By Richard M. Sherwin…

Why have Vizio and other former no name TV makers won your business?

Why these relative upstart consumer electronics manufacturers ar

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e surviving and thriving against their more famous brands.

Irvine, California — Vizio’s office building and U.S. headquarters in the office park in Southern California, that seems to go on and on for miles, is really not that much different than Sony’s about 90 miles down the road… except there are very few executives at Vizio (they are selling their wares all over the world). While at Sony, there seems to be too many meetings and not enough sales lately.

Not that the venerable Sony doesn’t make a top of the line TV, they still do. But Vizio now makes a top of the line, feature laden, highly rated model that is outselling Sony by as much as 10-1 where they go head to head in competition, like at Wal-Mart, wholesale clubs and online retailers. And they are selling the Vizio high end model for a few thousand dollars less than Sony or a comparable top of the line Panasonic.

Interestingly in an informal survey of what people emailed or called DFA about when buying a TV, nearly two thirds inquire about Vizio and other off brands and rarely mention the top name brands any more.

High quality budget brands like Westinghouse Digital and store brands like Insignia (from best buy) and at least six other off brands are monopolizing the entry level TV market where Vizio once stood alone.

Vizio, which still markets an entry point TV, has been so successful that 90% of their portfolio is aimed at a sophisticated TV buyer.

“Vizio mastered the art of outsourcing everything from parts to computer chips and used an almost door-to-door approach to win retailer support, says veteran CE manufacturing analyst Greg Tarr. “They have been quick to also turn around a hot selling model in a few hours (not days) while old line stalwarts like Panasonic and Sony are like turning around an ocean liner,” Tarr added.

A secret industry report viewed by DFA, also emphasizes that once Vizio won the budget battle at Costco and then Walmart, it used its leverage with its Asian factories to literally demand quick replenishment of most asked for models. “The customer was the biggest beneficiary because Sharp, Toshiba and the now almost extinct JVC were stuck paying for higher salaries and higher costs of developing all the needed parts.

Funai purchased the former high quality, but slow selling Philips brand, and markets entry level Magnavox and Sylvania lines of TVs to many mass market retailers. Westinghouse Digital mastered the art of warehousing regionally to serve their budget minded customers and demand driven retail partners.

Now the aforementioned budget and upscale TV makers are not just “owning” the entry level of TV marketing, they have SKUs that battle traditional TV makers for space at many national retailers. In the course of doing this, they have made all the big brands like LG, Samsung and the rest, offer a competitively priced model almost anywhere you buys TVs.

“Remember Samsung (arguably still the best selling TV maker worldwide) and LG also started out as budget CE makers and now face the same challenges that the extinct U.S. audio-video industry once had,” Tarr says.

Jim Noyd, Visio’s spokesman, would not discuss personnel issues, but did admit that Vizio keeps their base prices low through tough but fair negotiating with is hardware and software partners. “Even when we develop an audio or video technology in-house it’s still cost effective to have those parts made from third party vendors,” Noyd says.

In other segments of consumer electronics, Vizio is not afraid to tackle seemingly invincible Apple with a new Tablet that, at about a third the price, is also touted as a better value than the iPad.

In fact Vizio’s recently released (months before Sony) Android-based Tablet, priced well below Samsung, IPad or Motorola, has won praise from retailers from its time to market to its features.

“Yes, it is not aimed at a BMW buying business person,” says a Costco sales manager in Southern California, but we have so many other family members coming back to buy these units because they might even be better and more useful than an IPad, yet affordable for almost anyone,” the Costco manager said.

Are there any problems with Vizio products now that the company is also selling audio equipment and soon mobile phones? We asked the Costco manager.

“In the beginning, I think they had consistency issues in that they used different factories and some sku’s were heavily returned… but they backed everything to the point that we (Costco) now offer the same extra year warrantee that we offer on our Panasonic and Sony products.”

So should the consumer feel safe when buying a Vizio at the high end or a Westinghouse Digital in the middle or value priced TV with a store brand label on it?

