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User Submitted ViewSonic N3252W 32-Inch LCD HDTV Reviews Date: 2008-11-09 Performs well for what it is. It's pretty undeniable that this TV has a terrible reputation; I mean, just look at the reviews. If you're looking for a small to mid-size HDTV on the cheap, I'm sure there are a million better choices than this ViewSonic set. That being said, I want to put it out there that even though I may have just gotten lucky, this is actually not a bad (or very problematic)TV. I have had the N3252W for about a year and a half now and it's still running strong. However, it IS a low-end, cheap set, so there are quite a few negatives to be found. First, the casing. Matte black cases don't have to look cheap, but it looks like ViewSonic went out of their way to make this look like the cheapest HDTV available, and they really put the icing on the cake with the faux chrome crap on the edges of the stand. The power button is also made of this cheap shiny plastic and is waaaay too big. Next, the black levels (or lack thereof!). Sometimes it's just painful watching dark scenes. So, as with most cheap LCDs, you aren't going to get accurate, deep blacks, and in effect don't expect HDTV programs to look as color rich as a Sharp, Samsung, or Sony panel. Things look less-eye popping than expensive sets because of flatter colors. And that brings me to my next point: DO NOT watch SD programming on this television! DO NOT watch a dvd in 480i. Invest in an upconverting DVD player. Anything except HD looks terrible on here. Finally, the remote. Viewsonic, for some reason, seemingly in protest of common sense, has decided that they will not release working universal remote codes. But don't worry, because the few universal remotes that work with this set (Sony RM-VL600, Logitech Harmony Series) work almost just as poorly. The set is unresponsive to remote signals about a quarter of the time and slow to respond the rest. To make matters worse, the buttons on the TV itself are unresponsive about 70% of the time and might as well not even be there. They're ugly anyway. Despite all that, the TV does its job rather efficiently: displaying HD programming. The N3252W sports a common (but strange in my opinion) WXGA resolution of 1366x768, giving more resolution than a purely 720p set, and allowing it to accept 1080i as well as 720p signals. The set has only one HDMI port, so I'd also advise investing in an HDMI siwtch box. It is connected to a DirecTV HD box, an upscaling DVD player, and a Blu Ray player. After tweaking wih the settings for a while the picture is actually pretty good, and just for the hell of it, here are my settings over HDMI: Contrast: 70 Brightness: 45 Color: 60 Tint: +5 Sharpness: 5 Backlight: Middle. It should also be noted that pressing "991" While on the TV Menu allows access to the factory menu, where you can adjust more advanced settings such as DNR, Gamma, Luma Control, Flesh tone, etc. It's cool and all, but I wonder why they hid these features and did not include them in the main UI. Blu-Ray discs look great despite poor black levels, and colors are still pretty good for a TV this cheap. DirecTV looks as good as overcompressed high definition tv can, but If you don't have cable or satellite then you can use this TV's built in digital tuner, complete with info and guide. I have a Wii hooked up over component, and the picture quality is passable/nearly decent; it looks sort of washed out and there are lots of jaggies but that can slightly remedied if you turn the sharpness down. Another area where this Tv shines is the speakers. Lots of HDTV speakers are so bad that external speakers are pretty much necessary; this unit, however, is surprsingly an exception. The speakers are clear, loud, and powerful, and have a simulated surround mode if you wanna use it. Lastly, be aware that this TV is sparse on inputs - One HDMI, One component, one Composite, one VGA, one s-video, and one coaxial, plus aother coax for the digital tuner. For audio there are PC, RCA, and Toslink audio out ports. More HDMI or component inputs would be extremely useful. If you can find this set super cheap it is certainly not a bad secondary or even main TV, if you don't get a lemon, that is. It performs well sans all the bells and whistles. Unless you're desperate, however, there are much better HDTV's that can be had for a little extra and worthwhile cash. Date: 2008-08-03 Stay away from Viewsonic!!!!!!! We purchased this TV over 1 year ago. 1 month later IR stopped working on TV - no remote. Support sent me a new remote and closed my ticket. We just used the Digital Box remote but have to adjust sound manually. 