the left side of the screen and the second one down is the sound changes. Click Ok on that one and then scroll down to surround.
I’m 99% certain thats the problem unless you have it connected improperly – definitly use HDMI ! Its superior and the cable guys ALL say it dosent matter because they dont carry HDMI cables , why is beyond me?

By: Kevin Woodworth

Kevin Woodworth — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:35:04 +0000

I purchased my set about 1 month ago at Costco for $379+ tax and its been a great set for the money . I wired my cable DVR box to it with an HDMI connection and it put out a beautiful picture . I use it in the bedroom and bought a set of Sony Infra-Red headphones and plugged it directly into the earphone jack and I get surround sound with threatre vibration , Its awesome and I dont bother my wife sleeping or the neighbors upstairs watching late night movies. Im happy with the set and I feel most sets these days are all relatively equal when you get up to 1080 res. the rest comes down to how many “extras” you need or want on the set and quite frankly all I needed was aheadphone jack . Right next to the set was a toshiba for $10 more and I picked the Vizio because of the headphone jack and the picture was the same? Im not able to see the diffrence after a certain point and neither is anybody else …its all marketing so save your dough. That post about the set not turning on sounds like a planted review to stop people from buyinh Vizio or it was dropped and hard ! Vizio is selling like hotcakes and is passing Sony and the others for a good reason . Your pocketbook .

By: The Review Team

The Review Team — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:59:48 +0000

Jim – How are you connecting it? HDMI? Component?

By: Jim Hartmann

Jim Hartmann — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:44:55 +0000

We have surround sound and cannot get it to work with the Vizio 26″ monitor. Any suggestions