Sony Acquires Netblender, Expands Blu-ray Authoring Software Tools

Sony Creative Software, makers of the ever popular Sony Vegas Pro video editing and authoring software, have acquired Netblender, an up and coming developer in the same field. The amount paid by Sony has not been disclosed.

The deal gives Sony access to Netblender's BD Touch software which allows control of Blu- ray players and other set top boxes from iOS and Android devices.

Brad Reinke, Senior Vice President, Sony Creative Software said of the acquisition, "[This] will allow us to continue to deliver industry-standard tools that address these issues, as well as having the resources to offer new capabilities such as Blu-ray 3D and Custom BD-J within this new product line. We look forward to working with and supporting NetBlender's loyal customers who have come to rely on these solutions for their multimedia production needs."

Netblender themselves say over 2,000 retail Blu-ray Discs have been produced with their software and they operate in 31 countries around the world, John Harrington, CEO of NetBlender said, "The combination of NetBlender's innovative products and Sony's market leadership will be a powerful force for encouraging growth in the Blu-ray industry."

All in all a purchase that Sony hope will boost their Blu-ray authoring capability and also speed up the rate at which they can put out BDs to the market all over the world. If this purchase leads to more and faster BD catalogue releases then not only will Sony be happy, I think we, the consumers, will be too.

Source is
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=7626

Redbox Raises DVD Prices: We’ve Seen This Movie Before

In a move that no doubt caused a lot of consternation after rival Netflix‘s experience doing the same, Redbox has decided to raise the price of its DVD rentals.

The increase, which goes into effect Oct. 31, is only from $1 per day to $1.20. Prices for Blu-ray rentals and game rentals will stay at $1.50 and $2, respectively. “This marks the first price increase for a Redbox standard-definition DVD rental in eight years,” Paul Davis, CEO of Coinstar said in a press release. Davis went on to blame increased operating expenses, including recent increases in debit card interchange fees. Redbox has posted more than $1 billion in sales so far this year. However, some of the money will likely go towards Redbox’s first national brand advertising campaign, according to Advertising Age. A Redbox rep, however, says plans for such a campaign have not been announced.

Though the price increase was slight, it was enough to send parent company Coinstar’s stock down 11% in after-hours trading. One likely reason is the recent memory of Netflix’s disastrous experience with a 60% price increase that went into effect in September and has contributed to the company’s fall from grace. At least one analyst believed the move had benefited Redbox, as consumers canceled their Netflix accounts and sought out Redbox as an alternative.

Source is
http://mashable.com/2011/10/27/redbox-raises-dvd-prices/

What Can We Expect From H.265?

H.265 is the next best thing after H.264 when it comes to video compression standards, or at least this is where it aims. It is a temporary name (and probably will end up as the final one) that will be given to multiple initiatives sometimes known as HECV or HVC.

Christian Timmerer has guest posted about HVC on our Video Over Enterprise blog some time ago, and the history and technology brief there is quite interesting so I suggest you head over there for a quick read before you continue here.

H.26x series of video codecs: complexity versus compression rates

What’s the idea behind H.265?

H.265 builds on decades of research and development invested in past standards such as H.261, H.263 and H.264. In a way, it brings with it nothing new or drastic – just a logical expansion of the existing techniques.

H.265 relies on the fact that processing power is increasing on our devices, and uses brute force (=more processing power) to achieve better compression.

The interesting thing about H.265, is that it doesn’t include any SVC capabilities. These will probably be added some time in the future. It will be interesting to see on what companies will place their bets –H.265 or SVC.

What can we expect from H.265? The current guestimates talk about a reduction of 50% in bitrate requirements for a given video quality and an increase of 3 times in the coding complexity compared to H.264.

What is the timeline?

In February 2012 a complete draft of the standard should be available. From this moment on the bickering changes – from trying to push technologies and patents into the standard into fleshing out the wording to gain a shared understanding of the meaning of it.

Completion of this process is expected by January 2013, where a final draft should be ready for ratification – an editorial and bureaucratic process before publication.

After that – tweaks, touches and additions. Same as in any other standard.

Where will this lead us to?

What would H.265 mean to the industry?

Will it replace H.264/AVC and kill the concept of H.265/SVC altogether?

What will it do to Google’s WebM video codec and its adoption?

What industries will adopt it if any?

These are all questions that I’ll try to deal with in some of my next posts. As I don’t have all the answers here, if you have an opinion – feel free to contact me about a guest post regarding these or other questions related to H.265.

