Entertainment Technology Center @ USC

[by Trevor Chan, nintendo life]

Nintendo is definitely trying to flex some of the multi-functional muscles of the 3DS as the company talks about providing something other than just games for its users.

At the recent Financial Earnings Briefing, president and CEO Satoru Iwata reiterated Nintendo’s plans to provide 3D video content for 3DS users after the scheduled system update in May. Explaining that passive content must be provided in order to further promote the notion of 3D entertainment without the glasses, Iwata said:

… we think it is very important to provide people with contents in which they can easily experience glassless 3D images. In particular, we need to enhance the contents which can be enjoyed passively by non-active users, like a 3D video distribution service. We will promptly work on this after the currently planned hardware update. There is no easy road to making people understand the attraction of glassless 3D images and making Nintendo 3DS widespread. We would like to adhere to these patient efforts.

Nintendo is already in partnership with networks such as Eurosport and Sky ― as reported back at the3DS events held in New York and Amsterdam ― and streaming services like Netflix to bring 3DS users a variety of video content to watch via SpotPass.

See the original post here: http://3ds.nintendolife.com/news/2011/04/nintendo_to_promptly_work_on_3d_video_service_after_upcoming_3ds_update

[Philip Lelyveld comment: the story is about a new Russian native-3D production company and conversion house entering the US market]

[by Oleg Nikishenkov, themoscownews.com]

A group of US and Russian businessmen have set up a venture to bring Russian 3D technologies to Hollywood.
Leonard Nebons, a consultant and private investor, together with Mike Lane, a partner in the Los Angeles-based company 4Intertainment, and Oleg Stepanov, head of Russia’s 3DTV Vision, found each other last year when then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the Russian capital.
“We had a meeting with Arnold Schwarzenegger at Spaso House and told him how much Russians love his movies, and that we could reissue his movies in Russia in 3D,” Nebons told The Moscow News in an interview.
Lane, a music marketing executive who has promoted such talents as Motley Crue, Blondie, Yes, Meat Loaf and The Cranberries, also got on board. His first Russian assignment was Fox Home Entertainment’s project to promote a new DVD electronic magazine business worldwide.
Quality issue

Nebons said that Schwarzenegger’s people were initially concerned about the quality of 3D movies produced in Russia, but they were soon persuaded it was no problem. “We checked movies made here together and they discovered that 3D in Russia was as good as in Hollywood,” Nebons said.
The films and cartoons were converted into 3D by Stepanov’s company. His portfolio includes BBC’s “Turtle, The Incredible Journey” and Russia’s “Belka and Strelka: Star Dogs”.
Stepanov has been working on developing 3D in Russia for the last five years. He told The Moscow News that he was offered a job in a joint venture between cable network NTV-Plus and Panasonic, who launched the first Russian 3D TV channel, but decided to focus instead on movie-making.
Conversion the key

“All 3D channels will face the problem of content and they’ll come to companies like ours,” Stepanov said. In the future 3D TV channels will have to convert a lot of old, classic movies if they want to avoid constantly repeating content, he said.
Electronics manufacturers hope to produce some 100 million 3D TV sets worldwide in the next three years, but these plans depend on there being enough 3D content. While the current average price for a 3D TV set in Russia is about $2,000, production of a TV movie and even conversion from 2D to 3D remains incredibly expensive and it takes long time to do it, Stepanov said.

The average 2D-3D conversion cost in Hollywood varies greatly, from $20,000 to $100,000 per minute of film, depending on the technical complexity of movie scenes.
Offering a discount

Nebons and his partners claim their venture can offer a 40 per cent discount on Hollywood’s conversion rates.
The first Schwarzenegger movie expected to get the 3D treatment is his 1984 classic “The Terminator”, which is quite a complex technical challenge. Nebons, Lane and Stepanov are hoping that Russian 3D technicians will be hired to do the conversion work.
“We’ll make the 3DTV not just local, but an international company, given that software specialists from Russia already have good reputation here,” Lane said.
Jumping on the bandwagon