We asked several industry manufacturing analysts and retail executives. Almost unanimously their reply was yes. There are only a few companies that make the glass that’s used in LCD panels; there are only a handful of chip makers that give any brand TV the features like audio compression or Internet access or even 3D. Even the smaller TV makers, that only add some of the features after they become de rigueur, still only have a few ways of adding features. And, as far as reliability goes, if you choose to buy high or low at the shopping clubs and the extra year warrantee for another year is free… just sample the features and screen picture at a store that has various TV models and then choose.

Bytes and Pieces for September

A Great Laptop Computer Buy
Recently two of my computers suddenly died for good or just got so screwed up on the day that I needed them, that I had to buy something fast. I went to Best Buy, Costco and BJs and there was nothing under $500 that was comparable to a feature rich PC or Mac. Even with a warrantee, my almost dead Mac was going to takes weeks to fix, so I was in a fix.

So I went to Walmart, of all places, to buy some other sundries, stopped by their electronics department, and was very pleased to see that they had a Gateway desktop PC for under $379 and an HP desktop and laptop for under $400. But what caught my eye was that the former top selling laptop, Toshiba, had two under $300 units on sale with features comparable to my $1,700 Mac and a very good-highly rated HP laptop available on Amazon.

I checked the spec on the cheapest Toshiba at Walmart and the salesperson actually went into the back of the store to see if there were any other models on clearance that were even less than $250, but I settled on the Toshiba Satellite C655D for $279 and have been thrilled with the unit.

Portable and Mobile TV Back in Business
When the U.S. government mandated that TVs needed to become digital and basically killed any analog signal, many people rushed to the store to get their rebate driven set top box converter. However, most people forgot that their old battery operated emergency TV also only used analog tuners. So recently (and conveniently right before the hurricane in the northeast), RCA (not the venerable company that was sold and resold umpteen times but a relatively new and aggressive Asian firm) released a 7” Hybrid Portable Television: Model DMT270R, with an 800×480 high resolution widescreen LCD screen featuring 500:1 contrast ratio, hybrid ATSC or Mobile DTV reception, AC power (with included adapter) or up to 3 hours of playback time on built‐in Lithium Polymer battery that can recharge while plugged in to a wall outlet or auto power source, real‐time signal strength indicator, closed captioning capability, easel‐back stand, English/Spanish display and 360 degree adjustable antenna.

The biggest benefit is that it receives both conventional antenna based TV signals called ATSC or the latest mobile DTV signals which many major network and local broadcasters have been backing. ATSC Mobile DTV Standard is a standard in the United States for mobile digital TV that allows TV broadcasts to be received by mobile devices. It is a new digital way of broadcasting to reach more customers that are/will be using their portable mobile DTV devices to enjoy DTV when and where they want. Viewers can see videos, movies, sporting events, entertainment programs, traffic info, local news, weather updates, etc. Finally, a true mobility will be offered to millions of consumers with the new era of Mobile DTV.

If you are wondering what this iteration of RCA is and what the brand actually markets, the RCA brand is found on a variety of entertainment and information products marketed in countries throughout the world. RCA can be found on flat-panel televisions, home and business telephones, audio/video gear, accessories, small appliances, and other products. Technicolor, which owns the RCA brand for most categories including TV, has license agreements with a dozen companies. Audiovox, which owns the brand for A/V and Accessory categories, also offers various lines of RCA-brand products.

An Easier and Safer Anti Virus PC Security Program
Over the last few years, industry leader Norton PC Security and Webroot PC Security were the most trusted and favored programs in that category. We still get more complaints about McAfee PC Security and, until this month, we also had a hard time endorsing Kaspersky, the top international seller because, while it is ultra reliable, it was the most difficult to use and its technical support was inconsistent. The 2012 version, however, is leading the pack right now. It’s much easier to use than before and while it takes a little longer to install than some of the Internet security software programs, its powerful features can be used by the average consumer.

Logitech’s Tablet Speaker
If you are using your tablet or smart phone without your headphones, now your tablet can sound much better. Just clip the speaker to your tablet or smart phone, plug the 3.5 mm audio cable into the headphone jack and, just like that, you’ve got sound that’s worth sharing. With up to eight hours of battery life, you’ve got time to watch a full-length movie or two, and then some. And the speaker charges over your USB, so you never need to worry about replacing batteries. It fits easily into the included travel case or your laptop bag.