My picks from audio and video trends for 2016:
Smartphone have increased screen sizes and have finally become mobile TVs: Smartphones have overtaken the tablets as the most popular mobile device for viewing videos. The most watched content were targeted at teenagers videos and animation series for children.
Smartphone cameras are great, or at least close enough to great that you don’t notice the difference. We’ve reached the point where you’ve got to work pretty hard to find a phone with a mediocre camera. Compared to a DSLR, smart phone cameras are lousy because they use tiny sensors, but still the camera in your pocket is crazy good considering the limitations manufacturers work under. The vast majority of top-tier smartphones use Sony sensors for their main cameras. The molded plastic lens elements in many cameras have reached the point where they’re essentially perfect. Smart phones are already deployed in many newsrooms for mobile journalism video shooting as it is easier (and cheaper) to learn how to film and edit on your phone than it is to use a big camera.
For new smart phone camera technologies you could see array of lenses to enable Lytro-like refocusing, create 3-D depth maps, and improve image quality in low light. In many cases smart phone cameras and DSLR are complimentary: Although the smartphones have decimated the point-and-shoot segment, sales of DSLR and other high-end rigs remain.
Live streaming video from smart phone becomes mainstream. Periscope was one of the first apps to really make live streaming events simple and easy enough that people wanted to do it. Many other apps are following the trend. Facebook begins testing live video streaming for all users.
Drone videography will ger more popular as drones become more popular. Many people will learn basic and creative aerial filming techniques for drone video cameras.
Whether or not the 2016 International CES holds any big surprises remains to be seen. This year’s CES will focus on how connectivity is proliferating everything from cars to homes, realigning diverse markets. It is quite probable that 4K TV will be big at this years’ CES show due to growing demand and falling prices. 4K becomes mainstream in 2016. CES will also have some 8K sets, though the market for 8K is at least five years away if not more (Tokyo Olympics in 2020 may be broadcast in 8K). Some new display technology is coming. LG has already demoed rollable 55, 66 and 77-inch OLED-based panels. Avegant’s Glyph technology literally beams video content onto your retinas. Analysts Predict CES 2016 Trends article gives you more ideas what to expect.
We can finally declare that 3D image in TV was a flop. Five years ago, it was estimated that the 3D technique can occupy the rapid pace of living cinemas addition. Then slowed different with technologies. But why the technology is virtually failed even though every new TV set has been added to display the 3D image as an option? Analysts said some people lack the ability to stereoscopic vision and for many, the 3D image caused eyestrain or nausea. Stereo image is to be left to various virtual reality applications.
After a year in which the weakness of smart TVs were exploited, Samsung goes on the offensive in 2016. Samsung’s new Tizen-based TVs will have GAIA security with pin lock for credit card and other personal info, data encryption, built-in anti-malware system, more. Samsung’s betting big on the internet of things and wants the TV to sit at the heart of this strategy. Samsung believes that people will want to activate their lights, heating and garage doors all from the comfort of their couch. If smart TVs get a reputation for being easy to hack, then Samsung’s models are hardly likely to be big sellers.
Whole TV industry need to go through a major transition as in most major developed markets, TV growth is slowing and in some cases stagnating. TV will account for 38.4 percent of the $503 billion global ad market in and will drop to 38 percent of the market in 2016. Digital ad spending will overtake TV as biggest category by 2017 or 2018.
Streaming video will be big in 2016. Almost all of the networks are streaming their content and streaming media is going mainstream fast. Third, 15% of American adults report they have become “cord cutters” – meaning they have abandoned paid cable or satellite television service. Many of these cord cutters say that the availability of televised content from the internet and other sources is a factor in their move away from subscription television services.
There seems to be a strong nostalgic audio trend going in. Whether it’s a sweet portable record player, a tabletop wooden radio or a full-size jukebox, the market for vintage-inspired electronics remains strong. Aside from record players, the vintage trend carries over to radios and speakers.
It seems that Americans were willing to spend on vinyl records. Nielsen numbers show that vinyl record sales rose 260 percent between 2009 and 2014, and sales for 2015 are on track to beat 2014’s total vinyl sales of 9.2 million units. Vinyl records generated more revenue in the first half of 2015 than free-to-use streaming services, but that’s not the full story. Despite vinyl sales increase it’s clear that the future of the music industry is digital. Total revenues from the digital music sector is expected to rise while physical sales will drop. Future is filled with streaming music services – both subscription services and free.
On the other end of audio spectrum High resolution audio tries to push to market at CES (again). Hi-Res Audio is the fastest growing category in music. Apple Music is planning to launch new its Hi-Res music streaming in 2016.
W3C group formed in the summer of 2015 a new working group: The Music Notation Community Group consists of representatives from some of the biggest names in the music notation software business who’ve come together to create a standardised way to display western music notation in your browser. It believes are achievable goals that can be met in 2016.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
AT&T:
AT&T announces a half-stock, half-cash deal to acquire Time Warner, valuing the company at $85.4B — – New company with complementary strengths to lead the next wave of innovation in converging media and communications industry. —Combination unlike any other …
AT&T to Acquire Time Warner
http://about.att.com/story/att_to_acquire_time_warner.html
New company with complementary strengths to lead the next wave of innovation in converging media and communications industry.