4 months ago coax connector just stopped working - have to now use A/V cable from box. Now sound is completely distorted - speakers on TV are toast. We are running out of work around options. This TV is just junk. DO NOT BUY Date: 2008-01-17 Broke in 6 months--don't buy this one I purchased this TV "new/reconditioned" and it broke 6 months later. Turns out that, despite the explanation that a "new/reconditioned" item is returned to "new" condition, Viewsonic only warranties it for 90-days (rather than the 1-year warranty given with a "new/new" product). Guess it's on my head that I didn't realize that I should've counted myself lucky for that full extra 90 days of television watching that I got after that initial 90 days of warranty coverage. I'll never buy another Viewsonic product and I will be VERY VERY careful from here on out to read the fine print in ANY reconditioned product warranty that I consider. Date: 2007-12-09 TV breaks, Customer Service is horrendous I'm currently going on 2 months of not having my TV due to Viewsonic's awful Customer Service and Warranty repair. This tv went out on me 3 weeks AFTER the warranty expired. Started flickering and would just go black. I argued with them to provide warranty service on it, since I found it ridiculous that it was a matter of a few weeks difference. They agreed to take it back (with me having to send it for $70 to Calif). So, at least I was getting it fixed, which started off as a good experience with them... even though I shouldn't have to deal with it anyways. Their warranty repair claims they can take up to 15 business days to fix and send back. I had to call several times to check the status, and had not been for me calling several days after, it wouldn't have been sent (it took approximately 1 month to get the TV sent back). Not to mention sent via UPS ground taking another 7 days. I pull the TV out, set it up, check the serial number in case they decided to give me a new one. 3 hours later, it goes out on me again. It's my guess that they turned it on at their repair shop, it worked for a few minutes, and they sent it back without even doing anything (claiming no issue). I call and they offer to send me a NEW one this time, but needed to get the old one back first. They give me a shipping label. 7 days of ground shipping, I find that it's arrived back there. Days go by, I call to check the status (keep in mind, every time I call I wait on hold for 45 min to 1 hour). They haven't even set a replacement to send yet... WTF? Are we in no rush at this point? They tell me they now have a new one sending back, and it'll go out in a day or so. A week goes by, I expect to have it showing up any day. I decide to call again to get a tracking number. Hour later, they tell me, "Hmm for some reason it shows that the warehouse hasn't sent it out for some reason yet. I'm escalating it to 2-day air to send out." Here's the funny thing, I call the next day to get tracking, 1 hour later on hold, they tell me the same thing. And to call in a few days to get the tracking number. Hello?! In a few days, I'm supposed to have my tv back. Holy cow.. most ridiculous company I've ever dealt with. Seriously. My tv broke right before I went on a 2 week trip in early October. I took everything in stride, thinking "Well, even though I have to pay $70, at least it happened right before my trip. When I get back, my tv should have arrived already." .. Guess again. I'm now on to exactly 2 months dealing with this, and no TV to show. Can't wait to see what arrives... if it's even shipped yet. I've dealt with Apple warranty repair... you go maybe 2 days without your product. Overnight box is shipped to you, paid for. They send it back to you overnight a day later. Take some cues from a real company. If you say you're going to fix something, make sure you take care of the customer. Date: 2007-10-14 MAJOR AUDIO PROBLEM I had terrible problems with this TV from day one. Every time I turned the TV on, I was greeted with a loud screeching sound that would send me leaping out of my chair. I had to turn the tv on, immediately off again, and when I turned it back on, the sound would be gone. Sometimes it could be resolved by changing channels, but this still didn't change the fact that I had to dealing with the blaring noise every time it was turned on. I called ViewSonic and they told me it was probably a problem with the speakers and I had to ship it to them in CA. I was warned that if the problem didn't occur when the technicians tried it, they would not send me a new one. I had to plead with them to send me a shipping label since it would be extremely expensive for me to ship it from the east coast (not to mention the fact that I no longer had the box, and they offered me no solution to that problem, even when I told them it would surely break during shipment.) I even bought a high-quality home theater a/v system to avoid using the speakers so I wouldn't have to ship the TV back, but the sound was transmitted through the new audio system. Never buying ViewSonic again!
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