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Tag: hdtv

  • LifeSize Launches Full-HD Telepresence System


    LifeSize Communications has unveiled what it describes as the next generation in video communications – a full HD telepresence solution.

    The system provides life-size images and HD audio for as many as six participants at one time.

    Equipped with multiple camera inputs and dual monitors, it offers standards-based 1080p at 30 frames per second and 720p at 60 frames per second.

    LifeSize Room 200 also supports 720p30 dual streams enabling full-motion, high definition data sharing.

    The company claims that with twice the frame rate and half the latency of other HD systems, its new system delivers a communications experience rivaled only by being there in person.

    Craig Malloy, CEO and founder, LifeSize Communications, said Room 200 unlocked the power of telepresence for knowledge workers everywhere.

    The system is already being used by companies such as Reliance Industries Limited and The Blackstone Group.

    “Now more than ever in today’s economic climate customers are viewing high definition video as a critical lever to help them stay competitive, bridge their globally dispersed work groups, and reduce expenses, “ he said.

    Roopam Jain, principal analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said LifeSize Room 200 was the industry’s first shipping 1080p30/720p60 Full HD offering.

    LifeSize Room 200 is now available for order with volume availability in early November 2008.

    Prices are expected to be around USD $17,000.

    For companies looking to cut their travel expenses, the idea of HD teleconferencing must look increasingly attractive.

  • Solar-powered and Wireless – HDTV Doesn't Come Much Cleaner


    Japan’s cutting edge electronics fair CEATAC just ended but it tossed a few interesting titbits into the mix, including a solar-powered HDTV from Sharp.

    The LED-backlit 52-inch set receives up to 220kWh of power from a solar floor panel.

    If “cleaner” technology is set to become ever more important then Panasonic was displaying a variation on this theme.

    It demonstrated a plasma Viera HDTV that was able to transmit video beamed from a Blu-ray deck via a WirelessHD at an uncompressed 1080p across a 60GHz link at up to 4Gbit/s.

    WiHD replaces HDMI wires with radio links and is designed to handle HDTV video streams between AV equipment.

    Aside from excellent picture quality, the technology does away with the need for the clutter of wires and cables that spoil the clean look of today’s often-wall mounted screens.

    Panasonic says the WirelessHD devices will be on sale within a year.

  • Hitachi Camcorder Wirelessly Streams HD


    Hitachi have been showing off a prototype digital camcorder that can stream HD video on a TV via a wireless LAN, according to Tech-On.

    The camcorder, which was being exhibited at CEATEC JAPAN 2008, can output video recorded on its HDD or video being shot live to a Hitachi HDTV.

    Video selection, playback, stop and other operations can be done using the TV’s remote control.

    Tech-On reported that the prototyped camcorder transmits the HD video compressed in the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format through an SDIO standard IEEE802.11g module and delivers it to a TV via an access point.

    DLNA is used to deliver already recorded video.

    Video being shot live is transmitted using the camcorder’s IPTV server capability.

    No details about when the camcorder is likely to be available commercially.

  • Comstar Launches Stream-branded HDTV


    Russian telecomms operator Comstar-UTS has fully launched Stream-branded HDTV services in Moscow in the upgraded sections of the MGTS network.

    It has also introduced a package offering broadband internet access at speeds of up to 20Mbps.

    The Comstar-UTS HDTV package offers three channels – MelodyZen, Voom TV and Luxe TV – and costs R200 (USD $8) a month to receive.

    On top of this, it is also offering a new HD VOD service, with movies costing R100 (USD $4) each.

  • The Future is 3-D HDTV

    DreamWorks CEO says 3-D will transform movie watching.

    Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of Dream Works, believes that 3-D HDTV is the future of the TV and movie industries.

    Fittingly he made his comments in a speech that was beamed by satellite across the Atlantic and displayed in glorious 3D HDTV at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) 2008 in Amsterdam.

    In what was described as the world’s first live transatlantic broadcast in Stereoscopic 3D, Katzenburg told over a 1,000 delegates that the technology is the “most exciting thing to happen to the visual experience in 70 years”.

    As well as laying out his vision for 3D, Katzenberg entertained the 3-D glass-wearing audience with 3-D HDTV clips from the animated Kung Fu Panda, which has been released in theaters, and Monsters vs. Aliens, set for a spring 2009 release.

    “I believe this is the future,” he said. “Not only my future, but all of our futures.”

    Katzenbugh said that 3-D is being seen as a means of enticing people away from their home screens and into cinemas.
    “The theater experience, in many ways, has been trumped by the home experience,” he said.

    “This is a chance for them to leap back ahead, and make it a growth business again … It’s a chance to bring people back to movie theaters who stopped going.”

    While there are only an estimated 2,500-3,000 3-D-capable theaters in North America, Katzenberg said this was expected to change.

    He forecast that up to 80 per cent of theater attendees would be able to see Shrek 4 in 3-D when it opens in 2010.
    Video games are expected to be a driving force in 3-D viewing in the home.

