Best Buy unveils Insignia Connected TVs with TiVo interface, Chumby widgets

01.08.11 - 32 inch samsung plasma tv

Best Buy will begin selling Insignia Internet-enabled TVs with TiVo-powered interfaces and Chumby online widgets. The official availability of the products confirms most of the leaks originally reported at Zatz Not Funny .

The new sets, available in 32- and 42-inch sizes for $499 and $699, respectively, are the first fruits of the TiVo-Best Buy deal first announced in July 2009. As expected , the TVs do not include built-in DVRs; rather, they utilize the same interface found on TiVo's products, which Insignia has tweaked to maximize simple setup and ease-of-use.

The initial Internet apps offered on the new Insignia TVs are Netflix, YouTube Leanback, and Pandora, as well as CinemaNow and Napster (the latter two, like the Insignia brand, are wholly owned subsidiaries of Best Buy). Viewers can use the unified search interface to scan content across all of the video services (another featured borrowed from existing TiVo DVRs).

Also onboard is the Chumby app platform, which comes preloaded with seven TV-optimized widgets: Twitter, Facebook, Photobucket, Accuweather, Reuters News and Sports, Stocks, and Traffic. Insignia reps told CNET that users will be able to download and install any of the hundreds of other available Chumby apps as well. However, those apps are currently optimized for the tiny touch-screen interface found on existing Chumby products ; the hope is that the developer community can quickly re-engineer the most popular Chumby apps to offer the best possible experience on the TV screen.

More about 32 inch samsung plasma tv on: CNET