Latest news with #SmartCast
Tom's Guide
26-05-2025
- Tom's Guide
6 tips and tricks to make your Vizio TV even better
Vizio TVs are some of the sleekest value picks on the market and are packed with tons of features for HDR movie nights and gaming. But even some of the best Vizio TVs can be made better using a variety of tips and tricks to improve the picture, controls, and so much more. SmartCast, Vizio's user interface, is where all the magic happens. There's a lot you can do with SmartCast beyond simply searching up content and opening streaming apps. With the right settings enabled, you can easily turn on your TV when casting content and control your TV with your voice. So, let's get into it. Follow these several settings to get the most out of SmartCast and streamline your Vizio TV experience. Your home screen is where all your favorite content lives. It's where you'll find all of the best streaming services, but it's not always set up to your liking right out of the gate. That's why I tend to recommend changing the home screen up to better suit the content you watch on a daily basis. To customize the home screen on your Vizio TV, head to the App store and select Home screen apps. From here you can not only rearrange the order of the apps to your needs, or delete apps that you don't want on the home screen. This should make it far easier for you to get to the platforms you enjoy the most and lets you limit all the extra apps that might clog up the starting carousel. ACR, or automatic content recognition, is a new feature cropping on several smart TVs that's a huge privacy risk. It essentially reads and records the content you watch on a daily basis to better understand your viewing habits and serve up ads that aligns with your interests. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. It's a nasty play to boost ad spend and target users for even more revenue by selling user data to third parties, main among them major advertisers. That's why it's a good idea to ensure you turn this setting off immediately after buying a new TV as it sets a terrible precedent for content privacy. To turn it off, head to settings -> System -> Reset & Admin -> Viewing Data, then turn this off. It might be slightly different dependent on what specific Vizio TV or SmartCast software you're running, but you'll most often find it in "Data" or "Privacy" sections. While this won't thoroughly protect you from all the ways Vizio and others can target you specific ads, it will limit their reach in understanding the type of content you enjoy. Just look at how LG TVs are about to show you ads based on your emotions to see even more ways companies are set to abuse targeted ads. Your TV remote is disgusting, so why not switch it for simply using your voice instead? I've lost count of how many times I've lost the remote and simply resorted to using voice controls to do all the heavy lifting. Luckily, it's super easy to enable on the Vizio SmartCast platform. Simply head to Settings --> Extras and look for "Smart Home Settings." This will let you set up all of the neat voice-enabled controls to make navigation and opening an apps an absolute breeze on your smart TV. What's even better is that you can even use your Vizio TV to control all of your smart home products around the house. This will work primarily with SmartCast or Google Home supported devices, but gives your Vizio TV an extra leg up in the modern era. If you're not one to use voice controls but still want a second option to use your Vizio TV beyond its included remote, the SmartCast app is a worthy pick. It's similar to Samsung's SmartThings app, allowing you to control your TV in a variety of ways. Do note that it has a different name for Android devices on the Google Play store, called Vizio WatchFree+. It's essentially the same thing on iOS, but also gives you access to free channels that you can watch anywhere on-the-go, which isn't bad to have if you're looking to kill some time. If you have a supported soundbar, particularly a Vizio one, you could also control that device along with the TV through the SmartCast app. You'll even have some Chromecast functionality, making it far easier to cast content to the screen. Although Vizio models aren't often found among the best gaming TVs, that doesn't mean we can't tweak them to give them some better picture performance. If you head to the picture settings, you'll find an option dedicated to "Game," and from there we can make some minor adjustments. For starters, you'll want to make sure ALLM and VRR are both set to on if not already. Some Vizio TVs will even come with an "HDMI 2.1 mode," which is adequate more for both modern consoles and some of the best gaming PCs. You might even also have to enable "Game HDR" in the advanced picture settings, but some consoles (namely the PS5) might look slightly better without it. And, while the "Game" picture setting does often net you good-enough quality for gaming, I'd also recommend switching to "Vibrant" for slightly better colors. (Though, we often avoid this setting for shows and movies, as it tends to over-saturate the image). No one likes waiting to enjoy they love to watch. If you're like me and a bit impatient when it comes to jumping right into that new episode or movie release, you'll want to enable Quick Start within the Power settings on your Vizio TV. As the name implies, this essentially makes the TV boot up faster. You'll dive into the home screen quicker and you can even customize which HDMI port or menu to prioritize when the Vizio TV powers on. Another awesome feature this enables is automatic power-on when costing content from a mobile device to the screen. This makes it so much easier and faster to enjoy the content you love and you don't even need a remote. With a faster boot time, quicker access to your favorite apps and voice control through your choice of smart home device, you should be able to get to the content you want to watch faster than ever before.