-Combination unlike any other — the world’s best premium content with the networks to deliver it to every screen, however customers want it
-The future of video is mobile and the future of mobile is video
-Time Warner is a global leader in creating premium content, has the largest film/TV studio in world and an unrivaled library of entertainment
-AT&T has unmatched direct-to-customer distribution across TV, mobile and broadband in the U.S., mobile in Mexico and TV in Latin America
Combined company positioned to create new customer choices — from content creation and distribution to a mobile-first experience that’s personal and social
New York Times:
AT&T-Time Warner deal will likely face tougher regulatory scrutiny and higher political hurdles than earlier Comcast-NBCUniversal deal — A cable and internet provider decides to buy an entertainment conglomerate. — The merger is met with skepticism by industry analysts and outrage …
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/business/dealbook/regulatory-microscope-lies-ahead-for-att-and-time-warner.html
Peter Kafka / Recode:
Why AT&T would want to buy Time Warner: content packaged with data connections, a shrinking DirecTV business, and competition with Verizon, Facebook, and Google — AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson is busy, so we’ll answer for him. — More than 16 years ago, AOL bought Time Warner for $160 billion …
http://www.recode.net/2016/10/21/13358928/time-warner-att-deal
Kara Swisher / Recode:
Resistance from Time Warner execs like Jeff Bewkes, head of HBO at the time, doomed the AOL merger, which raises questions about the prospects of the AT&T deal — The 2000 merger with AOL made Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes nauseated, so what’s different now? — In the end, I guess you could finally say Steve Case was right.
http://www.recode.net/2016/10/23/13369308/aol-time-warner-att-deal-history
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix CEO jokes that the future of entertainment could be drugs
That brings new meaning to “Netflix and chill.”
https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/25/netflix-ceo-jokes-wsjdlive/
Netflix is one of the most successful entertainment companies in the world, and it did so by constantly looking for ways to reach people. CEO Reed Hastings said in an WSJD Live interview that in the early days, they licked envelopes for DVD-by-mail, slowly transitioned to streaming, and then started to make their own content when they couldn’t get what they wanted from studios. So what does the future hold? Well, Hastings said it could be VR, it could be gaming, or it could be, uh, pharmacological.
“If the source of human entertainment in thirty or forty years is pharmacological we’ll be in real trouble.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Movidius to Push AI at Edge of Network
Surveillance camera deal with Hikvision
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330663&
Movidius, a leading embedded computer-vision processor company, soon to be acquired by Intel Corp., has agreed with China’s Hikvision to penetrate artificial intelligence (AI) deeper into surveillance cameras.
The deal put Movidius in a direct contact with Hikvision (pronounced high-K vision), a Chinese company not only known as a major factor globally in the surveillance market, but also for its expertise in advanced visual analytics.
In a phone interview with EE Times, Movidius CEO, Remi El-Ouazzane, said, “Deploying Artificial Intelligence at the edge [of the network] is becoming a massive trend.”
Movidius, which has played a key role behind Google’s Project Tango, has been promoting its ultra low-power vision processing SoC in a number of embedded systems. The company has set its sights on accelerating the adoption of deep learning in a host of applications, including security cameras, drones and augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR), as El-Ouazzane explained.
Ranked No.1 in scene classification at ImageNet 2016
The deal with Hikvision is geared toward driving Movidius’ embedded vision processor into the world of security cameras.
Sense, assess and decide
Embedded systems, capable of actions such as “to sense, assess and decide,” will only grow further, explained Movidius CEO El-Ouazzane.
Along with this growth, the industry has an increasing number of tech companies “trying to attack ‘Deep Learning’ from different layers and come up with new SoC platforms,” he observed.
Considering the performance level required for neural network applications in a power-constrained environment, embedded vision processing needs a special, purpose-built architecture, El-Ouazzane explained. This trend is amplified by Moore’s Law which has recently shown signs of slowing down, he added.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Death To The 3.5mm Audio Jack, Long Live Wireless
http://hackaday.com/2016/10/25/death-to-the-3-5mm-audio-jack-long-live-wireless/
There’s been a lot of fuss over Apple’s move to ditch the traditional audio jack. As for me, I hope I never have to plug in another headphone cable. This may come off as gleeful dancing on the gravesite of my enemy before the hole has even been dug; it kind of is. The jack has always been a pain point in my devices. Maybe I’ve just been unlucky. Money was tight growing up. I would save up for a nice set of headphones or an mp3 player only to have the jack go out. It was a clear betrayal and ever since I’ve regarded them with suspicion. Is this the best we could do?
I can’t think of a single good reason not to immediately start dumping the headphone jack. Sure it’s one of the few global standards. Sure it’s simple, but I’m willing to take bets that very few people will miss the era of the 3.5mm audio jack once it’s over. It’s a global episode of the sunk cost fallacy.
In the usual way hindsight is 20/20, the 3.5mm audio jack can be looked at as a workaround, a stop over until we didn’t need it. It appears to be an historic kludge of hack upon hack until something better comes along. When was the last time it was common to hook an Ethernet cable into a laptop?
Let’s say you had to design a consumer facing device that goes in someone’s pocket. A pocket is dusty. It’s moist and sweaty. You know your stuff so you’re already thinking about gaskets and IP ratings. Then someone hands you the spec sheet. They let you know that they want you to drill a hole right in it and put an unserviceable deep hole in the case. Now rinse repeat for every portable device on the planet and it seems like an odd mass hallucination.
There is no good way to seal or maintain a 3.5mm headphone jack. Some phone makers have tried by adding a little gasket or a flap, but this doesn’t last.
Next comes cable strain. People like to complain about how the iPhone earbuds would constantly break at the joint. This is true, and other brands had better strain relief.
the audio connector was designed to be easily inserted inside a switch board room. It would see no dramatic force on it. So it’s a tall connector that is easy to hold and easy to use. It also is supposed to be a low insertion force connector. So it’s unreasonable to expect it to be able to hold a cable in place reliably.
Right now there is still a difference in sound quality between Bluetooth and wired. There’s no reason to expect it to last long. Bluetooth is now capable of some seriously impressive bandwidth and with an actual market erupting for the headsets, it won’t be long before this is a moot point.
There’s a big argument for the sound quality aspect of the 3.5mm headphone jack. I think that, frankly, most of them make no sense against the transition.
Plus, it’s not like switching to a wireless standard is going to absolutely kill the wired headphone market. You’ll still be able to get wired headphones for when the wire matters. People who are paying a hundred dollars plus for quality sound out of a wired headset will still have their toys. That market is very far from death. People who were paying ten bucks for whatever are not going to notice at all.
Transition:
So how do we transition? Well, the first step is done. Have a big player finally give up on the port. It’s time. But what about all the things that are nice about corded headphones? The global standard?
What if your headphones just had a USB C port on one end and you could plug the cable of choice right into your mobile.
