vizio tv lcd panel made in china

Vizio TVs are designed in California, but they are made in Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Thailand and Mexico. That’s because Vizio outsources manufacturing to companies like BOE, Foxconn, Innolux, KIE, Tonly, TPV and Zylux. These manufacturers purchase the necessary components and assemble Vizio Smart TVs within their respective facilities.

Every Vizio TV is designed with two things in mind: customer experience and cost. That’s because Vizio’s entire brand was built around creating affordable, quality TVs using the latest and greatest technologies.

It’s important to note that “design” at Vizio is really just about how to best put parts together, affordably. Vizio did not develop nearly any of the technology they incorporate into their TVs.

Instead, they depend on non-exclusive license rights from third parties for these technologies. Vizio does not own most of the IP (intellectual property).

As mentioned, Vizio does not have any internal manufacturing or testing facilities/capabilities of their own – they rely 100% on third-party manufacturers to build, assemble, test and package their TVs.

The majority of Vizio TVs are made by 7 manufacturing companies – BOE, Foxconn, Innolux, KIE, Tonly, TPV and Zylux. These companies are located primarily in Asia – Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Thailand and Mexico.

Vizio relies heavily on these manufacturers to manage the prices paid for nearly all of the components found in their TVs– LCD & OLED panels, glass substrates, liquid crystal material, driver integrated circuits, polarizers, color filters, chipsets etc.

Once the manufacturers finish buying all the parts, building, and testing a batch of Vizio TVs, they are then responsible for shipping those finished products to the United States, where they are ultimately sold.

By selling into mostly large retailers, Vizio has been able to keep their costs and overhead quite low, which has translated to a more affordable consumer price tag.

While Vizio TVs are designed in the United States, they are actually made in several different countries: Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Thailand and Mexico.

Additionally, Vizio doesn’t own the majority of the technology in their TVs. Instead, they have non-exclusive licensing deals with the various owners of the IP.

Once the manufacturers finish making the TVs, they ship them to the US where Vizio sells them at retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, Sam’s Club, Target and Walmart.

No, Vizio is its own brand. Headquartered out of Irvine, Califnornia Vizio outsources manufacturing to companies like BOE, Foxconn, Innolux, KIE, Tonly, TPV and Zylux.

Yes, Vizio is a great TV brand. Vizio arguably offers the best “value” TVs on the market today. They make TVs with great quality pictures at affordable prices.

Vizio has five distinct product categories in its 2021 TV lineup. Listed below are each of these categories, what to expect from each level, and the top offerings from that series.

This category focuses on dependability and value while providing the base Vizio experience with 21”- 40” displays. One of the most popular TVs in the D-Series category [1] is the Vizio D40F-G9. It has a 40-inch LCD display with a Full HD 1080p resolution. It comes equipped with its SmartCast OS for streaming and casting and is compatible with Google Assistant, Apple Siri, or Amazon Alexa.

V for value, this category offers an entry-level HDR experience, larger 40”-75” displays, and up to 4K resolution. One of the best examples is the Vizio V505-H19. It sports a 50” 4K resolution display with HDR compatibility, SmartCast, and full-array backlight dimming. It’s easily one of the most value-packed products in their lineup.

M for mid-range, Vizio brings in their more premium options such as Quantum LED, higher contrast for HDR10 and Dolby Vision certification, and HDMI 2.1 with variable refresh rate for gaming, more screen size options, with all the features mentioned above. The Vizio M65Q7-H1 is a crowd favorite, sporting a 65” 4K HDR QLED display with support for 4K 60Hz.

P for premium, this is where Vizio brings out their best with up to 85” in display size, a panel with higher brightness and contrast, and a refined full-array dimming experience. Vizio’s P65Q9-H1 can offer all that and is among the top favorites.

