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  • The Matrix to be released on Blu-ray

    Seven-disc set will include the five Matrix movies, hard-cover book and biogs

    The film that played a major part in converting mainstream audiences to DVD is now to be released on Blu-ray.
    Warner Home Video has announced that they will bring the highly anticipated The Ultimate Matrix Collection to Blu-ray on October 14th.

    The sci-fi action hit starring Keanu Reeves was an immediate success on DVD, particularly in the sell-through category. Previously, most DVD owners were satisfied with renting movies.

    Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios home entertainment, recently claimed that Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie, could have a “Matrix-effect” on Blu-ray.

    He suggested that the highly visual nature of the new thriller could be the trigger to mass sales of Blu-ray devices when it is released in the format.

    Whether one movie can have such an effect remains to be seen. However, signs that Blu-ray is gaining momentum have also come from Japan, where shipments of Blu-ray players and recorders in Japan have increased to a six-figure level with 122,000 in June alone.

    This is a dramatic increase compared to May when it was only 82,000 units.
    It is expected that these figures will continue to rise in coming months, as Japanese workers receive a bonus in July and the Olympics in Beijing are held in August.

    Both of these factors are predicted to boost the consumer electronics sector.

    The seven-disc Matrix set will include five BD-50s – one disc for each of the three Matrix films, one for Animatrix, and one for The Matrix Experience – and two DVDs.

    Also included in the set will be a hard-cover book with photos and information from the films.
    Video will be presented in 1080p VC-1 and accompanied by a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack.
    Among the extras with this release are three exclusive In-Move Experience BonusView features, 35 hours of extras and digital download of The Matrix.

  • Samsung launches 8-megapixel smartphone

    i8510 – or the Innov8 – offers strong combination of business and entertainment features

    Samsung has launched the i8510, its first 8-megapixel camera phone, which comes with autofocus features, face recognition, image stabilizer, and flash.

    The smartphone uses the Symbian v9.3 operating system and features on-board software that allows users to edit and personalise photos.

    The camera records video at 30 frames per second and comes with a secondary camera to make video calls.

    For mobile professionals, the Innov8 offers multiple ways to connect. It’s HSDPA-compatible, so users outwith the US can get a maximum downlink speed of 7.2 Mbps.

    There’s also integrated Wi-Fi for high-speed connection, and an EDGE connection. The smartphone can receive push e-mail, has an HTML browser, and is Bluetooth-capable.

    Although lacking a touch-enabled display, its 2.8-inch LCD screen has an accelerometer sensor, and it can be navigated with a 4-way navigation key and an optical mouse. Samsung did not elaborate on how the optical mouse would be implemented.

    The Innov8 has an integrated GPS that can be used to geo-tag photos, as well as utilise cellular data for assisted-GPS services.
    Handsets come with 8 or 16 GB of memory on-board and that can be expanded up to 8 GB via the microSD slot.

    On the multimedia side, the Innov8 has a host of options. The handset, which has a standard headphone jack, can play multiple audio formats, and it has a built-in FM radio. The video player is capable of playing many codecs, including DivX.

    Measuring 4.2 by 2.1 by .7 inches, the Innov8 will be launched in Europe in August, with global release to follow in September.
    No details have so far been released on pricing.

  • AT&T extends Navigator GPS coverage

    Navigator coverage now almost on a par with many standalone GPS units

    AT&T Navigator is now available in 20 countries after the service was extended to offer international coverage.

    It means that Navigator, which can be used on any AT&T smartphone with a built-in GPS chip, now operates in many countries in western Europe, North American, the US Caribbean, and six Chinese cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin and Qinhuangdao.

    Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, mobility marketing and operations for AT&T’s wireless operation, said the operator now gave customers the ability to use their mobile phones in more countries than any other US carrier.

    “They now can use our robust GPS-based navigation offering whether at home or abroad to easily get from point A to point B or to find and get directed to a local business or service,” he said.

    The AT&T Navigator Global Edition comes with voice turn-by-turn directions, or text turn-by-turn directions. Both of these come in different language settings including English, German, Italian, or Spanish.

    The service provides a level of coverage which almost on a par with many standalone GPS units.
    The Navigator Global Edition sports a business finder that searches business matches in the US and overseas countries from among more than19 million business and service database.

    Handsets capable of this service, which costs US$19.98, include AT&T Tilt, BlackBerry 8800, BlackBerry 8820, BlackBerry Curve 8310, BlackBerry Pearl 8110, BlackJack II and MOTO Q9h.