Laptops could definitely simultaneously charge and play.
All the LEGO pieces are there, we just need to build the spaceship.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ask Hackaday: Does Apple Know Jack About Headphones?
http://hackaday.com/2016/07/15/ask-hackaday-does-apple-know-jack-about-headphones/
The humble phone jack may well be the oldest electrical connector still in common use. The original ¼” (6.35mm) jacks were developed back in 1878. They were used as patch connections in manual telephone switchboards.
The ⅛” (3.5mm) miniature jack and the 3/32” (2.5mm) sub-miniature versions appeared in the 1960’s on transistor radios. In 1979, the Sony Walkman made the stereo ⅛” phone jack a common consumer standard.
As connectors go, they’re not half bad. Phone jacks are orientation agnostic, and can rotate without breaking connection.
Thinner and thinner phones have created lower profile sockets.
The ⅛” hole is a highway to a phone’s internals for dust, water, or anything else you don’t want getting into your phone
So if phone companies are going away from the classic ⅛” phone jack, what options do we have?
USB Type-C: USB-C allows for digital audio at 44 or 96 kHz using a headphone mounted DAC. The connector also allows for analog stereo audio through the sideband pins.
Lightning: Apple’s Lightning supports digital audio at 48 kHz, but does not support analog audio.
Bluetooth: These days every phone has the option of Bluetooth audio, however Bluetooth has a reputation for terrible audio quality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
When BirdCam Goes Mainstream
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/when-birdcam-goes-mainstream
I originally set up BirdCam a few years ago, you’ll remember I did it with compatibility in mind. At the time of this writing, BirdCam is simply an HTML page with the JavaScript language to refresh the images constantly, in order to create a low-fps video stream of sorts.
My goal is to get BirdCam to stream a live video to YouTube Live, so it can be embedded on Web sites, viewed on mobile devices and even “tuned in” via Roku or Fire TV. I tried in vain to get ffmpeg and/or VLC to stream video to YouTube from the command line, but I couldn’t ever get it working reliably. I haven’t given up hope, but until then, I’m planning to play with Open Broadcaster Studio.
It’s an open-source, cross-platform studio package that allows you to put multiple video streams, text boxes and still images into a single window that is encoded and streamed to YouTube.
If you want to play around with streaming live to YouTube, check out the awesome open-source studio software
https://obsproject.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Projection Mapping in Motion Amazes
http://hackaday.com/2016/10/30/projection-mapping-in-motion-amazes/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forget Wifi or Bluetooth, Pair Directly With Your Phone’s Speaker
http://hackaday.com/2016/10/30/forget-wifi-or-bluetooth-pair-directly-with-your-phones-speaker/
[Kedar Nimbalkar] hyperbolically advertises the ultimate cell phone speaker dock. It costs a dollar. It doesn’t need you to pair with it via Bluetooth or WiFi. It pairs extremely fast, 0.000000000001, he clarifies. It may also look like a broken laptop speaker with a stomped wall wart soldered to it, but who can keep up with industrial design trends these days?
Of course, there’s not much to the trick. Since the cellphone speaker is a coil it can induce a small current in another coil. The resulting voltage can be picked up by an audio amplifier and played through the speakers.
DIY Induction Wireless Speakers No Bluetooth or Wifi Connect’s in 0.01 Seconds!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXQQFXG2uHA
Tomi Engdahl says:
TV shows could use ultrasound to send bonus extras to your phone
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23230952-900-tv-shows-could-use-ultrasound-to-send-bonus-extras-to-your-phone/
HEAR that high-pitched ringing? No, me neither. But such sounds at low volume can now be used to deliver bonus television content to your cellphone or tablet.
The system uses your TV’s speakers to play data-filled tones alongside whatever you are watching. You won’t notice a difference, but the microphone on your smartphone will, picking up additional content streamed alongside the main event. “This can make television interactive,” says Tae.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Mendelsohn / Ars Technica:
Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court rules that all drone cameras count as surveillance devices and can only be used with special filming permit — Only cops and users with special filming permits can attach cams to drones. — Cameras attached to drones fall foul of Sweden’s strict surveillance laws …
Sweden’s highest court bans drones with cameras
Only cops and users with special filming permits can attach cams to drones.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/10/camera-spy-drones-banned-sweden-highest-court/
Cameras attached to drones fall foul of Sweden’s strict surveillance laws, the country’s highest court has ruled by slapping an outright ban on drone filming—unless the kit is used by a law enforcement agency or an expensive permit has been issued.
The Supreme Administrative Court of Sweden ruled that all drone cameras count as surveillance devices, and that they can now only be used to prevent crime or accidents. In a linked ruling, it decided that car- or bike-mounted cameras are legally fine.
The difference? A camera mounted on a helmet or handlebars, or behind a windshield, goes where its owner goes, but as drones are remotely operated, this means they are capable of spying on things that are otherwise out of sight of their pilot, and are therefore illegal.
The move has upset Swedish drone users
The ruling will prevent drones being used in nature photography, racing, weddings, and journalism. Private operators who want to use cameras attached to drones will have to apply for a special filming permit from local government to prove that they’re monitoring their own property.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Deep neural network processing comes to security cameras
http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2016/10/deep-neural-network-processing-comes-to-security-cameras.html?cmpid=VSDTopicR10312016&eid=289644432&bid=1573164
Embedded vision company Movidius has announced a partnership with the world’s largest IP security camera provider, Hikvision, to bring deep neural network technology to the company’s cameras to perform much higher accuracy video analytics locally.
As part of the deal, Hikvision’s cameras will be powered by the Movidius Myriad 2 vision processing unit (VPU). Myriad 2 features a configuration of 12 programmable vector cores, which allows users to implement custom algorithms. The VPU offers TeraFLOPS (trillions of floating point operations per second) of performance within a 1 Watt power envelope. It features a built-in image signal processor and hardware accelerators, and offloads all vision-related tasks from a device’s CPU and GPU.
