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Consumers have bought more than 11 million internet-connected Vizio televisions since 2010. But according to a complaint filed by the FTC and the New Jersey Attorney General, consumers didn’t know that while they were watching their TVs, Vizio was watching them. The lawsuit challenges the company’s tracking practices and offers insights into how established consumer protection principles apply to smart technology.

Starting in 2014, Vizio made TVs that automatically tracked what consumers were watching and transmitted that data back to its servers. Vizio even retrofitted older models by installing its tracking software remotely. All of this, the FTC and AG allege, was done without clearly telling consumers or getting their consent.

What did Vizio know about what was going on in the privacy of consumers’ homes? On a second-by-second basis, Vizio collected a selection of pixels on the screen that it matched to a database of TV, movie, and commercial content. What’s more, Vizio identified viewing data from cable or broadband service providers, set-top boxes, streaming devices, DVD players, and over-the-air broadcasts. Add it all up and Vizio captured as many as 100 billion data points each day from millions of TVs.

Vizio then turned that mountain of data into cash by selling consumers’ viewing histories to advertisers and others. And let’s be clear: We’re not talking about summary information about national viewing trends. According to the complaint, Vizio got personal. The company provided consumers’ IP addresses to data aggregators, who then matched the address with an individual consumer or household. Vizio’s contracts with third parties prohibited the re-identification of consumers and households by name, but allowed a host of other personal details – for example, sex, age, income, marital status, household size, education, and home ownership.  And Vizio permitted these companies to track and target its consumers across devices.

Vizio put its tracking functionality behind a setting called “Smart Interactivity.”  But the FTC and New Jersey AG say that the generic way the company described that feature – for example, “enables program offers and suggestions” – didn’t give consumers the necessary heads-up to know that Vizio was tracking their TV’s every flicker. (Oh, and the “Smart Interactivity” feature didn’t even provide the promised “program offers and suggestions.”)

The complaint alleges that Vizio engaged in unfair trade practices that violated the FTC Act and were unconscionable under New Jersey law. The complaint also alleges that Vizio failed to adequately disclose the nature of its “Smart Interactivity” feature and misled consumers with its generic name and description.

To settle the case, Vizio has agreed to stop unauthorized tracking, to prominently disclose its TV viewing collection practices, and to get consumers’ express consent before collecting and sharing viewing information. In addition, the company must delete most of the data it collected and put a privacy program in place that evaluates Vizio’s practices and its partners. The order also includes a $1.5 million payment to the FTC and an additional civil penalty to New Jersey for a total of $2.2 million.

Vizio TVs run the SmartCast platform, which is very basic, with a very limited selection of apps and no app store. Instead, it relies on its ability to receive apps that are cast from your smart device. While the platform is versatile and has considerably grown in support from app makers, Vizio"s implementation is far from perfect. The SmartCast app Vizio provides to access content as well as adjust settings isn"t the fastest and most stable, and not everything is available for casting.

Vizio"s improved the set of options you can change from the TV itself. You don"t need to touch the SmartCast app at all to get the TV going properly, and even complete calibration settings are available on the on-screen menus. However, we recommend using the app for more in-depth calibration since it"s a lot more efficient for making a lot of adjustments.

For many years Vizio remained one of the few brands left to not sell their interface to advertisers. However, we noticed with the Vizio M7 Series Quantum 2021 and Vizio V5 Series 2021 that there"s now suggested content on the home page.

Current Vizio TVs don"t have an app store, and there"s no way to add additional apps. The included apps cover many of the more popular services. However, it might not be enough for some people, especially if you rely on streaming services instead of a traditional TV service.

Vizio finally added support for voice controls with the release of their 2021 TVs that come with the new remote (see below). It"s pretty basic and not as advanced as other brands, but you can still ask it to change inputs and open apps, but you can"t ask it to search for specific content in apps.

Vizio released a new remote with their 2021 models. It"s stripped-down compared to the past version, as it lacks a Numpad, but you still get the short buttons to popular streaming services. It"s not too big, but it"s very basic, and it doesn"t have backlighting.