Source is
http://blog.radvision.com/voipsurvivor/2011/06/30/what-can-we-expect-from-h-265/

GoPro launches the HD Hero2 camera

Announced earlier today, GoPro released details on the launch of the HD Hero2 digital video camera. This camera is the successor to the HD Hero, a 5-megapixel camera that shot 1080p HD video. The HD Hero2 has been bumped up to 11-megapixels and can also shoot at eight or five megapixels to save on memory space. GoPro claims that the camera has an image processor that’s twice as fast at the original HD Hero. They also claim that the lens produces images that are twice at sharp. The HD Hero2 can shoot in multiple fields-of-view (FOV) including 170 degrees for widescreen, 127 degrees for a normal shot and 90 degrees for a narrow shot. It also has the same FOV capabilities for shooting video.

go-pro-hero2-burst-modeThe company also claims that the HD Hero2 has professional level low light performance for those shooting at dusk. While the original HD Hero could only shoot three 5-megapixel shots per second, the HD Hero2 is capable of shooting ten 11-megapixel shots per second. In addition, there’s a new time-lapse setting that can record a 11-megapixel photo every 0.5 seconds. Other new additions to the new model include a mini-HDMI port for viewing photos or videos on a high definition television, a language based interface instead of the numeric interface, multiple LED lights on all sides of the camera and a 3.5mm stereo microphone input for plugging in an external microphone.

Similar to the previous model, the HD Hero2 is currently available in three different packages dependent on the usage. The packages include the Outdoor edition with a head / helmet straps for activities like mountain biking, the Motosports edition with suction cups / buckles and the Surf edition with surfboard mount. All packages are priced at $299.99 and comes with a 30-day return policy if the camera doesn’t perform well enough for the activity.



Source is
http://www.digitaltrends.com/photography/gopro-launches-the-hd-hero2-camera/

Meet Shelby, Your Personalized Channel For Web Video

There are plenty of videos on the Internet. YouTube users alone upload 8 years of video every day. What the web needs is a service that helps organize them.

Shelby.tv hopes to provide that service. The startup is launching a web video player Monday that collects content your friends share on your Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr into one stream.

Instead of watching video on a small square within a large YouTube page, which can be surrounded by less-than-tasteful comments from strangers, you watch it in full-screen mode and within the context of your friends’ recommendations. You can watch the stream consistently — like TV — without searching or clicking, or you can reorder and delete videos. If you like a video, you can save it to a personal favorites feed.

“I don’t watch TV unless a friend says, ‘You have to see this show,’” says cofounder Reece Pacheco. “We’re trying to bring the same strength as word of mouth to web video.”

The startup, a graduate of TechStars’ inaugural New York class, is also launching an iPhone and iPad app Monday. The app is similar to the browser version, but portable. Pacheco says that he, for instance, sometimes watches Shelby.tv on his iPad while he’s brushing his teeth.

Despite this habit, Pacheco says the goal of Shelby.tv is not to get people to watch more web video, but to help them more easily find relevant web video. Eventually, the company plans to add “smart video” features, recommendations based on friends’ favorites, email notifications that alert you when someone watches your video and feeds that reorder themselves based on your past behavior. The player already notes and removes duplicate videos.

Shelby.tv isn’t the only startup that has these goals. VHX is a similar social web video platform that, like Shelby.tv, has a bookmark that can be used to add video from all over the web. In addition to scoping out videos in social feeds, it has users follow each other directly on the platform in order to share videos. iPad app Plizy builds you a personalized video stream based on your behavior on Facebook and Twitter.

At this point, the most obvious difference between Shelby.tv and others who are attempting similar hands-free socially curated web video is the experience they’ve each created — a point that goes back to why the team decided to name their product “Shelby” in the first place. The name comes from a sports car called the “Shelby Cobra.”

“It’s fast, powerful, sexy, cool,” Pacheco says. “That’s us.”


Source is
http://mashable.com/2011/10/24/meet-shelby-your-personalized-channel-for-web-video/

Social media’s power to amplify TV programming

Social media platforms are providing TV networks with new screens to program to drive even greater engagement and advertiser benefit. MTV and VH1 were two of the first brands that locked arms with social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and as a result, we’ve seen the tremendous additive value that social media can provide in turning casual viewers into passionate superfan ambassadors for our shows and brands.

Today’s audiences do not distinguish content as either pure digital or television. They’re living in a hyperconnected world in which they are watching TV while simultaneously interacting via their smartphones, tablet devices and laptops. We regard social media as another screen to program, and just like with television, quality content is key to social success. We have grown our social graph tremendously by staying committed to continually creating compelling multiplatform content that propels fan interaction and sharing.

We know that social media can amplify the proverbial “watercooler” chatter into a real-time global conversation. However, you can’t rely solely on social media to drive this message. You have to create the ecosystem for the conversation to take place. We’ve embraced this behavior and have created cross-platform second screen co-viewing experiences MTV’s WatchWith and VH1’s CoStar. These provide an additive and complementary experience to the primary television viewing for series as well as tent-pole events. Unlike outside developers and platforms, when it comes to our shows and tent-poles, we’re armed with the knowledge of what happens next. Having this advantage enables us to tailor and program content to viewers in tandem with the storyline unfolding on television. The goal here is to turn each episode into a can’t-miss event where our co-viewing experiences are facilitating the conversation and information exchange, while simultaneously delighting the audience.

