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Toshiba’s ultimate TV will make you want to dump your system

January 6th, 2010, 2:16 pm by

toshimg_7219That new HDTV you just bought? Outdated. Get ready to dump it after you hear what Toshiba America is coming out with this year: The CELL TV, which Toshiba announced today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

It’s still an HDTV but every feature has been turbo charged.

It’s faster (480 Hz compared to existing 60 Hz TVs), brighter (1,000 cd/m2), blacker, more connected and converts 2D video to 3D video (see photos below from the press conference for some details). Gee, what else? It’ll include a 1 TB hard drive, built-in Blu-ray Disc player, Wi-Fi, DLNA (so it can access family photos, music, video and other files stored on personal computers) plus a high-quality video phone system.

The main feature: The CELL chip, which is the same chip that powers the PlayStation 3 and has been finding its way into certain advanced computers. Toshiba, which developed the chip with Sony, always intended to put it in a TV. This year, it will begin selling the CELL TV in the U.S. No specific date or price has been announced. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: news • • • • • • • • • • | 11 Comments »

Buying an HDTV? Why you’ll likely end up with a Samsung

September 8th, 2009, 4:53 pm by

Samsung is far more recommended than Sony TVs, says J.D. Power.Samsung TVs have been having a HUGE sales year, nearly besting Irvine’s Vizio as the top seller of LCD TVs nationwide last quarter. Back then, analysts said Samsung’s growth is because the company integrated the brighter, newer LED technology into TVs faster than the competition.

But another reason surfaced today: More salespeople at major electronics stores recommend Samsung LCD TVs.

J.D. Power and Associates, which rates companies based on consumer surveys, sent 1,500 mystery shoppers to major electronics stores like Best Buy, Fry’s Electronics and Ken Crane’s. Store salespeople recommended a Samsung LCD TV nearly 2-to-1 over second-place Sony (see chart on right).

Most recommended 2Q 2009 2Q 2008
Samsung 58% 35%
Sony 21% 28%
Vizio n/a 7%

The report, from the J.D. Power and Associates and Market Force Information 2009 Television Retail Insights Report, said the gap between first and second place widened this year as Samsung pumped up its LCD TV marketing campaign.

“In the last six months, Samsung made a remarkable shift to the point where they’re being recommended as a premium brand based on quality and features. Samsung is being portrayed as a Sony,” said Chris Denove,  J.D. Power’s vice president of operational research.

Denove doesn’t suspect that Samsung is covertly paying salespeople to promote the brand even as 58 percent recommend a Samsung compared to 21 percent for Sony. Rather, he believes Samsung’s new status is rightly deserved. Samsung, previously considered a value brand by salespeople, has done a great job marketing its LCD TVs, he said. And its LCD TVs were not only among some of the first available, but they have won awards.

That’s good news for Samsung, but terrible news for Sony, which has relied on its aging credentials as a premium brand.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • | 25 Comments »

Vizio’s Internet TV delayed till December

August 25th, 2009, 1:57 am by

Vizio's Internet TV, the VIA, works just fine months before its November 2009 launch.

If you’ve put off the purchase of an HDTV this long, here’s one reason to wait until December: The VIA Internet TV from Vizio, the Irvine TV company that became the nation’s biggest seller of LCD TVs this year.

The Vizio Internet Apps TV will let people watch TV and check Facebook status, tweet on Twitter or order a Netflix movie. It was supposed to go on sale this summer but Vizio wanted to add more content so it delayed the launch till just before Christmas.

Watch the Vizio slide showRisky? Yes. Retailers like to get the goods in stores well before shoppers start thinking about the holiday. But Vizio says it wanted to make sure there was enough content to entice the consumer.

“We want to make sure that we bring features to market that are important to the consumer,” said John Schindler, vice president of product planning.

Vizio has announced several partners including Accedo Broadband, Amazon Video On Demand, Blockbuster On Demand, Flickr, Netflix, Pandora and Rhapsody. More recently, Vizio added eBay, Facebook, Radiotime, Revision 3, Rallypoint Sports, Showtime TV, Twitter and Vudu.

