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LeEco Who? Chinese Tech Giant Tries Its Luck In the US With 'More Products Than You've Ever Seen' (cnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the leeco-who dept.

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.

7 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Who would buy a smart TV? by RandomSurfer314 · · Score: 2

    Serious question, not an attempt to troll. What kind of people buy these 'smart TVs' and why? For Internet? Doesn't almost everybody have a PC or tablet nowadays anyway?

    1. Re:Who would buy a smart TV? by CannonballHead · · Score: 2

      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 you can't do the same thing with a dumb TV + some sort of computer (roku, whatever). But sometimes, having it integrated is nice.

    2. Re:Who would buy a smart TV? by kdkirmse · · Score: 2

      At this point in time it is difficult to purchase a 4K TV without the 'smart' feature.

    3. Re:Who would buy a smart TV? by stabiesoft · · Score: 2

      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.

  2. The Silmarillion by The+Grim+Reefer · · 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.

  3. Netflix Older Than That by Anonymous Coward · · 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. (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 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.

  4. I hate my smart TVs by BLToday · · Score: 2

    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.