The Vizio remote app is great. It supports all the remote"s functions, and you can even use it to enter text into some apps, which is rare. The TV"s settings can also be controlled and adjusted directly in the app, including the TV"s calibration. You can now do this on the TV itself, but due to the slow interface, it"s usually faster to change the settings through the remote app.

The SmartCast platform isn"t the most versatile and can be very slow. On the 2020 and 2021 models, we"ve encountered a few bugs with the settings, meaning it can sometimes be frustrating. Vizio is generally pretty good with software updates, though, and hopefully, they"ll fix most of these issues.

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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The Hisense U8H matches the excellent brightness and color performance of much pricier LCD TVs, and its Google TV smart platform is a welcome addition. But it’s available in only three screen sizes.

The Hisense U8H is the best LCD/LED TV for most people because it delivers the performance of a much pricier TV yet starts at under $1,000, for the smallest (55-inch) screen size. This TV utilizes quantum dots, a full-array backlight with mini-LEDs, and a 120 Hz refresh rate to deliver a great-looking 4K HDR image. It’s compatible with every major HDR format. And it’s equipped with two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 inputs to support 4K 120 Hz gaming from the newest Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Add in the intuitive, fully featured Google TV smart-TV platform, and the U8H’s price-to-performance ratio is of inarguable value.

In terms of design, the Hisense U8H is not as svelte as our upgrade pick, but it’s plenty sturdy and doesn’t look or feel cheap. Two narrow, metal feet jut out from beneath the panel and steadily hold the TV. They can be attached in two separate spots, either closer in toward the middle of the panel or out toward the edges, to account for different-size TV stands. The feet are also equipped with cable organization clasps—a nice touch for keeping your TV stand free of cable clutter. Though the TV is primarily plastic, its bezels are lined with metal strips, providing a bit more durability in the long run. I moved it around my home, and it was no worse for wear, but we’ll know more after doing some long-term testing.

The Hisense U8H has some difficulties with banding, or areas of uneven gradation, where transitions that should appear smooth instead look like “bands” of color (sometimes also called posterization). Like many current 4K HDR TVs, the U8H uses an 8-bit panel rather than a 10-bit panel, which affects the color decoding and color presentation process. This is usually relevant only with HDR video and games. When playing games on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, I saw a few instances where the content wasn’t rendered correctly and displayed ugly splotches of color on the screen. However, this almost always occurred during static screens (such as a pause menu or loading screen); I rarely spotted it during actual gameplay. Hisense has stated that it would address the problem in a future firmware update, but at the time of writing it was still present. This is a flaw that may give dedicated gamers pause, but we don’t consider it to be a dealbreaker for most people.

Finally, like most TVs that use vertical alignment (VA) LCD panels, the U8H has a limited horizontal viewing angle, which may be a bit annoying if you’re hoping to entertain a large crowd. Our upgrade pick uses a special wide-angle technology to address this.

Service Concept:Based on honest treatment and quality first, we have set up long-term relationship with both suppliers and customers. We offer high quality products to customers. To create value for customers is our main goal. High quality, High technology, High efficiency" is the guideline of our development. We are eager to cooperate with old and new, domestic and overseas customers to create a beautiful future together.

This happens to be our very first “TV” review, but it’s most definitely not our first display review, and in fact we’ve tested a variety of TVs over the past few years; we just haven’t published reviews of them because they become outdated so fast. Thanks to Vizio, however, we got our hands on a brand-new 2017 model before a new one was right around the corner, and we’re going to be putting the M50-E1 through its paces to see whether its promise of delivering 4K resolution, HDR capability, and a broad range of streaming options is as good as it sounds given the $600 asking price. Throughout this test, we’ll be comparing the M50-E1 to a Samsung UN55HU8550 55″ 4K model, which was considered the very best 4K TV when it was released for $2,500 in 2014, as well as LG’s OLED65C6P, which at $4,000 was chosen by many editors as the best TV on the market until its replacement arrived this spring. Tough benchmarks? Perhaps, but if Vizio, which is known for cutting consumers a pretty good deal, can even approach the quality and features of these sets, it’s going to be doing pretty well!

