Vizio has now announced an upgrade to its smart TV and streaming platform, SmartCast. The announcement was made during this year’s CES event in Las Vegas where the company also unveiled its 4K HDR Smart TV collection for 2020.
Vizio smart TVs run on what Vizio calls SmartCast. This makes them different to a number of other TVs sold in the U.S. that draw on third-party platforms, such as Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Roku OS. However, while Vizio’s SmartCast platform is more of an independent entity, it still provides a similar user experience overall with access to most of the popular streaming services, and support for third-party voice assistants, including Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri. The company is also readying updates to its SmartCast mobile apps to make pairing compatible smart home products to a Vizio TV even easier.
During CES 2020, Vizio announced “SmartCast 4.0,” the company’s newest smart TV platform version. The latest version is said to offer a smarter and more intuitive experience with “quicker load times, easier input switching, and more remote-control responsiveness.” In addition, Vizio is also promising greater personalization where content is curated by the user’s viewing habits and interests. This, along with a “redesigned search experience” is designed to make it easier and faster for viewers to discover content.
SmartCast update coming to older Vizio TVs as well
Vizio announced SmartCast 4.0 at the same time as unveiling its 2020 4K HDR Smart TV collection which includes its first OLED TV. The 2020 lineup consists of new additions to the P-Series Quantum X, P-Series Quantum, M-Series Quantum and V-Series. Here’s a rundown of the main specs of all the new TVs, according to Vizio.
As to be expected, all of the 2020 TVs will come loaded with the all-new SmartCast 4.0 platform. However, Vizio has also confirmed the same upgrade will be rolling out to a number of existing Vizio TVs as well. The company did not provide a detailed listing of which TVs will get upgraded, but did say it will be available to “millions” and “models dating back to 2016.” Vizio did not confirm when the SmartCast 4.0 upgrade will begin to roll out other than stating it will arrive in 2020.
Along with the new TVs, Vizio is also launching its first ever voice remote. With voice support included, users will be able to issue commands directly through their remote to control the TV, including switching between apps and searching for content. In addition, Vizio states the new remote will come with other voice-related features, such as the ability “to search Wikipedia, check the weather, and more.”
Source: Vizio
