Last year Rose Bowl sponsor Vizio teased its then-unannounced 8-inch Tablet in a commercial during the collegiate match-up. It appears to have pulled from the same playbook this year, with a spot in yesterday's game giving what could be our first look at one of the company's new televisions. The ad features Vizio Chief Technology Officer Matt McRae discussing how technology has changed the way we experience events like the Rose Bowl — culminating in a brief glimpse at a sleek display with a black bezel, shiny silver backing, and a thin, graceful neck. We'll have to wait until CES next week to see if the new display is a real product or merely a concept, but in the meantime, check out the spot itself below. 

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For the second year in a row, it looks like Vizio has taken advantage of its sponsorship of the Rose Bowl to tease a new product -- last year it was an Android tablet, and the 2012 game brought this new display design. It flashes around :25 into the ad (embedded after the break), and while there's no details on exactly what it might be, we know Vizio had plenty of Google TV tech to show off last year, and after a year of development plus the release of Google TV 2.0, it may have decided to match Sony's funky TV setup with an interesting stand of its own. Whether there's Android, OLED or any other new tech to be found in the flat-panel we'll surely find out more in just a few days once CES 2012 gets underway. 

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VIZIO isn't waiting until CES 2012 to showcase its new technology. As presenting sponsor of the 98th Rose Bowl, VIZIO will bring new technologies and innovative activations to fans, adding to the game day experience for college football fans. On-site, at the center of both the Oregon and Wisconsin tailgate zones, VIZIO will take over adjacent Brookside Golf Course clubhouse, to create a special VIZIO Theater 3D™ Lounge. Open to the public, the lounge will house many of VIZIO's award-winning Theater 3D™ technologies, showcase other college bowl games and treat fans to an interactive 3D video game area. VIZIO has also partnered with the world famous Los Angeles radio station KROQ, who will be broadcasting live from the lounge and bringing a special performance from popular local band, The Dirty Heads.

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The Vizio Razor M3D550SR's black levels are very good for an edge-lit LED-based LCD TV. Shadow detail and colors are solid, while the matte screen really helps reduce reflections. The TV piles on the features with passive 3D, a Bluetooth QWERTY remote, and onboard wireless. The passive system creates minimal crosstalk, and Vizio includes four pairs of passive 3D glasses.

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When I got my wisdom teeth pulled I was in some serious pain. I'm fairly certain the doctor braced his feet on my face for leverage and just yanked like crazy. This resulted in me being on some rather serious pain-killers for something like ten days. That whole period was a blur. I watched virtually every movie I had ever intended to see, but once the drug-fog lifted I couldn't remember any of them. From time to time, though, I'd be watching a movie and want to look something up. I'd hunt for remotes to stop the movie, walk over to my computer, look it up, then go back, hunt for the remote again (okay, my room was messy... I was on meds, leave me alone), and resume. This all would have been so much easier if I'd had the Vizio VTAB1008 <http://www.woot.com/>. Not only does it act as a universal remote, but it's also a low-end Android tablet. 

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Those doubting the viability of Android tablets- and I've certainly been in that camp myself- will be pleasantly surprised by Vizio's entry, called simply the Vizio Tablet. No, it's not the iPad, but it provides tremendous value for its $299 price point.

Introduced subtly last January in a TV commercial that aired during the Vizio-sponsored Rose Bowl Game, then unveiled formally at CES the next week, the Vizio Tablet has been on the market since August although it has gradually added software updates and other new features since.

What separates Vizio's entry from most Android tablets is that it sports top-notch audio and video, and also doesn't feel like it was rushed out the door before it was ready. It runs Android 2.3 and its screen is eight inches- smaller than an iPad, but larger than the Kindle Fire or BlackBerry PlayBook. That screen size especially comes in handy when viewing YouTube and Netflix video. Not to mention, the Vizio Tablet offers the best “Angry Birds” experience I've ever had.

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Wireless HDMI technology has been around for a few years now--but with entry-level kits costing upward of $800, it appealed primarily to dedicated home-theater enthusiasts. Now, however, Wireless HDMI kits like Vizio's XWH200 ($230) are reaching the market at prices that, while still not cheap for a TV accessory, aren't outrageously high, either. And fortunately, the lower price tag doesn't entail a corresponding drop in quality.

Wireless HDMI caters to people with wall-mounted HDTVs. A properly mounted TV can look very elegant and can free up a lot of space in a cramped room, but once you start using it, it can be kind of a pain: Either you mount it with a bracket that lets you put your cable box, game console, Blu-ray player, and whatever else you plug into your TV up against the wall with it (making them harder to access when you're switching discs and so on), or you let them sit on the floor below the TV (leaving your wall an unsightly mess with black cables snaking down from the TV).

With a Wireless HDMI kit, you can plug the receiver (which is small enough to fit inconspicuously) into the TV, and keep the transmitter by your home-theater gear, wherever you keep it. Voilà: Your HDTV looks like a magical screen floating on air, your devices are more readily accessible than they would be if they were next to the television, and the effect is more aesthetically pleasing than if your equipment were sitting under the TV in a tangle of AV cables.

There are other reasons to buy a Wireless HDMI kit, however. My main desktop PC is located in my living room, about 10 feet from my HDTV; and though it isn't wall-mounted, it's far enough from my desktop that I wouldn't want to run an HDMI cord between the two that people might trip on (or that my cats might mess with) and risk hurting themselves or damaging my gear. With a Wireless HDMI kit, I can use my 42-inch HDTV to watch Hulu Plus, Blu-ray movies, live streaming video, and everything else I usually watch on my PC's 24-inch monitor.

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LOS ANGELES -- With the NBA season back on, there will be even more 3D sports to watch at the brand new South by Vizio 3D sports bar in Santa Monica, CA. The new bar has 33 Vizio 3D TVs featuring passive technology. Sports fans will be able to watch ESPN 3D and other 3D sports broadcasts in the bar, while eating and drinking. Vizio walks us through this really cool bar concept in the exclusive 3D video below (you can watch it in old-fashioned 2D by adjusting the slider).

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If you're looking for a bargain-priced Blu-ray player, the Vizio VBR122 makes an excellent choice. For $110 (as of November 3, 2011), you get very good image quality and a large selection of streaming Internet services. You also get a nifty remote control that becomes a QWERTY keyboard when you flip it over.

As television accessories become more Internet-oriented, users are finding themselves having to enter text--usually passwords and search terms--into them. A conventional remote control gives you only number and arrow buttons for handling this job, making it an annoying chore. Remote-control phone apps offer an option, but they're not a cure-all.

I vastly prefer the VBR122's solution: a two-sided remote. On one side, it's a conventional remote control. Turn it over, though, and you have a QWERTY keyboard. This simple, clean approach works in situations where remote-control apps on a smartphone can't do the job (such as for Wi-Fi passwords and Netflix searches). Vizio doesn't provide iOS or Android remote-control apps--but with this keyboard, you don't need them.

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