Types

• Vizio and Panasonic manufacture three types of HDTVs: LCD TVs, LED TVs and 3-D TVs. LCD TVs are named after the liquid crystal display technology used for their screens. LED TVs are essentially LCD TVs with light-emitting diodes for a brighter backlight than the cold cathode fluorescent lamps used on the regular ones. With 3-D TVs, users can perceive a 3-D depth to the otherwise 2-D screen displays. Panasonic adds a fourth type of HDTV, plasma TVs, to its Viera brand. They are named after the plasma, or charged gas, sandwiched between two glass panels to produce color and images.
  
  

Number and Sizes

• Vizio has a larger selection but a narrower size range of HDTVs than Panasonic. Vizio offers more than 50 TVs, eight of which are 3-D TVs. Panasonic offers 32 TVs. Vizio HDTVs are available in nine sizes, according to the diagonal measurement of the screen; they are 16 inches, 22 inches, 26 inches, 32 inches, 37 inches, 42 inches, 46 inches, 47 inches and 55 inches. Panasonic offers 10 sizes: 19 inches, 24 inches, 32 inches, 37 inches, 42 inches, 46 inches, 50 inches, 55 inches, 60 inches and 65 inches.
  
  

Special Features

• Many Vizio TVs have Razor LED, which is the company's trademarked technology of a backlight that illuminates the TV panel's edges. Another distinctive, Vizio feature is Vizio Internet Apps, which is a built-in wireless technology for streaming digital content such as music, movies and games from the Internet. The Panasonic Viera TVs' most prominent trademarked features are Viera Image Viewer for uploading and viewing digital pictures, Viera Link for controlling TV-connected peripherals such as Blu-ray Disc players and audio/video receivers with one remote and Viera Connect for using Internet services such as Facebook, Skype and YouTube.
  
  

Display

• The Vizio and Panasonic HDTVs provide a peak native resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels with progressive-scan technology, which displays the lines that compose the images sequentially. This video mode is denoted as 1,080 pixels, and at the time of publication, it is the best graphic display resolution available for HDTVs. Some Vizio and Panasonic TVs, however, have a lower display-quality mode -- also progressive scan-based -- that is 720 pixels. Under this mode, Vizio offers a resolution of 1,366 by 768 pixels, surpassing Panasonic's 1,280 by 720 pixels.