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Tag: hd

  • HD-Capable Device Shipments To Triple by 2012


    As HD becomes the global video standard shipments of high-definition set-top boxes (STBs), camcorders, DVD players and video-game consoles are expected to triple from 2008 to 2012, according to iSuppli.

    Shipments of HD-capable equipment in these categories will rise to 202 million units by 2012, up from 68.9 million in 2008.

    The researchers forecast that by 2012, 52.9 per cent of STBs, camcorders, DVD players and game consoles shipped will be HD-capable, up from 21.6 per cent in 2008.

    Randy Lawson, senior analyst for DTV and display electronics at iSuppli, said that for the last 20 years, HD video has been the holy grail for consumer electronics OEMs, as well as for avid home theater fans around the world.

    "The high-tech industry’s efforts to provide HD service to every home now are finally coming to fruition," he said.

    "This has resulted in an explosion of shipments of consumer-electronics devices that support HD video, from new Blu-ray DVD players to ultra-thin LCD HDTVs, and even some portable media players."

    This is reflected in a surge in the availability of HD content.

    In some mature television markets this has reached the stage where hundreds of high-definition channels now are being offered by the entire spectrum of television service providers – from cable, to satellite, to terrestrial and to even to telecom – due to the rollout of Internet protocol television (IPTV) services.

    iSuppli points to the rapidly growing list of HD content suppliers, along with the fast-rising adoption rates seen for HDTVs and STBs, as a clear indication that HD video transmission and delivery are becoming major motivators for consumer adoption of newer technology television displays and playback/recording equipment.

    Added to this is the fact that the broadcast TV market is rapidly shifting to all-digital television formats, further raising the incentive for the inclusion of HD support in consumer-electronics devices.

  • HD Movies Now For Sale on Apple's iTunes Store


    HD movies are now available for purchase from iTunes for playing on Macs and PCs.

    Until now, high def movies had only been available to Apple TV owners.

    HD Movies will be sold for USD $19.99, while HD rentals will be priced at USD $4.99. Both are in H.264 compressed 720p quality and will come with an HD file and an iPod/iPhone SD file.

    Apple said "Transporter 3" and "Punisher: War Zone" are among the titles available immediately.

    Preorders are being taken for "Twilight" (set for a March 21 release) and "Quantum of Solace" (March 24).

    Interestingly, Apple TV has now gone from having exclusive access to all non-podcast HD content from Apple,then HD TV shows were made available generally in September and now that has broadended to include movies.

    Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services, was confident HD movie purchases would be popular.

    "Customers have made HD content on iTunes a hit, with over 50 per cent of TV programming being purchased in HD when available," he said.

  • ION Television HD Debuts On HD-PRIME


    SES AMERICOM has signed a multi-year distribution agreement with the US’s largest station group, ION Media Networks, to launch its full suite of television networks in HD.

    The move means that SES now has 60 HD channels on its HD-PRIME delivery platform.

    The ION channel provides a mix of television series, theatrical and made-for-television movies and specials.

    Mark Greenlee, senior vice president of network operations at ION Media Networks, said ION has tapped expanded distribution capacity aboard HD-PRIME to offer its HD programming to viewers in more than 94 million homes across the country.

    He said ION Television HD will carry both native and up-converted HD programming on all 60 network stations in the US.

    ION HD starts this week over HD-PRIME satellite AMC-1, with ION’s qubo, a multilingual kid’s network. ION Life, a digital network devoted to active lifestyles, is set to follow later this year.

    "SES AMERICOM provides the reach and reliability ION Media Networks counts on day in and day out to serve both our cable and broadcast audiences nationwide," he said.

    David Goosey, senior system engineer at ION Media Networks, said HD-PRIME offers the advanced technology, the know-how, and the top-of-the-arc orbital slot needed to serve its affiliates and audiences from Honolulu to Boston.

    The HD distribution agreement between ION Media Networks and SES AMERICOM runs through the life of the AMC-1 satellite, which was launched in 1996.

    The hybrid C- and Ku-band spacecraft is located at 103 degrees west, where it is home to national television networks broadcasting to thousands of cable headends that reach tens of millions of homes across the country.

  • HD Version of iPlayer Expected Soon


    The BBC is planning on offering a high-definition version of its iPlayer – possibly by April.

    While the move has been mooted since the online catch-up TV service was launched in 2007, it seems likely the HD service will shortly become a reality.

    Jana Bennett, director of BBC Vision, confirmed that the HD edition was imminent during a panel discussion at the recent FT Digital Media and Broadcasting Conference.

    Other developments with the iPlayer include being added to Freesat, a move expected to take place later this year.

    While the step-up to HD may be welcomed by viewers, it’s unlikely to be viewed favorably by the UK’s broadband Internet Service Providers.

    The popularity of the iPlayer has already put strains on bandwidth – so the arrival of higher resolution video is certain to make the download situation worse.

  • Can Blu-ray Now Be Regarded As"Mainstream"?


    Sales of Blu-ray discs have climbed to such an extent in Europe that the high-def format is now officially "mainstream".

    At least that’s according to the cross-industry trade body, Digital Entertainment Group Europe(DEGE).

