VIZIO steamrolls Q4, breaks all kinds of records
By Darren Murph 
posted Feb 20th 2009 9:16AM
posted Feb 20th 2009 9:16AM
posted Feb 20th 2009 9:16AM
The percentage of sales people that recommend Samsung HDTVs.
Salespeople are also becoming less likely to recommend LCD sets over plasma sets, which goes against the industry trend.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
So if Vizio is now #2 in the market, what's #1? Samsung?
You guys must own stock in vizio or you're friends with someone who works for them. I may as well be reading their sales pitch.
I bought a 32" Vizio for the bedroom and it works great! I 'upgraded' to a 42" Panny Plasma for the bedroom and the Vizio will be mounted in the Guest House. I expect Vizio to continue good sales w/their upcoming $200 BD player!
Good for them.
I hope this lights a fire under Sony and other's asses to stop overcharging for their wares. I know there is a quality difference, but that difference isn't worth $1500 for the same size LCD.
Personally, I prefer plasma, and would think anyone crazy to buy a 50" VIZIO LCD when they can get a 50" Panny for very close to the same price (and sometimes cheaper if yer hunting!)... but to each his own I guess.
That's good news for them. I still prefer my Samsung LCD vs any other brand out there.
:-)
Maybe all those collusion rumors with the big names to keep prices high are actually true???
I will laugh. This shows how ignorant we are in America. Vizio makes absolute garbage and their warrantly is laughable. Wow, they upgrade their cosmetics...it's what is on the inside that counts. Like DEEZNUTZ said, the difference in price between a Vizio and a Panny is negligible.
Did you know that 120HZ LCD's only maintain 600 lines of resolution out of the 1080 when motion occurs? A 60HZ LCD keeps around 300 to 400...that is worse than Standard Definition.
America wake up!!!! Everything you know about Plasma is no longer a problem. It outperforms LCD in every single way.
http://hdguru.com/will-you-pay-a-price-by-purchasing-a-tier-three-hdtv/325/
I know the specs on most Vizios don't compare to the top brands like Sony and Samsung, but everyone I know who has a Vizio is quite happy.
Not everyone needs the latest and greatest. And the new Vizios that just came out have really nice pictures. They are good TV's for people on a budget.
And I have to admit but The top brands do charge a slight premium, especially brands like Sony and Pioneer who are the biggest culprits. With Pioneer quitting the plasma business and Sony taking huge losses, well like my dad says, "you can only charge so much before you break the customers bank".
To me if Vizio can maintain and improve quality while extending it's warranty they could be the company to beat in this recession period.
Totally agree with you AP99!
Sorry Pingles, a company like Vizio can't 'ratchet up' quality because it has no control over it.
The article starts off by saying that: while other companies are restructuring ... then links to an article about Pioneer Kuro's jump from Plasma. The trouble is Vizio has also announced that it is jumping out of Plasma as well. So despite their great sales they've made a decision to focus on LCD. For whatever that is worth.
Thanks for the info ap99, I'm using your link as a source for my own article over on Audioholics.com.
I have a Kuro 50" plasma and a Vizio 42" plasma. The Kuro is clearly the far superior TV, but for the money the Vizio puts out a very nice picture. I would definitely buy Vizio again.
Actually, their CES announcements give me some hope that they are ratcheting up the quality.
Especially their announced 55" LCD with LED backlighting for $2000.
We'll see.
Its amazing how insecure some people are regarding Vizio. Mention one thing about Vizio and people start talking about a conspiracy regarding Vizio and engadget and that somehow Vizio is whats wrong with America? Give me a break people. Vizio is a great budget tv. Of course its not up there in quality with top of the line Sony and Samsungs, they shouldnt be because they are half the price! On the other hand, as far as bang for your buck they produce a very solid picture for what your paying for it. I have a Samsung 55" 950 in my basement and a 42" Vizio in my living room. Of course the Sammy has a better picture quality and I wouldnt trade it for anything, but it also cost 4X as much. For a second TV that I wasnt going to be spending nearly the amount of time using, the Vizio was perfect for me and as well as millions of other people. For all the insecure people who have to bash Vizio whenever they hear someone speak the name, get a grip. Take a deep breath, no one is insulting your Sony or Sammy or claiming that Vizio delivers a better picture.