The 55-inch VIA will be an LED TV with Web access (Wi-Fi and Ethernet), a USB port, 240 hertz and a Bluetooth remote with slide-out QWERTY keyboard for $2,199. Price and launch date are moving targets. When I first heard of this set at January’s Consumer Electronics Show, Vizio priced the TV at $1,999.

But don’t expect to be able to surf all of your favorite Web sites. The TV doesn’t offer full browsing — something Vizio felt was better left to a computer.

“This is a garden environment,” Schindler said. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • • | 6 Comments »

SleeSpot: Toshiba laptop and HDTV bundle for $650

August 21st, 2009, 4:20 pm by

SLEEspot: Gadgetress intern Sandra Lee spots a tech deal daily.This month, Gadgetress’ summer intern Sandra Lee is posting a tech bargain, tip or fun fact every day at 4 p.m. Short, sweet and simple: It’s the SleeSpot!

Attention college students! This is your chance to save some huge cash. Best Buy is offering an exclusive package where two very important college necessities can be bought together for less.  The Toshiba 26-inch LCD HDTV and Toshiba Satellite Laptop can be purchased together for $649.98, a $230 savings.~ Sandra Lee

Got a tip for the SLEEspot? Tell me about it at slee@ocregister.com or Tweet me @sleespot.
Past SleeSpots:

Posted in: Computers • Video & TV • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

Vizio Blu-ray player shows up in Walmart for $178

August 10th, 2009, 4:19 pm by

Vizio's first Blu-ray DVD player shows up in Walmart stores.Vizio’s long-awaited sub-$200 Blu-ray player is beginning to show up at Walmart stores nationwide — the Huntington Beach store added the high-definition DVD player to shelves last night, according to a sales clerk.

Irvine’s Vizio first announced its entry into Blu-ray players in January during the Consumer Electronics Show. The timing in stores is well off the initial April 2009 launch date, but hey, at least the price is $22 cheaper. 

The VBR100 Blu-ray player, which is listed as “coming soon” for $199.99 on Vizio’s Web site, has HDMI output and plays BD-Live content (so you can chat with friends watching the same movie). It also plays DVDs, CDs, MP3s and JPEG images. There’s no built-in memory card reader but on the back, there’s a USB port, which can read JPEGs, MP3s and BD Live storage. Nothing fancy, but it is thinner than some of the competitor boxes on the same shelves.

Vizio's first Blu-ray disc player shows up in Walmart stores.

Vizio's straightforward Blu-ray disc player is nothing fancy, but it's smaller, thinner than some competitor's.Now, I didn’t rush to the store to buy one, but I did stop by a local store to verify Walmart had them in stock (two left, by the way).  Photos are from my hunt.

The guys over at FormatWarCentral.com did. Here’s the link to their unboxing of the VBR100 (as spotted on EngadgetHD.com): LINK.

The new Vizio Blu-ray player isn’t the only one Walmart offers in the sub-$200 market. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing $100 Blu-ray players at Christmas. Here’s a list from Walmart’s Web site:

Blu-ray player Price Store
Magnavox Blu-ray Disc Player, NB530MGX $129 Walmart
Sylvania Blu-ray Disc Player (NB500SL9) $177 Walmart
Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray Player, BD-1500/XAA $198 Walmart
Sharp AQUOS 1080p HD Blu-ray Disc Player, BD-HP21U $199 Walmart

Earlier Vizio news:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local TV services

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

Vizio TVs could be $30 cheaper

April 24th, 2009, 7:58 pm by

Does your HDTV cost $30 more than others?If you feel that Vizio should shave $30 off the price of its TVs, listen up: The Irvine TV company agrees. You could help the company by supporting Vizio’s petition to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which is accepting comments until Monday. 

On Monday, the FCC will move to the next stage of deciding whether to modify its policies about digital television patent licensing.

