Cell phones with build in cameras are replacing cheap pocket size digital cameras and video cameras. Best cell phone cameras can be better in many ways than cheap pocket digital cameras from few years back. And most people do not want to carry separate devices for each function (at least without a very good reason), when a smart phone can handle calls, Internet, photos and video shooting.
CES 2013 fair had more pocket advanced size cameras on display than DSLRs, but the trend on then was that business was going down due cellular phone cameras getting better. So camera manufacturers are integrating more cellular phone like features to their cameras (like Android OS with wireless connectivity to photo sharing sites) and concentrate on building good superzoom and DSLR type cameras. You need to have something clearly different than what cell phone can offer: huge zoom, good performance in low light or works also in harsh environment. Wireless connection is getting more and more common, either built-in or using memory card with WiFi.
As Sales Slip, TV Makers Strain for the Next Sensation because hardware companies want to make their products stand out in a sea of black rectangles that can show the content user want to watch. And one that is particularly acute for television makers. The hardware is becoming kind of boring and exciting things are happening in software. TV manufacturers continue to push the idea of “smart” sets by adding apps and other interactive elements.
Connected TV technologies get more widely used and the content earlier viewable only on TV can be now seen on many other screens. Your smartphone is the screen in your pocket. Your computer is the screen on your desk. Your tablet is a screen for the couch. Almost every major electronic device you own is a black rectangle that is brought to life by software and content.
In the last two years, television makers have tried a push with 3-D sets. But now It’s official: 3D is dead. The tech industry’s annual hot air balloon show is gone. On the one hand, 3D has become ubiquitous enough in televisions that people are unwittingly buying it when opting for a high-end new HDTV to fill their living room.
Post HDTV resolution era seems to be coming to TVs as well in form of 4K / UltraHD. This year, television makers like Samsung, Sony, LG and Panasonic are trying to grab attention by supersizing their television screens and quadrupling the level of detail in their images. They are promoting what they call Ultra High-Definition televisions, which have four times as many pixels as their high-definition predecessors, and can cost as much as a car. It’s a bit of a marketing push. It seems that all LCD makers are looking to move their business models on from cheap mass production to higher-margin, premium offerings. They try to innovate and secure their future viability by selling fewer, but more profitable displays.
4K at CES 2013: the dream gets real article tells that the 4K bandwagon is fully loaded and ready to get rolling. The US TV maker isn’t alone in stepping up to the higher resolution in its new flagship models. Sony, Panasonic and Sharp, Japan’s traditional big-screen TV leaders, are all attending this year’s CES with proper retail products. Manufacturers Need You to Buy an Ultra-High-Def 4K TV. Save Your Money because just as HDTV was slow to take off, the 4K start will be slow. It’s more than the price that’s keeping these things from hitting critical mass. 4K is only for ultra-premium markets this year.
4K resolution TV has one big problem: The entire ecosystem isn’t ready for 4K. The Trouble With 4K TV article tellst that though 4K resolutions represent the next step in high-definition video, standards for the format have yet to emerge and no one’s really figured out how to distribute video, with its massive file footprint, efficiently and cost effectively. Getting 4K content to consumers is hard.
Even though 4K resolution is widely use in digital cinematography, but there is no suitable consumer disk format that supports it and the bandwidth need to stream 4K content would be huge. Given that uncompressed 4K footage has a bit-rate of about 600MB/s. Broadcom chip ushers in H.265 and UltraHD video tells that H.265 video standard, aka HEVC or MPEG-5, squeezes more pixels over a network connection to support new high-resolution 4K TVs.
You should also note that the new higher resolution is pretty pointless for a small TV (where the TV mass market is now). Ultra HD would make a difference only on screens that were at least 80 inches, measured diagonally. For smaller screens, the extra pixels would not be visible to a person with 20/20 vision viewing from a normal viewing distance. Ultra HD TVs can also be a flop. But let’s see what happens in the world where nowadays tiny smart phone screens can have full HDTV resolution.
Keep in mind that 4K is not any absolute highest resolution expected in few years. 8k resolution TVs are coming. Sharp showed a 8K resolution TV with 7680 x 4320 resolution at CES2013. For more details on it read Sharp 8K Super Hi-Vision LCD, 4K TV and Freestyle wireless LCD HDTV hands-on article.
Another development than pushing up the resolution to make high end display products is OLED technology. OLED is another new technology to make expensive products. The much buzzed-about device features next-generation, high-quality OLED screens. OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode, and they offer a bevy of benefits: more energy efficient, cleaner image, wide viewing angle and devices can be made thinner. You can also make TV screen curved in shape. In a race between television titans, LG has beat Samsung in becoming the first manufacturer to introduce a 55-inch OLED television to market: the largest OLED TV panel to date.. OLED products are very expensive (LG TV $10,300 in US dollars). OLED display can also have 4K resolution, so you can combine two expensive technologies to one product. Market analysts say that they believe the technology will not become more affordable until 2015.
The Verge Awards: the best of CES 2013 article lists for example product like Samsung 4K “easel TV”, Sony 4K OLED TV, Teenage Engineering OD-11 Cloud Speaker and Oculus Rift virtual reality gaming.
All your audio, video kit is about to become OBSOLETE article tells that although much of the audio and video technology packed into CES 2013′s 1.9 million square feet of exhibition space is indeed impressive, one panelist at an emerging-technology conference session channeled a little 1974 BTO, essentially telling his audience that “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Deep-geek soothsayer predicts smart audio, Ultra HD eyewear, much more in coming years. Audio is going to become adaptive, changing its wave forms to fit each user’s personal aural perceptions. Active noise reduction is finding its way into cars. HD audio will be coming to mobile phones. MEMS-based microphones and speakers are also on the runway. Consumer-level video will see in the future much higher resolution devices with much higher frame rates.