“Advances in artificial intelligence are revolutionizing the way we think about personal and public security” says Movidius CEO, Remi El-Ouazzane “The ability to automatically process video in real-time to detect anomalies will have a large impact on the way cities infrastructure are being used. We’re delighted to partner with Hikvision to deploy smarter camera networks and contribute to creating safer communities, better transit hubs and more efficient business operations.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
AV cable recommendations for HDBaseT
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2016/10/cable-for-hdbaset.html?cmpid=enl_CIM_CablingInstallationMaintenanceDataCenterNewsletter_2016-10-31&[email protected]&eid=289644432&bid=1573049
Large-format displays are changing the digital-media/digital-display landscape. Increasing display size for audiences in classrooms, hospitals, hotels, and the enterprise is driving the need for higher-resolution, moving beyond today’s high of 1080p. Ultra-high-definition video with 4K and even 8K resolution is regarded as the next standard, with 4K delivering 2160p format at 3840×2160 pixel density.
HDMI cable alone is not an ideal solution for transmitting higher-resolution signals over longer distances. Long HDMI cables are heavy, inflexible, expensive and difficult to pull. Because of the large connectors, these cables are unfeasible for retrofit or upgrade projects in conduit applications.
Preterminated multi-conductor runners with active and passive wallplates, another method of AV connectivity, have many of the same issues when delivering high-resolution signals over long distances.
Overall, HDMI and muli-conductor runner solutions, while good for shorter lengths, are more expensive and troublesome when used over longer distances, especially when plenum-rated cable is required. For higher resolution over longer distances, HDBaseT technology that transmits HDMI signals over category-rated cable delivers the resolution needed for the distance required while minimizing costs, maintaining reliability, and making installation fast and easy.
HDBaseT is widely becoming adopted by installers as a reliable, plug-and-play HDMI extension method. With an HDBaseT AV Signal Extender you are able to turn a tested, certified datacom permanent link/channel into an IT/AV link/channel that is more reliable, flexible, and scalable than traditional HDMI cables or multi-conductor systems. And HDBaseT allows displays to be installed using the same materials and skills currently used for a LAN infrastructure, creating big opportunities and a new source of revenue for datacom installation experts.
When planning to deploy category-rated cable for an IT/AV link, it’s important to install the most appropriately rated cable for the performance desired. The HDBaseT Alliance specification lists Category 5e and Category 6 UTP cabling as supported media types. However, recent testing by Leviton revealed that Category 6A UTP cabling is the most ideal solution to support an IT/AV link.
Results:
Category 5e channels can carry HDBaseT 1.0 1080p signals in a point-to-point isolated channel
Category 5e channels do not support HDBaseT signals in high-density installations bundled with adjacent HDBaseT channels
When a Category 5e UTP channel is tested with one adjacent HDBaseT disturber, the HDBaseT extender attempts to connect, but never succeeds
Category 5e channels are not designed for 300-MHz signals and are not optimized for resistance to alien crosstalk
Testing with Category 6 UTP Cable
Results:
Even Category 6 UTP cable with increased margin over the ANSI/TIA standard is limited in carrying HDBaseT 1.0 signals when adjacent to other cables carrying HDBaseT signals
Category 6 channels are not designed for 300-MHz signals and are not optimized for resistance to alien crosstalk
Tomi Engdahl says:
Loupedeck
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/loupedeck-photography–4#/
new console device for Adobe Lightroom™
The hands-on and highly intuitive console replaces the mouse and keyboard, and it works seamlessly with Apple and PC operating systems.
Loupedeck™ is a console designed for people who edit their photographs and is targeted at hobbyists, serious amateurs and professional consumers. With digital photography, editing has become a vital part of producing a photograph.
The console makes your editing process easier, more efficient and more rewarding.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineering Investigations
Best Source for Low-Cost High-Quality Cables?
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=30&doc_id=1330682&
Even if you are happy employing low-cost cables for your hobby projects, would you use them for a commercial product?
When I was growing up, my dear old dad always told me to never buy a tool just because it was cheap. Instead, he said, it was well-worth paying whatever it took to get a high-quality tool that would serve me well for a long time. Of course, you must be careful here, because you can end up spending an inordinate amount of money for a “named” tool that is no better — or only incrementally better — than a mid-priced tool from a lesser-known manufacturer.
In many respects, the same considerations apply to electronic cables.
young sales lad did his very best to persuade me to lay out something ridiculous like $120 for what he claimed to be the world’s best HDMI cable offering.
Once I’d stopped laughing, I purchased a much cheaper brand that served me just as well.
And don’t even get me started talking about USB cables. You can easily splash out $20 or more for a mediocre offering
where I can pick up a new USB cable for just a couple of dollars.
case of “You pays your money and you makes your choice,” as the old saying goes.
You also need to consider what you are using your cables for. In my case, all I wanted was a single 8″ HDMI extender for a non-critical application. If there’s ever a problem, I can simply stop using it. But if I were creating multiple systems to be deployed in hostile environments to control million-dollar drones, for example, then I would be a lot more rigorous in my cable selection process
Tomi Engdahl says:
“HD voice” currently being held in 24-bit audio with a sampling frequency of 96 kilohertz. Just be simple, such definitions are not. – Directly bit quantities and sample frequencies can not have any indication of how a device sounds. The sound will be of course even today “destroyed” just as before. Poor earpiece, speaker or listening mode ruining any signal produced from high-quality electronic format.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5335:tamperelaispiirilla-huippuluokan-aanta&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Netatmo’s security camera Presence uses deep learning to spot intruders, animals, and cars, launching for $300 in US on November 17
Netatmo’s security camera Presence uses deep learning to spot intruders, animals, and cars
http://venturebeat.com/2016/11/02/2096578/
Netatmo is launching Presence — a smart outdoor security camera that will send you an alert if someone is loitering around your house. Presence is available now in the U.S. market for $300.
The product is one more piece of the smart home, which is expected to become a $71 billion market by 2018, according to Jupiter Research. Paris-based Netatmo unveiled Presence earlier this year, saying that the camera uses a deep-learning algorithm to detect people, cars, and animals that are within view.