Gizmodo
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
This 40-Inch 1080p Smart TV Is Priced Under $150, Amazon Makes Black Friday Prices Look Ridiculous
It's easy to get caught up in the hype of the latest OLED TVs with their stunning visuals and price tags that soar well above $1,000 But for most consumers, you don't require all the frills to get excellent picture quality and smart functionality. There are affordable alternatives that deliver good performance without paying an arm and a leg, and the VIZIO 40″ 1080p Smart TV is one of these. This model is a proof that it's possible to get a good, feature-rich TV for a fraction of what high-end models cost. Better still, this TV is currently available for just $138 at Amazon, a price that not only is below its normal $169 price but which is also below its Black Friday sale price of $149. See at Amazon Smart TV For Bedrooms Despite its low cost, the VIZIO Smart TV doesn't skimp on features or performance: It has a 40-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) display so you will get clear, high-definition images and it will be ideal for bedrooms, small living rooms, or even as a secondary gaming or streaming TV. The TV features a Full Array LED backlighting for a uniform illumination and vibrant colors across the entire screen. It is HDR10 and HLG high dynamic range enabled which releases more detail in light and dark imagery and makes your movies, TV programs, and games look more real. Driven by Vizio's pretty good SmartCast platform, it gives instant access to all the major streaming apps, including Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, Prime Video and Apple TV+. Navigation is responsive and fluid thanks to the recent software updates that have optimized performance and simplicity. With built-in Chromecast and Apple AirPlay 2, you can project content directly from your phone, tablet, or laptop, making sharing photos, videos, or even screen mirroring a snap. The TV is also Alexa and Google Assistant voice remote control compatible. Gamers will appreciate the V-Gaming Engine which enhances contrast and color for better gaming and keeps input lag under 10ms at 1080p/60Hz. Two HDMI 1.4 inputs are included to connect consoles or streaming devices, a USB input for media playback, and digital audio output to connect soundbars or home theater systems. If you're looking for a solid, high-feature smart TV at a price that's hard to beat, this VIZIO model is one of the best deals you'll get on Amazon. See at Amazon
Globe and Mail
06-04-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Will Walmart's $2.3 Billion Advertising Bet Work Out Better Than Jet.com?
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is one of the largest retailers in the world. It has achieved massive success with its large format box stores, Sam's Club stores, and its smaller grocery store locations. But that doesn't mean that everything it touches turns to gold. The company's recent $2.3 billion investment in Vizio is one endeavor that investors will want to monitor closely. Walmart has made big acquisitions before One of the most notable acquisitions that retailer Walmart has made in recent years was This roughly $3.3 billion deal goes back to 2016 when Walmart was looking to compete online with (NASDAQ: AMZN). While the deal was less than a decade ago, it seems like a totally different time. Back then, Walmart's online presence wasn't particularly impressive, and Amazon was still in the early days of its growth. According to Walmart: The acquisition will build on and complement the significant foundation already in place to serve customers across the Walmart app, site, and stores and position the company for even faster e-commerce growth in the future by expanding customer reach and adding new capabilities. That's a bit of cheerleading, which is to be expected of a corporate event news release. The key sentence from that news release, however, was this: "Walmart and Jet will maintain distinct brands, with focusing on delivering the company's Everyday Low Price strategy, while Jet will continue to provide a unique and differentiated customer experience with curated assortment." In 2020, just four years after buying Walmart closed the website. Management extolled the benefits of the deal, which supposedly helped Walmart up its online retail game. But, in the end, really wasn't an investment win for Walmart. Walmart buys Vizio for advertising technology This brings the story to Vizio, which makes electronics and, more recently, has created a software platform for advertising. Advertising is a new growth initiative for Walmart. So, in some ways, the $2.3 billion Vizio deal makes sense. Given Walmart's market cap of over $700 billion today, it's not exactly a huge transaction. The problem is that Walmart hasn't been specific about what Vizio brings to the retailer other than some new software. During the company's fourth quarter 2024 earnings call, Walmart CFO John David Rainey noted: We're also excited about the addition of VIZIO and its SmartCast operating system to our portfolio of advertising capabilities. VIZIO will help us serve customers in new ways to enhance their shopping journeys while also creating new opportunities for advertisers to connect with customers and boost product discovery, empowering brands to realize greater impact from their advertising spend with Walmart. When pressed on the issue by an analyst, the company's U.S. head explained: The operating system in VIZIO is an impressive operating system. It works with very little friction. It's easy to set up and install. I have several of these personally, and I've acquired more since we started talking about this acquisition. I'm just really pleased with the way it works for the Walmart Connect business to have more ways to distribute advertising for sellers and suppliers; that's really exciting for them. We hope to be able to do that in a very efficient way. So, we're starting the process of integration. And over this next year, we'll be working on bigger plans for the brand as the teams get more time to work together. Neither of those statements offers a lot of detail about how Walmart actually plans to make use of Vizio's software. It seems more like Vizio has interesting software that could help Walmart, so they bought it, and now they'll try to figure out if that's true or not. This is clearly a glass-half-empty view of the situation, but given the outcome, it is one that investors should probably take seriously. After all, Walmart is a retailer, not an advertising company. Past efforts to broaden into different categories, like finance (such as check cashing), haven't exactly turned into huge wins, either. Walmart can afford to make mistakes Walmart is a giant company, and a $2.3 billion mistake won't be that big of a deal if that's what the Vizio purchase ends up being. That said, it isn't a good thing if the company wastes investor money or if it goes down distracting rabbit holes that don't pan out. This giant retailer won't suddenly become a bad company because of Vizio, but it could be an indication that, perhaps, Walmart should be giving more money back to shareholders because it is having trouble finding growth investments on which it is worth spending shareholder money. 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Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Will Walmart's $2.3 Billion Advertising Bet Work Out Better Than Jet.com?