With larger tent-pole events like MTV Video Music Awards or VH1 Divas, we’ve designed more robust, full cross-platform takeover experiences that provide fans with multiple points of entry. For example, with this year’s VMAs, we produced an entire lean-forward second screen co-viewing platform across web and mobile where fans can activate their own experience including selecting their own camera angle, such as a backstage or audience view, to being part of the conversation via our Twitter Tracker. Additional lean-forward activities at the VMAs this year included providing fans the tools to share video content across their social graph, send congratulatory tweets to winners, and view a live map of artists tweeting from their seats. This isn’t cheap and takes investment at every level. The payoff, however, was huge as the event ranked as the most tweeted-about award show of all time, as well as MTV’s most watched broadcast ever.

As early pioneers, we’ve accrued a myriad of best-practice learnings that we eagerly share with our partners in order to help them grow their own social graph. We have been leaders in creating partner awareness and engagement across all platforms in the form of premium ad products. We’re now exploring ways in which to create an ad experience that syncs up across multiple screens to create a whole new level of partner awareness and engagement.

Measuring the correlation between ratings and social buzz is clearly top-of-mind. We’re encouraged to see social activity drive traffic to new platforms, and pleased at the recent reports that social buzz drives ratings. While it’s not an exact science by any means, it is infinitely clear is that social buzz delivers awareness and builds brand affinity. In such a crowded marketplace, that in itself is exciting and worth the continued investment. In the end, regardless of the platforms you build, or partnerships you make, you have to ensure you are producing high quality content. This is the only way to ensure your audience will continue to discover, interact and share with your brand with their social graph.

Source is
http://gigaom.com/video/frank-on-social-media-in-tv-programming/

Five Android Giants Will Steal Apple iPhone 4S Thunder

Apple Inc. received an overwhelming response from all around the world for iPhone 4S. Apple iPhone 4S is expected to face competition from Android devices like Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Motorola Droid RAZR, HTC EVO Design 4G, Motorola Atrix 2 and Samsung Captivate Glide.

Apple Inc. took the wraps off the iPhone 4's sequel earlier this month. Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S started on Oct. 7 and has since registered 1 million units on the first day, surpassing the previous single-day record of 600,000 for the iPhone 4. Apple said it has sold 4 million units of the iPhone 4S during the opening weekend.

iPhone 4S comes in either black or white and features some important upgrades that were rumored to be a part of the imaginary iPhone 5. The main features that adorn iPhone 4S are: 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, an Apple A5 chipset, an 8-megapixel LED-flash camera with 1080p HD video recording and a secondary VGA front-facing camera for video chat.

Apple's latest smartphone also has a 3.5-inch TFT Retina multi-touch display and is loaded with Apple's latest operating system, iOS 5. In addition, the phone comes with alternating antennae for better call reception, CDMA and GSM support, a personal assistant called Siri, iCloud and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology.

The smartphone is available in the U.S. for a suggested retail price of $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model and $399 for the new 64GB model.

Here is a list of the top smartphones which can give iPhone 4S a run for its money:

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Samsung and Google Inc. introduced the Galaxy Nexus at an event in Hong Kong on Wednesday. The smartphone was scheduled to be launched last week, but was postponed as a tribute to the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

The smartphone was also known as Samsung Google Nexus Prime, Samsung Google Galaxy Nexus I9250, Samsung Google Nexus 3, and Samsung Google Nexus 4G.

Loaded with a dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, TI OMAP 4460 chipset, Samsung's new device touts a 4.65-inch high-definition "super" AMOLED display with a pixel density of about 315 ppi. It also has a face recognition function to unlock the phone.

Galaxy Nexus, the first LTE-enabled smartphone to feature Ice Cream Sandwich, has 1 GB of RAM and 16 or 32 GB of internal memory, as per users' choice. It comes with a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls. The phone also features an accelerometer, compass, gyro sensor, light sensor, proximity sensor and barometer lurking in there as well.

The phone comes in 135.5 x 67.94 x 8.94 mm dimension and weighs 135 grams. The additional features include Bluetooth 3.0 version with A2DP, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, HTML, 4G LTE, HSPA+ versions, NFC support, advanced noise cancellation with dedicated mic, MP4/H.264/H.263 player, MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3 player, Adobe Flash support, Voice memo/dial/commands, microUSB 2.0 version, A-GPS support and comes with Li-Ion 1750 mAh standard battery.