903 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Next-gen H.265 video baked into Broadcom’s monster TV brain
March to MPEG-5 for mobes, 4K screens reaches silicon
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/11/h265_mpeg5/
Vid 720p video at 30 frames per second and less than half a megabit a second: that’s the promise of the H.265 vid compression tech, which is up for ratification any day now and already has chips ready to decode it.
The codec scales from bandwidth-starved mobiles, allowing one to watch streamed TV in the park, to monster 4K Ultra HD tellies. Getting the tech into silicon could deal H.265′s rival video compression systems a deadly blow.
Broadcom’s new BCM7445 chip has a quad-core ARMv7-A processor to run apps, games and other stuff one expects from a modern TV or set-top box. But it can also chomp through video encoded with H.265, properly known as High Efficiency Video Coding until it is rubber-stamped as an official MPEG and ITU standard. The chip is aimed at Ultra HD “home gateways”.
Broadcom also has intellectual property in H.265, and at CES this week announced chips supporting the standard and pushing it to 4096 x 2160 (4K or Ultra HD) and 60fps
Cisco and Broadcom will back H.265 (aka MPEG-5, aka HEVC), and device makers will have to bet on the codec which they think is going to dominate for the next few years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Introducing Amazon AutoRip
Buy a CD, instantly get the MP3 version for FREE.
http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=5946775011
Tomi Engdahl says:
HD Space Camera Will Provide Live Astronaut’s View of Earth From ISS
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/01/urthecast-live-space-camera/
A Canadian company plans to one-up Google Earth by streaming video footage straight from the International Space Station to the web with a top time delay of just a few hours.
Urthecast is due to begin beaming the view from the ISS by autumn 2013 — the equipment will be finished by the summer, then shipped to Russia and sent to the space station via two Soyuz rockets. Once there, the Russian space agency will install it beneath the ISS and downlink the data to Earth, where it will be published.
While adding video makes this a great competitor for Google Earth, it’s the relatively brief time delay for the streamed footage that is most impressive and stands to blow its predecessor out of the water (if it works).
Tomi says:
Technology enables 42-in. flat panel TV to consume less electricity than a 60-W light bulb
http://www2.electronicproducts.com/Technology_enables_42_in_flat_panel_TV_to_consume_less_electricity_than_a_60_W_light_bulb-article-newspo02_AMS_07jan2013-html.aspx
Sensors enable TV to exceed Energy Star 6.0 proposals while delivering highest quality viewing experience, including 3D
A study by the Consumer Electronics Association showed that when it comes to TVs, two items at the top of consumers’ wish lists are a low-power HDTV, and better picture quality. Yet with new Energy Star Guidelines being introduced in the spring of 2013, delivering both items on the wish list will become more challenging. Energy Star 6.0 calls for a 42” TV set to consume just 62.9 watts of power, and the maximum any TV can consume – regardless of size – is just 85 watts. Additionally, the measurement of power usage will cover four levels of ambient room light, as most consumers prefer to watch television in living rooms with low light levels.
2013 televisions that combine an ams Digital Ambient Light Sensor with local dimming and high-accuracy drivers will meet and exceed the Energy Star 6.0 ratings without waivers or unusable brightness settings, while delivering a higher quality viewing experience. The ams Digital Ambient Light Sensor does this by sensing the ambient light level of the room and adapting the backlight to a lower power level.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The old school tech Samsung used to achieve single lens 3D
Hint: the new 45mm 3D NX system lens doesn’t use magic.
http://www.arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/01/the-old-school-tech-samsung-used-to-achieve-single-lens-3d/
On Monday Samsung unveiled its new NX300 interchangeable lens compact camera along with a new 45mm “2D/3D” lens, claiming it is “the world’s first single-lens 3D system.”
The truth is the lens uses a clever repackaging of decidedly old school tech: an image splitter.
The lens is effectively a bog-standard 45mm f/1.8 lens design, according to Samsung spokesperson Frank Filiatrault. “When operating in 2D mode, it’s the same as any other standard lens,” he told Ars. “If you use this on our other cameras, it’s just a nice, bright 45mm lens.”
But activate the 3D switch built in to the lens, and a secondary lens group pops into place, sending two separate images to the image sensor.
The effect is in fact nearly identical to using something like the Asahi Pentax Stereo Adapter.
What makes Samsung’s new 45mm lens novel is that its designers effectively incorporated the stereo adapter into the lens itself.
While Samsung’s clever idea has made it rather simple to capture 3D images and video, there’s still one other technological hurdle: there aren’t many ways for the average user to share and view 3D images and video.
while consumer electronics companies have been pushing 3D for a couple years now at CES, there doesn’t seem to be a ubiquitous infrastructure for dealing with 3D content. Until such an infrastructure is in place, consumer demand for 3D content creation and consumption will likely remain a small, but novel, niche.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LED driving techniques reduce power in LCD TVs
http://www.eetimes.com/design/smart-energy-design/4405016/LED-driving-techniques-reduce-power-in-LCD-TVs?Ecosystem=communications-design
According to the SEAD (Super-efficient Equipment and Appliance Deployment) initiative, televisions are responsible for approximately 3 to 8 percent of global residential electricity consumption. An analysis conducted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggests that advances such as more efficient LED driving can yield major reductions in television electricity consumption in the coming years.
There seems little doubt that LCD technology with LED backlighting is the only viable way to reach the efficiency targets that authorities are proposing.
HD plasma televisions consume around two to three times the power of an LCD display for the same resolution & brightness
Highly touted OLED technology — as recently reported — may not come any time soon, if ever. The investment required for this “bleeding edge” large panel technology is prohibitive.
However, large display panels with current state-of-the-art TFT-LCD technology and “smart” direct LED backlighting with local dimming is far less expensive than OLED but compares well for both power consumption and picture quality.