Walmart (NYSE: WMT) is one of the largest retailers in the world. It has achieved massive success with its large format box stores, Sam's Club stores, and its smaller grocery store locations. But that doesn't mean that everything it touches turns to gold. The company's recent $2.3 billion investment in Vizio is one endeavor that investors will want to monitor closely. One of the most notable acquisitions that retailer Walmart has made in recent years was This roughly $3.3 billion deal goes back to 2016 when Walmart was looking to compete online with (NASDAQ: AMZN). While the deal was less than a decade ago, it seems like a totally different time. Back then, Walmart's online presence wasn't particularly impressive, and Amazon was still in the early days of its growth. According to Walmart: The acquisition will build on and complement the significant foundation already in place to serve customers across the Walmart app, site, and stores and position the company for even faster e-commerce growth in the future by expanding customer reach and adding new capabilities. That's a bit of cheerleading, which is to be expected of a corporate event news release. The key sentence from that news release, however, was this: "Walmart and Jet will maintain distinct brands, with focusing on delivering the company's Everyday Low Price strategy, while Jet will continue to provide a unique and differentiated customer experience with curated assortment." In 2020, just four years after buying Walmart closed the website. Management extolled the benefits of the deal, which supposedly helped Walmart up its online retail game. But, in the end, really wasn't an investment win for Walmart. This brings the story to Vizio, which makes electronics and, more recently, has created a software platform for advertising. Advertising is a new growth initiative for Walmart. So, in some ways, the $2.3 billion Vizio deal makes sense. Given Walmart's market cap of over $700 billion today, it's not exactly a huge transaction. The problem is that Walmart hasn't been specific about what Vizio brings to the retailer other than some new software. During the company's fourth quarter 2024 earnings call, Walmart CFO John David Rainey noted: We're also excited about the addition of VIZIO and its SmartCast operating system to our portfolio of advertising capabilities. VIZIO will help us serve customers in new ways to enhance their shopping journeys while also creating new opportunities for advertisers to connect with customers and boost product discovery, empowering brands to realize greater impact from their advertising spend with Walmart. When pressed on the issue by an analyst, the company's U.S. head explained: The operating system in VIZIO is an impressive operating system. It works with very little friction. It's easy to set up and install. I have several of these personally, and I've acquired more since we started talking about this acquisition. Neither of those statements offers a lot of detail about how Walmart actually plans to make use of Vizio's software. It seems more like Vizio has interesting software that could help Walmart, so they bought it, and now they'll try to figure out if that's true or not. This is clearly a glass-half-empty view of the situation, but given the outcome, it is one that investors should probably take seriously. After all, Walmart is a retailer, not an advertising company. Past efforts to broaden into different categories, like finance (such as check cashing), haven't exactly turned into huge wins, either. Walmart is a giant company, and a $2.3 billion mistake won't be that big of a deal if that's what the Vizio purchase ends up being. That said, it isn't a good thing if the company wastes investor money or if it goes down distracting rabbit holes that don't pan out. This giant retailer won't suddenly become a bad company because of Vizio, but it could be an indication that, perhaps, Walmart should be giving more money back to shareholders because it is having trouble finding growth investments on which it is worth spending shareholder money. Before you buy stock in Walmart, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Walmart wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $461,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $578,035!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 730% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 147% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of April 5, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Will Walmart's $2.3 Billion Advertising Bet Work Out Better Than was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