Rob,
You weren't reading correctly. You are talking about LCD's. Why buy a Vizio when you can get a Panasonic HDTV for a little bit more. It outperforms, Sony, Sammy in every category.
The laugh will be on the people who bought the Vizio garbage. It has one of the highest defect ratios in the business. It is a Frankstein tv set, where there owners go to the cheapest Chinese OEM's and have the television made with cheapest parts that they can find in order to sell this garbage at a lower price than the Tier 1 brands.
Always remember crap is king in this country.
Mac Donalds number 1 hamburger, Coca Cola number 1 beverage, Ford Focus number 1 car
and I-POD the number 1 way of listening to music. Unfortunately in these economical times a cockroach vendor like Vizio is doing well, but what will happen is some of the tier one brands will probably contract with some of the Chinese OEM's and put a similar POS product like Vizio, because sucess breeds copy cats. If you want to get a good laugh read all of the complaints on consumer affairs.org about Vizio's televisions, my favorite is the guy with the possessed television, which has the volume go up and down on it's own.
The fact is your site always has cynical overtunes for a lot of different products and vendors, but it seems garbage like Vizio gets a free pass.
If you folks out there really want to save money Vizio has a endless supply of refurbs that you can buy for a fraction of a new one, at least when it breaks you won't feel so bad, because you didn't spend a whole lot of money.
As Don Henley said, crap is KING
I'll give you the McDonalds and Coke as #1's but seriously, you think the Ford Focus is the best selling car? It's not even in the top 10:
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2009/01/the-top-10-best.html
And is there anything inherently crappy about Coca Cola?
As a owner of 3 KURO's and follower of the HD "news" - I'd only wish Pioneer would have immitated Vizio & Sony regarding a S I M P L E marketing plan to emphasize their outstanding plasma. Its easy to second guess now, of all the circumstances that lead to Pioneer dropping plasma marketing would have been the easiest to correct. How many one on one comparisons or HDTV shootouts obviously show that the KURO was far superior. Oh well, time passes by.
ps - each of my 50" Kuro's (5080 , 5020) cost $2000 twelve months after they hit the market, thats a good price!!
adding ..........
A co worker had a 3 yr old Vizio plasma from costco ...... that dies in JAN. I told him to get the 46" Panny plasma to replce it, the better tech & quality would be a big upgrade (both were $1000 )
Nope, he got the Vizio 47" LCD - he ignored every link of info I sent him praising the Panny over the Vizio. The gal at costco mentioned the 120hz refresh and THAT sold him !!!
but I tried.
What they fail to tell you is that the Vizio buyers always buy monster cables since it makes them better than Tier 1 tvs
You're joking right. Monster Cable is one of the biggest marketing gimmicks in this whole mess. They have all different series of cable that have only one difference...price. The fact is you could get an HDMI cable at monoprice.com that works just as good as any Monster Cable.
yeah, all in all, vizio's cool. theyr'e clearly not in the market to make the best. they want to create a cheap, yet recognizable brand. with that being said, if i were a budget minded consumer in the market for a tv, they'd be my first choice. on the other hand, do any of you guys out there know someone who's owned a vizio over 2 years?
I have had my Vizio since Feb 2006 (42" Plasma) with zero problems and properly calibrated looks just as good as my brother's 42" Sony LCD that cost 3x the amount. It is my casual viewing TV and the real stuff is left to the theater room.
As far as the poster mentioning that you must ship to your TV to Vizio if fails out of warranty, that would be the same for any manufacturer out of warranty or pay extra $$$$$ for in home service. During the warranty period they come out to your house to repair any TV over 32"
As far as the Ford Focus I guess what makes them number is the rental car copies buy them for their fleets, that combined with their consumer sales, it is number 1 in volume.
As far as Coca Cola, love it, but does rot your teeth and help to make you get fat.
As far a Vizio is concerned make some friends at COSTCO and they will tell you have many defective returns they get per day.
Pray that your set breaks within their 2 year warranty period, because after that the product has to be send to Vizio in the original packing in order to get serviced, no one else repairs Vizio. Please delude ourselves into thinking this product is anything other than a Chinese POS. At least it is not Walmart chicken
I've owned a 32" Panasonic LCD and still own a 32" Vizio LCD (I also have a 32" Vizio Plasma, but have no other plasma to compare it with).
