U.S. Customs sees it VIZIO's way, TVs to keep flowing in

It looks like at least one round of the battle between Funai and VIZIO is drawing to a close, and it's a big win for VIZIO. U.S. Customs has ruled that all current VIZIO TVs do not infringe on Funai's Patent 6,115,074 -- which was rejected by the Patent Office a few months ago. With the USPTO and US Customs now on the same page, all the bureaucratic checkmarks are in place and VIZIO TVs can freely enter the US on their immigrant-inspired journey to homes all across this fair land. Next up is VIZIO's countersuit against Funai -- with drama like this unfolding between TV manufacturers, who needs an actual TV for entertainment?

[dsteve303 @ Jul 10th 2009 10:12AM]

Vizios are really really sweet budget TV's. NO OTHER TV CAN COMPARE TO THE VISION AND MINDSET OF THE VIZIO COMPANY. ANTI-CORPORATION. DOWN WITH AOL.

[Az1Z @ Jul 10th 2009 10:17AM]

Down with aol? what is this gizmodo? ur post is as unrelated as it could ever be(mine too btw)

[Sporkinum @ Jul 10th 2009 1:54PM]

I might has well throw in another non-sequitur.
Cabbages!! Knickers!! It aint got a beak!

[Work.hein @ Jul 10th 2009 10:23AM]

I wonder at what point we'll stop using the terms monitor and TV and simply refer to everything as a display?

[Taylor @ Jul 10th 2009 10:57AM]

When they put tuners in monitors...?
Or stop making monitors with tuners in them?

[216 @ Jul 10th 2009 10:30AM]

never! That's when

[Paul @ Jul 10th 2009 10:39AM]

nice reply fail..............in other news i'm glad vizio won this. screw funai. i bought a vizio tv about a month ago and couldn't be happier.

[Jeff @ Jul 10th 2009 11:03AM]

It's like two welfare recipients battling over the last food stamp

[Izzy @ Jul 10th 2009 11:46AM]

Mmmmm. Watching my Vizio while I eat my government cheese!

[Ende @ Jul 10th 2009 11:30AM]

What shame. I remember our very first color TV was Funai back in the olden days. Sad to see them stooped this low =(

[Iridium @ Jul 10th 2009 11:43AM]

I was rather impressed that I could buy a 42" 1080p Vizio for $700 but was rather unimpressed by the picture qualiity when I could buy a 47" 1080p Samsung or Sony with far better image quality for $950 on sale.

Vizio's pricing structure is good but the panels are a generation or two behind in most cases. At least the build quality is better on the new models.

[stromm @ Jul 10th 2009 11:44AM]

TV vs. Monitor/Display

TV's have a tuner or two. TV have a MUCH lower color depth, usually 10bit. TV's have a slower "refresh" time. Most TV's of the 19-24" range are of lower resolution than comparible monitors. The lower resolution, bit depth and refresh time all account for TV's having a lower quality of image than a monitor. TV's usually have multiple types of inputs which include analog ports (I suspect this will quickly go away now that the US has fully switched to digital).

Monitors don't have tuners. Monitors have a much larger color depth. Almost always 32bit, but at least 16bit. Monitors have a faster "refresh" time. Monitors are better at switching resolutions "on-the-fly". Monitors of the same size usually use significantly less power and give off much less heat. Monitors usually have VGA and DVI/HDMI. Monitors color is usually more "true" than on a TV (as measured by the color gamut).

[scootinger @ Jul 10th 2009 12:13PM]

Why is Funai even going after Vizio, rather than one of the companies that manufactures their TVs? (In fact, does Funai not produce any TVs for Vizio?) I thought Vizio was just one of those companies that is primarily involved in marketing and design rather than any actual engineering of products.

[the4thheat @ Jul 13th 2009 2:44AM]

Not exactly, they've been using their success to sorta become a legit brand and have basically just forged a long term alliance with one manufacturer (so all their TVs are made by the same company now). I'm not sure exactly how the financial setup works but I think they're somehow involved in the manufacturer then buying up the portion of the LG/Philips LCD joint venture that Philips sold off.
So more or less Vizio has it's "own" panel facility as well as television assembly facility now although since it's a private company nobody really knows what's really going on with the financial transactions behind the scenes. I suspect that they own at least a part of their manufacturing facilities though or it would seem like they would get very screwed otherwise.

[Mizzike @ Jul 10th 2009 12:59PM]

does this site use silverlight?

[rlwhitford @ Jul 10th 2009 9:34PM]

Vizio makes Junk...I bought one, and it didn't work right out of the box...I returned it at the same time a lady was returning hers for the same reason...bought a samsung...never looked back...Vizio=Garbage!