Since LED backlighting power ranges from 30 percent to 70 percent of overall system power in LCD TVs, improvements in the efficiency of the backlighting power circuit can make a considerable contribution to system efficiency. As is often the case in power system design, a number of small improvements in efficiency can deliver a large combined saving.
In direct backlit systems, the LEDs are located directly behind the LCD, enabling low power, good thermal design and excellent scalability with practically no limit to the screen size.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HD video cameras have become smaller and wireless. They can be mounted on bike helmets, embedded in goggles, worn on a vest by war correspondents, harnessed on a dog (shown in Sony’s booth), or mounted on a wall without drilling holes (like Netgears’s VueZone wireless camera). Shown is Ambarella’s wearable HD camera reference design that can stream video to smartphones.
Source: http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily&doc_id=257345&image_number=1
Tomi Engdahl says:
With the Miracast peer-to-peer wireless screencast standard created by the WiFi Alliance, consumers can wirelessly display what they see on their handhelds on a big-screen TV.
Source: http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily&doc_id=257345&image_number=2
Tomi Engdahl says:
The move to Ultra HDTV delivers video with unprecedented high resolution. Audio, on the other hand, remains an underserved market. CE vendors are now racing to offer more dynamic surround sound — with no fuss and no wires.
Source: http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily&doc_id=257345&image_number=4
Tomi Engdahl says:
4K Ultra HDTV showing a soccer match clip at Sony’s booth, the images of players were crisp, while the movement was jerky. A clip running at 24 frames per second turns out to be the culprit. One video expert said, ‘I would hold off buying a 4K TV until it comes with HDMI 2.0
interface” designed for 60 frames per second.
Source: http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily&doc_id=257345&image_number=9
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung showed off what it calls “PrecisionBlack Pro” images. The technology analyzes the picture divided in thousands of parts, optimizing the LED backlight technology and video signals for each part.
Source: http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily&doc_id=257345&image_number=12
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D TV is alive and well, and at a big show like CES, the technology remains a crowd pleaser.
Source: http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily&doc_id=257345&image_number=12
Tomi Engdahl says:
Slideshow: Gadgets Galore at CES
http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&cid=NL_Newsletters+-+DN+Daily&doc_id=257201&image_number=2
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Best of CES 2013
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/01/the-best-of-ces-2013/?pid=4334&viewall=true
The Coolest Thing We’ve Ever Put on Our Face: Oculus Rift
Put these VR goggles on your face, and you feel as if you are within another world in a way that’s never been possible before — at least not in a consumer product.
The Shooter We Want to Stick in Our Messenger Bag: Fujifilm X100S
The retro-styled Fujifilm X100S compact camera doesn’t have Wi-Fi, Android or even an interchangeable lens. Instead of piling on the “extra” features, Fuji kept things on the simple side, and concentrated on making a super-badass piece of machinery.
The Only Truly Exciting New Idea in TV: Samsung Curved OLED Panel
One of the most eye-catching electronics on display at this year’s CES, standing out even among a sea of HDTVs, was Samsung’s OLED TV with a curved panel. The semi-circular shape is designed to provide a more immersive, panoramic experience than a traditional flat panel set, and also provide a wider viewing angle. Indeed, the picture quality was impressive and had a lot of depth. The curved aesthetic is subtle, and the design of the case is mysterious and drool-worthy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Far-field voice processor enhances smart TVs
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4405146/Far-field-voice-processor-enhances-smart-TVs?cid=EDNToday
The CX20865 far-field voice-input processor from Conexant integrates an ASR (automatic speech recognition) engine and dual-core 32-bit DSP to bring hands-free voice control to smart TVs and set-top boxes.
delivers a greater than 97% ASR hit rate when the TV is playing at high volume
A microphone array, comprising up to four synchronized ADCs and programmable preamplifiers
Tomi Engdahl says:
Computational photography & the Stanford Frankencamera
http://graphics.stanford.edu/talks/camera20-public-may10-150dpi.pdf
faster computing + communications will revolutionize
digital photography, creating new markets
– computational photography points the way
• research & commercialization of computational photography
is being hampered by the lack of programmable cameras
– traditional cameras are closed platforms
• open-source cameras will benefit the research community
and accelerate the revolution
– 3rd party developers, plugins, apps
Tomi Engdahl says:
Teardown: Analog rules over digital in noise-canceling headphones
http://www.edn.com/design/systems-design/4404818/Teardown–Analog-rules-over-digital-in-noise-canceling-headphones
Noise cancellation has been around for years but continues to advance through better algorithms, processes, and methodologies. As mobile applications proliferate, however, power consumption is where the rubber hits the road.
We like digital noise reduction for its flexibility, but Oliver Jones, marketing manager for power management at AMS, says it’s better to perform the filter-based phase adjustment and signal amplification in the analog domain to meet stringent audiophile requirements and minimize power consumption. I would agree, but of course the devil is in the implementation details.
The AS3501 has proved itself, having been around since 2009, and now costs around $2 (1000). Eight more iterations have followed the introduction; the latest includes Bluetooth for a marginal price increase, to $2.15. AMS provides full design help, and the device is also in OEM brands such as Pinteo and Tivoli. Cobalt also manufactures the NC-255 on an ODM basis for brands such as AT&T, Beats, and Klipsch.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile Video App Montaj Makes Editing As Easy As Shaking Your Phone
http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/17/montaj/
The latest entrant into the mobile video segment is Montaj, a new app launching next week that seeks to be a kind of “Instagram for Video.”
The idea behind Montaj is to make videos actually watchable and shareable. Not a new idea, and one that’s seen startups like Socialcam and Viddy already try to tackle. The problem is that video can’t be made good just by throwing a filter on it, like Instagram. Instead, there’s gotta be a bit of editing involved. More importantly, shots have to be bite-sized.
