I’ve always loved reviewing Vizio sets. I don’t know why but I always enjoyed it. Maybe it’s because they’re not so well known as, say, Samsung or Sony, but still manages to deliver exceptional products that is bang for the buck. Well, Vizio has grown significantly over the past two years. However, they still maintain a low profile in the television market.

The VIZIO VO37L is one of only four 37″ HDTVs from VIZIO. This is a 720p TV as Vizio doesn’t produce Full HD 1080p TVs smaller than 42″. You might say, why 720p? Well, if you are viewing viewing 37″ TVs, you don’t really feel the difference. I know 1080p is much better than 720p (yeah, the bigger the number, the better) but in this case, that’s not the ultimate truth. But then again, that is one’s own preference.

Once you take the VO37L out of the box, you will see its dual textured bezel which measures less than two inches on the sides and top. The inside bevel of the frame is a glossy piano black and a matte black grid texture with a narrow outer lip of glossy black. The set weighs less than 37 pounds with its non-swivel stand.

At the right hand side of the VO37L, you have a convenience panel with an HDMI In, a Component In, a set of Composite inputs and a Headphone stereo minijack. The VO37L’s one main hassle is its connection panel at the back which faces down. Its not a huge set and one can easily twist it around. But it would be much easier if its connections were facing out.

The panel contains two HDMI inputs with one set of stereo Audio Ins, one Component input (YPbPr) with matching stereo Audio In, one VGA (15 pin D-Sub) with a minijack Audio In, one Composite (with Audio), a digital Audio Out (optical), a stereo analog Audio Out and a Service Port. The one RF antenna input connects to integrated NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuners. Since the tuner system is Clear QAM compatible, you can attach your cable TV signal directly into the RF connector and tune in unscrambled cable stations.

The VO37L does not offer a USB port to upload JPEG and MP3 files to the TV. Nor does it have an Ethernet port to connect to your home computer network or the Internet.

As for its features, the VIZIO VO37L offer both Picture-in-Picture and Picture-outside-Picture capabilities with controls for sizing and positioning insets. However, combinations of sources are limited.

Now we go to its performance. When compared to the other 37″ TVs out in the market, the picture quality of the VIZIO VO37L held up its own very well. The colors are rich, while skin tones are true. Given that this set is a 720p TV, comparing it to 1080p sets gives you no noticeable difference. At normal viewing distance, they are almost the same. Maybe once you get in closer, the difference will be more defined.

As I said, that’s what I like about Vizio. They give you something solid and affordable without sacrificing quality. Of course, the Vizio VO37L does have its shortcomings. With standard definition material, the VO37L have a tendency to crush the blacks, which makes the image look muddy. High definition content, however, looks very good.

Another thing worth mentioning is the audio performance from the integrated pair of 12W speakers. Its good enough but users could have better. A dedicated audio system would be more fitting for this setup.