This is an odd category that doesn’t fall under Vizio’s letter-based naming. Despite that, Vizio shows its mastery over the OLED display. Although having smaller screen size options of 55”-65”, the use of OLED gives models in this series a visual experience unmatched by non-OLED displays. The OLED55-H1 is their most popular option, as it offers the glory of a 55” 4K HDR10+ OLED display with a variable refresh rate for gaming.

Here’s what you should know if you’ve decided to buy a TV and noticed the Vizio brand. Vizio is registered in the United States and owns the Vizio brand. It is one of the largest TV companies in the North American market. But while Vizio claims to be an American TV sales company, it operates as a sales and service company. Third-party manufacturers, OEMs, and ODMs manufacture all televisions on behalf of Vizio. Vizio itself does not have its factories. However, according to statistics provided by statista.com, Vizio was the third-largest TV supplier in the U.S. in 2020, with a 13 percent share of the TV market. Since 2017, however, Vizio has lost more than half of the TV market to other manufacturers. Vizio’s main competitor is China’s TCL, actively capturing North American market share.

According to the Chinese website https://baike.baidu.com/item/Vizio, the primary owners of Vizio, in addition to its founders, are China AmTRAN Technology Co Ltd, a manufacturer of ODM and OEM TVs, also has display factories, owns 23% of the shares. Another Vizio shareholder, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Ltd (Foxconn brand name), holds about 8% of the shares through its companies, source www.ledinside.com. The investment in the companies has made it possible to guarantee the supply of components and production of Vizio TVs at the technological sites of these companies.

Where is Vizio made: Vizio TVs are mainly assembled in China and Mexico. The leading supplier of TVs is AmTRAN; about half of Vizio’s TVs are manufactured in the company’s factories in China. TVs for Vizio are also assembled and supplied by Foxconn, which has assembly plants in Mexico. Other companies may also manufacture some TV models. You should know that all Vizio products are completely developed and manufactured in China, or components are manufactured in China and assembled in Mexico. At first glance, there’s nothing unusual about that; OEMs make the same iPhone. But there are some nuances for Vizio, which I will explain further below.

AmTran Technology Ltd manufactures Vizio TVs in China. It is a Taiwanese company with component manufacturing and assembly plants located in Raken, Suzhou, China.

AmTran offers its customers the development of TV sets (ODM), which means that the company develops new models of TV sets by itself, taking into account the wishes of the customer. Produced TV sets are delivered to the customer under the Vizio brand. It should be noted that AmTram is the leading supplier of TV sets for Vizio.

TV assembly plants in Tijuana, Mexico, assemble TVs from off-the-shelf components. Some Vizio televisions are made in Mexico and are manufactured by Foxconn in their plant.

You have to understand the following, Vizio is mostly budget TVs, the company has a very aggressive pricing policy, and you go into a store and see a Vizio TV for $398 and a Samsung next to it for $577. You might think, oh, I’ll save almost $200. But there’s no such thing as the same TV class being priced so differently. It’s all about the components. The Vizio has a cheaper display, look at the thickness of the TV, and you’ll understand.

The short answer is NO, none or, at least, few of their parts are made in America, and where the parts are made varies over time. They set specifications and standards for their products and Shop the Whole World for manufacturers who can makes the parts to their specifications at the lowest possible cost. They have at least one assembly plant in Mexico where shipping to the US for distribution is simple and low cost. In the end, Visio uses globalization to its advantage and its customers end up with a superior TV with more features for the money you spend.

The short answer is NO, none or, at least, few of their parts are made in America, and where the parts are made varies over time. They set specifications and standards for their products and Shop the Whole World for manufacturers who can makes the parts to their specifications at the lowest possible cost. They have at least one assembly plant in Mexico where shipping to the US for distribution is simple and low cost. In the end, Visio uses globalization to its advantage and its customers end up with a superior TV with more features for the money you spend.

The first electronic television was invented by Philco Taylor Farnsworth from Utah in 1927 but even by 1946 only 0.5% of U.S. households owned a TV set. By 1954, 55.7% of households had them, and by 1962, 90% did. During this time a staggering number of U.S.-based brands popped up to meet the insatiable demand of consumers who wanted to watch Lucille Ball, Steve Allen, and Gunsmoke. And the manufacturing was done in the United States.

