We've never heard of Inscape before, but as explained in the S-1 Vizio filed today, it's based on ACR (automatic content recognition) software licensed from a third party, and viewers can opt-out of participating in it while maintaining other connected features. That's actually fairly common in modern TVs, and others like LG and Samsung have already rolled out features based on the tech to do things like integrate with TV shows, or display ads based on what the TV is showing. ACR software recognizes the video being displayed, matches it up and phones home the data. According to Vizio, its Inscape platform can pull some 100 billion anonymized datapoints from 8 million of its connected TVs every day. That kind of data can be used for ratings, and is valuable to both advertisers and content providers.

If all goes according to plan, that will mean more content directed towards Vizio TVs, which it hopes will lead to more sales as customers choose its platform. Vizio says this kind of data can help deliver the kind of personalized experiences people want, but we wonder if most people really understand their TV is phoning home data on any and everything they might be watching, even if it's not through one of the built-in apps. One way or another, when the gavel drops and VZIO starts trading on the market, if you own a connected Vizio TV, you'll be counted as an ongoing part of its $3 billion per year business.