Entertainment Technology Center @ USC

Sling Media is showing a number of new products designed to support and enhance the remote content viewing experience.

The company is offering through the Dish Network a 15-inch Wi-Fi monitor that can be carried around the house.  It receives content through the consumer’s home Wi-Fi network.  A complementary device, the Sling Receiver, uses the consumer’s in-home wireless network to “sling” content to rooms that don’t have wired network connections.

The Sling Touch Control is a remote control with a built-in touch screen.  It allows the user to access all of the Slingbox menu capabilities, from programming the DVR to searching for content, without the need to display the menu on the primary TV screen and disturb the other people in the room who are watching TV.

Sony emphasized the fusion of content and technology during CES, during which the company positioned itself to lead the 3D home movement.

“We intend to take the lead in 3D,” said Sony chief Sir Howard Stringer. “We are the only company fully immersed in every part of the 3D value chain.”

Its annual press conference opened with Taylor Swift, who performed her hit “Love Story” while providing a hint at potential future content. Introduced by Sir Howard, Swift confirmed that her upcoming concert tour will be documented in 3D.  Sony execs declined to provide further details.  Sir Howard also restated plans to deliver live performances in 3D, including an upcoming Kenny Chesney concert.

Sony product announcements included:

– PS3s, which will be firmware upgradeable for 3D in 2010.

– Sony 3D BRAVIAs, with the first sets launching this summer.  They will come in screen sizes up to 60-inches, bundled with two pairs of active glasses.

– A prototype 3D OLED TV.

– 17 new models of camcorders, including a new Handycam that shoots full HD progressive.

– A Vaio eco-edition, made in part of recycled material.  The case is also made of recycled materials and there is no printed manual.

TDVision is highlighting technology for acquisition through display of stereoscopic 3D.

“It’s gratifying to see that we are heading for a massive adoption of 3D in the home,” said the company’s chief marketing officer Ethan Schur. “We have to movie forward responsibly with compatibility and choice.”

Key announcements from TDVision include:

– Magnum Semiconductor teamed with TDVision Systems to launch a realtime 3D encoding and decoding system.  It uses Magnum’s DXTPro chips to encode a pair of 1920×1080 streams into the H.264 format, and Magnum’s DXT chips to decode and playback video streams up to 1080i/1080p60.

– CyberLink’s PowerDVD video player software, which is integrated with TDVision’s 2D+Delta decoding technology, offers full HD 3D video decoding capabilities.

3DMedia Corporation unveiled software that will convert two nearly overlapping digital pictures into a well-rendered 3D image.  The Windows software retails for $99 (Mac, Linux versions are in development).

3DMedia hopes that its ViewFusion technology can be licensed to a variety of 3D products, including: HDTVs, phones, cameras and digital picture frames.

“Although it is expected that 2010 will be the year of wide adoption of consumer 3D display devices, there is currently very limited 3D content available for consumers to enjoy in their homes,” said Tassos Markas, president and CEO of 3DMedia.  “The basic premise of our technology is to solve the problem of content generation by enabling consumers to create and enjoy their own personal 3D content on all types of 3D monitors.”

Resolution can be 4K or below and the consumer must have a 3D display.  This is a good example of a product category that we expect will have many offerings in the near future.

Dolby used CES as a platform to demonstrate how to enhance viewing of 2D or 3D with its audio lineup.  “When you combine HD and 3D, it is screaming for the audio experience,” commented Ramzi Haidamus, Dolby’s executive vp, sales and marketing.

Dolby is talking Dolby Volume, including use with new Motorola digital set-top boxes.

Dolby also showcased new devices and media that support Dolby Digital Plus high-definition audio, including VUDU.  The service uses Dolby Digital Plus to deliver 5.1 surround sound.  For Blu-ray, it supports primary 7.1-channel audio as well as multichannel secondary audio support.

Dolby reported that Dolby TrueHD, a lossless compression technology developed for HD disc-based media, has been used for more than 560 Blu-ray Disc movie titles, including Paramount’s “Star Trek,” which was highlighted at CES.

The company also featured Dolby Pro Logic IIz, the company’s matrix decoding audio technology that supports 7.1- or 9.1-channel audio.

When asked about 3D video for the home, Haidamus said Dolby was in the R&D phase.

JVC was showing off its 4K DLA-RS4000 projector utilizing D-ILA technology, which reps claim delivers a native contrast ratio of 70,000:1 using a 3500 ANSI lumen xenon bulb.

We were shocked to see that they are marketing this product for the home since is weighs 110 pounds and costs $175,000, but perhaps the inclusion of a custom digital video processing unit that serves as a signal switch and processing hub is the reason they claim this.  This processor will upscale content to 4K from virtually any video source, including Blu-ray and gaming systems, cable and satellite receivers, and DVD players.