Today, there are only a handful of TV brands left outside of China: Samsung and LG (South Korea), Sony (Japan), Philips (EU) and Vizio (US). A company in China had attempted to acquire Vizio in 2016, but that deal never happened so as of now they’re still a US company (they recently had their long-awaited IPO).

Pretty much every other brand you’ve heard of: TCL, HiSense, Seiki, Insignia are 100% based in China. Just recently, Japanese electronics giant Panasonic announced that they were outsourcing their TV production to TCL. And many recognizable brands like Toshiba, Sharp, Westinghouse have also been subsumed by China-based companies.

Here’s where it gets complicated. As we’ve seen in posts for other kinds of products, you simply can’t find a TV where 100% of the components are made outside of China. For example, LG Electronics (who builds TVs) sources its WOLED panels from LG Display, who had produced their panels in South Korea but is shifting production to Guangzhou, China. So regardless of what TV you buy, a portion of it is going to prop up the CCP.

But you can stem the bleeding. For one thing, if you buy from the big non-China brands: Samsung, LG, Sony, Philips and Vizio, at least you can support some non-China employees, such as their product development, marketing, or administrative departments.

And ideally, you’ll want to find a company that at the very least assembles their products outside of China, even if many or most of the parts are made in China. This is where the large form factor of the TV helps. A manufacturer in China could assemble a 65″ or 75″ TV and ship it 7,000 miles away, but at that size and weight it’s probably more cost effective to build a plant that’s closer to their target market and hire locals to assemble the product. So at least there’s some benefit to the local economy.

Manufacturers tend to be coy about where their parts come from and where their products are assembled. If you read what their PR departments post as a response to Amazon questions a typical responses is something vague like “our TVs are built all over the world”, so we don’t know if 99% of a TV was made in China and the other 1% was divvied up between other countries.

A little Internet sleuthing helps, however. As of 2021, Samsung has recently ceased TV production in China. Sony TVs intended for the North American market are assembled in Mexico. LG TVs are also produced in Mexico for the North American market and in Poland for the European market. Vizio does maintain manufacturing facilities in Taiwan and Mexico, so there’s a decent chance your North American-based set was made there.

LG took home the “best TV” prize at CES 2021 with this model. The C1 is the next-generation of the 2020 CX model that made just about every consumer electronics publication’s “best of” list for 2020. The C1 comes in 48″, 55″, 65″, 77″ sizes and a brand new 83″ model.

LG also offers LCD sets, but OLED is the way to you. OLED is made up of organic material, so pixels “light up” themselves as opposed to traditional LED screens which are lit by a backlight. The results are much blacker blacks, much more accurate and vivid colors, and a near-infinite contrast ratio. It features Dolby Vision IQ and Dolby Atmos sound, a 120Hz refresh rate for gaming, and an α9 Gen4 AI Processor 4K chip to optimize content in real time.

Sony’s TV lineup also consists of OLED and LED models. While their OLED models are excellent TVs, especially for home theater setups, most reviewers give the overall OLED edge to LG.

However, there may be reasons you’re in the market for an ordinary LED panel. The most common reason has to to with screen burn-in. There is no more helpless feeling than paying thousands of dollars for a new OLED TV or smartphone, and then after accidentally leaving it on having images burned into it. With traditional LED TVs, that’s never aa concern–you can leave it on the same channel as long as you like or use it as a computer monitor.

Not surprisingly, Sony has squeezed a lot out of the TV. It achieves a high contrast ratio and decent blacks without OLED. Its fast response time, HDMI 2.1 ports, and 120Hz refresh rate make it very good for gaming.

