Vizio Statement: join the UHD Alliance? Be prudent!

Q: Why isn't Vizio a member of the UHD Alliance?

Answer from Vizio:
VIZIO felt the UHD Alliance was created by certain manufacturers with an agenda to promote specific hardware technologies at the expense of others, and to prevent other manufacturers' products from being certified, regardless of their picture quality merits. As a result, VIZIO has a number of concerns with the authenticity of the agenda of the organization and whether its certification program will realize the promise of HDR performance and benefit consumers. These concerns are evidenced by certification specifications that are lower quality than what VIZIO believes should be set for a true premium consumer experience.

Q: Will Vizio eventually join the UHD Alliance?

A:
VIZIO is following the UHD Alliance closely and agrees with the idea of an HDR performance certification. We have some concerns that the group's specifications are too open-ended, as a result of individual manufacturer requirements, and can allow members to receive certification for products that do not truly realize the benefits of HDR.

Q: Does the Reference Series meet the specifications for UHD Alliance certification? If not, where does it fall short?

A:
VIZIO has a number of concerns with how the UHDA specifications are achieved and how that could be misleading to consumers. Unlike, say, ANSI test patterns that measure both black and peak white levels with the same pattern, UHDA specifications allow for separate patterns for black and peak white measurements that do not exemplify real world results. We feel that the VIZIO Reference Series exceeds the real world performance characteristics of its competitors that may be certified as "UHD Alliance Premium" in areas that matter to HDR, such as black level, contrast, peak brightness and extended color gamut, and thanks to a combination of VIZIO's full-array LED backlight, 384 Active LED Zones and quantum dot Extended Color Spectrum, has one of the best performance capabilities in the market.
 

Xmint

Member
The manufacturers that support the UHD Alliance with the Ultra HD Premium specification, those products manufactured thus labeled are going with a "Me too" sort of stance. While all well and good, the loopholes in the certification Visio is explaining that do exist can give pause to them aligning their products with such a certification.

However, if Visio had worked with the Alliance, instead of what appears to be against the UHD Alliance, so as to address those issues it feels were necessary, Visio, too, would have products so certified. Visio is trying to stand out from the other manufacturers, not playing "Me too" for advertising their products, but in the end, the consumer is once again confused, if they even understand (or care) what the "Ultra HD Premium" label on the UHD TV set means and Visio, for example, not having any.

Honestly, some of these specially-designated sets are sure to vary in their abilities within the specs for such a designation and a consumer might like an LG over a Samsung or Sony, but it will depend more on the pricing, appearance and design of the UHD TV set has and what that consumer uses the set for over its labeled attributes. At very least, the "Ultra HD Premium" label is place to start regardless of the issues Vision has with its designation.
 
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