Presence can detect if a car enters your driveway, if a pet wanders into your yard, or if a person walks onto your property. It notifies the user when something new is detected in the monitored area. Those notifications are customizable, as is the recording of incidents. Integrated floodlights turn on at night, and infrared LED lights allow for night watching. The product is compatible with IFTTT smart home technology, and video storage is free.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Micah Singleton / The Verge:
Sources: YouTube Red has 1.5M subscribers with 1M signed up on a trial basis, underscoring the struggle of getting users to pay for a previously free service
YouTube is still having trouble getting people to pay for YouTube
YouTube Red only has 1.5 million paying subscribers as of late summer
http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/2/13498470/youtube-red-subscribers-video-content-music
When YouTube Red launched a year ago, the plan was for the service to grow into a competitor against the likes of Netflix and Hulu. Now, less than a year later, subscriber totals show that YouTube still has a long way to go before the public will accept paying a monthly fee for YouTube.
According to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, YouTube Red had 1.5 million paying subscribers as of late summer, with another 1 million users signed up on a trial basis (and not paying the monthly fee).
The numbers against YouTube: it’s the biggest video streaming service in the world and the biggest music streaming service in the world. As the leader in either of those categories, 1.5 million subscribers in the first year of a paid service isn’t great
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
NFL Films is producing an exclusive nine-part VR video series for YouTube and Google’s Daydream about life in and around the NFL, to debut November 24
The NFL is producing a virtual reality video series exclusively for Google
The videos will be available on YouTube and Google’s new VR headset, Daydream.
http://www.recode.net/2016/11/3/13506674/nfl-vr-google-youtube-daydream
If anything can bring virtual reality into the mainstream, it’s NFL football, right? Google sure hopes so.
The NFL announced on Thursday a new nine-part, virtual reality limited series for YouTube and Google’s new smartphone-powered VR headset, Daydream.
The series, which will be produced by the league’s film studio, NFL Films, will look at “life in and around the NFL — from players, to coaches, to executives, to cheerleaders, to the fans themselves — detailing how each prepares for game day,” the NFL outlined in a press release.
The deal is exclusive, which means these videos won’t live on other platforms, like those of Facebook’s Oculus Rift, for example.
Lots of people are starting to get into virtual reality content, including other pro sports leagues like the NBA. The NFL even tested some VR videos with Jaunt and NextVR around the Super Bowl.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android apps will soon be able to offer cheaper, introductory subscription prices
All in hopes you won’t cancel when the normal rate kicks in
http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/3/13511622/google-play-android-introductory-subscriptions
At its Playtime event for Android developers today, Google announced that apps on the Play Store will soon gain a new option that could have huge implications for subscriptions: temporary promotional pricing. “Coming soon, you’ll be able to create an introductory price for new subscribers for a set period of time,” Google’s Larissa Fontaine wrote in a blog post. “For example, you can offer a subscription for $1 per month for the first three months before the normal subscription price kicks in.”
There are many app categories where this could make a big difference. Music and video are certainly on that list; maybe cheaper introductory pricing could boost Google’s own struggling YouTube Red service, or help Spotify maintain its lead over Apple Music and other rivals.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Omron prototypes fixed spatial projection displays
http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/news/omron-prototypes-fixed-spatial-projection-displays
At electronica, Omron Electronic Components Europe will be exhibiting three spatial projection display prototypes, demonstrating what it calls Aerial Imaging technology where fixed signs can be made to appear floating in the air.
The Spatial Projection Display (SPD) technology consists in a transparent plate in which are embedded tens of thousands of Fresnel lenses via a micro-impression process. Light guides are also patterned through the plate, guiding the light from a single LED to the Fresnel lenses where light is refracted to produce a virtual image at a distance of the plate.
The image source appears floating above the transparent panel which could, in some instances be invisibly integrated into the ceiling or into a floor slab.
“This technology is still under development and is not in production yet, but we are running a pilot project in Japan and hope to bring this technology to Europe next year”
A sign placed two meters high could be seen from a 0 to 35º incident view angle, with a 75º viewing angle sideways, he claims. For now the “floating range” away from the transparent plate is only a few centimetres, but the company hopes to increase free-space distance by optimising it Fresnel designs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adobe Is Working On ‘Photoshop For Audio’ That Will Let You Add Words Someone Never Said
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/16/11/04/0457254/adobe-is-working-on-photoshop-for-audio-that-will-let-you-add-words-someone-never-said
Adobe is working on a new piece of software that would act like a Photoshop for audio, according to Adobe developer Zeyu Jin, who spoke at the Adobe MAX conference in San Diego, California today. The software is codenamed Project VoCo, and it’s not clear at this time when it will materialize as a commercial product. The standout feature, however, is the ability to add words not originally found in the audio file. Like Photoshop, Project VoCo is designed to be a state-of-the-art audio editing application.
Adobe is working on an audio app that lets you add words someone never said
Watch what you don’t say
http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/3/13514088/adobe-photoshop-audio-project-voco
An Adobe representative confirmed the project’s existence to The Verge, clarifying that it was shown off today as part of a sneak-peek program at the MAX conference. The project is currently in development as part of a collaboration between members of Adobe Research and Princeton University. News of Project VoCo was first reported by the art and design website Creative Bloq earlier today.
“When recording voiceovers, dialog, and narration, people would often like to change or insert a word or a few words due to either a mistake they made or simply because they would like to change part of the narrative,” reads an official Adobe statement. “We have developed a technology called Project VoCo in which you can simply type in the word or words that you would like to change or insert into the voiceover. The algorithm does the rest and makes it sound like the original speaker said those words.”
So similar to how Photoshop ushered in a new era of editing and image creation, this tool could transform how audio engineers work with sound, polish clips, and clean up recordings and podcasts.
Tomi Engdahl says:
40 years it took – VHS recorder died slowly away
VHS video recorder rose to the enormous success and even revolutionized watching TV.
Last VHS recorders manufacturer Funai has stopped production of new VHS equipment and you can’t buy them anymore.
Funai itself the matter still sold last year 750 thousand VHS tape recorder, so the demand for equipment might have been even more. However, the device is relatively complex electro-mechanical implementation that needs components that are no longer available.