At issue are royalty fees that Vizio and other TV makers pays patent owners of the ATSC digital TV tuner, a technology required in every TV sold in the United States. Vizio says it sets aside $30 per TV to pay royalty fees related to the ATSC tuner.  That’s pretty steep if it’s Vizio’s new 19-inch VA19L for $249. The extra fee is 12 percent of the total cost. And even if the price goes down — it’s $199.99 at Costco.com — Vizio still has to pay $30 for that single digital tuner.

Vizio sells HDTVsBut that’s not the outrageous part, at least from Vizio’s perspective. The company says foreign companies are buying up digital TV patents and demanding excessive fees randomly. Vizio says it is being unfairly singled out because of its success — it went from 2002 start-up to the nation’s top 3 TV brand last year.

“The fact that in the second quarter of 2008, we received recognition for being the number one in market share (in plasma TVs), we were identified as a potential target for both valid and invalid claims,” said Laynie Newsome, VIZIO co-founder and vice president of sales, marketing and communications.

“When you look at the amount of money of royalties to the cost of the whole (TV), it’s a disproportionate percentage. It’s extremely burdensome. It became more of an issue to us that the consumer should pay so much more money.”

Vizio obviously has its own spin on this. But the company is under attack. On April 10, Japan’s Funai Electric Co., which acquired some digital TV patents from Thompson and RCA, won a ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission to stop Vizio from importing digital TVs to sell in the United States. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

Contest alert: Vizio giving away 500 55-inch HDTVs

February 5th, 2009, 5:59 pm by

If you were like me, you saw the Vizio TV commercial during Super Bowl, but kept watching TV instead of checking out the Irvine TV seller’s $1 million contest online. (In fact, some people thought the commercial was the worst commercial this year.)

The company sent me a reminder today. And it’s actually a pretty good contest worth mentioning to readers. Vizio is giving away 500 55-inch LCD TVs with 120 Hz refresh rate and 9 high definition inputs (drool). It plans to hand out 17 of the $1,999 XVT series TVs every week beginning Feb. 23 through Aug. 31. The last weekend it’s giving away 24, which makes a grand total of 500 TVs or $1 million.

All you need to do is enter at Vizio.com, or 70.32.72.72, which asks that you submit a “Your Vizio Story” on how you found Vizio and its impact on your life.  Tell them you heard about it on Gadgetress and maybe they’ll give you bonus points (kidding).

Apparently, many Super Bowl viewers did visit the site during or after the game. Visits to its site grew 400 percent after the commercial aired, the company said.

Last chance to enter the contest is Aug. 14, 2009. Good luck!

Recent tech stories on Gadgetress:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • | 9 Comments »

Why wait till summer for a Vizio TV?

January 9th, 2009, 9:15 am by

If you’re in the market for a 55-inch HDTV,  you might want to wait until summer. Around that time, Vizio Inc. plans to start selling its latest top-of-the-line TV, the VF551XVT.

Why wait?  The new XVT is stuffed with the latest techologies, like 240 Hz refresh speeds for extra smooth viewing of fast-moving video. It’ll have a USB port, 5 HDMI ports and SRS TruSurround HD and SRS TruVolume technology, so TV volume doesn’t get annoyingly louder during commercials. And it’ll be Vizio’s first TV with LED back lighting, making it brighter than other Vizio TVs, yet with deeper blacks. But most impressive, Vizio plans to charge $1,999.

Vizio had the TV in its CES suite and the picture color really popped when compared to other Vizio TVs placed right next to it (although you probably can’t tell from the above photo I snapped).

For years, movie-loving videophiles have preferred plasma TVs over LCDs because the colors are richer and blacks are blacker. But with LED back lighting, LCDs now offer a similar viewing experience. The black bars that straddle DVD movies above and below were, in the demo I saw, nearly as black as the TV’s frame. Comparably, a Vizio TV right next to the VF551XVT were just a dark shade of gray.  A lot of TV manufacturers announced new LED TVs, but their prices tend to be hundreds to thousands of dollars more. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

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