About Electronics

DigiTimes: Global shipments of high-definition (HD) set-top boxes (STBs), camcorders, DVD players and video-game consoles are expected to triple from 2008 to 2012, as HD becomes the ubiquitous video standard worldwide, according to iSuppli.

Global shipments of HD-capable equipment in these categories will rise to 202 million units by 2012, up from 68.9 million in 2008. By 2012, 52.9% of STBs, camcorders, DVD players and game consoles shipped will be HD-capable, up from 21.6% in 2008.

“For the last 20 years, HD video has been the holy grail for consumer electronics OEMs, as well as for avid home theater fans around the world,” said Randy Lawson, senior analyst for DTV and display electronics at iSuppli.

“The high-tech industry’s efforts to provide HD service to every home now are finally coming to fruition. This has resulted in an explosion of shipments of consumer-electronics devices that support HD video, from new Blu-ray DVD players to ultra-thin LCD HDTVs, and even some portable media players.”

The amount of HD content available in some mature television markets is growing to the point that hundreds of high-definition channels now are being offered by the entire spectrum of television service providers – from cable, to satellite, to terrestrial and to even to telecom – due to the rollout of Internet protocol television (IPTV) services.

The rapidly growing list of HD content suppliers, along with the fast-rising adoption rates seen for HDTVs and STBs, clearly indicates that HD video transmission and delivery are becoming major motivators for consumer adoption of newer technology television displays and playback/recording equipment.

As the broadcast TV market inexorably moves to all-digital television formats, there is more incentive for the inclusion of HD support in consumer-electronics devices.

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HD News: Although the number of households worldwide with High Definition ready TV’s grew by an impressive 25% in 2008 around a half of those households do not have access to or watch any high definition programmes.

In Europe the UK leads the way largely as a result of Sky’s 800,000 HD subscribers. Freesat, the free-to-air satellite service offers a much smaller choice of HD programming with BBC HD and ITV HD, but has a significant 200,000 or so users which is growing rapidly. Virgin Media with around 400,000 subscribers to its V+ box, with access to the BBC HD channel takes the total in the UK to around 1.5m.

Across the whole of Europe there are less than 10m consumers with access to High Def programmes with the UK having more consumers with access to HD content greater than France and Germany combined.

Worldwide there are around 36m households with HD enabled TV’s and some form of HD content to watch.

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Gizmodo: The SD Association has announced a new card spec dubbed SDXC (eXtended Capacity) that can support memory capacities up to 2TB with read/write speeds to 104MB per second.

According to their calculations, that would mean you could store 100 high-def movies, 60 hours of HD recording, or 17,000 fine-mode photos on a portable device. Again, keep in mind that this is spec at this point—not an actual product. But we could see something based on it as early as next year. Obviously, there aren’t many devices out there that could make full use of it right now, but a card with this kind of capacity and bus speeds could pull the industry forward.

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HD News: Research published by the TV industry regulator OFCOM details how the UK has embraced the High Definition (HD) and digital revolution.

The UK leads the world with an impressive 86% of UK households now hosting digital TV’s as their main viewing set. The US and France followed with a 70% and 66% take up respectively.

Although High Definition subscribers in the US and Canada accounted for a massive world wide take up of 87% (7.9 million of the total) the UK accounts for over half of the remaining 1.2 million HD subsriptions making it a clear leader in Europe.

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HDTV UK: British consumers still need educating in the ways of high definition, according to the latest research from LG. Many people still believe that if they have bought a high definition TV, that means the programmes they watch must be in HD, too.

Of course we know that’s not true, but LG is calling for the TV industry to step up to the challenge of educating and informing consumers about what HD is.

The industry probably hasn’t helped itself, with various manufacturers and broadcasters throwing around the terms “HD Ready”, “HD Ready (Full HD)” and “Full HD”. It means four out of five people don’t really understand what the terminology means, nor the differences.

One in four Brits believe that owning a TV displaying the HD Ready logo instantly makes all programmes high definition.

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TWICE: Amazon.com has launched a dedicated HD micro site designed to explain and sell high-definition TV and related products to less tech-savvy consumers.

The micro site, called Amazon High-Def 101, serves as comprehensive knowledge base for HDTV and home theatre, while also presenting the e-tailer’s extensive assortment of HDTVs, movie players, game systems, PC options, accessories and movies.

Educational features include a library of articles, frequently asked questions and educational videos aimed at helping the average shopper configure their HD home entertainment experience.

The site also offers a dictionary of HD terminology that explains commonly used phrases and abbreviations, and serves as a forum for a community of home theater professionals who post weekly blog entries and participate in online discussions to help answer customer questions and provide direction.

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Engadget HD: Satellite heavyweight Intelsat is shaking up the summer programming schedule by sponsoring Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis.

The 24 hour concert scheduled for July 7th, will be its largest HDTV undertaking ever, eclipsing even the World Cup, with uplinks from 8 stages around the world sending high definition feeds of artists including Snoop Dogg, Madonna, The Police and others to an estimated 2 billion viewers.

More on the event here.

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HDTVMagazine: Don’t look now, but a production technology known as 4K is emerging that puts high definition television, Blue Ray DVDs and even IMAX to shame.

An “amazing viewing experience” with “wow factor” is how Neal Page, chief executive officer of Inlet Technologies, describes it. And just when you thought that 60-inch HDTV in the den was the ultimate in video entertainment outside of a 10-story IMAX.