Montaj forces you to break videos down into five-second clips, which can then be stitched together. Once you’ve either shot a bunch of short clips, or you’ve assembled short clips from videos already in your camera roll, the app lets you storyboard, select a song, and add a new filter. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can just say, “Screw it,” and shake your phone.
With each shake of a phone, Montaj brings up a new song, a new edit, and a new filter, according to Gjokaj.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Larger problems are related to the 4K content. Material that would be described or recorded with an accuracy that is scarce. In practice, only the basic user’s playback device is still on the computer.
Featured is the new generation of Blu-ray players, high definition video up scaling UHD-image. The quality is generally good, but is highly visible to the same problems as the basic accuracy of the conversion of High Definition: unnatural sharpening and motion playback jerks.
In addition to the current 4.1 version hdmi port begins to form constraint, since its maximum supported resolution is 2160p30.
So far, 4k broadcasts have been promised to Korea and the United Kingdom. The fastest they could be like the Finns Netflix video service, which is already running test transmissions.
Source: http://www.3t.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/teknologia/4k_televisiot_saivat_pikastartin
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hands-On: Samsung’s Galaxy Camera
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/01/samsung-galaxy-camera-hands-on/
Samsung’s Galaxy Camera is a clumsy but promising step toward the future of consumer cameras.
I’ve spent two days using the Galaxy to shoot photos, then upload them to Instagram, Google+ and Dropbox. I also checked my email, managed my calendar, surfed the web, played Angry Birds and streamed video from YouTube and Vimeo. I’ve never been able to do any of these things on a camera before.
The Galaxy Camera isn’t so much a camera with an Android phone, but an Android phone with a big fat lens on it. Well, an Android phone that can’t make calls.
The 16-megapixel sensor and 21x optical-zoom lens take sharp, detailed photos, though the camera struggles in low-light environments.
Cost aside, the ability to run almost any Android app on a point-and-shoot camera is novel and fun.
But despite some quirks and rough edges, sharing photos you just snapped to the web is easy and a trend we’ll see continue across cameras.
The touchscreen user interface on the Galaxy Camera isn’t perfect or the easiest to use, but it still feels simpler than the dials and buttons normally found on the back of many cameras.
The fact is Samsung, and Canon, and Nikon, and Sony and maybe even Lytro eventually will find the right mix of touchscreen tech and apps to improve the cameras they build. And they’ll do so in a lightweight, capable and affordable package someday. With most folks nowadays leaving their point-and-shoot at home and opting just to use their smartphone camera, this change will need to take place if this segment of consumer electronics is to survive.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CES 2013: What’s Next in Digital Media
http://saydaily.com/2013/01/ces-2013-whats-next-in-digital-media.html
“Watching Qualcomm keynote video with wife at dinner table. Better than Seinfeld.”
Your current TV is blurry. Your state-of-the-art Full 1080P HD TV is now blurry according to the television industry as it looks to convince you to upgrade to 4K sets in the coming months. Also know as Ultra HD, 4K sets promise four times the resolution of HD and will be coming from all the major players
Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are no longer game changers. The world of gaming used to be controlled by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. If CES 2013 shows us anything that’s unlikely to be the case for much longer as plenty of new smaller companies and start-ups enter the arena.
You are the media. While the hardcore gadget fans await Google Project Glass, smart watches were everywhere on the show floor
Your dashboard is the new battlefield. The car is the next front line in tech
Tablets really are everywhere. If you’re wondering whether to go for a 7-inch or 10-inch tablet you are doing it wrong. Electronics manufacturers at CES want you to think table not tablet size.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Keep your Blu-rays and DVDs, Hollywood — I’ve gone digital
http://news.cnet.com/8301-33620_3-57564914-278/keep-your-blu-rays-and-dvds-hollywood-ive-gone-digital/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title
Buying physical copies of movies seems to make little sense these days, even if they provide digital versions with the purchase, given the frustration involved.
Why not get a Blu-ray with a digital copy, I thought, and have the best of both worlds?
Why not turned out to be because redeeming digital copies is a nightmare. Are you getting a copy for iTunes? Or for Amazon? Or whatever on earth UltraViolet is supposed to be, something that finally crashed into my awareness as a new Blu-ray owner?
I thought getting a physical Blu-ray copy made more sense. After all, I could see that for about same price (at the time), I could get a digital copy plus the extras, including outtakes that might be funny
In the end, I did both. We wanted to watch that film that night, so we rented it. But, I also ordered the disc-version so we’d have it for later (take note, Hollywood, for all your piracy worries, I’m someone who paid three times for one of your films).
I decided to redeem my digital copy.
In the past, this has been easy.
Getting my digital copy of “Pitch Perfect” turned into a nightmare.
I figured I needed to have the Universal account in order to get the code I really wanted, one that would let me get an iTunes or Amazon copy. So, I tried to create a Universal account, over and over again. Nothing worked. Along the way, I was also prompted to create a completely separate UltraViolet account.
There was no need for me to make a Universal account. As best I can tell, that was something Universal simply did because it feels it wants to get in on the process. The code I was sent, I could have (and did) enter into iTunes directly, to redeem my copy.
Buy digital, save the headaches
All this hassle and for what? To get “extras” from a DVD or Blu-ray disc that I’ll probably watch once? No thanks.
And no thanks especially that in order to even watch those extras, as well as the feature film itself, I’m often forced to sit through previews and promotions that either can’t be skipped or require hitting the next chapter button on your DVD or Blu-ray player repeatedly.