The Panasonic was superior. The Vizio, I would say, was good and frankly, 80% the quality of the Panasonic for 50% the price is very easy math for those on a budget.
It's the same principle as getting the Infinit G35 instead of the Nissan 350Z. If you have the cash, sure, get the premium. But if you want close enough to the top performance at less the price because you've got other plans for the cash, then go with the bang for buck item.
The reason Vizio is doing well is the same reason Wal-Mart is doing well. America is satisfied with 'good enough' as long as the price is right. The people that buy this product expect to replace it in 5 years WHEN it fails. I have no problem with that but at some point in your life you realize that sometimes it's worth the couple extra bucks to upgrade.
It's funny to me how people have to bash Vizio to substantiate they're reason for overpaying for their Plasma/LCD. Just admit the cost to value ratio blows all other manufacturers out of the water. Vizio is the only reason you aren't still seeing as many sets thousands of dollars higher. Yes, Vizio has a crappy warranty, but at the same time you can pick one up at Sams or Costco which offer one of the best warranties in retail today. I own 2 Vizio sets (one plasma, one LCD) and while they quite as good as my Sony, they aren't that far off.
Also, insinuating that owners of Vizio sets are ignorant to technology is your own ignorance speaking. Ok you have a Kuro, everyone let's all acknoledge his Kuro because he is so superior to us peons that don't really give a damn that we don't have the blackest of all black levels on our sets. As he drives away in his mid life crisis Porsche.
It's a true sign of the Apocalypse when Vizio (garbage) is doing great and Pioneer (who makes the best picture bar none) is stopping production. You get what you pay for I guess. Hopefully Pioneer sells their plasma technology to Panasonic. What's even stranger is that Pioneer is actually starting up a new line of custom install speakers. I'll almost guarantee that division will be unsuccessful without their television's to complement them.
I'm commenting on several people so keep up.
Put a Vizio side by side with anything... it loses all the time.
You get what you pay for, their is a reason Vizio is cheap.
Ford Focus is number 1 in car rentals.
McDonalds kicks ass.
Monster Cables/hdmi cables are the most overpriced conspiracy in the history of mankind... just by them on the web.
Coke does suck, I like Pepsi. However I wished Pepsi would bring back Vanilla Pepsi... I only find it in diet.
its all about money,you cant beat vizio because the price,and in this price range u cant find a better quality than vizio.
of course i rather buy a pioneer elite KURO.but for 5000$ .i could put five 47 inch in every room in my house.
and trust me the quality isnt that bad on vizios.
when ill have the money ill buy the p.KURO until then i go for budget stuff.
so ,u rich bastards u can suck it.!!!
"on the other hand, do any of you guys out there know someone who's owned a vizio over 2 years?"
Actually I've owned a couple 36" Vizio LCDs for a little over two years now and I've been really happy. Here's the thing, one of those has been installed on my outside patio the whole time...in Phoenix... For the price, I couldn't think of a better option for this kind of abuse. 115 degree highs, 30 degree lows, humidity, etc, and not a problem to speak of.
Granted I also have a 5 yr old Pioneer 50" plasma in the living room that's still running great, but that was the last big-money tv I let myself purchase. (at 9 grand, it was a little easier to settle with the vizios). They are actually a quality product from my experience.
"It's a true sign of the Apocalypse when Vizio (garbage) is doing great and Pioneer (who makes the best picture bar none) is stopping production. You get what you pay for I guess."
Its so true - no one wants to spend the money on quality anymore, we are used to getting the cheap crap from China so we can buy, buy, buy on credit of course when we can't even afford our over priced houses :)
Back in my Dads day when he used to walk to school 20 miles in zero degree weather and not complain about it, they used to discuss quality and german engineering and refused to buy the cheaper stuff. But as they say, times have changed and in this case not for the better.
Then again how does Sony and Pioneer expect us to pay for high priced stuff when salaries in US have not kept up with inflation and are being kept down by cheap outsourcing. And I am talking about white collar tech jobs too. 70% of our GDP is on buying and now that credit is frozen, 401ks and housing values are plummeting, college costs thru the roof, taxes and more taxes, high gas and utility costs - Vizio will soon be all that any of us can afford.
I guess Vizio was left out on the price fixing party - LOL