VHS recorder was introduced in 1976, so it shuffled deck of 40 years of respectable age.
It was replaced the DVD technology, that is already being replaced with Nexflix and other on-line services.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5362:40-vuotta-se-kesti-vhs-nauhuri-kuoli-hiljalleen-pois&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
8K-video at 30 frames per second
CMOSIS from Austrian AMS Group has introduced a CMOS-based image sensor.
CMV50000 has 7920 x 6002 pixels (48 million pixels) and global shutter.
It means that all pixels exposed in one and the same time, as the previous CCD cells.
The pixel cell size is a 4.6 microns.
The cell signal can also be sampled 4K resolution, in which case a second can be captured as many as 60 frames.
There is now grayscale version of the CMV50000 available (CMV50000).
Color version gets samples by the end of the year.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5364:8k-kuvaa-30-ruutua-sekunnissa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
OFS receives TV’s Emmy award for ‘pioneering invention and deployment of fiber-optic cable’
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2016/11/ofs-receives-tv-s-emmy-award-for-pioneering-invention-and-deployment-of-fiber-optic-cable.html?cmpid=enl_CIM_CablingInstallationMaintenanceDataCenterNewsletter_2016-11-07
OFS, a global designer, manufacturer and supplier of fiber-optic networking technology, announced that it has been honored with a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for contributions toward the “Pioneering Invention and Deployment of Fiber Optic Cable.”
The Academy says that Emmy Awards for Technology and Engineering “are presented to companies for engineering developments so significant or innovative in nature that they materially affect the transmission, recording or reception of television.”
According to a press release, “The award to OFS recognizes the unique, groundbreaking and patented fiber-optic technology inventions by Bell Labs/Western Electric (OFS predecessor companies) and OFS’ role in continuing to develop game-changing technologies that have refined and enhanced the use of fiber-optic cable for broadcast television.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
GMK: Rethinking The Audio Jack
http://semiengineering.com/gmk-rethinking-the-audio-jack/
The lowly audio jack, taken for granted since the days of the transistor radio, is getting a lot of attention these days. Apple thought so little of it, in fact, that it eliminated it altogether with its iPhone 7, choosing to run analog signals through the power cable rather than keeping a separate audio jack. Now GMK, a fabless semiconductor startup in Korea, is taking the reverse approach—running power and digital communication through the audio jack.
Both are different takes on powerline communication
“The typical power line communication is 10 kilobits to 220 kilobits per second,” said Sean Ryu, chief operating officer at GMK. “We’ve increased the speed to 2 megabits per second.”
The advantage, according to Ryu, is that instead of passive earbuds connected to a smartphone, for example, this approach can provide noise cancellation without the need for a separate noise canceling headset. Unlike an audio jack, which is either on or off, this approach also allows audio communication to go into sleep mode and deep sleep mode.
“Today, a USB connection is the only possible option for data,” he said.
“Most of the information like body temperature and heartbeat are collected with a smart band or watch, but sometimes those devices don’t measure that very well,” said Ryu. “You can get correct information through an earphone. The same technology can be used in smart clothes, too.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Video Clarity Upgrades Real-Time Monitoring
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/11/video-clarity-upgrades-real-time-monitoring.html?cmpid=videotechnology1172016&eid=289644432&bid=1579190
Video Clarity announced the launch of RTM 3.0, the next generation of the company’s RTM real-time audio and video monitoring systems. RTM 3.0 contains three major updates: MPEG transport stream (TS) recording, IP-network packet-loss monitoring, and built-in uncompressed video playback while monitoring and testing are underway.
RTM 3.0 is intended for product developers, program originators, content networks, and TV, cable, satellite, and IPTV service providers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ericsson: Mobile Video Up 200 Hours a Year Since 2012
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/11/ericsson-mobile-video-up-200-hours-a-year-since-2012.html?cmpid=videotechnology1172016&eid=289644432&bid=1579190
According to the seventh edition of Ericsson’s (NASDAQ:ERIC) annual “ConsumerLab TV & Media Report,” while both mobile video and on-demand TV viewing have soared over the past seven years, content discovery remains a frustration for consumers.
The report indicates that average viewing times on mobile devices has grown by more than 200 hours a year since 2012, driving up overall TV and video viewing by an additional 1.5 hours a week. The surge in mobile viewing is offset with a decline in fixed screen viewing of 2.5 hours a week; however, the appetite for TV and video is not waning.
A major issue highlighted by the report is low consumer satisfaction when trying to find something to watch. Some 44% of U.S. consumers surveyed said they can’t find anything to watch on linear TV on a daily basis, an increase of 22% compared with last year (36%). In contrast, U.S. consumers spend 45% more time choosing what to watch on VOD services than linear TV.
The total viewing time of on-demand content – such as streamed TV series, movies and other TV programs – has increased 50% since 2010.
“Based on our extensive research, we can see consumers increasingly ask for seamless access to high quality TV and video content, across services and devices.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Harmonic to Show UltraHD HDR, OTT Delivery in Tokyo
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/11/harmonic-to-show-ultrahd-hdr-ott-delivery-in-tokyo.html?cmpid=videotechnology1172016&eid=289644432&bid=1579190
At Inter BEE 2016 in Tokyo, Harmonic (NASDAQ:HLIT) will demonstrate cloud-based delivery of OTT and UltraHD HDR video services, as well as solutions for bandwidth efficiency and video playout.
“In the Asia-Pacific market, UHD adoption is strong. In fact, a portion of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be broadcast in UHD and distributed over-the-top,” said Tony Berthaud, vice president, sales, Asia-Pacific at Harmonic. ”
“The latest innovations on display will include IP playout, cloud-native, UHD HDR and video compression optimization solutions.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Can Cable Maintain Video Quality Supremacy?
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/11/how-can-cable-maintain-video-quality-supremacy.html?cmpid=videotechnology1172016&eid=289644432&bid=1579190
Cable video competition has expanded to include over-the-top (OTT) providers like Sling, Hulu and Netflix, and hybrids like Layer 3 as some of these players begin to offer linear services. Cable is responding with new and improved user interfaces, and better content. But in every competitive market, a central question exists: Does cable really have a quality advantage that’s worth the price premium?
