Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: vizio, samsung, sony, lcd, hdtv | Themes: Home Theater, Display Panels and Monitors
Vizio is numero uno.
Research from iSuppli has shown that LCD HDTV sales during the first quarter of 2009 actually bested those from 2008 by more than 10 percent – a surprising figure given the tough economic times.
Instead of holding off from buying that new TV, consumers seem to be shifting their buying tendencies to be more price sensitive. That could help explain why Vizio is now the top seller of LCD TVs in North America.
Vizio’s share of North American LCD TV unit shipments rose to 21.6 percent in the first quarter, up 7.8 percentage points from 13.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.
"Due to its aggressive pricing, Vizio for some time has maintained its position as the North America’s top-selling LCD-TV value brand," said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst, television systems, for iSuppli. "However, since the onset of the economic downturn, Vizio’s share has risen dramatically. With budgets becoming increasingly tight, consumers are finding the company’s inexpensive sets more alluring."
According to iSuppli’s numbers, Vizio’s lowest average selling price (ASP) for a 42-inch Cold-Cathode Fluorescent (CCFL) backlit, 60Hz refresh rate, full High-Definition (HD) LCD-TV was $850. In comparison, Samsung and Sony 40-inch LCD-TVs with the same configurations carried ASPs of $1,000 and $1,090 respectively.
While the 'premium' models from Samsung and Sony do offer more features and typically better quality, Vizio has stepped up with more ‘high-end’ 120 Hz models of its own. At the 40/42-inch size for a 120 Hz set, the price differential between Vizio and Samsung and Sony was $400, with the Vizio set priced at about $1,000.
Oddly enough, Vizio’s rapid growth wasn’t mainly at the expense of Samsung or Sony, but rather from smaller and less recognizable brands.
"Smaller brands saw their share of shipments decline so rapidly because of increased competition from the premium brands in terms of pricing and availability of 32-inch and smaller sizes," Patel said. "Premium brands priced some of their product lines very competitively with their value alternatives, compelling consumers to go for names that they recognize."
It remains to be seen whether or not Vizio can stay at the top of the sales charts, but perhaps the company’s mix of increasing brand awareness (though it has a ways to go before it will carry the same weight as "a Sony") along with its attractive pricing make it easy for consumers to buy its LCD TVs.
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Vizio!!! Cant you just die already!!!
Saw A LOT of their TV's being returned in a line at Costco...
I still dont think they are reliable...
Go for Toshiba, SONY, Panasonic and MITSUBISHI if you want quality, LG and Samsung if you want the same features but hushed design. Any other brand is pure trash.
^ I meant rushed design.
i have a vizio 32" and love i don't know what you are talking about being trash!!
Vizio is a walmart brand T.V I believe.... I think they might be a piece of junk.. I would go with a samsung or sony...
Walmart sells Vizio, but it's not "their" brand.
Walmart also sells Sonys, Sharps & Samsung LCD TV's, what is your point?
Walmart sells Vizio, but it's not "their" brand.
YOU THINK??? that means the you haven't a CLUE!
have your ducks in a row before you make a totally useless post!!!!!
correction
post was directed at christop
JEEZ TRY TO BE COOL!! I didn't know you were the guru of all knowing. Some people on here are vipers for no reason at all.. AND THAT IS DIRECTED TO YOU DANIMAL LECTOR.... so RELAX IT WAS JUST A POST NO BIG DEAL.....
danimal, you need a clue. Their statement was correct, walmart sells Vizio, but it's not their brand. It's a true statement, as true as 'walmart sells sony, but it's not their brand'. Costco also sells vizio. Amazon, compusa, and buy.com also carry vizio.
Vizio is a more price-conscious brand that targeted mass-market resellers (not necessarily big box stores, as it were, but VERY big box stores, so Costco or Walmart vs Best Buy, and online retailers.
They started out very low cost, but their quality is improving. After all, they put VERY little into advertising, so their margins, while slimmer, has less going toward those type of costs, and more to making a good product. Are they a Sony? No, but I've heard good things about them for some time. You'll note they tend to rate well on Amazon, for instance.
They're just relatively stable. As for why there are units being returned at Costco? It's because they basically own Costco's LCD HDTV sales, and that is their single largest retail channel. So, largest retail channel of the largest seller in the US... yeah, that's where you'll see them.
But no, calling them a walmart brand, and then chiding another person with "get a clue", only shows militant ignorance on your part.
For the guy that said Toshiba, Panasonic, Mitsubishi if you want quality forgot a big one on there. Sharp Aquos is an amazing unit.
I have a Vizio 22" that I bought for college; It works great.
Samsung makes the best LCD TV period.
I bought a 42" Vizio a year ago and I'll say I'm impressed.
Picture quality is on par with the 'brand names' though I'll admit the feature list is pretty barebones but really I use it to watch blu-rays and tv.
