LeEco Who? Chinese Tech Giant Tries Its Luck In the US With 'More Products Than You've Ever Seen' (cnet.com) 59
LeEco is often called the Netflix of China. Which is funny for two reasons: LeEco is bigger than Netflix, and it has been around for longer than the American on-demand movies and TV shows streaming service. Besides, LeEco runs a fleet of other businesses, including ecommerce portal, smartphones, TVs, and even an autonomous cars. A company executive said this month that this would be a better description of LeEco, "If you were to take Apple, Amazon, Paramount Pictures, Tesla, Uber and Netflix and combine all of those companies, you get what LeEco does in China" But you may not have heard much about LeEco, the company which was until earlier this year known as LeTv. But you will now, because the company today announced a range of products for the U.S. market. TechCrunch adds: Perhaps predictably, one of the first US-based offerings from the company often referred to as "the Netflix of China" will be a content platform. And, as with just about everything else at today's event, LeEco's coming out swinging. The list of partners for LeEco Live includes MGM, Lionsgate, Vice, Showtime, Sling and Magnolia Pictures, along with publication partners like Cosmopolitan and Esquire, to name but a few. From another CNET report, which lists the other things that LeEco announced today: UMax 85 TV is LeEco's flagship 4K smart television. It's 85 inches, comes with 4GB in RAM and 64GB in storage and supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision. It will cost $4,999. Super4 X65 TV is LeEco's second biggest 4K smart television at 65 inches and comes with most of the same features as the UMax 85. Super4 X55 TV is a 55-inch 4K smart television and comes with most of the same features as the UMax 85. Super4 X43 Pro TV is 43-inch 4K smart television and comes with most of the same features as the UMax 85. LeEco has an upcoming prototype VR headset; it will have a gyroscope, bluetooth headphones and USB Type-C. LeSee Pro is LeEco's self-driving concept car. It will be fully autonomous and will have a connected interior to let people stream movies, music and work documents. LeSee is LeEco's semi-autonomous vehicle (level 3). It is internet-connected and has streaming content in rear seats. LeEco first unveiled this car in April.
Who would buy a smart TV? (Score:3)
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I prefer 'dumb' monitors that I can plug whatever tuner, dongle, or gizmo in that I want.
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A cheap second-hand monitor of a decent size with HDMI input, plus your choice of streaming device, is a much better solution than a so-called smart TV, for most people. The built-in smart TV apps suck ass anyway, compared to Chromecast or AppleTV or Roku.
I just set up a 23" monitor with an old 1st-gen Chromecast for my workbench to catch up on various Youtube etc. shows. Cost me less than $75.
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I'm with you. I don't get it. I want the display to display whatever I throw at it. And sometimes play audio. Not much more, really.
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But why use an integrated computer that's going to be obsolete, rather than an external box taped to the back of the TV that can be replaced every few years when it's hopelessly obsolete while the TV itself still working fine?
And that's even before you consider the sometimes atrocious level of spying performed by smart TVs.
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Fair enough. I suppose you always buy a new external box later, when the integrated one inevitably stops being supported. And you can always just disconnect it from the network to remove the gaping security hole it represents.
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Why would someone by a Roku? For internet? Doesn't almost everybody have a PC or tablet nowadays anyway?
Without the snark ... :) ... I actually bought a "smart TV" (where the "smart" is just a builtin Roku). I still have a little android box plugged in for Skype and stuff... but I'm pretty sure the reason I got the "smart" one is the same reason someone else might - one less box to mess with cables, figure out where audio goes vs. where video goes, Yet Another Remote, etc.
I don't think the point is that
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While most of the people on his site are likely to prefer dumb tv's, most of the non-techies I know are lucky if they can plug a tv into the wall and hook it up to cable or an antenna.
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Serious question, not an attempt to troll. What kind of people buy these 'smart TVs' and why?
Because you get additional functionality for zero cost. Compare the cost of a "smart" TV and a "dumb" TV of equal size and resolution. The smart TV will be the same price, or likely even cheaper. A TV already has a CPU, to handle decoding and clicker input. The extra software to make it "smart" has near zero marginal cost. The cost of a CAT-5 and/or WiFi interface is less than $1.
Doesn't almost everybody have a PC or tablet nowadays anyway?
Yes, and I don't want to stop using it because my kids want to watch Netflix. So I spent an extra $0 on a smart TV.
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Smart TV's are conceptually great. Big Screen to show lots of information on. Practically though, they're locked into lean-back attitude viewer, they often have mediocre hardware and half-baked software.
Smart boxes on the other hand that plug into anyone's already sunk-cost TV. They are lot more attractive presently because the upgrade cycle is usually much more frequent and they're a completely optional purchase.
- Frequent purchases means more potential income for the providers meaning more money a
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Well...it almost sounds like 2 questions you have here.
1. Why would you want smart features on a TV?
- Well, this is often for folks that want to watch things streaming like Hulu, Netflix, etc...without having to fumble with multiple remotes and units..all in one spot.
2. Why would you want at TV to watch smart tv content on, because every
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Because buying a Vizio smart TV and teaching my wife to use it is FAR, FAR easier than setting up MythTV, or KODI, or whatever HTPC system and teaching my wife to use it all.
One remote. Bolt the TV to the wall. Done. Cheaper, too, because I didn't have to buy/assemble/relocate a PC.
I wish I could have done the latter, but I must think of who really uses the TV more than I do, and I like to keep some things simple for other house guests.
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A screen of a given size, with "SmartTV", speakers, 3 different digital-TV decoders, multiple HDMI ports and various legacy-ports is _cheaper_ than a screen of the same size, with ca the same panel, but with none of the above features and just a single HDMI port.