This is the top of the line TV from Samsung. Its quantum dot technology allows for a full range of vivid colors even at high brightness levels where OLED starts to falter. It also introduces a new backlighting technology using Quantum Mini LEDs that are 1/40th the height of conventional LEDs and which can be packed together in tight spaces, allowing for stunning brightness and contrast and deeper blacks that rival or surpass OLEDs, all without burn-in.

Many call this TV the very best TV you can buy right now anywhere. The price tag is a whopping $5000, but if you have that kind of disposable income, you will definitely get what you pay for.

I tend to focus on the US market mostly, but for those of you visiting from Europe, Paul in the comments below brought up Cello TVs. I never heard of this brand before but the more I learn about them the more I’m impressed. They manufacture all of their TVs in County Durham in the North East of England.

Cello has an impressively low price point (alas, it would be cost-prohibitive to ship them across the Atlantic Ocean, so we can’t find them here in the US). Their reviews on Amazon are consistently high (sadly, it looks like China trolls are on Amazon UK upvoting every negative comment to get them to rise to the top, but focus on the overall ratings). If you need a basic TV at a great price that supports communities and the economy in the UK, you should definitely get one of these.

Irvine-based Vizio Inc. is moving the contract manufacturing hub for its line of larger flat TVs from Asia to Tijuana, Mexico. The shift comes as Vizio aims to cut costs amid a changing economic climate in China and particularly Taiwan, according to founder and Chief Executive William Wang.

Vizio"s subcontractor is setting up at least two plants in Tijuana that will add "millions" of square feet for TV production, according to Wang. "We"re getting ready for mass production soon, within three months," he said.

Vizio will maintain significant production operations in Taiwan, where its smaller TVs, consumer electronics accessories, tablets and a newly launched line of personal computers are made.

The Taiwanese companies, in turn, rely on various suppliers in China"s mainland. Manufacturing costs throughout the region have increased in recent years as rapid economic development lifted wages. China also has raised tariffs on components and materials used in TV production, prompting some manufacturers to consider a shift in operations. The tariffs on imported LCD panels to be used in the assembly of TVs 32 inches and higher recently rose to 5%, up from 3%.

Taiwan has long held the market share lead for LCD TV production but the gap is narrowing as some U.S. companies move manufacturing operations closer to their domestic markets in an effort to cut shipping costs. Mexico is an attractive option since the North American Free Trade Agreement eliminated tariffs among the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

It regained the U.S. market share lead in the LCD TV segment in the first quarter of 2012, surpassing South Korea-based Samsung Group, which had held the title since the second quarter of last year.

This isn"t Vizio"s first foray in Mexico. It established partnerships prior to NAFTA with free trade zones known as maquiladoras in the border town of Jaurez.

Vizio"s move to swap some manufacturing in Taiwan for Mexico comes as significant numbers of other companies are bringing production back to the U.S. Benefits such as quicker turns and closer contact with customers have been cited by many small and midsize manufacturers who have brought operations back from offshore markets.

Vizio and other consumer electronics makers aren"t likely to go that far, since many operate on low margins, putting a premium on keeping costs to a minimum.

With the domestic market approaching saturation, branded Chinese LCD TV vendors see overseas expansion as the only means to grow their market shares and raise their brand recognition. The latest example of this approach is the acquisition of the U.S.-based consumer electronics maker VIZIO by LeEco, a rising Internet brand in the Chinese LCD TV market. Reports of VIZIO being up for sale gained traction after Foxconn’s acquisition of Sharp, and the US $2 billion deal with LeEco was finally announced on July 27.

Following the acquisition, the combined shipments of LCD TV sets from LeEco and VIZIO will reach 14.57 million units this year, according to WitsView, a division of TrendForce. In the annual global shipment ranking, LeEco will become one of the top five vendors and surpass compatriot brands Hisense and TCL to take the third spot. On the whole, this deal has significantly altered the competitive landscape of the global LCD TV market.