The M50-E1 features a relatively standard design. The panel itself measures 49.5″ diagonally, with bezels that are 1/2″ thick on all sides, but because of the slim strip of black area on the outer margin of the panel, the effective bezel is a bit wider, more like 5/8″. The M50-E1 is 25.6″ tall and 44.5″ wide according to our tape measure, and is a rather chunky 2.9″ thick. The metal loop feet add an additional 2.4″, making the set exactly 28″ tall when assembled on a stand rather than mounted on the wall. Notably, the feet are very wide-set, at 38.5″ end-to-end, meaning you’ll need a stand that’s at least 40″ wide to ensure that the M50-E1 doesn’t slide off the edge when bumped. This is in contrast to a lot of more expensive models that use a center-mounted foot design, which allows the user to set the TV on top of a stand that isn’t nearly as wide as the TV itself. While it could be argued that having a TV overhanging your stand isn’t aesthetically pleasing, it’s always nice to have the option, and unfortunately you really don’t have that with the M50-E1.

In terms of connections, the M50-E1 is fairly complete, with a notable exception. Along the side of the frame, it has a USB input, component video along with stereo inputs, plus an HDMI port. On the rear, facing downwards (ideal for wall mounting), you have Ethernet, two more stereo jacks (these being for output to a receiver), a digital optical out, and three more HDMI ports. So this is all very good, but the one issue is that there’s only one HDMI 2.0 port (labeled HDMI 1), which is thus the only port capable of accepting true 4K signals. That’s of course the one you’ll need for high dynamic range (HDR) content as well – the M50-E1 is very cutting-edge in that regards, supporting not just HDR10 but the superior Dolby Vision also. As a Vizio representative clarified for us, to enable HDR content even on HDMI port #1, you must go into the VIZIO display’s Input settings to enable the “full UHD color” function, which turns on the 10-bit signal from UHD content and provide full color and dynamic range.

In addition to buying a third-party device, there are three ways to get streaming content from the M50-E1: the Vizio “StreamCast Mobile” app for smartphones, the new-for-2017 built-in “SmartCast TV” apps, and Chromecast, which uses third-party apps with built-in support for casting via Google’s Chromecast system. To a certain extent, there’s a lot of overlap between these functions, and in our opinion, if the M50-E1 had a full suite of built-in apps, there just wouldn’t as much need for the SmartCast mobile app. Alas, Vizio’s built-in apps are quite limited, and one of the biggest, Amazon Video, was just recently added (the other big ones included being Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and Crackle). A few apps that are notably missing are YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, and HBO Now, but these are all available in the mobile app. Basically, users are going to have to do a bit of hunting around if they frequently use various media sources. When we asked a Vizio representative whether YouTube would eventually find its way to the TV’s built-in app list, the response was that “VIZIO will continue to update and expand the SmartCast TV interface. SmartCast Mobile provides access to thousands of Chromecast-enabled apps.” Speaking of Google, we should mention that the M50-E1 even has built-in Google Home Assistant capabilities, meaning it allows you to control it with your voice. We’ll be checking that out on the next page too, but in short, it’s not a killer app yet.

The remote that Vizio shipped with our M50-E1 sample was very basic, and we were informed that consumers will either get a newer remote in the box, or have the chance to upgrade for free to the new “SmartCast TV” remote that adds dedicated buttons for a variety of built-in services like Netflix and YouTube. We can only show you a render of what that remote looks like based on what’s shown on the Vizio website. We think the dedicated buttons will make the M50-E1 even more user-friendly for consumers who are really buying it for its Smart TV features, as opposed to just using it to watch cable or play movie discs and games.

First off comes setup. The M50-E1 takes its “smarts” to heart by allowing you to set it up via a smartphone, which can be quite a bit easier due to the availability of a touchscreen for typing in information. We chose this method, and while it worked quite well for most aspects of setup, the network configuration failed, potentially due to the confusion of having the phone connected to one home network and the TV connected to another. In any event, we were not able to get our sample connected on the first try, despite typing in all the correct network information, and it wasn’t until we returned to the TV the next morning that we found that it resolved its issues and connected itself to our home network. There’s probably just a bit more ironing out that Vizio needs to do to get setup by smartphone working perfectly.