  • US iPhone 3G launch sales double first version

    Stocks of iPhone 3G still scarce as more than 500,000 sold in first week by AT&T

    A fortnight after the iPhone 3G was launched many Apple retail stores have no handsets in stock and lengthy queues form outside those that do.

    Now AT&T has provided frustrated buyers with further evidence that Apple’s latest handset is popular – the carrier has sold twice as many Apple iPhone 3G units upon launch as they did a year ago with the first generation iPhone.

    The company also noted that it had more than doubled its smartphone users year-on-year since June 2007, from 8 per cent to 18 per cent.

    Although official numbers have never been published by AT&T, it is generally estimated that 270,000 first generation iPhones were sold in the opening weekend after launch.

    Based on AT&T’s latest comments suggest at least 500,000 iPhone 3G units have been sold in the US by AT&T.
    That will be little consolation to many potential purchasers who have so far not been able to buy a 3G iPhone.

    AT&T also reported that they added 1.3 million new subscribers, pushing its user base to 72.9 million, making it the largest carrier in the US over Verizon.

    Apple will continue its iPhone 3G roll-out next month by releasing the touchscreen smartphone in 20 more countries.

    The second-generation iPhone has so far been launched in 22, with an estimated 1 million iPhone 3Gs sold globally in the first weekend after its release.

    With another 20 markets opening next month, Apple to take its tally up to 70 countries by the end of the year – with the goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.

  • Race towards wireless HD hots up

    Sony and Samsung join new consortium supporting technology that could replace tangle of video cables with wireless transmission of HD video

    A group of consumer electronics manufacturers and wireless technology firms has joined forces to develop a new standard that could send HD video signals wirelessly from a set-top box to screens around the home.

    The consortium – comprising Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Amimon, Hitachi and Motorola – expects to have specifications for its Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) technology finalised by the end of the year.

    Based on technology from Amimon Ltd of Israel, WHDI is the latest addition in the race to replace video cable.
    A key ingredient of WHDI technology is a new video-modem that operates in the 5GHz unlicensed band to enable robust wireless delivery of uncompressed HD video (including 1080p).

    WHDI allows secure, encrypted HD video delivery through multiple rooms and other potential signal obstructions, such as people and furniture, while maintaining superb quality and robustness with less than one-millisecond latency.

    The consortium plans to enhance the current WHDI technology to enable wireless streaming of uncompressed HD video and audio between CE devices such as LCD and plasma HDTVs, multimedia projectors, A/V receivers, DVD and BD players, set-top boxes, game consoles, and PCs.

    The new interoperable standard aims to ensure that CE devices manufactured by different vendors will simply and directly connect to one another.

    TVs with Amimon’s chips could reach stores by next year, costing about US$100 more than equivalent, non-wireless sets.

    Noam Geri, co-founder of Amimon, said: “If you have a TV in the home, that TV will be able to access any source in the home, whether it’s a set-top box in the living room, or the PlayStation in the bedroom, or a DVD player in another bedroom. That’s the message of WHDI.”

    The quest for wireless streaming of high-definition video has seen various contenders emerge.
    Among them is WirelessHD, centered on technology from SiBEAM Inc, of which Sony also forms part of the group to enable it to have “wider options”.

    Another hopeful is ultra-wideband, or UWB, which requires less compression than Wi-Fi but its range is more limited.
    WHDI is less exotic than either WirelessHD or UWB. It uses a radio band at 5 gigahertz that’s used by some Wi-Fi devices.

    Motorola has looked at competing technologies, but WHDI is the only group it has joined.
    The company plans to build the technology into its set-top boxes, but the first product is likely be a pair of adapters that talk wirelessly to one another. One could be attached to a set-top box, the other to a TV set.

  • HD Video on Demand key to subscriber growth

    Move towards ever better quality of VOD content will be central to operators acquiring new subscribers

    As competition for video services continues to grow in Europe operators will offer high definition VOD as a means of standing out from the crowd.

    That’s acccording to a report from analysts ABI Research, which says the move from near-VOD to true VOD dramatically increases buy rates.

    It believes the next step will be to differentiate even further with HD VOD and greater content choice.
    The report says VOD is rapidly becoming a “must-have” feature, leading it to categorise the growth of subscriber levels in the contexts of programming and functionality.

    After remaining fairly dormant since its inception in the early 2000s, ABI Research believes this will change largely because the evolution of video consumption has prepped consumer interest for VOD services.

    This, combined with the arrival of IPTV operators that offered true VOD from the start, has raised the bar of VOD services.
    Paul Lee, ABI Research analyst, said the number of concurrent VOD streams will increase markedly over the next five years.