I went all digital on taking photos and buying music years ago; all digital on buying books last year. Now it’s time to leave buying physical movies behind, especially as the digital options are more-and-more offering the same extras that a physical disc provides.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Art Can Bridge the Digital ‘Divide’
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/01/on-the-art-of-digital/
Like writers embracing digital platforms, musicians embracing digital music, or photographers embracing digital photography, art based on new media often just did – still does – old things in new ways.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IllumiRoom Projects Images Beyond Your TV for an Immersive Gaming Experience
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=re1EatGRV0w
IllumiRoom is a proof-of-concept Microsoft Research project designed to push the boundary of living room immersive entertainment by blending our virtual and physical worlds with projected visualizations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
300 early adopters spend a car’s worth of cash on LG’s 84-inch 4K TV
http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/17/3885888/300-people-drop-a-cars-worth-of-cash-on-lgs-84-inch-4k-tv
In the five months since LG launched a $22,000 84-inch 4K Ultra High Definition TV at home in Korea, the company says it’s sold about 300 units. That’s right, despite costing as much as a mid-sized car, about 70 people a month have decided to plant the early adopter flag. The company told us at CES that all of the LCD makers are eager to move from cheap volume production to premium products, and being the first to move in 4K could go a long way to cement the image of a higher-end LG in consumers’ minds.
Comments:
People were doing the exact same thing with HDTVs like 12 years ago. Hopefully this time things will progress a tad quicker than the last time around.
Maybe but my money is on this ending up a lot more like Super Audio CD and DVD Audio than HDTV. Both of those audio standards provided much high fidelity in theory but the vast majority of customers just couldn’t hear the difference in practice. Instead the lower fidelity but much higher convenience of MP3s and digital audio players won the day.
UHDTV/4K seems very similar to me. The improved quality is probably only going to be apparent if you have a giant TV set and/or you’re sitting absurdly close to the screen. Plus there is a general move away from physical media to instant, on-demand streaming which isn’t going to be practical for 4K for a long time to come.
Maybe it will be adopted faster, but I doubt it. Most normal people don’t even care about 720P versus 1080p.
Plus, at this point the technology isn’t even at a prosumer level, as there is no consumer grade content distribution.
There is CURRENTLY no reason to buy 4K except for bragging reasons and there won’t be before a long time. Insanely priced and lack of content.
And even when the technology is so cheap that most TV could support 4K, there will be no reason except for very big TVs (bigger than 60″).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Video: The Panasonic ZT60, a Smart TV With a Touch Pen
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/01/video-panasonic-zt60/
The ability to draw on and edit photos, right on your TV, using a touch pen was one of the many updates Panasonic made to its Smart Viera platform this year.
For the living room, this doesn’t quite seem useful. Panasonic expects you to get up off your comfy couch and wield a smart pen to add notes and captions to images on your new TV set.
Tomi Engdahl says:
LG, Panasonic, Sony TVs Will Use Android Phones as YouTube Remotes
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/01/youtube-sony-lg-panasonic-bang-and-olufsen/
New TVs and devices from Sony, LG, Panasonic and Bang & Olufsen are the first from beyond the Googlesphere to feature YouTube’s “send to TV” feature, which essentially turns your Android phone or tablet into a YouTube remote for your big-screen.
Thursday’s announcement answers a question we’ve had since November, when Google announced a cool update to its YouTube mobile apps. The update allows users to push videos on their Android phone or tablet onto Google TV-equipped TVs. Google promised that the feature, which works a bit like Apple’s Air Play, would roll out to other devices.
Later this year, we’ll see Google give the YouTube love to products from Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, Vizio, Western Digital and others.
Aftermath: Electronics 2012 « Tomi Engdahl’s ePanorama blog says:
[...] + This really happened and trend continues this year. [...]
Tomi says:
Finland: YLE TV channels to Internet possibly as early as this year
There are still at least copyright issues.
YLE radio channels are already available on the Internet, and now aims to do the same for the TV channels. Broadcasting, however, remains to be determined by a number of legal issues, it has to ensure that all programs can be found in the online distribution rights.
YLE can not broadcast its programs exclusively via broadband distribution, because it does not go to all people. So far, only a terrestrial antenna distribution reaches all people in Finland.
Silvo believes it is possible that in the future channel may appear only through the Internet. It is, however, far ahead.
Source: http://www.iltalehti.fi/uutiset/2013012216588974_uu.shtml
Tomi says:
Why You’ll Pay For Netflix — Even If You Don’t Subscribe To Netflix
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/01/22/2013208/why-youll-pay-for-netflix-even-if-you-dont-subscribe-to-netflix
“At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, Netflix announced Super HD, an immersive theatrical video format that looks more lifelike than any Web stream, even competing with Blu-Ray discs. But there’s a costly catch. To watch the high-definition, 1080p movies when they debut later this year, you’ll need a specific Internet Service Provider.”
“Netflix wants to offload its additional costs onto all Internet consumers,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gigapixel shot shows a whole lotta inauguration
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57565245-1/gigapixel-shot-shows-a-whole-lotta-inauguration/
Want to get up close and personal with the Obama inauguration? Check out a massive gigapixel image of the event, courtesy of the Washington Post.
The image, captured while Obama gave his inaugural speech, required 13 minutes of straight shooting using a dSLR and the Gigapan Epic Pro panorama-capturing device.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Today, smartphone cameras are quite sophisticated. The picture quality in when picture is taken on good lighting conditions can be hard to see different than what you get with DSLR or picket digital camera.
You can take good pictures with cell phone camera when you understand its weaknesses. Since the image sensor is a small recorders, mobile phones have poor low light performance.
Another small-cell-induced feature is the large depth of field. The entire image area is sharp (you can’t blur the background as with DSLR at wide apertures).
Small cell phone cells are usually able to focus very close to your subject.
A number of smart phones have digital zoom that does not change the focal length of the lens, just crops the image. Instead of using zoom get more near to subject.
You should keep in mind good weather and light when shooting with a mobile phone. At bright day cell phone camera performs well, but keep in mind that cell phone cameras have usually weaker dynamics than bigger cameras.