Reason? The masses wants features, even if they don't understand why, so a SKU with features can be produced and sold in MUCH larger quantities than a "dumb" product.
Result? Even us techies will pick up the over-designed SmartTV thing, because it is
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Dude, no matter what anyone says, size counts. So why the smart TV because big and noise and the bigger the better, dependent upon resolution and distance to screen of course. So yeah the screen jumps are 3-4", 5-6",10-12",15-17",24-32",48-55",65-70",90->>" and bigger is better and yes I want my 3m screen, quad-quad, ahh, scenery channels delicious ;).
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What kind of people buy these 'smart TVs' and why? For Internet? Doesn't almost everybody have a PC or tablet nowadays anyway?
Well, I can understand the appeal in some ways - as I understand it, smart tvs are sort of like giant tablet computers; you can get them with Android, I believe, so I imagine it might have a certain appeal if you are an Android developer. I'm not sure I'd want one myself, unless it was seriously hackable.
Smart Phones (Score:2)
The only thing I've ever heard about them was their smart phones, which are apparently appallingly awful, and only available in pink! (or rose gold as they call it).
Do Chinese men carry pink phones? Other than that, they have a really stupid name.
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Their batteries leeco all over you.
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Yes, there is a certain large segment of Chinese men who will carry pink phones. Anything that makes them seem more "western" than their perceived domestic competition.
What I'd like to know is if there's a way for Slashdot's submitters and editors to bring us stories like this one with out the condescending anti-US attitude. I've read that /. is outsourcing a lot of its editorial duties, but that shouldn't lead to alienating the site's majority audience.
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The only thing I've ever heard about them was their smart phones, which are apparently appallingly awful, and only available in pink!
You forgot to mention that they're all made in sweatshops by buck-toothed little Asians who can't drive, wear glasses, and are all martial arts experts.
Just for the record, I own a silver (not rose gold) LeEco, it's a really nice phone, a bit like a Samsung Galaxy but at a fraction of the price and without the incendiary tendencies. I have several friends who have them as well.
The Silmarillion (Score:5, Funny)
UMax 85 TV is LeEco's flagship 4K smart television. It's 85 inches, comes with 4GB in RAM and 64GB in storage and supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision. It will cost $4,999. Super4 X65 TV is LeEco's second biggest 4K smart television at 65 inches and comes with most of the same features as the UMax 85. Super4 X55 TV is a 55-inch 4K smart television and comes with most of the same features as the UMax 85. Super4 X43 Pro TV is 43-inch 4K smart television and comes with most of the same features as the UMax 85.
I thought this was an excerpt from The Silmarillion at first.
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The funny thing here is those greedy US corporations, offshore outsourcing, have created those competitive beasts that will kill them (inevitable, no doubled up profit margins to deal with and hugely expensive advertising campaigns to allow higher prices to pay for those advertising campaigns, keep in mind those advertising costs are often equal to or greater than the actual production costs of the products in question). They will win in the end.
Netflix Older Than That (Score:5, Informative)
LeEco is bigger than Netflix, and it has been around for longer than the American on-demand movies and TV shows streaming service.
You do realize that Netflix was a "DVD by Mail" service long before it was a streaming service, right?
Netflix Inc. [wikipedia.org] (also known as Netflix, marketed and stylized as NETFLIX) is an American multinational entertainment company founded on August 29, 1997, in Scotts Valley, California,[6] by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph.
Founded in November 2004 by Jia Yueting, LeEco Group [wikipedia.org] is building a "Le Ecosystem", an online platform with content, devices and applications. LeEco is engaged in a myriad of businesses, spanning from Internet TV, video production and distribution, smart gadgets and large-screen applications to e-commerce, eco-agriculture, and Internet-linked electric cars, which were announced in late 2014.
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Actually, it does not:
"Which is funny for two reasons: LeEco is bigger than Netflix, and it has been around for longer than the American on-demand movies and TV shows streaming service."
Here, I fixed it for them:
"Which is funny for two reasons: LeEco is bigger than Netflix, and it has been STREAMING for longer than the American on-demand movies and TV shows streaming service."
Netflix has been around longer, period.
It has not been streaming for as long.
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Bad Name for Western Audiences (Score:2)
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After all the 'le' memes half a decade ago, maybe not such a bad name after all. I have to admit that 'Le Ecosystem' sounds kinda good, though unwieldy to talk about.
Pronouncing it also brings up thoughts of Lego (maybe because I'm Danish) which is known for how everything just fits together - again, not a bad association.
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Totally agree. Merging the reputation of cheap chinese crap electronics with the masculinity of a frenchman.
They better have an exceptional product for that to work. (and rumors are that they don't)
Le (Score:1)
I hate my smart TVs (Score:3)
I have two of them (Samsung 2014 model and LG 2012 model), they're slow and every time there's an update it seems to take away features. I've given up and gotten a computer for each TV and an Apple TV for one of them. Just give me a high quality, high-reliability regular screen with half decent sounds. I'll add the smarts.
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The "new remote" Samsung "Smart TV" impressed me. It's fast and elegant, unlike every other smart TV I've tried. The only drag was a bug in the HBO app that force you to manually rewind shows you've watched.
The Apple TV is very nice, especially the touch remote, but I got rid of mine since my Philips smart TV (while slow) works, and I only got 3 HDMI inputs.
Why are they allowed to do bussiness in US? (Score:1)
Can somebody explain to me why is the US government allowing LeEco to do business in the US, when Netflix is not allowed to sale their content in China? Why isn't Netflix complaining to the US government?
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Probably because no one would listen if they did.
China is "too important" to little things like this get in the way.