In addition to being known for offering LCD TVs with high cost-performance ratios, LeEco has further differentiated itself from competitors by selling subscriptions to its Internet TV channels. As most of its revenue comes from streaming video subscribers, LeEco intends to use the VIZIO brand to enter the North American market and replicate its business model there. However, LeEco will have more difficulty in getting subscribers in North America than in China due to competition from the region’s major video streaming platforms such as Netflix. Nonetheless, LeEco can still succeed in North America by selling TVs at extremely low prices. By driving up its sales volume dramatically, the Chinese brand would make a significant impact on the ecosystem of the local LCD TV industry and the consumer perception. At the same time, LeEco could also squeeze the market shares of other first-tier brands in North America.

The consolidation of LeEco and VIZIO will also pose a huge challenge for South Korean TV brands. Taking account of the acquisition, WitsView’s latest analysis projects that the combined shipments of Chinese brands will reach 74.1 million units this year, whereas the combined shipments of South Korean brands will arrive at 77 million units. Together, Chinese and South Korean vendors are expected to account for 70% of the global LCD TV market. In the future, major international brands will continue to enlarge their market shares at the expense of regional brands and vendors of niche TV sets.

After incorporating VIZIO, LeEco will be the only LCD TV brand without in-house manufacturing capability among the global top five and will still rely on Taiwanese and Chinese OEMs. The majority of TV sets shipped by LeEco in China so far this year are large-size models (measuring 50 inches and above), while 30% of VIZIO’s shipments in North America in the same period also belong to the same size segment. WitsView anticipates that LeEco will strengthen its partnership with Foxconn, which has the world’s largest Gen-10 panel fab and controls nearly 20% of the global capacity for large-size panels. With Foxconn’s support, LeEco can focus on large-size and super large-size TVs (models sized 70-inches and above).

Also, both LeEco and VIZIO have worked with Taiwan-based OEM TPV Technology, and this relationship is expected to remain tight following the acquisition. LeEco has a partnership with Chinese TV vendor TCL, and the market is looking at whether TCL can leverage the situation to improve its sales to North America. Another ensuing issue from the acquisition is whether Taiwanese OEMs Wistron and AmTRAN can enter LeEco’s supply chain. These follow-up developments will exert influences on orders going to OEMs worldwide.

Vizio Inc. (stylized as VIZIO) is an American publicly traded company that designs and sells televisions, sound bars, viewer data, and advertising. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Irvine, California.

On October 19, 2010, Vizio signed a 4-year contract to sponsor U.S. college football"s annual Rose Bowl game in Pasadena, California, beginning with the 2011 Rose Bowl and ending with the 2014 Vizio BCS National Championship Game.Fiesta Bowl making the official name the Vizio Fiesta Bowl.

In November 2015, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Office of the New Jersey Attorney General brought charges against Vizio, alleging it collected non-personal information on its customers and sold it to advertisers.

Vizio produces television sets and soundbars and has previously produced tablets, mobile phones and computers. Vizio manufactures its products in Mexico, China, and Vietnam under agreements with ODM assemblers in those countries.

Television sets are Vizio"s primary product category, and in 2007 the company became the largest LCD TV seller (by volume) in North America.plasma televisions and would focus on the LED-backlit LCD displays .

In March 2016, Vizio announced the release of SmartCast TVs that allowed users to control the screen from a tablet or mobile app.Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.Google Assistant and Alexa-enabled devices, Apple Airplay2, Apple HomeKit

SmartCast is the operating system/platform that Vizio uses in all their smart TVs.Chromecast and Apple AirPlay.Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Prime Video.

Vizio has previously produced other products in addition to televisions and soundbars. In 2011, Vizio introduced the Via Tablet and Via Phone, its first tablet and mobile phone products.Android smartphones in Asian markets, including China,Google TV digital media player.

On October 19, 2021, Software Freedom Conservancy filed a lawsuit against Vizio Inc. because the company failed to fulfill the requirements of the GNU General Public License by failing to provide the source code. Software Freedom Conservancy states in the lawsuit that Vizio is "not providing and technical information that copyleft licenses require, Vizio was not even informing its customers about copylefted software and the rights it gives them as consumers."Federal District Judge Josephine Staton sided with Software Freedom Conservancy and granted a motion to send the lawsuit back to Superior Court, to answer breach-of-contract claims.