In the morning and at dusk bigger cameras perform considerably better than mobile phones. Smartphones, cameras, small cells are vulnerable to problems in low light. When flash is used the images tend to look unnatural.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/alypuhelimella+huippukuvaajaksi+nain+se+kay/a872447?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-23012013&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Op! Op! Op!’ Gangnam Style earns Google $8m
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/23/google_earns_eight_million_dollars_from_gangnam_style/
Google has pulled in $8m from the over one billion YouTube views of Korean rapper – or K-pop entertainer, your call – Psy’s Gangnam Style video.
While Psy’s überpopular ditty’s ad-generated revenue might seem impressive at first blush, Gangnam Style accounted for a mere 0.016 per cent of Mountain View’s calandar-year haul.
We’ll leave it up to you, gentle reader, to divine what the popularity of those two song-and-dance acts reveal about the state of world culture.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The story behind DIAL: How Netflix and YouTube want to take on AirPlay
http://gigaom.com/2013/01/23/dial-open-airplay-competitor/
Watch out, AirPlay: Netflix and YouTube are working on an open second screen protocol, and they’ve already secured support from key CE makers and content platforms.
Netflix and YouTube have teamed up to launch DIAL, a protocol that helps developers of second-screen apps to discover and launch applications on smart TVs and connected devices. The effort is already getting support from a number of notable players, including Samsung, Sony, Hulu and the BBC. DIAL could become a key piece in efforts to establish an open alternative to Apple’s AirPlay.
Both Netflix and YouTube have been working on second-screen apps for some time.
Word first got out when some inquisitive users discovered traces of DIAL back in December.
DIAL stands for “discovery and launch,” which pretty much sums up what the protocol is meant to do. DIAL-enabled second screen apps will be able to discover DIAL-ready first-screen devices in the same network and launch apps on them. That may sound trivial, but it’s actually solving a big problem for second screen app developers.
With DIAL, the Netflix app on your phone will automatically discover that there is a device with a Netflix app connected to your TV. It will fire up that app, and then the two apps are free to do whatever they want
DIAL is using UPnP multicast for the discovery piece of the puzzle, and a REST-service to launch apps on discovered devices.
DIAL will also be able to detect whether an app is installed, and redirect a user to a smart TV’s app store in case it’s missing. Also cool: DIAL will be able to launch web apps on your TV, if the device supports it, which should add a whole lot of new functionality to connected devices.
One of DIAL’s little secrets is that parts of it are already out in the wild. Current-generation Google TV devices already support DIAL, and I’ve been told by third-party developers that some 2012 Samsung and LG TVs also already incorporate some DIAL functionality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Restaurants Turn Camera Shy
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/dining/restaurants-turn-camera-shy.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Not every chef or restaurant owner is as accommodating, especially these days, as cameras have become as common as utensils. People are posting a shot of their quinoa salad online, or their ramen noodles on their blog. A growing backlash has prompted not only dirty looks from nearby diners, but also creative measures like Mr. Bouley’s and even some outright photo bans.
Mr. Bouley said table photography “totally disrupts the ambience.”
“It’s a disaster in terms of momentum, settling into the meal, the great conversation that develops,” he said. “It’s hard to build a memorable evening when flashes are flying every six minutes.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home> Consumer Design Center > How To Article
Full-HD Voice: Understanding the AAC codecs behind a new era in communication
http://www.edn.com/design/consumer/4405424/Full-HD-Voice–Understanding-the-AAC-codecs-behind-a-new-era-in-communication
We have grown accustomed to “HD Everywhere” by consuming high-fidelity content in most aspects of our lives. State-of-the-art audio and video codecs such as MPEG AAC and H.264 have set our expectations by assuring the highest rich media quality at very low bit rates.
These codecs enable high-quality multimedia content for Digital TV, online streaming, media stores such as iTunes, video games, and many other state-of-the-art media services and applications. The only real exception to the omnipresence of high-quality sound is the phone call, which is still largely tied to the limitations of technologies derived from the last century.
With Full-HD Voice, a new era of audio quality for the telecommunications market has begun. Unlike Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS), ISDN and mobile phone calls, Full-HD Voice offers an unsurpassed level of quality, resulting in calls that sound as clear as talking to someone in the same room, or listening to high-quality digital audio.
The current high-quality codec family behind Full-HD Voice is Enhanced Low Delay AAC (AAC-ELD). In addition to the millions of calls already being made today using AAC-ELD, this technology is set to enable many new Full-HD Voice applications, including telepresence at home and mobile rich media telephony.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ITU Approves H.264 Video Standard Successor H.265
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/01/26/142257/itu-approves-h264-video-standard-successor-h265
“The H.265 codec standard, the successor of H.264, has been approved, promising support for 8k UHD and lower bandwidth, but the patent issues plaguing H.264 remain.”
Comment:
Nobody “won”. Companies weren’t making proposals for complete replacements for h.264. They were making proposals for incremental improvements on h.264. h.265 is a collection of those different improvements. Each one is small in itself, but they add up.
For real time encoding H.265 can provide 30% reduction of bandwidth at the same bitrate.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New video codec to ease pressure on global networks
http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/2013/01.aspx#.UQZm3mfcAik
Geneva, 25 January 2013 – A new video coding standard building on the PrimeTime Emmy award winning ITU-T H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC was agreed by ITU members today.
The new standard, known informally as ‘High Efficiency Video Coding’ (HEVC) will need only half the bit rate of its predecessor, ITU-T H.264 / MPEG-4 Part 10 ‘Advanced Video Coding’ (AVC), which currently accounts for over 80 per cent of all web video.
ITU-T H.265 / ISO/IEC 23008-2 HEVC will provide a flexible, reliable and robust solution, future-proofed to support the next decade of video. The new standard is designed to take account of advancing screen resolutions and is expected to be phased in as high-end products and services outgrow the limits of current network and display technology.