I don't need all the fancy filler that the others put into their HDTVs, and thats where Vizio shines, its got a solid performing LCD panel at a reasonable price and thats all many of us need.
I hear nothing but positives from friend who own Vizio HDTV. Samsung is really good now maybe but I bought a very early version Samsung 1080i CRT 32" with DVI interface and it kinda sucks. I am typing this on a Samsung SyncMaster 2253bw and I really like it. Point: Brand is not everything. I remember when Toyotas were considered bottom line trash.
Toyota sells more cars than Porsche.
don't forget to buy that 100+ monster hdmi cable to go with your bigger brand name lcd. while everyone else (including the cnet staffs) uses more sensible cables from sources like monoprice.
every company has to make their products to the standard of Walmart if they want to sell their stuff there. They may have two designs of a product but at different stores.
Being a small company Vizion doesn't produce it's own panels so they have to buy them from Samsung, LG/Philips or a couple others. And so $$ still flows towards samsung's say. No loss there
I bought a Vizio 20" LCD at Costco a year ago and it doesn't work now. That's $400 lost because it doesn't work now and repairing it (outside of warranty now) would cost $200. I will never buy Vizio again.
You can rag on Vizio all you want but until you have some history of buying several Sony, Samsung, and other major branded products... there's no true correlation that they are more reliable. I bought a 32" Sony Vega w/ FD Trinitron a few years back for $900. Died in 14 mos with little use. Did it again with a 24" Sony Vega and it dies 3 mos after the warranty expired. My Dad bought a surround system from Samsung and the left rear channel went out 2nd week. Returned it and worked great for 1 year then the front left channel went out. My brother bought a JVC HD video camera for $1400 and crapped out after less than 10 mos of light use.
On the flip side, I have some funny branded (funai, daewoo, maxent)stuff stashed around the house that won't die. I used to be brand oriented but now I buy what's right and with an extended warranty where possible.
If Costco carries Vizio - I'm sure Vizio is great. You may see them being returned more often probably because more people are buying them.
Not at my store panasonic are returned tice as much as vizio and have twice the failure rate on panels after 1 year we do service.
Being a certified HDTV calibrator that has done hundreds of tvs, everything from visios and panasonics to $100k plus Runco's, the best image quality bang for the buck comes in at Samsung. This is after a few basic out of box menu tweaks that anyone can do with a $20 DVD/Bluray showing you how. If you have a little more money and you don't care about getting the best deal, then Pioneer is definitely what you want - reliable and beautiful.
As far as service history goes, I've personally seen the rate of about 1 out of 30 samsungs with technical issues come back for repair, and usually these are problems occuring out of box or within the first month, not 2 years down the line whre there are warranty problems. Generally the bottom and top shelf manufacturers have the worst rate of return and defect in electronics (Vizio, Runco, etc.). The bottom shelf products use cheap manufacturing and second rate components, while the top shelf products have components far too narrow tolerances on acceptable voltages, timings, etc. to drive quality upward, and too buggy software as heaps of processings and features are strewn everywhere to get more catch phrases on the marketing sheet.
I Bought a 52 inch Sony XBR4 and i love it. I was going to buy a similar Samsung for 400$ less, which had better contrast but the screen wouldn't work with the room, being glossy and glarey, so i went for the Sony. But the samsung would have been the best choice in a different room, besides Samsung makes the "Engine" for Sony so they are pretty much the same.
I still Love my XBR4 but the Samsung was better. And besides sometimes Sony can be overrated they just hike their prices up for the name, even though they do make good stuff.
ViZio owned by Wal-Mart and not Servicable since parts are not easily available. GL with one of those if you decide to buy one.
If there is one thing corporatations never seem to learn it's that americans love a low price. Visio has low prices. enough said.
The problem is getting a Vizio serviced. If something goes wrong good luck getting your LCD back fast. I work at a large retail store in Chicago and that was the main problem with the lowend brand names. Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Sharp, and Toshiba don't have that problem. We could get parts for them in a few days. The lowend brands would sometimes take more than a month. Try telling a customer that it will take over a month to fix his or her TV. That's why we got rid of all the lowend brands.
I got a sony with those configurations for $850 in january at sears. So thers no real reason for vizio to be selling more. Inless that 40 inch sony is already out of market, I dont know, but its really good.KDL-40SL140.
I really don't understand why anyone, literally ANYONE, is surprised that Vizio has taken the lead in North America. They make the cheapest televisions. They make the cheapest televisions. They make the cheapest televisions.
Had a Vizio 32 inch LCD for almost a year now, and have not had any problems so far. Great PC support, and I love playing games on it at 1080P. The picture quality is fine for what I use it for, and was the best for the price range when I got it. Not top of the line, but it does the job and was worth the money I saved.