Vizio Google TV Streaming Player to Sell at Half the Price of Sony’s
Vizio announced its Google TV streaming player Tuesday, which will come in $100 below the NSZ-GS7 Internet Player with Google TV that Sony announced Monday. Vizio will begin taking orders on the Co-Star Stream Player ($99.99) next month at Vizio.com, the company said in a press release, but it didn’t disclose a delivery date for the product.
A differentiator for Vizio is the ability for Co-Star to connect to a cable or satellite box, which the company said enables viewers to watch live TV along with the Web, apps and other streaming content without interrupting what they're already watching through picture-in-picture functionality. In addition, Co-Star connects to the OnLive game service, which enables users to try out, watch and play “hundreds” of video games directly from the cloud, eliminating the need for a video game console, Vizio said. Streaming apps to be available at launch include Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, M-GO, YouTube and iHeartRadio, Vizio said.
Co-Star will come with a universal two-sided Bluetooth remote control with a touchpad that lets users touch, tap, scroll and drag. A full QWERTY keyboard on the back side is provided for search, it said. An introductory free shipping offer will be available “while supplies last,” Vizio said. The Vizio website showed the squarish, tapered black and silver module sitting on the palm of a hand. The device will support up to 1080p resolution and 3D, Vizio said, and is compatible with DLNA-equipped phones, PCs and tablets.
A Vizio spokesman didn’t answer questions by our deadline about whether there would be broader distribution, when Co-Star would ship, whether Vizio still plans to introduce LCD TVs with Google TV built in as the company said at CES (CED Jan 13 p2) or future plans for Vizio’s V.I.A. app platform. Product Engineer James Kittle told Consumer Electronics Daily at CES that V.I.A., the Yahoo Widget platform that brought Vizio into Internet-connected CE products, “will likely recede to the background.” Vizio introduced first-generation Google TV-based models at 2011 CES, but postponed a planned delivery in the fall when Google overhauled the software.