    Funded by the major Hollywood studios, the group says sales of Blu-ray software – which doesn’t include PS3 games titles – has increased five-fold in Europe, from 1.7 million units in 2007 to almost 8.5 million in 2008.

    This has no doubt been helped in part by the falling price of the discs, which are now approaching the level of DVDs.

    But the rising number of Blu-ray disc player owners is also fuelling demand for the software.

    Dedicated deck sales in the UK reached 100,000 in December.

    According to the DEGE, there are now over 2.1 million Blu-ray capable games consoles and standalone players in the UK, almost 1.4 million in France and over a million in Germany.

  • BSkyB Adds HD Customers And Promises More High Def Content


    BSkyB has added 171,000 new customers in the second quarter and reduced churn to below 10 per cent.

    It will be hoping to build on the interim results for the six months to 31 December 2008 helped by the the news that further investment is to be made in HD programming.

    The announcement that the price of the Sky+ HD receiver is to drop to £49 will undoubtedly provide a massive boost to that ambition.

    Over 50 per cent of BSkyB customers now opt for either Sky+ HD or Sky+.

    The standard definition product is installed in 4,650,000 homes, while 779,000 have the HD receiver.

    As of December 31, 2008, the number of subscribers to the DTH platform in the UK and Ireland stood at 9.24 million.

    BSkyB’s commitment to increasing HD content comes as Apple announces it is making the first HD show available in the UK through its iTunes service.

  • UK Gets HD Programmes For AppleTV


    Apple has announced that the first HD show is available for download from the iTunes store for AppleTV owners in the UK.

    The first offerings in high def are episodes of the current series of ABC’s Lost, which will be sold for £2.49 each.

    This compares to the standard USD $2.99 rates charged for HD downloads on the US version of the Apple digital store.

    A season pass will be £41.99.

    A free five-minute HD trial is available from the store to give UK users a flavor of what’s on offer.

    Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced the arrival of HD TV shows last September – without mentioning that it would take a bit longer before they arrived in the UK.

    Worth waiting for? Please let us have your opinions.

  • Young Lead Shift Towards Internet TV Viewing


    Internet television viewership is increasing rapidly in the US due to better content and improved viewing quality, according to Move Networks.

    The Internet TV service provider has released figures showing it streamed more than 100 million hours of high definition content and over 180 million total hours of content in 2008.

    It experienced 100 per cent growth in the number of people watching Internet television delivered via Move’s adaptive streaming technology – up from 25 million unique viewers in 2007 to 55 million unique viewers in 2008.

    Not surprisingly the shift to Internet viewing is even more dramatic among younger viewers.

    According to Move, 70 per cent of the college-age demographic have watched television online and 55 per cent watch more than half of their television programming via the Internet.

    Move Networks streams 60 per cent of the US’s most popular television shows and 11 of the top 20 primetime TV shows, including Fringe, Lost, Gossip Girls and Ugly Betty.

    The company also streams an average of 600 live events every month, including concerts, political conventions, educational series, sporting events with Fox Sports, the NFL, ESPN and more.

  • SlingPlayer Coming To The iPhone


    The Macworld trade show in San Francisco is to get a glimpse of SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone.

    SlingPlayer Mobile enables users to watch any program normally viewed on a home TV set on the iPhone using a standard broadband network connection.

    It will also allow iPhone users to control their home digital video recorder (DVR) to watch recorded shows, pause, rewind, and fast forward live TV, or even queue new recordings while away from home.

    Blake Krikorian, co-founder and CEO of Sling Media, said SlingPlayer Mobile was ideally suited for the iPhone’s large touch screen display.

    "I know iPhone users are eagerly anticipating the application’s availability," he said.

    SlingPlayer Mobile will be submitted to Apple for testing and approval in Q1.

    It will be compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch.

    No pricing details have been released as yet.

    Sling Media is also unveiling a prototype of the new SlingPlayer for Mac HD which allows Slingbox PRO-HD users to stream HD content to their Mac desktop or laptop computer.

    The new SlingPlayer for Mac HD is a web-based version of the SlingPlayer software that will be available for free from Sling’s video entertainment web site later in Q1.

    Mac customers will be able to use either Safari or Firefox web browsers to get both HD streaming and Live TV within Sling.com.

  • YouTube HD Videos Now In Widescreen


    After weeks of trialling its new HD capabilities YouTube has officially launched its high-def channel.

    Users clicking on the newly added "watch in HD" option will automatically see the videos play in widescreen (16:9 aspect).

    YouTube originally announced its intention to go widescreen in November following the video sharing giant’s recent decision to start hosting full-length Hollywood movies.

    As well as boosting HD content, YouTube plans to add filtering options, including the ability to search HD videos.

    The Google-owned company will also be adding three new landing pages – youtube.com/music, youtube.com/news and youtube.com/movies – with a view to simplifying categorization and search.

    With competition intensifying as the likes of Hulu showing high definition videos, the improvements suggest YouTube is responding well to the challenge.

    The changes come just as Warner Music is pulling all its music videos off YouTube because of Google’s refusal to pay more money.