Russia has still a long way to go to catch up with Hollywood, where already more than 100 movies have been produced in 3D.
The biggest worldwide 3D sensation so far, James Cameron’s “Avatar”, was a smash hit in the Russian box office too, prompting Russian film companies to jump on the 3D bandwagon.
About 800 of Russia’s 1,800 cinemas are already equipped to screen 3D movies, including all new cinemas being opened, Stepanov said.
But just showing a film in 3D is no guarantee of success. Andrei Konchalovsky’s “Nutcracker”, released at the end of 2010with a $90 million budget and 3D made in Hollywood, was a flop commercially.
New artistic formats
The 3D format could also breathe new life into other artistic spheres, said Lane, potentially turning a museum into a concert hall and giving a new dimension to art galleries.
“3D will change how we look at visual arts within the next two years,” he said.
Moscow has seen some evidence of this trend already, with Yury Bashmet’s orchestra trying an experimental performance in the city last November. During the concert Russian avant-garde paintings from the Tretyakov Art Gallery were shown in 3D. Although ticket prices were set high for Moscow, at $80 to $300, the concert was completely sold out.

See the original post with more pictures here: http://themoscownews.com/bizfeature/20110314/188492672.html?referfrommn

[cnet.com, by Steven Musil]

Warner Bros. is apparently hoping to attract new fans by offering movies for viewing on Facebook.

The movie studio announced this evening it would begin testing a program that would offer movies for sale or rental for a brief period through its fan pages on the social-networking giant.

Beginning tomorrow, Facebook users can use Facebook Credits to rent “The Dark Knight” through the movie’s official fan page on the social-networking site, Warner said in statement. The movie can be rented for 30 Facebook credits or $3, and Facebook users will have access to the movie for 48 hours through their accounts on the social network.

Facebook Credits is an alternative payment option for more than 150 games and applications on the social network. It’s supported by games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars, as well as Bejeweled Blitz and Madden NFL Superstars. Most titles still allow gamers to pay with credit cards, but it’s Facebook’s hope that eventually, users will buy all virtual goods with Credits.

The studio sees the social network as fertile ground for video on demand–considered a key revenue source for Hollywood studios grappling with falling box office receipts and lagging DVD sales.

“Facebook has become a daily destination for hundreds of millions of people,” Thomas Gewecke, president of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, said in a statement. “Making our films available through Facebook is a natural extension of our digital distribution efforts. It gives consumers a simple, convenient way to access and enjoy our films through the world’s largest social network.”

For Facebook, the program dovetails with the notion that it could someday supplant corporate Web sites, a scenario outlined by Stephen Haines, commercial director of Facebook’s U.K. operation, at a conference in London earlier this month.

Facebook representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to being able to pause the movie and resume it at their leisure when they log back in to Facebook, Warner Bros. said users will still be able to post comments on the movie and interact with friends on the network while watching their selection.

The program is currently available only in the U.S., and additional titles will be added on a regular basis over the coming months, Warner Bros. said.

See the original post here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20040420-93.html?tag=mncol;txt

Leveraging its software and IT-centric hardware experience, Harris has introduced an IP-based media convergence platform called Selenio that allows content service providers to mix and match modules to support content from multiple sources and deliver it over multiple platforms.

Among the first customers for the new Selenio platform is Omantel, a TV service provider for the Ministry of Information in Oman. The system will support a redundant 1080p-capable DTV contribution network at more than 55 sites in Oman’s main cities.

Based on Harris compression, networking and processing technology, Selenio offers users traditional baseband video and audio processing, video and audio compression and IP networking as part of a single, energy-efficient and easily scalable package. Inputs, outputs and added functionality can be rapidly increased to meet new channel requirements by adding video and audio expansion modules to the Selenio frame, and it integrates seamlessly into customers’ existing architectures.

Harris Morris, president of Harris Broadcast Communications, said the Selenio package provides all of the functionality service providers need to run their business most efficiently today while also providing a cost-effective on-ramp to the IP world as their business evolves.

“The convergence of baseband and IP capability into a single platform enables customers to quickly add revenue-generating services — from SD, HD and 3-D to mobile and Internet broadcasting — without requiring an expensive investment in new infrastructure,” he said.

The Selenio architecture supports the MPEG-2 and H.264 compression standards for facilities that are delivering content in SD, HD and mobile video resolutions. Virtually any advanced audio capability, including loudness control, can be mixed and matched on a single module. A Web-based interface using Microsoft Silverlight technology enables operators to configure, monitor and manage the platform’s capabilities.

The company said the Selenio platform facilitates the efficient management of IP, compressed and baseband signals while lowering total cost of ownership by reducing installation, maintenance and upgrade costs.