The first thing you may notice about the M50-E1 is that it boots into a live smart screen. This is a huge advantage in a day and age where so many users are getting their content from something other than an antenna or old-style cable box (which, notably, the M50-E1 does not support, as it has no coax input). Too many modern TVs, including our 2014 Samsung 4K model, default to static if you don’t have one or the other attached, and even our 2016 LG OLED reference model defaults to a screensaver. We’d really like to see statistics on how most media is being consumed today, but we’d guess it’s not cable or antennas, especially in the young, savvy, cost-conscious market that Vizio is targeting. Now, one major drawback of Vizio’s approach is that the welcome screen, shown below, takes a lot of time to load. Even in “quickstart” mode, the TV took 13.75 seconds to turn on, and in “eco” mode it took 15.5 seconds. Given how close these two are, we’d just as soon leave it in eco all the time for the energy savings while off. We think the slow startup really stems not from the power-up delay, but from the slow processor that Vizio has built into the M50-E1. Essentially, it’s acting as a mini computer, and like any computer, it needs to “boot up.” Overall, we still like the approach of booting into a welcome screen rather than a blank screen, but it doesn’t come without drawbacks in a lower-cost model like this one.

We tested the M50-E1 using a variety of 4K sources, including Amazon Instant Video via the built-in SmartCast TV app, YouTube via the SmartCast Mobile app, as well as 4K discs via our Oppo UDP-203. Overall, we were very impressed given the pricepoint. No, it won’t match an LG OLED when it comes to color and contrast, and it’s not as bright as LEDs from Samsung and Sony that cost twice as much, but it’s very good, certainly good enough to be someone’s first 4K display. In fact, there’s been such great progress among LCD panels in the past few years that the M50-E1 is easily a match for our Samsung HU8550 from 2014, which retailed for $2,500. HDR content, like Planet Earth II and the science-fiction film Arrival (which uses lots of panning shots) looked great, and John Wick 2, which has among the widest dynamic ranges you’ll find in any movie, looked fantastic. Furthermore, we believe Vizio has struck a pretty good compromise in terms of its motion handling in films, avoiding excessive smoothing while still offering decent 3:2 pulldown to avoid excessive judder. If you want the ultimate test of motion handling in films, check out Planet Earth II at the 23-minute mark, a panning shot of iguanas running across a rocky shore with snakes behind them. The motion, contrast, and brightness of this image are a serious test of any display, and the M50-E1 did a fine job, avoid the distracting artifacts that over-processing can cause.

It’s really hard to demonstrate what HDR is without an HDR screen, but this sample from Planet Earth II, which looked great on the Vizio display, gives an indication of what you can expect: extreme contrast, challenging visual depth, and intense colors that just can’t be displayed without the broader range that HDR allows. Again, we’ve seen better on LG’s OLEDs, but they cost about four times as much. Assuming users of this TV won’t be spending more on their AV gear than they do on their display, they’ll be more than satisfied. Alas, we were disappointed to find that watching content tagged as HDR through the built-in Amazon app did not properly display as HDR10 (as indicated by the lack of an HDR10 notification in the “info” panel), and defaulted to standard 4K content. Our guess is that this is a limitation of Vizio’s app, and we hope Vizio can work with Amazon to bring this great source of 4K HDR10 streaming content to consumers. Spike Lee’s “Chi-Raq”, available on the service, is one of our favorite pieces of demo material thanks to its outlandish color palette (and Samuel L. Jackson’s even more outlandish narration), and it’s a shame it can’t be enjoyed to its fullest on the Vizio.

One last feature that the M50-E1 has is a tie-in with the Google Home Assistant, allowing for voice control. We think this is very cool in concept, but it’s just too finicky at this point. While we could use the Google Home app (notably not the Vizio app) to connect the M50-E1 and the Home Assistant, voice commands were not properly understood, and even if they had been, only three apps are currently supported according to the Google help page: Netflix, CBS, and CW. So we’re going to pin the blame for this misfire of a feature on Google, not Vizio. It’s really just an extension of the Chromecast functionality, and we’re guessing Vizio has no control over it whatsoever. If it did, we’re sure Vizio would consider partnering with Amazon and its Alexa voice service, which will soon erase any memory of Google Home, from our point of view (and based on our extensive testing).