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2 Min ReadJia Yueting, co-founder and head of Le Holdings Co Ltd, also known as LeEco and formerly as LeTV, poses for a photo in front of a logo of his company after a Reuters interview at LeEco headquarters in Beijing, China, picture taken April 22, 2016. REUTERS/Jason Lee

Irvine, California-based Vizio makes affordable flat screen televisions, soundbars and LCD monitors. Founded in 2002, the company is now one of the largest manufacturers of TV sets in the United States.

Vizio, which filed for an initial public offering last year, generated sales of $1.3 billion in the first six months of 2015, according to IPO documents.

Vizio’s hardware and software units will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of LeEco. The company’s Inscape TV viewership data business will be spun out as a privately owned company, LeEco said.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch advised Vizio on the deal, while Latham & Watkins LLP was the legal counsel. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter.

Chinese electronics firm LeEco is buying American TV manufacturer Vizio for $2 billion. The acquisition was announced during a press event this morning in Los Angeles, giving LeEco an instant foothold in the US television market. Under the deal, Vizio will be operated as an independent subsidiary, with the company"s current executive team staying in place and working out of its offices in Southern California — sans Vizio founder and CEO William Wang, who is leaving the company. No replacement has been named, but Wang will be taking the reins as chairman and CEO of Inscape, Vizio"s data business, which is being spun out into a privately held company. LeEco will own 49 percent of Inscape, with Wang owning the remaining 51 percent. The LeEco deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

In what seemed to be more of a eulogy than a press conference, Wang described the company"s humble beginnings, and how it had fought through early challenges, parts shortages, and the global financial crisis as it slowly slugged its way to success. "We had to fight through competition from all over the world," he said, before lauding most of Vizio"s senior leadership team one by one.

"I have mixed feelings," he admitted about the deal. "As the owner and father of Vizio, I am very reluctant to let it go. But as the CEO and owner of the company, I know this is the right decision to make for our hard-working employees and loyal shareholders."

Vizio, on the other hand, has styled itself as an American success story. In 2012, all but three of the company"s 417 employees worked in the US, and its quiet and steady presence let it become a major player in the television space. But the company faced some criticism last year when it was discovered that its smart televisions were collecting information about user viewing habits — data that it was then sharing as part of its Inscape business. As part of the acquisition agreement, the LeEco-owned Vizio will continue to license Inscape"s technology for 10 years for use in its televisions, and will also be keeping all of Vizio"s current distribution agreements in place, giving it immediate reach into the US market. In fact, according to LeEco the acquisition will make it the "largest internet TV access point" in the world.

TCL has recently launched the new smart 4K TV 100X6C with a 100-inch screen, industry sources said on Nov. 6. TCL"s new model is priced at US$11,385. It is the cheapest model among 90-inch or larger TV products currently available in the market. With the launch of the 100X6C model, TCL emerged as a major TV manufacturer that can make big TV models.

China"s HiSense has also recently released an 85-inch ULED smart TV (Series 7) to the market. The 4K model is now retailing for US$4,299. HiSense uses ULED technology, which stacks two LCD panels to improve image quality.

TCL, HiSense, and other major Chinese TV makers are racing to globally launch 75-inch and larger TVs. In particular, TCL, which stands out in the North American market, is focusing on the high-quality smart TV market this year and is expected to compete fiercely with Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics of Korea.

8K TV models are also expected to be released one after another. TCL unveiled 65-, 75-, and 85-inch 8K QLED TV models at IFA 2019. It is expected to launch 8K TVs early next year. HiSense and Haier plan to launch their 8K TV models in Europe early next year.