Features and content are tenuous fronts on which to battle. OTT operators have access to the same content, are acquiring exclusive deals and in many ways are freer to develop new features. Cable is not going to win in a price competition and would rather not have to compete on that front. But one critical area of differentiation where it can maintain a competitive edge is the quality of video it delivers.
Operators not only control content processing end to end, but also the pipes. This provides the opportunity to monitor and correct every part of the delivery process. However, as Internet pipes get faster and faster, they may be big and quick enough to allow any OTT provider to offer superior 4K quality.
Cable operators that distribute video to millions of subscribers are successfully centralizing and “gold-plating” ingest operations. Large operators are able to leverage national scale to absorb the associated costs.
Until recently, best practices in video ingest meant establishing national headends where national feeds could be received via satellite or fed via fiber to the operator’s encode site using mezzanine streams (20 Mpbs or so).
Video MPTSs and SPTSs for both HD and SD content are distributed through an operator’s backbone and regional network.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cloud DVR: The Future of Time-Shifted Video
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/11/cloud-dvr-the-future-of-time-shifted-viewing.html?cmpid=videotechnology1172016&eid=289644432&bid=1579190
Broadcast-centric set-top box DVR solutions have traditionally done an excellent job delivering time-shifted video viewing. However, with the viewing landscape currently shifting so quickly, it is time for industry players to consider a different option. Between the increased complexity of these customer premises equipment (CPE) units and the growing desire to enjoy an on-demand TV experience from a variety of screens, a better solution is necessary. The emergence of cloud DVR technology provides a possible answer.
Cloud DVR makes it technically and economically viable to host content recording and playback capabilities in the network. Using the cloud frees up the set-top from having to handle complex real-time file management, simplifying that CPE’s role. But perhaps the greatest benefit the technology provides is new service opportunities. These include personalization and monetization of the on-demand process. Having cloud DVR services accessible on such devices as PCs, tablets and smartphones, as well as traditional TVs, gives providers the ability to deliver features like content recommendations services on a variety of platforms.
The cloud DVR systems also offer other advanced capabilities, such as download-to-go (local storage of content on a consumer portable device) or download-to-own (same principle, with the purchase transaction) that aren’t user-friendly on set-tops, as side-loading is not convenient.
Happier viewers mean greater customer loyalty and Net Promoter Scores and lower customer turnover.
That said, it’s important to note that while a cloud DVR solution is useful in reducing CPE costs by eliminating storage hardware from the set-top, there are still expenditures that must be considered. The greatest outlay for the cloud DVR is the content delivery network (CDN) infrastructure. This is a necessary expense in order to ensure users can watch recorded content on the screen of their choice anywhere they choose. In addition, the new DVR system will still need network storage. That price tag will vary depending on both the recorded video content’s quality and resolution and the number of channels recorded. The CDN infrastructure, whether owned or leased, will have to support peak viewing
Tomi Engdahl says:
Piracy hits Premier League coverage in Poland
http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2016/11/07/piracy-hits-premier-league-coverage-poland/
Poland’s Canal+ Sport has reduced its coverage of Premier League games due to piracy in the UK.
Satkurier reports that this follows instances of illegal showing of Premier League games in pubs and other public establishments in the UK using nc+ decoders.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Weird Al Yankovic Explains Autotune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aShimWnbiu4
Tomi Engdahl says:
SCTE OKs Codec, Voice Standards
http://btreport.net/articles/2016/11/scte-oks-codec-voice-standards.html?cmpid=enlmobile11102016
The SCTE has approved several standards around audio/video codecs and voice services.
All six standards are available at http://www.scte.org/SCTE/Standards/Download/SCTE/Standards/Download_SCTE_Standards.aspx.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Music Taps Big Data to Build a Robot DJ Mind-Reader
https://www.wired.com/2016/11/google-music-taps-big-data-build-robot-dj-mind-reader/
Other than maybe the NSA, nobody knows more about you than Google. It’s got a read on where you are, what you’re doing, what you’re thinking and watching and searching for and chatting with your friends about. Which means nobody should be better equipped to soundtrack every second of your life than Google Play Music. Starting today, the company’s taking full advantage of its smarts to deliver you the sounds you want, when you want them. All you have to do is press play.
Next time you open Google Play Music on any device, the first thing you’ll see is a list of playlists you might like, plus a short description for why the app made any given selection. If you’re at work, and it’s raining, maybe you get some ambient piano to help you focus the afternoon away. Just got home, pouring some wine? Sunset music. Friday night, you’re at a bar? EDM all night. It’s a bit like Google Now, the predictive feed of everything you probably want to know about right now, except fully focused on music. Think of it as a super-smart, hyper-personalized set of radio station presets. Just open the app, tap one, and go.
To do all this, the Play Music team is tapping into the full Google Data Machine for the first time. It’s choosing playlists by looking at the music you’ve listened to before, of course, but also your search history, your YouTube plays, even what’s in your email and calendar.
Google thinks that it has something like a complete picture of your life at all times. And it knows enough about music to know what you might want to hear as a result.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s new PhotoScan app makes it easy to digitize old prints
Google Photos is also getting a host of more advanced image-editing tools.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/15/google-photos-photoscan-app-editing-tools/
On the surface, Google Photos has a simple mission: to store all your pictures. Specifically, Google says it wants the service to be a home for all of your photos, and today that mission expanded to encompass the old photos you took on a point-and-shoot back in the ’90s. The company just released an app called PhotoScan for iOS and Android, and it promises to make preserving the memories in your old printed photos much easier.
PhotoScan is definitely the star of the show, though. According to engineers from Google who showed the app to the press today, PhotoScan improves on the old “photo of a photo” technique that many now use to quickly get a digital copy of old prints. It’s also a lot cheaper than sending pictures out to be scanned by a professional, not to mention faster and more convenient than using a flatbed scanner.