Harris will demonstrate the Selenio media convergence platform at the 2011 NAB Show.

See the original post here: http://broadcastengineering.com/products/harris-unveils-new-ip-delivery-platform-20110210/index.html

Streambox has developed a low-latency, full-resolution, 4:2:2 3-D encoder/decoder. The HD 3-D unit is built on the company’s ACT-L3 video compression technology and includes all advanced video and networking features found in existing Streambox professional video products.

The 1RU solution is ideal for industries focusing on professional-quality 3-D video acquisitions, such as post production and sports broadcasting.

The full-frame HD, low-latency 3-D video compression enables much higher-quality 3-D video contribution over IP, while reducing bandwidth and transmission costs, according to Bob Hildeman, chairman and CEO of Streambox.

“Now, Streambox allows 3-D content to be delivered within pre-existing HD bandwidth infrastructures currently being utilized for 2-D,” he said. “Essentially, if you have a 2-D HD workflow, Streambox 3-D can be implemented without acquiring additional bandwidth or equipment beyond Streambox 3-D transport for full-HD 3-D video transmission.”

Designed for low-bandwidth HD 3-D video acquisition and transport, the Streambox 3-D encoder/decoder enables users to capture and transmit live and file-based 3-D video over IP networks. It offers forward error correction and bandwidth-shaping technologies to reduce packet loss, network jitter and buffering.

The encoder captures the full-frame left and full-frame right HD 3-D video from the source and compresses it into a single synchronized transport stream or file. The single stream is received and decoded by the HD 3-D decoder as full-left and full-right playout, and optionally side-by-side monitoring.

See the original post here: http://broadcastengineering.com/products/streambox-develops-low-latency-3-d-encoder-20110208/index.html

Nintendo’s president hopes that Hollywood movie studios will embrace the new Nintendo 3DS in order to promote 3D movie trailers.

Satoru Iwata claims that the ability of Nintendo’s new handheld to play 3D videos and movie trailers is going to be a key part of its success.

Iwata Asks

The Nintendo boss outlined his thinking about the 3DS’ media potential in the latest Iwata Asks series of interviews – in which Iwata was speaking with feted developer Shigeru Miyamoto and Mother creator Shigesato Itoi.

Nintendo’s top brass is particularly keen to stress that the slow take-up of 3D in the home to date is down to the high cost of 3D TVs, something that the Japanese gaming company is confident it can rectify with 3DS.

“People making 3D content today are having trouble because of a lack of output,” Iwata says. “While 3D televisions are on sale, I don’t think 3D televisions requiring the use of special glasses will catch on that quickly. From the point of view of consumers, this is a big attraction. They don’t have a device at home for playing 3D images.”

Hollywood embraces Nintendo

“When we show Nintendo 3DS to people in Hollywood, they’re intensely interested,” Iwata added. “I think lots of people would be happy if they could watch things like 3D movie trailers on their Nintendo 3DS.”

In particular, the 3DS’ Spot Pass system which allows content to be delivered to the device over Wi-Fi while the console is in sleep mode, is of interest to 3D movie producers in Tinseltown.

“It is possible to distribute trailers to Nintendo 3DS,” says Iwata. “And it’s possible to distribute them to a Nintendo 3DS in a Wi-Fi environment while the user sleeps.”

Miyamoto explains that this means “when the owner wakes up in the morning and turns on the system, a new video is waiting.”

The Nintendo 3DS launches in Europe 25 March, with the price still to be decided by retailers, expected to be in the region of between £220 and £230.

Original story at http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/hollywood-embraces-3d-movie-trailers-on-3ds-922865

Ready or not, the Internet-connected TV set has emerged as the next big thing in consumer electronics after 3-D TVs failed to capture mainstream consumers’ attention to any large degree. At the 2011 International CES, the marriage of TV and the Internet was a key message as industry giants Samsung, Sony, LG andPanasonic, as well as smaller players such as Vizio, all highlighted the latest versions of their connected TVs.

The research firm Parks Associatesexpects connectable models to make up 76 percent of global TV sales by 2015. This is despite concerns about whether the current broadband infrastructure can cope with such a massive boost in simultaneous online usage.

The most apparent use to home viewers may be as a simpler way to access sports, movies and standard TV content. The sets substitute the cable, satellite or game consoles that many households now resort to for streaming video.

Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt (left) and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts at the Samsung press event during CES revealed plans to bring live programming to Samsung’s Internet-connected TVs and tablets without the need for a set-top box.

Sony and Samsung announced content deals with Time Warner Cable at CES, and Samsung made public a deal with Comcast. These alliances may be influenced by the cable companies’ need to protect their customer base against growing threats from the Web, where viewers watch many programs for free.

Executives from Time Warner Cable and Comcast joined Boo-Keun Yoon, Samsung’s president and general manager of visual displays, on stage during his CES keynote. They discussed plans to bring live programming to Samsung’s Internet-connected TV and tablets without the need for a set-top box.

Glenn Britt, CEO of Time Warner Cable, said his company would allow customers to access its full lineup of live channels on Samsung Internet-connected TVs this year.

“If you buy a video subscription from us in your home, our goal is to make the video available on all your devices,” Britt said, echoing the goal of the “TV everywhere” concept espoused by his and other companies. “People don’t see PCs and phones and tablets and TVs as different things; they are all just video display devices.”

Comcast will do the same. “We’re radically changing the way our customers interact with their televisions,” said Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast.

One of the interesting aspects of the TV-Internet phenomenon is that it’s so unpredictable. It can go anywhere, despite corporate attempts to define the trend.

“What makers are realizing is that there’s no way to predict what the next phenomenon will be, so it’s best to open it up to third parties,” said Kurt Scherf, a principal analyst at Parks Associates.

Samsung, LG and Panasonic are all set to offer third-party applications on their television sets, similar to one used on smart phones and tablets.

With so many electronics makers vying to differentiate themselves, none has yet come out as a clear leader, and several are finding it difficult to make profits from TVs at all.

What is still lacking, in large part, is consumer education about Internet-connected TVs. Sony’s chief executive, Howard Stringer, said last week that Sony would start a worldwide advertising campaign called “Television Redefined” this year.

“The next evolution is upon us: the marriage of the television and the Internet,” he said.

Original post here: http://broadcastengineering.com/news/internet-connected-tvs-build-momentum-ces-20110113/index.html

“Warner Bros is making 300 new HD titles available for streaming, and in the future, it may also start streaming 3-D content to PCs over the secure connections, Tsujihara said.”

Intel went on the defensive at the CES show over its new Sandy Bridge PC chips, which are designed to secure streaming of HD movies from online movie services to personal computers.

Sandy Bridge chips have a new “Insider” feature that unlocks HD movies from online streaming services. Needless to say, the chip is controversial with many at CES who charge that Intel is trying to gain control of online movies by requiring end users to have Sandy Bridge processors in their computers.

Intel defended the Sandy Bridge technology — in the form of 29 processors for various PC models — arguing that it is trying to provide a security layer that will encourage studios to stream HD movies to PCs instead of keeping them locked.

Sandy Bridge’s Insider technology establishes a secure connection between streaming services and PCs with new Core i3, i5 or i7 chips, which are based on the processor’s architecture. Introduced at CES, the processors have specialized authentication and encryption hardware and firmware to establish the secure connection.

But Insider is not intended to be digital rights management (DRM) technology, and it is not intended to limit the availability of content to users, said Josh Newman, Intel’s graphics marketing director. “Insider technology establishes a secure connection to prevent movies from being copied from over the network or inside the PC.”

“It gives PCs the level of trust that the studio needs to make their content available. In the past they were very leery of [streaming] content. It’s not a DRM technology at all,” Newman argued.

However, studios can implement their own DRM technology, and Intel will take that into consideration. That should make available more streaming 1080p content, which is not yet available on a large scale.

“If you look at Blu-ray in the PC, that required a protected path that was developed. It’s similar to that; it’s a hardened path to get that next level of hardening and convincing studios that it’s a safer environment,” Newman said.

At CES, it was announced that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, which currently streams online content only in SD, will use the new security layer to start streaming movies in HD. Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, made the announcement at an Intel press event.

The motion picture studio is making 300 new HD titles available for streaming, and in the future, it may also start streaming 3-D content to PCs over the secure connections, Tsujihara said.

Sandy Bridge arrived at the CES show in several high-end, $1000-plus, laptop computers. One of the first models to be introduced came from Hewlett-Packard, which offered two variations of the new Pavilion dv7.

Original story posted here: http://broadcastengineering.com/news/intel-goes-on-defensive-over-new-chip/index.html

Manufacturer to make a range of movies available to video-on-demand partners including RoxioNow.

