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Walmart takes budget TV maker Vizio under its umbrella
If Vizio is the shiny new toy, what does this mean for Walmart's Google TV offerings?
If there's one monumental expense you don't prepare for in adulthood, it's a nice new TV. Decent televisions with outstanding picture quality, some compelling smart features, and a modern operating system can easily run you thousands of dollars — but that doesn't necessarily have to be the case. Vizio is a solid budget- and mid-range TV brand. It won't knock your socks off with a tack-sharp OLED display like premium options, but Vizio's entry-level televisions, which compete with brands like Roku, Hisense, and TCL, get the job done without making huge sacrifices in picture quality.
Play Movies & TV app will disappear from Roku and other smart TVs soon
Roku, LG, Samsung and Vizio TVs will lose the app in June, replaced with access to purchases YouTube
The transition from Google Play Music to YouTube Music has been a rocky and contentious one. But Google isn't finished axing its media apps just yet. According to updated support documentation, the Google Play Movies & TV app on smart televisions is the next one to get the chop. The phone app was replaced with the newer "Google TV" app in October, but the app will disappear from smart TV platforms as well starting in June.
Last year's Consumer Electronics Show brought some of the first third-party devices with Google Assistant — Google's virtual helper had only been released a few months prior. This year, we saw a wide variety of devices running Assisant. Beyond the usual mix of smart lights and speakers, there are mirrors, electric car chargers, water systems, and even Insant Pots with Assistant.For your reading enjoyment, this is every product announced at CES 2019 with Google Assistant (or Google Assistant integration), in no particular order.
After roughly six months of slow and steady rollout, the YouTube TV app is now available on all Vizio SmartCast TVs. The $40 per month cable alternative first arrived on a selection of newer, high performing Vizio models about half a year ago, with a YouTube engineer on Reddit noting that the company would add more models after monitoring and fine-tuning playback quality. That process seems to be complete now, as Google has just updated its YouTube TV app help page confirming the support.
According to The Verge, LeEco has just announced that it no longer intends to buy US television maker Vizio.
Looks like Vizio is pulling itself out of some hot water. The popular television manufacturer (among other products) has been fined $2.2 million, payable to the FTC and the State of New Jersey, for some pretty serious privacy violations. Starting in 2014, Vizio has sold Internet-connected TVs that track what the customers watch and send that data back to its servers.
A little while after LG's announcement that it would add Google Home compatibility to its Music Flow line, Vizio steps up and makes a similar announcement for its SmartCast series of connected speakers, displays, and the like. This will add the strength of voice control to Chromecast-ready devices like the Crave 360 and Pro speakers.
Vizio's P-Series 4K TVs* are about to get infinitely more Google-y. The new second generation models (P-Series Ultra HD HDR Home Theater Display is the full name, but we'll gloss over that) come with Google Cast built-in, meaning a Chromecast or Cast-enabled set-top box isn't needed in order to cast over content.
Vizio's pulled the curtains off two new Portable Smart Audio speakers that are powered by Android 4.4. What makes them special are the touchscreens embedded into the front of each device. Instead of having to pair them with a phone using Bluetooth, users will be free to stream music directly from the likes of Spotify and Pandora or enjoy video from Netflix or YouTube. Think of each version as a bulky tablet that doesn't need to rest in your lap, one with speakers that you won't leave you reaching for earbuds.
If you like Nexus tablets, Vizio is gunning for your wallet. Today, the company announced a duo of tablets running stock Android. The first is most similar to the Nexus 10: a 10" display with the same retina-melting 2560x1600 resolution, only this one is powered by a Tegra 4 processor. Kal-El may not be a slouch, but let's be real. It's hard to not envy the 72 GPU cores that Wayne is packing.
Vizio Co-Star Now Available For Pre-Order For $99, Ships By August 14th
Google I/O has come and gone with nary a mention of Google TV. Disheartening to say the least, but that doesn't mean that the platform is dead. Not while
Google I/O has come and gone with nary a mention of Google TV. Disheartening to say the least, but that doesn't mean that the platform is dead. Not while manufacturers keep making products for it. Products like the Vizio Co-Star. For $99, the Co-Star sits in the right sweet spot for Google TV device pricing. Combine the price with a remote that's smaller than a plank of wood, and OnLive gaming built right in, the little box actually looks like a pretty sweet deal. If Google TV is your thing, that is.
Vizio Announces Google TV-Powered 'Co-Star', Pre-Orders Begin Next Month For $99
If you've been wanting to check out Google TV but just couldn't justify shelling out a couple hundred (or more) dollars for the sake of seeing what it's
If you've been wanting to check out Google TV but just couldn't justify shelling out a couple hundred (or more) dollars for the sake of seeing what it's all about, Vizio's new Co-Star Stream Player could be the answer you've been waiting for.
Update: If you're not into the idea of dropping $379 on this, then you can per-order it from Costco for $50 less ($329). Similarly, Amazon has the pre-order priced at $350, which is still a bit cheaper than ordering direct from Vizio.