Serbia Sets ASO Date
Serbia has set a date for the start of analogue switchoff. It will begin on the 1st March 2015 and be finished by the 1st May. Free set-top boxes will be distributed to some sections of the population.
Streaming Video Popularity Almost Equals Broadcast
The popularity of streamed video is now almost equal to broadcast, according to Ericsson. The organisation says that, in 23 countries, 75% of people watch streamed content several times a week, compared to 77% watching broadcast. Additionally, peoples’ willingness to pay for content on any device has risen 25% since 2012, to 19%. 41% of … Read more
TiVo’s DVR is for Serious Videophiles
Aiming at the custom AV sector, TiVo has unleashed a massive DVR: the TiVo Mega, boasting 24TB of storage space. The unit can record 26,000 hours of content in SD or 4,000 in HD. It is rack-mountable, features hot-swappable drives, six tuners and an integrated transcoder to send content to mobile devices inside and outside … Read more
Work on a Common Foundation, Says DTG White Paper
The UK’s Digital TV Group has published a white paper covering developments in the TV industry. They include the UltraHD format (including framerates, gamuts and dynamic range); video delivery to mobiles; spectrum management; connected TV; and DTT. The white paper is available at http://tinyurl.com/nrkb47u.
NPD Predicts 39% Streaming Media Penetration
6 million US homes purchased streaming media players between Q2’13 and Q2’14, according to The NPD Group. The figure means that 17% of US internet households now have such a device. The NPD Group expects ownership to rise to 39% by the start of 2017, driven by more brands in the market (Amazon and Google … Read more
Pay-TV Has Declined Since USA’s Digital Switch
About 84% of US households take some form of pay-TV service, according to the Leichtman Research Group (LRG). While the number of subscribers has remained fairly flat since 2010, the number of households has grown – so pay-TV penetration has fallen since the country’s move to digital broadcasting. 11% of non-subscribers cited the internet or … Read more
Roku Has Added 2 Million Players Since January
More than 10 million Roku media players have been sold in the USA, the company has announced. The figure represents a 2 million unit increase since January, and roughly twice as many shipment as April 2013. Roku says that around 37 million hours of content are streamed on its players every week – beating Apple … Read more
Sony Signs Carriage Deal With Viacom
Sony has reached an agreement to carry 22 Viacom channels for its planned web-based TV service. The company is also in talks with other content providers, and hopes to have deals in place before beginning a trial this year. Display Daily Comments While the deal currently only covers the USA, it may point to later … Read more
TV Everywhere Not Delayed by Authentication
A study by US-based The Diffusion Group (TDG) has shown that authentication is not limiting the takeup of TV Everywhere services. Only 7% of users view the authentication process negatively and fewer than 1% say that it is ‘very difficult’. “Unfortunately, authentication has been demonised by industry executives as a key reason TVE use is … Read more
Amazon Streams UltraHD Next Month
Pre-IFA (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 35), Samsung let slip the announcement that Amazon was developing an UltraHD streaming service. The company has now confirmed that the service is coming, and will be launched in October. Samsung, Panasonic, Sony and LG have been confirmed as launch partners.
Sony Bundles Nanoflix for 300 Hours of UltraHD
Nanotech Entertainment has signed an agreement with Sony, which will put Nanotech’s ‘Ultraflix’ UltraHD video library app on all of Sony’s 2014 UltraHD TVs. A total of 9 TVs, ranging from 49″ to 85″, will be available with the bundled app this month.
Workaround Enables iPhone UltraHD Video Capture
There are Android smartphones that feature UltraHD video capture as standard, and then there’s the iPhone. Apple’s device has no default way to shoot video at such a high resolution, but can take UltraHD stills. An app company called Vizzywig uses this feature in its Vizzywig 4K app, which ‘films’ content by taking 24 high-resolution … Read more
