VIZIO releases LED-backlit 19- and 23-inch LCDs

CNET. News
By: Matthew Moskovciak
October 28, 2009

Vizio is best-known for offering big screens at a low price, but the company's latest offerings straddle that thin line between small TVs and computer monitors. Vizio announced the 23-inch VM230XVT ($400) and 19-inch VM190XVT ($350) Wednesday, with both sets utilizing LED-backlighting technology usually seen on larger screen sizes.

The TVs have a slim profile, tapering down to less than an inch thick, although they fatten out to 1.65 inches at their thickest point. Sporting two HDMI inputs and a standard PC input, both models can technically be used as a PC display, although the VM230XVT's 1080p native resolution makes it a better fit. (The VM19XVT has a 1,366x768 native resolution.)

Vizio also touts the models' "proximity sensitive" touch controls, which light up as you approach the unit. Those controls allow for the sleek, buttonless design, but there's a lot of to be said for the reliability of physical buttons. There's also a USB input on both models, as well as a "photo frame" mode that allows it to display a slideshow of images on a connected drive.

It's worth pointing out that both TVs utilize edge-lit LED backlighting, as opposed to local-dimming technology. Most of the image quality advantages often associated with LED backlighting--like deep blacks--are only available on local-dimming displays, so we don't expect radically better performance than standard (CCFL-backlit) LCD displays. )