Companies including ATEME, Broadcom, Cyberlink, Ericsson, Fraunhofer HHI, Mitsubishi, NHK, NTT DOCOMO and Qualcomm have already showcased implementations of HEVC. The new standard includes a ‘Main’ profile that supports 8-bit 4:2:0 video, a ‘Main 10’ profile with 10-bit support, and a ‘Main Still Picture’ profile for still image coding that employs the same coding tools as a video ‘intra’ picture.
The ITU/ISO/IEC Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) (formerly JVT) will continue work on a range of extensions to HEVC, including support for 12-bit video as well as 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 chroma formats.
Tomi Engdahl says:
7 Features Your Next Camera Will Have
http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/Features/7-Features-Your-Next-Camera-Will-Have.htm
If you took a Nikon D800, Samsung Galaxy Camera, or Lytro Light Field Camera back in time and showed it to someone living in the dawn of the digital age—a whopping 10 years ago—it would seem like science fiction. The first generation of consumer digital cameras were slow, bulky, and extremely limited in their photographic capabilities. Today’s top models are lightning fast, feature-packed, and can produce shots that meet or exceed the best of what film can do.
WiFi: Making Your Phone the Middleman
4G LTE: Data (Almost) Anywhere
App Stores: Paying for Features You Used to Get for Free
GPS: Um, Where Did I Take That Photo?
4K Video: Because More Pixels are Mo’ Better
Global Shutter: No More Jell-O
Light Field Photography: Frustration-Free Focusing
Tomi Engdahl says:
Study: Retailers use IP video surveillance for loss prevention today, business performance tomorrow
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2013/january/axis-loss-prevention.html
The high-level results of the “CCTV in Retail 2012” report include the following:
As regards migration to IP Video, in 2010, two-thirds of respondents said they use analog-only systems, as compared to about one-third who have analog-only today. Of those who use analog-only systems, 43 percent say they have an IP migration strategy in place, while 21.4 percent would like to create a plan in the future. The main drivers for the adoption of IP video solutions were better image quality/HDTV and integration with other business systems and intelligent video.
Only 38.5 percent of respondents with IP-connected digital systems have access to live surveillance footage via a mobile device, yet 87.5 percent would find it beneficial. “Cost of technology refresh” remained the biggest obstacle for the adoption of IP video, yet the rise of cross-functional uses of digital video for improved sales, operational efficiencies and new revenue opportunities could lead to budget contributions by other departments.
As regards the benefits of intelligent video for sales, marketing and operational efficiency, of the retailers who use IP-based video systems for cross-functional benefits outside of security and LP, 93 percent have seen a positive impact on operations, while 40 percent have seen a positive impact on merchandising. Nearly one-quarter named “integration with business intelligent video, such as analytics and POS integration” as a main driver for adopting a network/IP system.
“The need for cameras in stores for LP and security is a given. It’s the cross-functional uses of digital IP video that will propel the industry into the next phase of retail surveillance,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
HDBaseT HDMI extender enables long-distance AV connectivity
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2013/january/belkin-hdbaset-hdmi.html
At the 2013 BICSI Winter Conference and exhibition, Belkin announced its HDBaseT HDMI audio/video extender solution for enabling high performance AV connectivity over Cat 5e long-distance cabling applications.
The plug-and-play extender cable eliminates the traditional challenges of long-distance AV applications
“We designed our HDBaseT solution to help AV installers achieve more without spending needless time or resources,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rdio launches free music streaming internationally, unlimited listening for 6 months in 15 countries
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/01/29/rdio-launches-its-free-music-streaming-service-giving-listeners-access-to-18-million-songs-for-up-to-six-months/
Music subscription service Rdio has launched its free music streaming service internationally, giving listeners in 15 of the 17 countries it services access to over 18 million songs in its library. Listeners in the UK, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden will be able to stream music whenever they want.
In the United States, Rdio’s music streaming service is currently available, having launched in 2011 with listening limits that refresh monthly
Once the six month period has expired, users who wish to continue listening to music through the Web can sign up for one of Rdio’s subscription plans
Rdio was founded by Janus Friis, one of the creators of Skype, and is available on the Web, along with iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Mac, and Windows devices.
Tomi says:
Philips stops making consumer electronics like audio/video devices:
Philips CEO Frans van Houten says exiting its heritage audio/visual business is sad
Source: http://www.reuters.com/video/2013/01/29/economy-2013-sad-day-for-philips-says-ce?videoChannel=1&videoId=240818975
Tomi says:
Philips Exits Consumer Electronics
http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2013/01/29/philips-exits-consumer-electronics/
Philips, which has become primarily a maker of medical equipment and lighting products, has sold the audio, video, multimedia and accessories activities to the Japanese consumer electronics company for the almost token sum of €150 million ($201.8 million) in cash and a brand-license fee.
Philips said Tuesday it has sold the remnants of its once-core business to Japan’s Funai Electric Co. as the Dutch group reported a steeper net loss in the fourth quarter, weighed down by a restructuring charge and a fine for price fixing.
The move brings to an end more than 80 years of often innovative but increasingly lackluster investment in consumer electronics, an industry which other big European companies such as Germany’s Siemens and France’s Alcatel-Lucent have also exited over the years.
In the 1930s, Philips was the world’s biggest supplier of radios.
“Our consumer lifestyle business was margin dilutive to the group, so it was time to decide to move away from consumer electronics,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ultra HDTV: A Complete Waste of Consumers’ Money
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/brians-brain/4406032/Ultra-HDTV–A-Complete-Waste-of-Consumers–Money
I’ve had a case of cyber-whiplash for nearly a month now. It began when I started perusing the coverage coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show in early January. And I haven’t stopped shaking my head ever since, as the manufacturers (along with the “media” outlets in their pockets) have strived to extend and amplify the CES-started announcements of this year’s industry-anointed “hot technology.” However, I seriously doubt that consumers will go along for the ride this time … as has unfortunately been the case for the past several iterations of this longstanding hype pattern.
