News Stories

Intel touts the Atom chip, 3D and Widgets

1.8.2009

The Intel booth this year is heavily focused on the low-power Atom chip.  They demonstrated a wide variety of netbooks and ultra-mobile PC’s aimed at giving you the power of a laptop in the palm of your hand. An example is the just introduced OQO Model 2+ which includes the Atom chip, an OLED touch screen and 3G capability.  

As for entertainment, they were showing newer versions of their Media Server/PVR and next-generation TV interfaces (coverflow-style channel flipping).

They are clearly excited about the Widget Channel, which they developed with Yahoo! (using the Widget Channel Framework).  They were showing widgets on Toshiba and Gigabyte Blu-ray players in 1080p and also on Samsung set-top boxes using tru2way.

widgets

There were demonstrations of 35 games on micro-polarized displays (Smooth Creations iZ3d) and powered by Intel’s Core i7 4-cores, 8-threads… Perhaps the most compelling part was the Oakley-esque 3D glasses!

oakley

To cap it off, Intel was showing (front-and-center) the trailer for Monsters vs. Aliens on a 3D TV which reportedly had been rendered in real-time using Intel’s Intru 3D software.  Even Jeffrey Katzenberg stopped by (with his friend Bob) to check things out.

katzenberg

Where to see it:

  • Central 7153

Motorola demos Portable TV Receiver

1.8.2009

Given all the hype surrounding mobile video, it was a little surprising to see how absent video was from Motorola’s booth.  About the only exception to that rule — Motorola was demonstrating the DH02 mobile TV device – a portable TV receiver using DVB-H. It does music and Internet browsing, too.  Video quality is nice, but since it’s about the size of a ultra-mobile PC (or an Archos player of old), it’s a bit hard to imagine why someone would buy a media-only device in that form factor in years to come. To that point, Motorola told us that it’s “commercial-ready” but they’re looking for distributors who want to sell it…

mobiletvWhere to see it:

  • Central 8545

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Specification for Naming VFX Image Sequences Released

ETC’s VFX Working Group has published a specification for best practices naming image sequences such as plates and comps. File naming is an essential tool for organizing the multitude of frames that are inputs and outputs from the VFX process. Prior to the publication of this specification, each organization had its own naming scheme, requiring custom processes for each partner, which often resulted in confusion and miscommunication.

The new ETC@USC specification focuses primarily on sequences of individual images. The initial use case was VFX plates, typically delivered as OpenEXR or DPX files. However, the team soon realized that the same naming conventions can apply to virtually any image sequence. Consequently, the specification was written to handle a wide array of assets and use cases.

To ensure all requirements are represented, the working group included over 2 dozen participants representing studios, VFX houses, tool creators, creatives and others.  The ETC@USC also worked closely with MovieLabs to ensure that the specification could be integrated as part of their 2030 Vision.

A key design criteria for this specification is compatibility with existing practices.  Chair of the VFX working group, Horst Sarubin of Universal Pictures, said: “Our studio is committed to being at the forefront of designing best industry practices to modernize and simplify workflows, and we believe this white paper succeeded in building a new foundation for tools to transfer files in the most efficient manner.”

This specification is compatible with other initiatives such as the Visual Effects Society (VES) Transfer Specifications. “We wanted to make it as seamless as possible for everyone to adopt this specification,” said working group co-chair and ETC@USC’s Erik Weaver. “To ensure all perspectives were represented we created a team of industry experts familiar with the handling of these materials and collaborated with a number of industry groups.”

“Collaboration between MovieLabs and important industry groups like the ETC is critical to implementing the 2030 Vision,” said Craig Seidel, SVP of MovieLabs. “This specification is a key step in defining the foundations for better software-defined workflows. We look forward to continued partnership with the ETC on implementing other critical elements of the 2030 Vision.”

The specification is available online for anyone to use.

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