IHS Markit, a global market researcher, ranked TV companies in terms of North American TV brand shares. In the first half of this year, Samsung Electronics nabbed first place with 22.2 percent, while China"s TCL came in second with 21.2 percent. Vizio, the largest TV maker in the United States, placed third with 14.3 percent while LG Electronics took fourth place with 11.6 percent. HiSense came in fifth with 7.5 percent.

For many shoppers, there’s comfort in choosing a familiar brand. But before you buy a new TV, there’s something you should know: Even if a TV carries a brand name you recognize, that model might have little connection to the company that built that brand over the course of decades.

For example, RCA, an iconic TV brand, now appears on sets produced by Curtis International, a Canadian company. Sharp TVs? For the past several years they’ve been manufactured by the Chinese TV brand Hisense, but the brand recently changed hands again (see below).

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“For many years, TV making was limited to the few large consumer-electronics companies that could afford the investment,” says Paul Gagnon, senior research director for consumer devices at Omdia, a market research firm. But then it became easier to source components, which in turn increased competition and lowered pricing and profits. “For some brands,” he says, “the TV business here in the States was not profitable anymore.”

Consumer Reports has seen a wide range of quality in televisions carrying licensed brands. For instance, some Hisense-made Sharp sets have done well in our TV ratings—its higher-end sets even rival some of the top models from the dominant brands—while others didn’t do as well. Meanwhile, several RCA- and Westinghouse-branded sets are near the bottom of the list.

One area where many of these licensed TV brands fall short is in HDR performance, which can present brighter, more vivid images with greater contrast and a wider array of colors, much closer to what we see in real life. We’ve also found that many also deliver less-than-compelling sound compared with sets from the major brands.

No matter which kind of TV you buy, it’s smart to use a credit card that doubles the manufacturer’s warranty. Some retailers, such as Costco, grant you the same, or an even a better, cushion. This is particularly important with licensed brands because the manufacturers’ warranty periods may be shorter than what the major brands provide. And it might be tougher to get a licensed-brand set serviced, especially if it requires parts from overseas.

You can also ask retailers for a 30-day guarantee that allows you to return a TV if you’re unhappy with the picture quality, even if that goes past their normal return window.

Below you’ll find a list of licensed TV brands and who makes their sets. (If you’re reading on a phone, you can rotate the device to landscape mode for a better view of the chart.)

AmazonIn 2021, Amazon launched its first two series of Amazon Fire TV Edition televisions under its own brand. Previously, they’d been available from a few TV brands, including Insignia, Pioneer, Toshiba, and Westinghouse, in the U.S. market. The sets are sold exclusively through Amazon’s website and at Best Buy stores.

InsigniaInsignia is Best Buy’s value-oriented house brand for consumer electronics products, including televisions. Insignia, with TVs made under contract by several TV manufacturers, is one of the few TV brands that offer both Amazon Fire TV and Roku smart TV platforms.

JVCThe JVC TV brand was licensed to the Taiwan manufacturer AmTran until 2018, when that license was acquired by Shenzhen MTC, a Chinese TV company. The TVs are marketed here in the U.S. by JMC, a company based in Irvine, Calif. JVC is among several brands that sell smart TVs using the Roku TV platform.

MagnavoxOnce a U.S. TV market leader, the Philips-owned Magnavox brand is now licensed by Funai Electric. The Japanese manufacturer also controls the U.S. licenses for the Emerson, Philips (see below), and Sanyo brand names. As a historical footnote, Funai was the last remaining company to make VCRs; it stopped producing them in 2016.

OnnOnn is a Walmart private-label house brand for a variety of electronic products, including TVs and soundbars. Walmart doesn’t disclose which companies are making the products, but if you look through its TV manual, you’ll see that warranties are the responsibility of “Element TV Company,” the same company that handles Element TVs, and a company that assembles televisions in South Carolina.