There’s just no other way to say this: the M50-E1 is a great deal! Given its $600 retail price, it packs in tons of features, including a variety of ways to enjoy streaming content, aided by a user-friendly interface that puts streaming content front and center when the TV is powered on. This is fitting, given that the M50-E1 has no built-in tuner, and cannot accept antenna or standard cable signals. Remember, Vizio is marketing the M50-E1 as a UHD display, not a UHD TV, because in reality, it’s not a television, which may confuse some consumers not familiar with the difference. As long as people go in knowing what they’re getting, that’s just fine with us. But what most impresses us is that the M50-E1 offers full HDR support, including support for Dolby Vision, which is so new and so cutting-edge that very few external 4K devices support it at this time (the $550 Oppo UDP-203 we used for testing was the first such disc player, thanks to a firmware update pushed out mid-summer 2017). In fact there are only a handful of discs on the market that feature Dolby Vision as of our publication date, although the Vudu streaming service offers quite a few options for rent or purchase. For a display that costs as little as it does, the M50-E1 is certainly in fairly elite company.

The Vizio M50-E1 was released with an MSRP of $599.99, and is available for a discounted $549 shipped free from B&H Photo Video, as well as various other retailers, as of our publication date. At that price, it certainly gets our highest recommendation.

NEW YORK, Oct. 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SpringServe, the leading independent TV ad serving platform, today announced that VIZIO will be leveraging the SpringServe Tiles solution to enhance the content discovery experience across VIZIO SmartCast for millions of users in the US. Building on its mission to deliver immersive entertainment through cutting-edge smart TVs and ad-supported content, VIZIO’s adoption of SpringServe Tiles will bring sophistication, intelligence, and control to the management of content on the home screen.

“We are continuously looking for opportunities to improve the experience for engaged audiences through innovative and contextually relevant content and messaging,” said Travis Hockersmith, Group Vice President, Platform+ at VIZIO. “SpringServe’s Tiles helps deliver personalized experiences, and simplify the search and discovery process for millions of users, whether searching for subscription or free content.”

“We created Tiles to bring the precision of video ad serving to the content discovery experience users see when they turn on their connected TVs,” said Joe Hirsch, General Manager of SpringServe. “This technology, built off the IAB native ads spec, brings new tools to the most important first impression consumers have with their television, the navigation of the home screen. CTV Native Tiles gives TV manufacturers like VIZIO additional non-interruptive ad experiences in the form of pause ads and sponsored scene selection.”

Founded and headquartered in Orange County, California, our mission at VIZIO Holding Corp. (NYSE: VZIO) is to deliver immersive entertainment and compelling lifestyle enhancements that make our products the center of the connected home. We are driving the future of televisions through our integrated platform of cutting-edge Smart TVs and powerful operating system. We also offer a portfolio of innovative sound bars that deliver consumers an elevated audio experience. Our platform gives content providers more ways to distribute their content and advertisers more tools to connect with the right audience.

With VIZIO Mobile, you can control your entire entertainment experience with your Mobile Device. Browse & discover movies, TV shows, music, live streams and more across multiple apps at once. Power on/off devices, play/pause content, modify advanced settings and more.

VIZIO Crave Speakers cannot output audio from TVs/displays or be connected as an additional channel to an existing sound bar or sound system. Additional supported SmartCast or Chromecast-enabled audio products are required (not included) for Multi-Room feature. Streaming different songs to different speakers at the same time is not supported when using a single app running on a single mobile device. To stream a different song to different speakers at the same time, you’ll need to stream from a different app or a separate mobile device.

The applications and content pictured herein or described on this page may only be available in certain countries and languages, may require additional fees or subscription charges, and may be subject to future updates, modifications, interruption and/or discontinuation of service without notice. VIZIO has no control over third party applications or content and assumes no responsibility for the availability or interruption of such applications or content. Additional third-party terms, conditions and restrictions apply. High-speed/broadband Internet service and access equipment are required and are not provided by VIZIO. Not all Google Cast-enabled apps are integrated with VIZIO SmartCast and may require additional steps to cast.