    “The Asia-Pacific region is poised to experience high levels of growth: from 1.66 million VOD streams in 2007 to almost 21 million in 2013,” he said.
    “And in total, the global trend toward increased usage of VOD streams will multiply tenfold throughout the years 2007 to 2013, with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 45 per cent.”

    Several companies set up their VOD offerings over the past few years with the intention of boosting future subscriber numbers.

    Cisco acquired Arroyo for its VOD solutions in August 2006, obtaining customers such as Comcast, Time Warner, and Charter.

    While Concurrent has offered one of the most successful VOD platforms for the cable industry – illustrated in 1Q 2008 when the company shipped 50,000 VOD streams, with customers including BrightHouse and Time Warner.

    “Western Europe will see the strongest surge in VOD users with the largest subscriber base and a slightly higher ARPU than North America, thereby making it the eventual leader in the market,” said Lee.

    The ABI Research report, Video on Demand and Ad Insertion Markets, provides an overview of the growth in VOD subscribers, VOD program downloads, VOD servers, and VOD-enabled CPE for CATV, DBS, DTT, and telco TV services.

  • Breakthrough claimed for live HD video transmission

    NextIO technology allows real-time video encoding at under 3Mbps – making it possible to deliver live HDTV at compression up to six times higher than current rates

    Cable, satellite and IPTV providers will be able to pack more HD video onto limited bandwidth using technology developed by NextIO and Broadcast International.

    The pair have teamed up to combine NextIO’s ExpressConnect solution and BI’s ultra-high speed video compression technology.

    In a statement released before the IPTV North America show in Chicago, the companies said that the combined technologies would “change the video distribution world” by making it possible for video providers to deliver live HDTV at compression levels four to six times higher than is currently possible.

    Conservation of limited bandwidth resources has become a critical requirement in the broadcast, cable, satellite, mobile and IPTV markets, especially as bandwidth-intensive, high-definition video becomes the industry standard.

    At the Chicago show, NextIO, specialists in virtualized I/O solutions, and Broadcast International, producers of low-bandwidth video compression software, demonstrated a real-time video encoding at under 3Mbps.

    This is compared to the MPEG 2 standard of 19.4 Mbps at which most HD video is transmitted.
    The two companies say this will enable video providers to pack more HD video onto limited bandwidth.

    In a statement released before the Chicago show, they said the NextIO technology solves one of the most important challenges encountered by high-speed HD video transmission – limited and limiting input/output (I/O) throughput.

    “The ultra-high speed connections provided by the Next/I/O’s PCI Express-based ExpressConnect solutions allow maximum and scalable data flow to the system, commensurate with the processing power of the IBM BladeCenter environment,” the statement said.

    “This input speed, combined with the unrivaled power of the underlying CPU technology, enables BI’s CodecSys video compression software to deliver encoded HD video in real-time at breakthrough rates, under 3 Mbps.”

    Rod Tiede, CEO of Broadcast International, said the technology offered an “unmatched solution” to the challenge of video compression.
    “The scalability of the NextI/O design provides us the ability to deliver a large number of high definition video inputs to our system without delays and to take full advantage of the processing capabilities of the IBM platform,” he said.
    “Our aim is to shatter the bandwidth barrier completely with our solution.”

  • Sales advice steers consumers towards LCD HDTVs

    Survey shows retail electronics salespersons are recommending LCD HDTVs over plasma TVs at a rate of more than three to one

    A lack of knowledge among US retail salespersons regarding recent improvements in plasma technology is blamed for the high proportion of recommendations given for LCD sets.

    More than three times out of four, sales staff steer customers to a liquid-crystal display set rather than a plasma screen, according to a study by JD Power and Associates.

    Based on the results of a mystery-shopper survey it carried out, analysts suggest that shop assistants don’t really know much about the differences between LCD and plasma.

    Yet the report says that doesn’t stop them exhibiting a strong preference for LCD – a bias it suggests due to a lack of knowledge regarding recent improvements in plasma technology.

    It cites examples such as more than one-third (38%) of salespersons telling their customers that LCD sets last longer.
    Or the 37 per cent of salespersons who warned their customers that images may be permanently burned onto the screens of plasma TVs.

    Larry Wu, senior director of the technology practice at JD Power, said the longevity of plasma displays was now on par with LCDs.
    He added: “Although burn-in was once a problem with the first plasmas to hit the market, this has not been a serious issue for several years.”

    Salespeople often mentioned a plasma drawback that’s still relevant: their glossy front surface can create distracting reflections of lights and windows in the room.