The projector looked great with amazing color and depth from both 1080 and 4K source material.  They even showed a stacked pair of projectors running full 4K left-eye right-eye polarized content on a silver screen.  Despite some ghosting issues with some of the content, it was clear to see how full 4K 3D projection could create an exceptionally immersive 3D experience.

In a little booth in the corner of Central Hall, Dyyno, a venture-backed company in Palo Alto, was showing a live-streaming P2P application that allows anyone with a webcam to start streaming live to 1 or 100,000 people simultaneously at zero marginal cost.   The company’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution is built on technology developed at Stanford.  After first meeting Dyyno’s CEO, Raj Jaswa, at a CES dinner, I sat down to see their product today – it’s something to stop and think about.

According to Dyyno, “entities currently using the Dyyno platform include individuals, small and medium sized businesses, social, faith-based and other types of communities, and large business organizations that want to instantly broadcast live camcorder streams, videos, presentations, or any other rich media content from their desktop.”  And live streams can be saved for access later as VOD.

It works surprisingly well.  The image below is me being broadcast live at about 20 frames per second.  They claim to be able to broadcast 1080p content, though I doubt we’ll be seeing a lot of people trying to do that.

Dyyno also has a plug-in for WebEx that allows you to stream your video directly to your meeting guests.  We will see if they overcome all the inherent issues with firewalls and (especially corporate) P2P, and how they work to ensure legitimacy of the content being broadcast, but assuming they solve those issues, this will be something to watch – the next wave of user-generated content.

YouTube meets Reality TV…

Microvision has developed a line of curved-lens circular polarized glasses for theater and home 3D viewing.  Their patented curved lens design greatly reduces the amount of reflected images from objects behind the wearer.  Reflected light from doors opening or people walking behind the wearer can be very distracting.

The curved lens also makes them look cool (check them out here).

Microvision is currently showing seven styles with five frame colors for each style, including custom frames in ‘Avatar blue’ given out at the movie’s premiere events.  They will soon offer clip-on polarized glasses as well as glasses designed specifically to go over corrective glasses.  In three months they plan to release circular polarized lenses that can be processed for prescription optics.

The glasses are manufactured in Maritius in a plant that complies with the studios’ labor and environment guidelines.  The MSRP is $40.

The wired standard for data transfer may have leapt light years forward at CES, where Intel revealed additional development of its Light Peak technology during a Thursday keynote.  The new high-speed optical cable technology was initially revealed in San Francisco at September’s Intel Developer Forum.

According to Intel, “Light Peak is the code-name for a new high-speed optical cable technology designed to connect your electronic devices to each other. Light Peak delivers high bandwidth starting at 10Gb/s with the potential ability to scale to 100Gb/s over the next decade. At 10Gb/s, you could transfer a full-length Blu-Ray movie in less than 30 seconds. Optical technology also allows for smaller connectors and longer, thinner, and more flexible cables than currently possible. Light Peak also has the ability to run multiple protocols simultaneously over a single cable, enabling the technology to connect devices such as peripherals, displays, disk drives, docking stations, and more.”

The demo we saw at CES featured two HD movies streaming simultaneously through the same wire.  “Right now there are many wires connecting each device,” explained Robert Siegle, a member of Intel’s Optical IO team.  “The idea is that this one wire will replace the many.”

Standardization is taking place now, with industry protocols and products expected to roll out from 2012 to 2013.  There are two issues – copper reaching its practical limits and an increase in the number of devices people want to attach to their computers, Siegel told us.

Though the prototype device on display at the Intel booth involved running Light Peak through a PCI connection, it will more likely be integrated directly onto motherboards (though that will all play out as part of the standardization process).

As you saw from our post about HDBaseT and this one, the game is definitely on for the next generation of high-bandwidth, easy-connect wiring.

LG is showing a number of 3D content types in its booth’s ‘3D aisle.’

Like Panasonic and Samsung, LG was showing a live DirecTV 3D broadcast.  They were also showing one of the first Blu-ray discs — Disney trailers encoded to the new BD 3D spec. Conference-goers can have their photos taken with the Fuji 3D still camera and see them immediately displayed on a 55-inch 3D LCD display.

A small theater in the back of the booth is demonstrating the CF3D, a single lens 3D projector good for home theater and business applications (MSRP ~$10,000).  Behind the single lens are 6 LCOS chips, two lamps, and two engines.  A camera sensor on the front of the unit monitors the projected image and automatically adjusts the brightness and alignment of the left and right eye images.

All LG displays 32-inches or greater will be IP-enabled.  LG is demonstrating a Skype videoconferencing system that will be built into some displays and be an add-on option in others.

Displays with the Magic Motion user interface allow the user to navigate menus and play games using a simple motion-tracking wand remote.  Some of LG’s Web-connected displays will access AccuWeather and adjust their menu background to reflect outside weather and daylight conditions.

LG has agreements with DivxTV, Pandora, YouTube, CinemaNow, GraceNote, Vudu and others.  All of their Blu-ray players will access those services.