Vizio SmartCast TVs to Gain Support for AirPlay 2 and HomeKit Later This Year

[MacRumors]

Vizio today announced that its recent smart TVs will gain support for Apple's wireless streaming protocol AirPlay 2 and smart home platform HomeKit via a free SmartCast 3.0 over-the-air software update later this year.

AirPlay 2 support will allow users to stream videos, music, photos, and more directly from an iPhone, iPad, and Mac to SmartCast-enabled Vizio TVs, complete with lock screen controls. HomeKit support will enable users to easily control the TV using the Home app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac or Siri voice commands.

Vizio says the SmartCast 3.0 update with AirPlay 2 and HomeKit can be tested by registered beta members in the United States and Canada in the first quarter of 2019. The software will be publicly released in the second quarter of 2019 and will also be preinstalled on Vizio's entire 2019 lineup of smart TVs.

The upcoming SmartCast 3.0 update will also add expanded Google Assistant actions for eligible SmartCast TVs. Google Assistant users, for example, will have the ability to use simple voice commands to launch apps, select inputs as well as pause, resume, stop, fast-forward, rewind content, and more.

Amazon Alexa users can also control their TV, and coming later this year, launch apps without lifting a finger, according to Vizio.

Apple recently updated its website with information about how AirPlay 2 and HomeKit will be implemented on smart TVs from "leading TV manufacturers," including Samsung, which is also introducing an iTunes movies and TV shows app that does not appear will be available on Vizio smart TVs at this time.

Article Link: Vizio SmartCast TVs to Gain Support for AirPlay 2 and HomeKit Later This Year

 

[Baymowe335]

Good move to start making this more widely available.

 

[AngerDanger]

Oh, man, the Apple TV is going to be so sad when it finds out…

 

[joshwenke]

This is the start of Apple completely changing its business model...

 

[Cryates]

More evidence that Apple is slowly transitioning into a services company. It'll be a slow, possibly bumpy transition, but this is going to be interesting to watch. It's becoming increasingly apparent that they cannot solely depend on hardware dominance moving forward.

 

[mattopotamus]

Oh, man, the Apple TV is going to be so sad when it finds out…

I do not know why people keep saying this? It is not like the average consumer updates their TV on a regular basis. The ATV is still way cheaper than buying a new set.
[doublepost=1546872397][/doublepost]

This is the start of Apple completely changing its business model...

Agreed. It is a very smart move on their part. People are not upgrading hardware like they did 2 years ago.

 

[macsplusmacs]

Is there a compatibility list?

I have and love my two high end Vizios and would love to update just for this:

Siri:

On/off
Volume and mute
Automation support (turn off tv at 10pm)

hey I dont need a lot just these!

 

[adamjackson]

Can we trust these TV sets though? Televisions have a horrible track record for keeping our data secure. I assume that AirPlay 2 and HOmeKit being Apple technology, they’re all having to adopt the same hardware & best practices to keep our houses more secure than some other off the shelf smart home stuff.

 

[BornAgainMac]

"launch apps without lifting a finger"

People will get fat.

 

[ipedro]

Vizio, Samsung and LG. These TVs represent the vast majority of them in homes today. If AirPlay 2 is on all of them, retroactively by at least a year, suddenly AirPlay becomes ubiquitous. Waiting for the LG announcement now.

Looking at this from a more three dimensional perspective, it opens up a huge opportunity for Apple’s screenless or small screen devices like HomePod and Apple Watch.

If a HomePod can count on having an AirPlay enabled TV nearby, it suddenly becomes a full voice controlled home computer. Remember the A8 chip inside the HomePod? That’s a very powerful chip for something just intent on being a speaker, even a smart one. “Hey Siri, show me my appointments for this week”, HomePod looks for the nearest TV “Would you like me to display it on the Living Room TV”?

Apple Watch itself has the potential to displace iPhone as our main personal computer. As it increases in power and as Siri gets better at recognizing your speech and what you mean using machine learning, it can be a voice first personal assistant on your wrist that can do almost anything that an iPhone can do. Only almost because there are things that require a large sceen to do effectively, such as watching videos or displaying pictures. What if you could count on there always being an AirPlay enabled screen nearby? Well, Apple is making that exact move today.

 

[bbednarz]

HomeKit and AirPlay 2 looks to be rolling out to a lot of things this year. Very good to see. Especially HomeKit.