Called super high definition (SHD) 4K, the technology is capturing a growing amount of attention in digital cinema production. Microspace, a Raleigh-based company owned by WRAL Local Tech Wire parent Capitol Broadcasting, recently reported an industry first: satellite transmission of a 4K production. Just last month in the Netherlands, SARA Computing and Networking Services unveiled technology for showing a 4K movie.

While 4K is several years away from broad adoption, Page is among those who is excited about what it has to offer. In fact, Page, a pioneer in technology related to digital media from the development of streaming to the complex compression applications Inlet has developed to make HDTV production much more affordable, calls 4K a “quantum leap” over HDTV. (…)

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The New York Times: The adult movie industry has gotten too graphic, even for its own tastes.

Even though pornographic movie studios are staying ahead of the curve by releasing high-definition DVDs, they have discovered that the high-definition format is accentuating imperfections in the actors; from a little extra cellulite on a leg to wrinkles around the eyes.

Hollywood is dealing with similar problems, but they are more pronounced for pornographers, who rely on close-ups and who, because of their quick adoption of the new format, are facing the issue more immediately than mainstream entertainment companies.

Producers are taking steps to hide the imperfections. Some shots are lit differently, while some actors simply are not shot at certain angles, or are getting cosmetic surgery, or seeking expert grooming.

“The biggest problem is razor burn,” said Stormy Daniels, an actress, writer and director.

Ms. Daniels is also a skeptic. “I’m not 100 percent sure why anyone would want to see their porn in HD,” she said.

The technology’s advocates counter that high definition, by making things clearer and crisper, lets viewers feel as close to the action as possible.

“It puts you in the room,” said the director known as Robby D., whose films include “Sexual Freak.”

Despite the challenges, pornographers — who distributed some 7,000 new movies on DVD last year and sold discs worth $3.6 billion in the United States — are rapidly moving to high-definition.

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USA Today: American consumers seem to like everything about HDTV; except TV shows in HD.

Only 47% of people buying a high-definition TV set in the past year say they did so looking forward to watching TV shows in HD, according to a study by Frank N. Magid Associates. That’s down from 63% two years ago.

About 15% of all homes in the States now have an HDTV set, Magid reports.

Most cable systems offer only about two dozen HD channels, including local stations. Pricing can be confusing. The technology can be intimidating.

That may not affect holiday sales of HDTV sets. Overall, they should cost about 25% less than they did last year. 

Yet, with so many owners feeling “not tremendously satisfied” with program choices, potential buyers “are not hearing any word of mouth or buzz” about HD programming.

A majority of HD owners in the September survey of nearly 1,200 adults rated satisfaction with programming at seven or less on a scale of one to 10.

About 30% of HDTV owners haven’t even signed up with their cable or satellite companies to get HD channels. Many of them were turned off by an extra fee they’d pay for HD — or thought they’d have to pay.

There’s a lot of confusion, because some operators charge for HDTV. Others throw it in for anyone paying the extra monthly fee for the digital tier. And some don’t charge extra for the channels but charge more per month for an HD-capable cable box.

The study found widespread HD confusion. Many consumers think all digital TV signals give them an HD picture. They don’t.

It also found that many consumers believe that only cable or satellite delivers HD signals. In fact, local stations offer network, and sometimes local, HD shows over the air.

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Gizmodo: Sony, Samsung, and LG together with Panasonic, Toshiba, NEC and SiBEAM are  working on a new spec called WirelessHD (or WiHD) that lets you beam uncompressed HD content from say a cable box to your HDTV.

It’ll use the 60GHz frequency and handle video as well as audio. The technology will appear in components, HDTVs, game consoles, and even portable gadgets like HD camcorders by spring 2008.

For those of us who’ve already splurged on big budget HDTVs and components, the WirelessHD folks will create wireless adapters that’ll let your equipment go wireless.

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BBC News:  Japanese scientists have shown Ultra High Definition TV (U-HDTV) for the first time in Europe at the recent International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam.  U-HDTV has a screen resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels – approximately sixteen times that of normal HDTV.

However, it is unlikely to be available to the public for at least 25 years.

Dr. Masaru Kanazawa, one of NHK’s senior research engineers, helped develop the technology.

He told the BBC News website: “When we designed HDTV 40 years ago our target was to make people feel like they were watching the real object. Our target now is to make people feel that they are in the scene.”

As well as the higher picture resolution, the Ultra HD standard incorporates an advanced version of surround sound that uses 24 loudspeakers.

Although the system is ultimately designed for television, current technology means it can only be shown on a cinema screen using a state of the art projector.

There is no LCD or plasma screen in the world with a high enough resolution to display its pictures.

Additionally, no existing TV broadcast system could cope with the massive amount of data which needs to be sent to create an Ultra HD picture.

NHK has successfully sent video using its own high bandwidth optical link.

The lack of current uses for Ultra HD has led some broadcast experts to brand it a novelty.  Technology consultant John Ive watched the demonstration and said critics were being short sighted.  

“When NHK first introduced High Definition many years ago, people said they were crazy, we don’t need it.

“Today everybody is talking about it. You may think Ultra HD is a technological curiosity but maybe we’ll see it differently in 10 years time.”

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