Vizio E422VA: Connecting that Internet-Connected TV to Wi-Fi

If anyone’s having trouble connecting a Vizio E422VA or similar television to a wireless router to run Netflix, etc., here are some gotchas I ran into hooking it up to our FIOS-provided router:

1. Update the firmware on the TV. You can do this by connecting to the router with an ethernet cable, verifying that it’s on the network, then turning the TV off and waiting a while. When you turn it on again, it should tell you it’s installing a firmware update. Repeat until it doesn’t offer any more, then you can disconnect the cable.
2. Don’t use spaces in your WPA password. The device can’t handle it.
3. Yes, it can connect to a WPA2-protected network even though it only says WPA.
4. It can’t connect to a network running 802.11n or newer, even with the updated firmware. It needs the older (and slower) b/g compatibility mode.

This has been bugging me forever – it worked just fine until we moved from a U-Verse area to a FIOS area and had to get a new router for the new service. It wasn’t critical, since we had other sources of TV and other devices we could use for Netflix (though with a much less useful interface), but every few months I would give it another shot. Finally I tracked down how to update the firmware in the manual, and found the recommendation on spaces. Put the two together, and BAM! Connected.