vizio

LAS VEGAS--Vizio is not a company that wants to be pigeonholed.

Best known for its TVs, the company threw us all a curveball at last year's Consumer Electronics Show when it showed off an Android tablet and Android phone, both of which doubled as universal remotes.

For CES 2012, Vizio's surprise announcement was a line of laptop computers. But the manufacturer is also quietly teasing its second Android tablet, the VTAB 3010 (also known as the M Series).

Unlike its first foray, the VTAB 1008, this new model has an iPad-like 10-inch screen instead of an 8-inch display. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Google TV looked like it might be on the ropes after the disappointing Honeycomb update to Android, but it's making its presence felt at CES 2012.

Vizio announced two Google TV products here at the Consumer Electronics Show: the VAP430 set-top box and the VBR430 Blu-ray. The VAP430 is one of the smallest Google TV devices available so far, looking more like a jumbo Roku box than the larger design of the Logitech Revue.

The remote included with the VAP430 will be slightly different from some of the Google TV remotes available with other products, in that apparently it will also fire IR commands to control other devices, rather than IR using blasters. There are also dedicated buttons on the remote for Amazon Instant, Netflix, and Vudu, which should be helpful for getting around Google TV's somewhat clunky interface.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Finally, a unique and worthwhile "app" comes to Google TV.

Google announced today that its much-maligned connected TV platform would support the OnLive gaming service.

OnLive's "cloud" gaming allows users to play a variety of console-quality titles on devices like PCs, tablets, and now select Google TV hardware like TVs, streaming boxes, and Blu-ray players, without having to use an actual game console.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Now I'm starting to wonder what it means for the vendors that have not announced a 27-inch all-in-one.

Asus joins HP, Vizio, and Lenovo in introducing a Windows all-in-one with a new large-screen display at CES. The ET2700 will appear this month at Best Buy with a 27-inch, 1,920x1,080-pixel-resolution display built in. Like HP's Omni 27, also available now, the Asus model doesn't have a touch screen. Asus reps told me at the company's booth that it will add touch in a midyear update. I've asked for pricing information, and will update when I have it.

The screen size is really the only significant news for this system. The Core i5 CPU and GeForce 540M graphics chip should come as no surprise, and the array of ports--USB 3.0, HDMI in, eSATA--is in keeping with its competition.

I'd only note that the design of the ET2700, with its edge-to-edge glass and pedal-style support foot, joins Lenovo in borrowing liberally from Apple's iMac design language. A vendor copying Apple is also not especially newsworthy, but at least the trend remains healthy.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Google TV has a way of disappointing expectations, and one strong case in point is the Vizio's VIA Plus platform for TVs.

At CES 2011 we named the VIA Plus models as our favorite TV product of CES. They used Google TV to deliver what the company described as interoperability between the TV and Android-equipped phones and tablets. Among other features, Via Plus was also said to support the OnLive gaming service. Those extras, along with the same kind of full-array local-dimming backlight we know and love, was enough to convince us that the so-equipped TVs were going … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Do you think your wide-screen TV isn't wide enough? Vizio's 21:9 TVs have you covered.

The company's CinemaWide models, dubbed the XVT3D0CM series, offer three screen sizes (50, 58, and 71 inches) that have an aspect ratio of 21:9, which in person is noticeably wider than the normal 16:9 rectangle shape used by typical HDTVs.

The advantage of the shape, according to Vizio, is that it allows the sets to display 2.35:1 (CinemaScope) movies without any black bars. As the company points out, many big-budget Hollywood flicks are shown in CinemaScope, … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The showroom floor at CES 2012 is still in progress and we're kicking it off with the start of a four-day block of live shows from the CNET stage here at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

We'll find out why a kangaroo hopped onstage during the Dish Network keynote speech, how Lenovo and Vizio managed to swap product lines, and why I couldn't resist snapping a photo of Brian (Brianne?) Tong in a pair of women's shoes.… Read more

Consumer electronics companies are muscling into lighting with LEDs.

RCA said today at CES that it will manufacture LED bulbs as part of a larger home theater announcement. The company said that it developed a "chip on a board" that uses a single efficient LED light source, rather than several smaller ones. That design optimizes the energy efficiency of the bulb, said Bob Hatefi of RCA licensee BDC in a statement.

As energy-efficient lighting standards take hold in the U.S. and around the world, expect more electronics companies moving deeper into consumer LED lighting. Late last year, … Read more

Flat-screen TV maker Vizio loves to use the Rose Bowl as a vehicle to tease its upcoming products.

After an introduction from Vizio Chief Technology Officer Matt McRae, the company briefly displayed a previously unannounced super slim TV during a 30-second spot that aired during the college football game. I could not help but notice the TV bears a resemblance to the design used in Sony's Internet TV lineup, which also has a stainless steel stand and rounded edges.

It is strongly possible that Vizio could reveal more about the set during its press conference at CES next week. … Read more