Vizio Focusing on Price, Gaming, Wi-Fi 6E, Voice in 4K 2023 TV Lineup
Vizio is still evaluating 8K TV and ATSC 3.0, focusing instead on improvements to 4K TV, said John Schindler, senior vice president-product management, on a recent webinar briefing that was embargoed until Tuesday. “There’s still a lot of innovation left in 4K,” he said.
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New features across the 2023 4K lineup, due to begin selling Tuesday at select retailers including Best Buy, Sam's Club and Walmart, include Bluetooth wireless headphone capability to let users watch TV without disturbing others. Best Buy showed a photo of the 50-inch leader model in the flagship MQX line as "coming soon."
The two dozen new 2023 models are voice-controllable with an included remote, have Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa and Hey Google integration, plus built-in Apple AirPlay 2.0 and Google Chromecast, said a Tuesday news release. Voice control requires customers to push a button on the remote to engage voice control to protect privacy, Schindler said. Gaming features are prominent, with all new 2023 Vizio TVs AMD Free Sync-certified to minimize artifacts such as latency, screen tearing and stuttering that occur during gaming, said Tarah Sinovic, vice president-marketing.
NextGen TV isn’t on the near-term road map at Vizio, Schindler said. ATSC 3.0 “provides consumers with limited advanced features at a significantly increased cost,” Schindler told us in an email. “Consumer demand is heavily concentrated on the vast streaming content already available in the market today,” he said, citing Vizio’s Smart TVs with hundreds of channels and “thousands” of free programs. “Continued maintenance of the existing ATSC 1.0 simulcast should be a top priority for the consumer benefit, since a great majority of the American public relies on the existing, mass-deployed ATSC 1.0 devices for over-the-air broadcast,” he said. Vizio will “continue to evaluate the consumer benefit of ATSC 3.0, but at this time we have no planned announcements for this feature.”
The company is taking a similar tack with 8K. Schindler called the technology “exciting” but noted the lack of content available. “There are some tradeoffs at the product level,” he said, pivoting to the company’s 4Q M-Series Quantum X (MQX) 120 Hz technology. The 50-inch model in the series supports up to 240 Hz refresh rate for gaming at 1080p resolution, he said. Schindler's response to Vizio's plans for mini LED technology was similar. Vizio is looking at it, “but right now we think we can offer the most value with the MQX.”
TVs in the MQX series feature a 120 Hz refresh rate at 4K, Dolby Vision HDR, HDR10 and HDR10+, said the company. Audio includes support for Dolby Audio, DTS and DTS Virtual:X, with HDMI enhanced audio return channel and Dolby Atmos pass-through. The company’s quantum dot color technology covers up to 78% of the Rec. 2020 color space, and Vizio’s active full array backlight system achieves up to 1,000 nits of peak brightness, it said. The flagship TV line, which starts with the 50-inch M50QX-K ($629), has a native refresh rate of 120Hz for 4K content and features AMD FreeSync Premium variable refresh rate with low input lag, tear-free HDR support, HGiG [HDR Gaming Interest Group] tone mapping support, and Dolby Vision auto gaming, Vizio said. It also has 65-inch ($849) and 75-inch ($1,199) models.
Wi-Fi 6E tri-band compatibility in the MQX, M-Series and V-Series TVs “ensures your streaming and online gaming is never sluggish,” Vizio said, “even if there are multiple devices competing for bandwidth on your home network.” In addition to AMD FreeSync VRR, HGiG and Dolby Vision auto gaming, the M-Series supports Dolby Audio and DTS:X plus DTS Virtual:X audio. Screen sizes are 43-inch ($349), 55-inch ($479), 65-inch ($629), 70-inch ($749) and 75-inch ($949).
On Vizio’s strategy to address declining TV demand and inflation, Sinovic emailed that Vizio is “watching the economy closely alongside our retail partners, and we evaluate our inventory and pricing daily to ensure it is always optimized for the current market.” Vizio “loves the second half of the year due to the spike in seasonal spending!” she said: “We will continue to offer great technology at accessible prices, providing value that you won’t find anywhere else in the market.” The starting price for 2023 Vizio TVs is $159 for the 1080p D24fM-K.
In Q&A, Schindler commented on Vizio's road map for OLED TV, noting the company's two-year-old OLED models will continue through the year, with software updates. “We are continuing to offer OLED at a great value today,” Schindler said, saying the company is making improvements on the software side in picture quality and with Bluetooth headphone support. No new P-Series TVs were announced Tuesday. As with OLED, Schindler said the current P-Series will be sold through the year, with software updates available.