 

[acegreen]

Vizio says the SmartCast 3.0 update with AirPlay 2 and HomeKit can be tested by registered beta members in the United States and Canada in the first quarter of 2019.

Anyone know where we can register for beta testing?

 

[69Mustang]

I do not know why people keep saying this? It is not like the average consumer updates their TV on a regular basis. The ATV is still way cheaper than buying a new set.

The ATV is way cheaper than buy a new premium TV set. It is not way cheaper than buying an average smart TV... which can be had for as little as $250-$300... <-- 4K panels at that cost. Once Apple's services become ubiquitous on TV's (like Google's Chromecast) the ATV seems even less of a value than it already does.

 

[dan9700]

Apple has always been a tight eco system but unfortunately they are branching out cos they are losing sales this is sad for apple

 

[macfixx]

Will BootCamp style MacOS partitions be preinstalled next on Asus, Dell and HP? Or will we just see more reasonable prices for the hardware to increase global marketshare? Either way, big changes like this are coming.

 

[rmoliv]

What about LG Super UHD 4K HDR TVs from 2018???

 

[bbednarz]

Apple has always been a tight eco system but unfortunately they are branching out cos they are losing sales this is sad for apple

There is nothing unfortunate or sad about this. The more products that support AirPlay 2 and HomeKit the better.

 

[Bistroengine]

Damn, with all of these CES HomeKit announcements it's looking like 2019 might finally be the "Year of HomeKit".

 

[sdwaltz]

Oh, man, the Apple TV is going to be so sad when it finds out…

I can't imagine why...it's not like this could come close to replacing an Apple TV.

 

[eatrains]

This is the start of Apple completely changing its business model...

Apple has licensed AirPlay audio for years and years and years.

 

[justperry]

Now only wait for LG to announce this...

Vizio says the SmartCast 3.0 update with AirPlay 2 and HomeKit can be tested by registered beta members in the United States and Canada in the first quarter of 2019. The software will be publicly released in the second quarter of 2019 and will also be preinstalled on Vizio's entire 2019 lineup of smart TVs.

What is it, second half, second quarter or second quarter of the second half.

 

[Kaibelf]

I do not know why people keep saying this? It is not like the average consumer updates their TV on a regular basis. The ATV is still way cheaper than buying a new set.
[doublepost=1546872397][/doublepost]

Agreed. It is a very smart move on their part. People are not upgrading hardware like they did 2 years ago.

Not to mention the fact that MANY people with smart TVs opt for an ATV or Roku because the built in interfaces tend to be incredibly janky and are never fluid when it comes to app switching.

 

[jazzsam84]

Anyone know where we can register for beta testing?

On Vizio's landing page here: https://www.vizio.com/apple

 

[truthertech]

More evidence that Apple is slowly transitioning into a services company. It'll be a slow, possibly bumpy transition, but this is going to be interesting to watch. It's becoming increasingly apparent that they cannot solely depend on hardware dominance moving forward.

"Slow, bumpy transition?" Like most people, because the tech press hasn't talked about much, I think you may be unawares and a few years behind what has been happening. It actually has been an incredibly smooth and amazing trajectory already into becoming one of the leading Services producers among all tech companies.

Recognizing that the iPhone market would eventually slow down, Apple began a major move into services a few years back. When Services was already in the billions in terms of revenue, (and it has been for over two years the fastest growing part of its business,) Apple announced a goal of turning Services into a major component. Apple has been so quietly successful in that goal in the Services arena that folks don't realize that Apple's Service revenue now dwarfs ALL of Facebook's revenue!

Apple's Service revenue now hits a record quarter after quarter and is now over 10 BILLION dollars a quarter, well on pace to smash Cook's goal of $50 BILLION dollars a year in Services revenue by 2020. Indeed, Apple Services, by itself, is now one of the largest tech companies in the world!

While Apple is far beyond the slowly transitioning into Services, it would also be a mistake to assume that Apple is "becoming a services company." Apple will continue to grow it's hardware business and with the tens of billions of dollars Apple is investing into R and D, hardware has a huge upside to be a major driver, if not the major driver, of revenue going forward.

 

[ksec]

Less than 36 hours I posted a rant about how Apple completely ignore HomeKit and AirPlay 2 ( As well as Wallet and Apple Pay / Cash ).... here we have more announcement in Homekit and AirPlay 2 than everything added together since both launch.

Oh Well. Better late then never. BUT.

I still want a TV set with Apple UI.