PioneerPioneer, with its Kuro plasma TV line, was once lauded as making the best TVs you could buy. But the company exited the TV market in 2010 and sold its home electronics division to Onkyo in 2014. Voxx International acquired Onkyo’s assets last year and reached a licensing deal for the Pioneer and Pioneer Elite brands, but the deal didn’t include TVs. Instead, our research indicates that Compal Electronics, a Taiwanese manufacturer, now has the license for Pioneer TVs in the U.S. It previously held the license to the Toshiba TV brand—until Hisense bought Toshiba in 2017.

PolaroidThe once-venerable Polaroid name has gone though many changes since the original Polaroid company declared bankruptcy in 2001. After reorganizing, the Polaroid brand was licensed and then sold to Petters Group Worldwide in 2005, which itself went under three years later after an FBI investigation found the company was being run as a Ponzi scheme. In 2009, a group of investors snapped up the Polaroid brand and launched a company called PLR IP Holdings, which now administers the licenses. Polaroid had a TV licensing deal with Makena Electronics, but the company says Polaroid’s licensing deal in the U.S. has expired, and at present, Polaroid is not licensing TVs for the U.S. market.

ProScanProScan was once the premium TV sub-brand of RCA; now both brands are owned and controlled by Technicolor, which created the color film process that was widely used by Hollywood until the mid-1950s. The ProScan brand is currently licensed in North America by Curtis International, an Ontario, Canada, a manufacturer and distributor of lower-priced electronic goods. Curtis also licenses the RCA and Sylvania brands.

QuasarAsk your grandfather about the Quasar name and he may remember it fondly. This TV brand launched by Motorola was acquired by Matsushita (the parent company of Panasonic) in the ’70s, but the little-used trademark expired in 2007. About three years ago, Panasonic reregistered it. For a while we saw a few Quasar TVs as low-cost alternatives in outlets such as BrandsMart and Walmart, but Quasar TVs are currently unavailable.

RCAOne of the most significant consumer electronics brands in American history (the original company helped develop the NTSC standards for color televisions), RCA is now owned by Technicolor. Over the past decade, the trademark, which stood for Radio Corporation of America, has gone through several TV licensees, including TCL and then, more recently, On Corporation, a Korean TV manufacturer. The RCA brand in the U.S. is now licensed by Curtis International, which also licenses the ProScan and Sylvania labels.

SanyoSeveral years ago, Panasonic—another high-profile brand that has exited the U.S. TV market—agreed to license the Sanyo TV brand to Funai. Today, Sanyo TVs seem to turn up mostly in Walmart stores, acting almost as a private-label brand for the retailer.

SharpNo company did more to develop and commercialize LCD TV technology than Japan’s Sharp Corp. But in 2015 it yielded to market pressures here in the U.S. and licensed its brand to Chinese TV manufacturer Hisense, which also purchased Sharp’s TV plant in Mexico. Subsequently, a majority share of Sharp was bought by Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn, which reclaimed the rights to the Sharp brand from Hisense in 2019. The company recently announced a return to the U.S. TV market in 2022.

ToshibaJoining the growing list of Japanese TV manufacturers that have found the U.S. market too competitive, Toshiba pulled the plug on its U.S. TV business in 2015, licensing its brand to Taiwanese manufacturer Compal. Then, in November 2017, Chinese TV manufacturer Hisense purchased the Toshiba TV business. Toshiba USA acts as a separate entity from Hisense, with its own product management, sales, and marketing teams. Like Insignia, Toshiba makes both Amazon Fire and Roku smart TVs.

WestinghouseAnother historic U.S. electronics name, the Westinghouse TV brand is controlled by ViacomCBS, which currently licenses it to TongFang, a Chinese company that has a facility in California. It acquired the rights to sell TVs under that brand following the dissolution of the prior licensee, Westinghouse Digital. Westinghouse sets are typically inexpensive compared with the competition.

I"ve been a tech journalist for more years than I"m willing to admit. My specialties at CR are TVs, streaming media, audio, and TV and broadband services. In my spare time I build and play guitars and bass, ride motorcycles, and like to sail—hobbies I"ve not yet figured out how to safely combine.