2y ago

Vizio settles for $3M after saying 60 Hz TVs had 120 Hz “effective refresh rate” | Vizio claimed backlight scanning made refresh rates seem twice as high.

Vizio settles for $3M after saying 60 Hz TVs had 120 Hz “effective refresh rate”

Vizio settles for $3M after saying 60 Hz TVs had 120 Hz “effective refresh rate” | Vizio claimed backlight scanning made refresh rates seem twice as high.::Vizio claimed backlight scanning made refresh rates seem twice as high.

37 comments

Hell, I bought a 4k 60 hz TV from them and inputs are limited to 30 hz. I'll never buy a Vizio anything again, sounds like this is their business as usual.
- Why would you ever? They don't make quality products.
  
  I’m sticking to LG for TVs
  
  Bought a Vizio cause it was cheap. Ended up seeing vertical lines just outside of the warranty window.
  You get what you pay for. Now I have a Sony, and no looking back
  
  They have some snuck in there, I am still rocking a M55 from 2017 and with a lot of calibrating I don't see too much difference in 4K HDR to new under 1k TCLs and cheaper samsungs. Though next year I want an LG OLED.
Who gets the 3m? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it isn't the people who were deceived/lied to.
- Under the settlement terms [PDF] spotted by The Verge, people who bought a Vizio TV in California after April 30, 2014, can file a claim. They'll receive $17 or up to $50 if the fund allows it. The individual payout may also be under $17 if the claims exceed the $3 million fund. Vizio will also pay attorney fees. People have until March 30 to submit their claims. The final approval hearing is scheduled for June 20.
  These class-actions are always peanuts in the end.
  
  Companies should not only pay out much more for a class action but also replace the product sold. It's insane how they can just constantly steal from us and just get a tiny fine.
  
  Yes for real, something tells me they pocketed more than $17 per victim.
  
  The only one that's been amazing (that I can think of) so far was the class action settled against Toyota for a few years worth of the Prius.
  They now have to cover the inverter under warranty for 20 years from the date that the car was first used. If your car fails because of the inverter they also pay for the tow, the car rental, and all of the repairs.
  
  Ever read about the Iomega Zip Drive class action? Early Zip drives had a "click of death" that killed it early. The settlement was paid in coupons for more Iomega products.
- It says in the article
  
  You and I both know I can't read!
- 3M also seems like a pittance? From a quick look their revenue is like $1.7B. Granted their margins are small but still
  
  I feel like if they doubled the specs of their device to make sales they should have to pay back HALF of what they made from the sales. Not just the profit margin, a plain 50% of gross.
I remember when TVs advertised bs like "600 Hz clear motion rate".
- God I hated those smooth motion systems. Makes everything look like crap.
  
  Wow I really thought I was the only one (okay not literally).
  Any show would look like reality TV and the added interpolation just made movement a blurry mess. I steered clear of 60+Hz TVs until this very day because I hate them so much
  
  As someone who loves motion smoothing; I'll never understand this opinion. It doesn't make everything look like "crap", it makes it look more realistic. Motion looks closer to real life. Hell, I like it for the fact that it removes motion blur alone. Can't stand motion blur.
  Trying to go back to watching films at 24Hz is nauseating for me (especially action movies with a lot of rapid camera momements). I can't stand it. It's like trying to go back to console gaming after getting used to 4K 144Hz PC gaming with a 4090.
  Try leaving motion smoothing on for a week and then go back to having it off, and you'll see what I mean. You get used to it, and then suddenly you don't want to turn it off anymore.
Why only California? I was deceived by this too.
Reminds me of UserBenchmark and their "Effective frames per second" nonsense.
was this not the same with all the tvs
always had to buy 120hz to get 60hz from most any brand except for element and a few other cheap ones
- Yes but we have no consumer protection in the United States. This didn't even cover consumers outside of the state. And it absolutely doesn't cover the money they made lying.
Is money worth twice as much when viewed under a 120Hz strobe?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Vizio has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged the company misled customers about the refresh rates of its TVs.
Vizio was referring to the backlight scanning (or black frame insertion) ability, which it claimed made the TVs look like they were operating at a refresh rate that was twice as fast as they are capable of.
Under the settlement terms [PDF] spotted by The Verge, people who bought a Vizio TV in California after April 30, 2014, can file a claim.
Vizio also agreed to stop advertising their TVs with 120 and 240 Hz "effective" refresh rates but "will not be obligated to recall or modify labeling for any Vizio-branded television model that has already been sold or distributed to a third party," according to the agreement.
The settlement comes as tactics for fighting motion blur, like backlight scanning and frame interpolation (known for causing the "soap opera effect"), have been maligned for often making the viewing experience worse.
Class-action cases like Vizio's that end up having a negative cost for OEMs provide further incentive for them to at least stop using the ability as a way to superficially boost spec sheets.
The original article contains 539 words, the summary contains 198 words. Saved 63%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
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37 comments