Vizio hasn’t had a significant presence at CES since 2014. That year, the company actually went to the effort of issuing a press release to say it was done with the big trade show and would instead introduce TVs, soundbars, and other products at its own media briefings on its own schedule. Fast forward to today, and Vizio is making a return to Las Vegas with an all-new 2019 lineup. Not much about CES has changed; a lot of tech company executives will tell you that its importance continues to shrink with each passing year.
But things have certainly changed for Vizio. It took a gamble and ditched built-in apps and the traditional smart TV experience in favor of “dumb” displays — without a TV tuner, even — that required customers to cast...