In the not-too-distant future, reflective of the “unsuccessful year 3″ scenario, I suspect that “Ultra HDTVs” will disappear from CES…though it may take longer than one year for this to occur. The reason for the “4K”-death-delay has everything to do with the display manufacturers’ increasingly desperate attempts to convince consumers to regularly upgrade their hardware, which may encourage the vendors to sell “Ultra HDTV” way past its expiration date.
Some analysts have bullish forecasts for “Ultra HDTV.” Clearly, I’m not one of them. First off, the lingering worldwide economic malaise will squelch any serious motivation that the bulk of consumers might have to replace their existing sets, particularly considering the multi-thousand (or more likely multi-tens-of-thousand) dollar price tags being touted for Ultra HDTVs.
Pricing aside, and speaking of Blu-ray, there’s also the issue of the dearth of “4K” content. As with 3-D material, games will probably lead the “Ultra HDTV” charge, followed by proprietary streaming video formats
And even if the content does show up, in sufficient quantities and specifically associated with a sufficient number of blockbusters, there remains the unfortunate fact that the supposed quality improvements will be imperceptible to viewers. Let me qualify that statement … they will be perceptible, but only with enormous-sized screens, and then only with viewers’ noses pressed against them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Full-HD Voice: Understanding the AAC codecs behind a new era in communication
http://www.edn.com/design/consumer/4405424/Full-HD-Voice–Understanding-the-AAC-codecs-behind-a-new-era-in-communication
We have grown accustomed to “HD Everywhere” by consuming high-fidelity content in most aspects of our lives. State-of-the-art audio and video codecs such as MPEG AAC and H.264 have set our expectations by assuring the highest rich media quality at very low bit rates.
With Full-HD Voice, a new era of audio quality for the telecommunications market has begun. Unlike Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS), ISDN and mobile phone calls, Full-HD Voice offers an unsurpassed level of quality, resulting in calls that sound as clear as talking to someone in the same room, or listening to high-quality digital audio.
The current high-quality codec family behind Full-HD Voice is Enhanced Low Delay AAC (AAC-ELD). In addition to the millions of calls already being made today using AAC-ELD, this technology is set to enable many new Full-HD Voice applications, including telepresence at home and mobile rich media telephony.
This paper explains the advantages and opportunities of Full-HD Voice, including how AAC-ELD meets the high quality requirements users expect today. Full-HD Voice already leads the industry with the latest communication advancements and is set to drive future innovations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Widely used in the H.264/AVC vidoe codec standard is completed add-on that supports auto-stereoscopic television technology.
MVC + D, named a new video plug-in to connect to each pixel of the distance data, a television or other video playback device can synthesize new angles give the appearance of depth.
“Autostereoscopic TV technology and MVC + D video compression will make a three-dimensional video viewing and more natural to make an image look more realistic,” says Nokia researcher Miska Hannuksela
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/jatetaanko+3dlaseille+jaahyvaiset/a875298?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-01022013&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Custom EQing headphones for your ears
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/20-20khz/4406040/Custom-EQing-headphones-for-your-ears
interested in obtaining the best quality sound from them possible, especially for music playback. This often meant subjectively trying out different headphone brands and models, trying to find ones with the “flavor” that I preferred.
As someone who prefers accuracy in reproduction, however, I always wished for a more objective approach for achieving it with headphones. Unlike with a loudspeaker/room system, the sound produced in the headphone/ear interface is not only dependent on one’s individual auditory canals, it doesn’t lend itself to easy measurement and correction.
So I was quite intrigued when, some time back, I ran across Siegfried Linkwitz’s webpage on “Reference earphones,” where he found that the perceived frequency response of headphones (determined relative loudness changes by sweeping over the frequency range with an audio signal generator) typically exhibited significant peaks, which could vary from person to person. Linkwitz’s suggested solution was a simple passive LCR notch filter circuit – to be placed between a headphone amplifier output and the headphones – designed to achieve a uniform perceived amplitude response for a particular listener and pair of headphones/earphones.
For music playback on my PC, I ultimately ended up using the Electri-Q equalizer as a plug-in with the foobar2000 audio player to notch out the perceived peaks. The resulting difference between the equalized and unequalized sound was also as Linkwitz described – “switching the equalization out of the signal path reveals a very exaggerated high-frequency emphasis of certain sounds and an overall coloration.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
How trapped are your digital movies and TV shows?
http://news.cnet.com/8301-33620_3-57566817-278/how-trapped-are-your-digital-movies-and-tv-shows/
Have you decided to ditch DVDs and Blu-rays to instead buy movies and TV shows only in a pure digital format?
There are certainly advantages to that. But one of the biggest downsides of going all digital is that how you can view your content is largely dependent on the service you purchased it from.
Buying films or TV episodes from a digital media outlet may be great if you watch though one particular device. But what happens if you change from iOS to Android? From a PC to a Mac? From a Roku to Apple TV? We chart it out.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony to make last MiniDisc stereo system in March
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21297024
It marks an end to the firm’s support for the system which it launched in 1992.
Sony tried to reboot the format in 2004 as Hi-MD, offering more than three times the amount of storage – but by that point CD-R recorders, Apple’s iPod and other MP3 players had captured consumers’ attention.
“Despite the fact it never took off as a mainstream platform – truth be told many people never really understood it – it still carved some niches,” said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group Europe.
“Sound engineers and media professionals loved to use it to record samples, jingles and interviews – it’s very easy to use MiniDisc equipment to edit audio on the fly – and they continue to stockpile the players and disks.”
Sony ended shipments of its MiniDisc portable Walkman players in 2011.