Flat-panel TV vendor Vizio is moving through a year when it projects it will sell nearly 6.7 million TVs – up from 3.6 million in 2008 – with a slew of TV intros, and the bulk of its technological innovations concentrated in its premium XVT LCD line, due out in the summer and fall.
“Consumers want a 10-foot viewing experience” of Internet-generated content and “want to be able to operate that content like they operate a TV,” said Vizio spokesman Jim Noyd as he presented the company’s line of VIA (Vizio Internet Apps) Internet-enabled TVs at a New York exhibition yesterday.
In unveiling the models, he cited Parks Associates research indicating that occupants of 2.5 million North American broadband-equipped households are ready to purchase Internet TVs.
The sets include Yahoo! Widget technology and support for the Adobe Flash platform. Content and service partners just announced by the company include eBay, Facebook, Radiotime, Revision 3 Rallypoint Sports, Showtime, Twitter and Vudu. They join Accedo Broadband, Amazon Video on Demand, Blockbuster on Demand, Flickr, Netflix, Pandora and Rhapsody.
A unique accessory that will be included with the sets is a customized universal remote with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that is equipped with Bluetooth so that the user need not point the remote at the TV.
The Internet-enabled TVs were one highlight of several introductions within the XVT range. A 55-inch model which ships in September and a 47-inch model coming in October will use TruLED technology with Smart Dimming, and a 55-inch model with same – as well as with VIA capability -- will follow in December. Those three models as well as two 42-inch sets and an additional 47-inch model wil offer 240Hz SPS (Scenes per Second) technology for faster refresh rates and better anti-jutter compensation.
Two 120Hz models, a 32-inch and a 37-inch, are classed as Thin Line TVs at just 2 1/2 inches deep, and will ship in September.
Noyd said the company was planning to introduce 23-inch edge-lit LED model late in Q4 or early next year at less than $400, and added that the company felt that LED approach was better suited to smaller screen sizes where it can yield more uniform image rendering across the entire panel. Vizio, he said, “won’t sacrifice picture quality for industrial design.”
Also announced was a BD-Live-endowed Blu-ray player due to ship in August, with first allocations going to Walmart; it will likely sell for $188, he said. A second model will follow in December, when distribution is expanded to other retailers.
