I pre-ordered my Vizio Co-Star 3 weeks ago, after reading about it on some of the Android blogs.  Checking on their site a few minutes ago, and it looks like my unit has finally shipped!  I’m not usually one to pre-order a product, especially from a company new to the product space, but I thought I would take a chance on one of these.  I’ve been very happy with my Vizio TV, and their latest line of desktop and laptop PC’s looks very compelling.

I’ve had a Logitech Revue for the past year or so.  It has been a major disappointment.  The update to the latest Google TV took them much longer than other models.  The Revue is slow, laggy, and all but unusable.  Trying to play 1080p video through Plex basically causes the unit to grind to a halt.  Web browsing is slow and miserable.

I only have a few requirements for a Google TV Device:

• Play 480p/1080p video from my NAS 
• Browse the web
• Neflix and Amazon Prime Video Streaming 
• Play music streaming from the NAS, as well as Pandora
• Display photos streaming from the NAS

Do all of those, without the lag, stuttering, freezing, and crashing that my Logitech Revue currently does, and I will be very happy.

Vizio could have a great product here.  The faster hardware, low price ($99), and their custom user interface should make this a very nice HTPC replacement.  The biggest question in my mind is how hacker-friendly the unit will be.  Will Vizio take the route of other manufacturers, such as Motorola and Logitech who love to lock down their Android devices with encrypted bootloaders?  Or, will they take more of a Nexus Q approach and embrace the hacker/ROM community instead of fighting them?  My hope is the latter.  I guess we’ll find out in a few days.