    Barrie Woolston, commercial director at Arqiva Satellite Media Solutions division, which broadcast the 3D transmission, said digital cinema was an important new medium and demand for alternative content was growing rapidly.

    “Live 3D High Definition broadcasts add an exciting new dimension to the audience experience and present significant opportunities for live event organisers and exhibitors,” he said.

    “The big screen is the perfect showcase for the 3D experience and this demonstration has highlighted its enormous possibilities for driving revenues across an exhibitor’s network.”

  • Set-top Box Capable of HD Content Over DVB-T2


    Pace plc, a developer of digital TV technologies, has made the first set-top box capable of receiving and displaying DVB-T2 HD content.

    The prototype consists of the world’s first DVB-T2 front-end (the silicon tuner TDA18211 and a prototype of the forthcoming demodulator TDA10055) from NXP Semiconductors and a Pace high definition terrestrial set-top box.

    It will receive a live MPEG-4 HD stream from an Enensys DVB-T2 Modulator based at the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) stand at the IBC 2008 show in Amsterdam, which begins on Friday.

    DVB-T2 brings efficiencies of between 30-50 per cent in its use of spectrum compared to DVB-T and is expected to be a key enabler to the roll out of high definition TV in the UK over Freeview.

    Earlier this month, the BBC succesfully received high def pictures compliant to the DVB-T2 standard using a real-time demodulator during test transmissions.

    As a set-top box developer, Pace has been involved in the creation of the DVB-T2 draft standard, focusing on key technical aspects that add to the improvement and robustness of the standard, which was only confirmed in June this year.

    Darren Fawcett, chief technologist for Wireless Systems at Pace plc said the take up of high definition services within mature TV markets was picking up speed.

    He said it was expected to grow substantially over the next five years. “But this HD content is currently in the cable and satellite domains,” he said.

    “To enable terrestrial services to compete effectively with the other platforms, DVB-T2 is an essential move.

    “As we saw with the shift to the DVB-S2 standard for satellite services, the extra efficiencies in the use of the spectrum will make the option of delivering HD via DTT viable.”

    With DVB-T2 the DVB Project offers broadcasters a means of using that spectrum in the most efficient ways possible using state of the art technology.

    The first country to deploy DVB-T2 is likely to be the UK, where ASO is already under way.

    The regulator there, Ofcom, has stated its intention to convert one nationwide multiplex to DVB-T2 with the first transmissions of multichannel HDTV set to begin at the end of 2009.

    Test transmissions began immediately after the approval of the standard in June 2008.

  • Samsung expands lead over global TV makers

    North America enjoys strong Q2 TV shipments growth in Q2, helping global TV shipments to improve by 11 per cent Y/Y to 47.5M units

    Samsung is the leading global TV brand in revenue terms for the tenth straight quarter, expanding its market share to a record 22.8 per cent.

    This puts it more than 10 share points higher than the second placed manufacturer, Sony.

    The Korean electronics giant, which enjoyed a robust 52 per cent Y/Y revenue growth, also had the top ranking on a unit basis and led both LCD and MD RPTV on a unit and revenue basis.

    The results are contained in DisplaySearch’s latest Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report.

    It showed Sony in second placed on a revenue basis for the fourth straight quarter with very strong Y/Y growth, but declining in share slightly to 12.5 per cent.

    LGE remained in third place with their share nearly unchanged at 11.5 per cent, and they led in global CRT shipments.

    Overall global TV shipments improved by 11 per cent Y/Y to 47.5M units in Q2’08, which was up 3 per cent Q/Q, with better than expected shipment growth in North America.

    LCD TV was once again a hot technology, rising 47 per cent Y/Y to 23.7M units. Plasma TV exhibited even stronger growth, rising 52 per cent Y/Y to 3.4M units, thanks largely to the reintroduction of 32” into the North American market and wider availability of 1080p models.

    North America enjoyed particularly healthy growth in Q2 with total TV shipments surging 28 per cent Y/Y after just 5 per cent Y/Y growth in Q1’08 and negative growth during most of 2007.

    The strong shipments in North America reflect introduction of new, lower-cost, flat panel TV models to the US market by top-tier brands in the latter part of the quarter and a consumer that was very receptive to these lower price points.

    Samsung has now attained nearly one-fifth of the North American LCD TV market with 18.3 per cent of the market for April to June.
    That’s up nearly five percentage points, and puts them way out in front of Sony, which now sits at around 11.7 per cent.