    However, even with their preference for LCDs, the salespeople rarely mentioned those TVs’ advantages.
    Fewer than a quarter told customers that LCD sets are lighter and consume less power than plasma.

    The report was based on the experiences of more than 2,000 mystery shoppers during the last six months. It focused on sets 40 inches or larger, where plasmas are contenders.

    The recommendation rate for plasmas increased over the period, from 17 per cent in the first quarter to 23 per cent in the second quarter.

    “At most retail stores, large-screen television shoppers face an array of flat panel sets that all look essentially the same to the untrained eye, which is why recommendations from salespersons carry so much importance,” said Wu.

  • Good hotel? Then today's guests expect HDTV

    Demand for best quality TVs will spur global hotel sales to 9.7 million sets by 2012, with growth in Asia a major stimulus

    Hotels upgrading old CRT-TVs in guest rooms to flat-panel HDTV sets will cause global hotel TV sales to reach 9.7 million by 2012, according to research.

    A report by analysts iSuppli says that worldwide macroeconomic fundamentals suggest that the hotel market will continue growing for the next few years despite the economic woes affecting many western nations.

    It said that a greater appetite for luxury accommodation was leading to rising occupancy and increased travel rates among both business people and consumers.

    Hoteliers are noting that their guests desire more than just the standard hospitality elements that satisfied them in the past, like CRT-TVs.

    Instead they are switching to Flat Panel Display (FPD) TVs, paralleling the shift that is occurring among consumers.
    Sanju Khatri, principal analyst for projection and large-screen displays at iSuppli, said this was mostly due to increasing disposable income in the Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) region,

    She said the Asian market also is becoming a hotbed of hospitality growth because of an unprecedented upsurge in business travel to the region.
    “This is mostly due to strong demand from hotels in metropolitan areas such as Shanghai, Beijing, Macau, Bangalore and Mumbai,” she said.

    Khatri said that most luxury and mid-scale hotels now are offering guests a variety of in-room entertainment options, such as high definition television (HDTV), Video on Demand (VOD) and video games.

    By offering these types of quality in-room entertainment services they are hoping to capture more in-room entertainment revenue, differentiate their brands and ensure greater guest satisfaction.

    Business guests increasingly are bringing their partners or families along with them as they travel, creating mini-vacations by extending their business stays by a few days.

    Because of this, hoteliers are adjusting their approach to suit entertainment and leisure interests rather than simply catering to a business mindset.
    “Which has prompted hoteliers to turn to larger-sized displays with higher resolutions to provide a theatre-like experience inside their hotel rooms,” said Khatri.

    iSuppli’s forecast of global hotel TV shipments will grow to 9.7 million units by 2012, managing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 61.5 per cent from 894,527 units in 2007.

    The revenue growth also is expected to reach US$2.3 billion by 2012, up from US$1.1 billion in 2007.
    The Asia/Pacific region will generate the highest percentage growth for hotel TV shipments over the next few years.
    Shipments are expected to rise to 1.3 million units in 2012, increasing at a CAGR of 90 per cent from 52,031 units in 2007.

    In the EMEA region, a much larger hotel TV market than the Asia Pacific, shipments will rise to 3.0 million units in 2012, increasing at a CAGR of 72 per cent from 199,470 units in 2007.

    By 2012, EMEA will surpass North America as the world’s largest region for hotel TV shipments.
    When the US switches to a digital TV service February 2009, iSuppli expects to see more hoteliers-including lower-end lodging-to adopt HD service and flat-panel displays.

  • Motorola sues former executive now with Apple


    Motorola has sued a former executive for allegedly violating a non-compete agreement and threatening to reveal its trade secrets by taking a job with Apple’s iPhone division, the mobile phone maker said in a lawsuit.

    Michael Fenger accepted “millions of dollars in cash, restricted stock units, and stock options” in exchange for agreeing not to join a competitor for two years after leaving Motorola, where he oversaw mobile devices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the lawsuit said.

    According to the lawsuit filed in Illinois last week he took the iPhone job on March 31, less than a month after leaving Motorola.
    Fenger, who now serves as vice president of global iPhone sales, also employed two high-level Motorola employees who have access to Motorola’s trade secrets and customer relationships, the suit said.

    An Apple spokeswoman said the company had no comment on the lawsuit. Fenger could not be reached for comment.
    Motorola, based in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, is asking the Cook County court to stop Fenger from working for Apple for two years and to bar him from soliciting or hiring Motorola employees or disclosing Motorola’s confidential information.
    It is demanding damages and repayment of stock options given to him in exchange for signing the non-compete agreement.