Posts for 'TCL'

FASTs are everywhere these days, and this week we discuss several new announcements/launches that caught our eye, from providers including TCL, Fire TV Channels, Google TV and Cox Media Group (with “Neighborhood TV”). We discuss the prospects for each of them, and why the trend toward more FAST launches is unlikely to slow down anytime soon.

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I'm pleased to present the 315th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week we turn our attention to the ever-evolving Smart TV space, which saw new developments in this week. First, Colin explains the new line of TCL 4K Roku TVs, which he’s impressed with. Like other manufacturers, TCL has opted to partner with Roku to bring its software, user experience and thousands of apps to its smart TVs, rather than try to replicate all of this itself.

In contrast, Vizio has chosen a completely different path with its new P-Series launched this week, partnering with Google to embed Google Cast in the TVs, essentially moving the “smarts” to mobile devices which “cast” content to the TV (even the use of the term “TV” is loose with the P-Series considering they don’t have tuners). As I explained yesterday and then further on the podcast, the Google Cast approach has numerous benefits for both developers and consumers.

Colin and I are encouraged by what may be a consolidation of smart TV platforms, likely to include Roku, Google, Apple and Amazon, in the end. Smart TVs have been a confusing space for all for far too long, creating messy, incomplete consumer experiences and leaving these devices untethered from mainstream ecosystems.

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Roku has added two more TV manufacturers to its Roku TV lineup - Best Buy's in-house Insignia brand along with Chinese brand Haier. The Insignia Roku TVs will be available in the spring, with the Haier models available in the third quarter. Roku TVs from initial partners TCL and Hisense became available in 2014. TCL is also expanding its lineup to 12 different Roku TVs in 2015.

In addition to the new manufacturers, Roku has also announced a Roku TV 4K reference design, with TCL as the initial partner. Roku has also teamed with Netflix to bring 4K content to Roku TVs. Netflix began offering "House of Cards" and "Breaking Bad" in 4K in 2014, despite the fact that very few subscribers actually have 4K TVs.

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