  • Commuters on London Underground to be shown adverts on giant HD screens






    Passengers waiting for the tube will have no shortage of distractions now that 14-foot HDTV screens are being installed in stations.
    The cross-track projection (XTP) system, which allows high-quality digital images to be projected on to the walls opposite platforms, has been installed by advertising company CBS Outdoor for London Underground.
    The system, which formally went live on Monday, means that commuters waiting for trains are now faced with moving advertising images displayed on the biggest screens in Europe
    Any profits London Underground receives from XTP will be reinvested to improve the Tube.
    Before rolling out the ads to other stations the system was tested at Euston Tube station.
    Following the success of the pilot, stations at Piccadilly Circus, Euston, Bank, Liverpool Street and Bond Street have now been kitted out with 23 high definition projectors and giant soundless screens that will show trailers for new film releases and other advertising.
    Further stations are scheduled to host XTP technology, which will take the number of screens to 150, which, according to London Undeground, makes it the biggest and most sophisticated system of its kind in Europe.
    Richard Parry, strategy and service director for London Underground said the technology would enhance passengers’ journeys.
    “The Tube has a history of innovation and these hi-tech screens are a perfect complement to the major upgrade work carried out by London Underground in delivering a world-class Tube for a world-class city,” he said.
    CBS Outdoor was awarded a £1.5bn contract to manage advertising on the London Underground in June 2006.
    The media company’s soundless screens are all linked to a new digital advertising network enabling messages to be changed remotely and instantaneously.
    In total, CBS Outdoor’s £72m investment programme includes the installation of 2,000 digital screens across the Tube network and, to date, 1,034 digital screens have been installed, including 181 LCD screens, 830 digital escalator panels and 23 XTP screens.
    All the non-digital sites are currently being replaced with new ‘dry-posting’ material which allows all internal posters to be recycled, removing the need for glue and avoiding 96 tonnes of paper going into landfill every year.

  • High definition sports schedules continue to grow as coverage of major sporting events like Wimbledon and Beijing Olympics become more commonplace










    The US’s NBC network is to broadcast both the women’s Wimbledon final between the Williams sisters and the men’s match between Nadal and Federer on its HD channel.
    The addition of this year’s Centre Court battles is just the latest addition to a growing selection of sporting events being shown in high def.
    Sports programming is perfectly suited to high definition because of the fast motion and action in sports.
    The 16:9 aspect ratio of HD provides a vastly better perspective and coverage of a game than SD.
    Viewers can see, for instance, the entire ice in a hockey game or the baseball field in a baseball game.
    So impressive are the results that they influenced an estimated 2.4 million high-definition television sales prior to this season’s Super Bowl in the US.
    Aside from the tennis action, Panasonic has announced that it is to partner the Eurosport HD channel in a deal that ensures it uses the company’s equipment, including the HPX2100 and HVX201 high definition cameras during coverage of this summer’s Olympic Games.
    It also means Panasonic will get plenty of airtime on the station, promoting its VIERA line of HDTVs, as well as running local marketing events.
    Eurosport HD, which simulcasts with the standard definition Eurosport channel, began broadcasting in May this year.
    And with just 30 days to go before the events kick off in Beijing, the broadcast plans in the US are getting clearer.
    NBC Universal has the exclusive rights to the Olympics – for which it paid US$5.7 billion – and will produce over 3,600 hours of sporting coverage, all in high definition.
    The HDTV broadcasts will be carried on NBC, USA and Universal HD, but it remains unclear what time slots will be carried on each network.
    Ma Guoli, a Chinese Olympics broadcasting official, has said that he expects the Olympics to attract four billion viewers – one billion more than in Athens four years ago.
    Beijing Olympics Dissemination Corporation Ltd is expected to use 65 high definition relay vehicles and 1,000 high definition cameras, as well as building a broadcasting centre with an area of up to 80,000 square metres.
    “High Definition signals will be used for TV relays for all 28 Olympics events,” he said.



  • Gas released from HDTVs potentially far worse for climate change than CO2










    A gas used in the production of flat-panel displays for HDTVs is 17,200 times better at trapping heat in the atmosphere over a hundred-year period than carbon dioxide, the gas most associated with global warming.
    Michael Prather, of the University of California at Irvine, has completed a study into nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), which he describes as the “missing greenhouse gas”.
    Yet the synthetic chemical produced in industrial quantities is not included in the Kyoto Protocol’s basket of greenhouse gases or in national reporting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
    Concerns have led Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology to avoid using the gas, although Air Products, which produces it for the electronics industry, said very little NF3 is released into the atmosphere.
    Prather argues that as the gas is not controlled in the same way as other greenhouse gases, companies may be careless with it.
    The scientist, whose findings are reported in the latest issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters, is calling for NF3 emissions to be monitored.
    It wasn’t included in the Kyoto agreement when it was signed by 181 countries in 1997 because the compound’s manufacture at the time was miniscule.
    But increased use of NF3 in flat-panel display production means that’s no longer the case.
    NF3’s global-warming potential is second only to sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), the worst-rated greenhouse gas on the Kyoto list.
    Prather notes that the increased production of NF3 means that emission levels of the gas could potentially increase.
    “With 2008 production equivalent to 67 million metric tons of CO2, NF3 has a potential greenhouse impact larger than that of the industrialised nations’ emissions of PFCs or SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride), or even that of the world’s largest coal-fired power plants,” writes Prather.
    “If released, annual production would increase the lower atmospheric abundance by 0.4 ppt, and it is urgent to document NF3 emissions through atmospheric observations.”