Sensio Technologies is taking aim at 3D content distribution with a new service launched Monday.

The Montreal-headquartered manufacturer has negotiated with studios the rights to a variety of 3D titles, including independent movies, documentaries and blockbusters. (The company declined to release specifics at press time.)

This content — which will be available in the Sensio Hi-Fi 3D encoding format — would be made available to VOD partners on different platforms, the first being RoxioNow.

Manufacturers of Internet-connected devices incorporating the Sensio Hi-Fi 3D decoder will be able to offer access to their customers These devices include 3D-connected TVs, starting with Vizio’s XVT range, Blu-ray Disc players and PCs. It will also include HyundaiIT 3DTVs and PC-based stereoscopic player.

“In today’s marketplace, 3D content is conspicuous by its absence, as the availability of content so far has been limited primarily to Blu-ray releases bundled with 3DTVs,” said Richard LaBerge, executive vp and chief marketing officer at Sensio. “Our aim is to make quality 3D content readily available to the consumer and ensure the success of our partners.”

Intel Corp.’s latest chip line is arriving this week with a surprise link to Hollywood: security technology that has persuaded some companies to let personal-computer users view movies and television shows in a top-quality video format for the first time.

The Silicon Valley giant is announcing the new chips at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, along with deals with companies that distribute video content over the Internet. Though they have long let PC users view or download videos—including movies labeled as high-definition—piracy concerns have deterred studios from offering content in a particularly high-resolution format called 1080p that has become popular on home HDTV sets in recent years.

Intel says its updated Core microprocessors, known by the code name Sandy Bridge, come with a previously undisclosed feature called Intel Insider that helps prevent piracy of purchased 1080p video on PCs powered by the chips. Some companies that have studied it say they are impressed.

“The new Intel technology is a fundamental change for us,” said Thomas Gewecke, president of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. “It creates a fundamentally more secure platform in the PC environment.”

The Time Warner Inc. unit typically makes digital movies in standard definition available for download or streaming when DVDs are available, or several months after their release in theaters. Now the company expects to also start distributing high-definition films over the Internet to PCs powered by the new Intel chips, in 1080p as well as a format called 720p.

Another supporter is Sonic Solutions, a Novato, Calif., company that manages digital distribution for retailers and other companies. Dave Habiger, its chief executive, predicts most studios will begin offering their content to users of Intel-equipped PCs in the high-end format. “I can’t imagine anyone would argue against high-quality movies,” said Mr. Habiger, whose company recently agreed to be purchased by Rovi Corp. for $720 million.

There are some significant online distributors that aren’t part of Intel’s announcement, including Apple Inc., operator of the popular iTunes service. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of Intel’s PC client group, said the company is in a “very advanced stage” of talks with other distributors. Intel expects services offering the 1080p content to be available in the first quarter.

Users won’t necessarily have to watch such content on PCs. Intel, in another feature of the new Core line, is enhancing a technology that allows users to wirelessly send images from a laptop to an HDTV equipped with a receiver. The existing version of the technology—which is called Wi-Di, for Wireless Display—only worked with 720p high-definition video, not the higher-quality 1080p images. The new version does, Mr. Eden said, and adds new content-protection features.

Technology that can help get 1080p video to computers and then on to TV sets is “certainly an opportunity” for content distributors, said Kurt Scherf, an analyst at Parks Associates. His firm estimates that about 8% of TV watchers are already connecting their laptops to television sets, in most cases using a cable connection known as HDMI. But the Intel-backed effort isn’t as significant as some other potential changes on the horizon, such as the possibility that studios will begin offering movies earlier over digital channels, Mr. Scherf said.

Besides Intel Insider, previously undisclosed features of the new Core chip include Quick Sync Video, which Intel said converts one video format to another at ultra high speed.

The Santa Clara, Calif., company and rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. at CES are discussing the benefits of combining basic calculating functions on the same piece of silicon with circuitry for handling graphics and video. Intel is announcing 20 models of the new Core chips, which it said have been selected to power more than 500 new systems from large and small PC makers. Those manufacturers are expected to discuss their plans at the CES show. The chips come in models with two to four processing units and other features that are tailored for various configurations of desktop and laptop computers. Prices for the chips range from $117 to $1,096, Intel said.

Read the full story here  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703820904576057983004553082.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews