News Stories

Yahoo! Powers Haier Net Connect TVs

1.8.2011

Haier arrived at CES with a new range of LED displays powered by Yahoo!’s Connected TV platform. These Net Connect displays also feature Wi-Fi.

Augmenting the services on the Yahoo! Connected TV platform include Amazon VOD, Facebook, Twitter, CBS, Showtime, NBC, eBay, YouTube and Pandora, Haier also has Hulu Plus, Blockbuster on Demand, Film Fresh and Netflix.

Buttons specifying Netflix — including some featuring the iconic red Netflix logo — will be situated prominently on remote controls that operate certain new Haier Blu-ray Disc players, and the Netflix one-click button will be included on remote controls for the Net Connect TVs.

Haier is also demonstrating Yahoo! Connected TV’s new broadcast interactivity feature and has plans to participate in the pilot program.

Further details on release date, pricing and additional specs for the TVs were not made available.

DivX, Roxio, and the Connected TV

1.8.2011

DivX continues to move beyond their codec product and further into the content aggregation space with a controlled content anytime, anywhere, any device environment.

As has been the case, any product bearing the DivX logo must meet their technical certification standards, which include quality of service, quality of video stream (‘quality of content’), and securely designed hardware and software specifications.

Now, in concert with their recent acquisition of Roxio, they are developing DivX TV. DivX TV serves up and manages content licensed to DivX by content partners. Their proprietary interface allows for search by genre and other criteria. DivX curates the video service to guarantee that only quality content is served to customers of their service.

Content uploaded to the customer’s locker is converted to approximately 24 formats. The network is smart enough to know what format and bit rate (‘adaptive streaming’) to serve to any device authorized in the customer’s personal network. The DivX UltraViolet-compatible controlled network solution allows the content to be streamed or downloaded to the number of devices authorized by the licensee. The customer can start watching a program on one device, then move to another device and pick up the program where they left off.

DivX TV will be available in Q1 2011. It will allow content discovery, acquisition, and playback.  The first iteration will not contain social features or Internet search capabilities. It also will not allow customers to log into their account from devices not registered to their personal network, so a customer who wants to show a program to a friend will have to carry a video player registered to the customer’s network.

< PREVIOUS ARTICLES NEXT ARTICLES >

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.

Oops, something went wrong.