When you open up the PhotoScan app, you’re prompted to line up your picture within a border. Once you have the picture aligned, pressing the scan button will activate your phone’s flash and start the process of getting a high-quality representation of the photo. Four white circles will appear in different quadrants of the image. You’ll be prompted to move your phone over each dot until it turns blue; once all four dots are scanned, the app pulls together the final image.
When moving the phone to scan each dot, the app is taking multiple images of the picture from different angles to effectively eliminate light glare — something Google cited as the biggest culprit in ruining digital pictures of photo prints.
The app also lets you adjust the crop to remove any hint of the background surface peeking into the photo, but it’s otherwise a pretty minimal experience.
PhotoScan
https://www.google.com/photos/scan/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony and Bosch connecting video systems
Sony and Bosch Security Systems join forces in digital video systems security area. The new solutions are included in Sony’s camera expertise, as well as Bosch video analytics n and associated data transfer solutions.
Companies aim to set new standards in high resolution, as well as take place in poor lighting conditions the video treatment. The agreement will come into force at the beginning of 2017.
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/11/17/sony-bosch-yhdistavat-videojarjestelmat/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bullet Movies
Using red, green, and blue LEDs to capture short movies of very fast objects
https://hackaday.io/project/18138-bullet-movies
“Still” bullet photography has traditionally been done with an open camera shutter and fast gas-discharge flash lamps. Recently, LEDs have become bright enough to perform the same function. I’m taking this one step further and using red, green, and blue LEDs to capture three instants in time in a single camera image, which can be reconstructed into three separate frames with a little linear algebra. Although RGB exposures like this were done (on film, with flashlamps and colored filters) in the 1960s, modern technology brings this within reach of the average hacker.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget:
Chromecast Ultra review: great 4K HDR streaming, but limited 4K content selection and marginal quality improvement over 1080p make $35 Chromecast a better value
Chromecast Ultra review: Better video quality comes at a cost
Your 4K TV probably has many of the same apps built in anyway.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/16/google-chromecast-ultra-review/
things have changed since the first Chromecast arrived in mid 2013. 4K TVs are becoming more and more commonplace while companies like Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and, yes, Google are battling to bring video to your living room. Also, if nothing else, just about every TV these days has built-in Netflix and YouTube apps. Into this crowded market comes the Chromecast Ultra, an update to the 2015 version that adds support for 4K high dynamic range (HDR) streaming.
The thing is, that extra feature doubles the price: The Chromecast Ultra comes in at $69. It’s no longer in impulse-buy territory for most people, so the question is: Does this improved video quality warrant a purchase?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Socionext Introduces 8K HEVC Real-Time Encoder Solution
http://socionextus.com/pressreleases/8k-hevc-real-time-encoder-solution/
Latest technology accelerates the popularization of super-high resolution video distribution
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN, NOVEMBER 10, 2016 – Socionext Inc., a leader in SoC-based solution for video and imaging systems, today introduced the world’s first solution that enables the encoding of HEVC/H.265 video at 8K/60p with a single board, by utilizing the company’s latest codec ICs. Socionext will start delivering the solution at the end of December. The solution will be showcased at InterBEE (International Broadcast Equipment Exhibition) 2016 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan from November 16 to 18.
Test broadcasting of 8K started in August 2016 in Japan and full service is scheduled for 2018. The virtual reality technology, which is seeing rapid growth in the global market, requires an 8K resolution. The current 4K resolution cannot support a full 360-degree wraparound view with adequate resolution. In the field of medical application, 8K is also considered essential for transmitting video images of surgical operations. However, in order to compress 8K video data down to the size which is practical for transmission or storage, the conventional method either took very long time for the entire process, or required to have a very large system with multiple processors, consuming a lot of power.
Tomi Engdahl says:
4K Netflix Arrives On Windows 10, But Only Via Microsoft’s Edge Browser
https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/11/21/2046251/4k-netflix-arrives-on-windows-10-but-only-via-microsofts-edge-browser
Netflix 4K streaming is finally heading to Windows PCs this week. While a number of TVs and set-top-boxes already support 4K Netflix streams, the PC has largely been left out of the high-quality streams due to piracy fears. Netflix is now supporting 4K streaming through Microsoft’s Edge browser, but you’ll need a new PC to actually make use of it. Netflix is only supporting 7th generation (Kaby Lake) Intel Core processors, and there aren’t many laptops that actually support both the 4K display required and the new Intel processors.
Microsoft is using the 4K Netflix support as a marketing effort for its Edge browser
4K Netflix arrives on Windows 10, but probably not for your PC
You’ll need the latest Intel processor
http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/21/13703152/netflix-4k-pc-windows-support
Content providers have strict controls for 4K playback, so that streams can’t be captured and redistributed illegally.
The latest hardware decryption features simply aren’t available on older Intel processors, and the new Kaby Lake chips now support 10-bit HEVC, a popular 4K video codec. So if you don’t have a new PC, you’ll have to wait until you need a hardware upgrade before you’ll be watching Netflix in 4K. Or, just buy a streaming stick like the Chromecast Ultra or the latest Roku to take advantage of Netflix in 4K.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pay TV’s Q3: Win Some, Lose Some
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/11/pay-tv-s-q3-win-some-lose-some.html?cmpid=videotechnology11212016&eid=289644432&bid=1594061
The pay TV industry’s quarterly numbers are (mostly) in, and they tend to indicate a continuation of years-long trends in the video space. Traditional providers are still losing subscribers, and OTT is still gaining them.
the trend lines are clear: Telcos are shedding the most video subs, followed by cable, whose losses seem to be stabilizing.
Overall, the U.S. pay TV industry today has nearly 94 million subscribers and about 82% penetration rate, but given ongoing trends, that can be expected to drop. Digital TV Research forecast in March that North American pay TV penetration will drop to 80% by 2021 from a peak of 87% in 2012.
In contrast, the OTT space is looking rosy, with subscription OTT video providers adding American subs in the millions. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) reported a gain of 480,000 U.S. subscribers in Q3 and more than 4 million on the year to date, for a total of nearly 46.5 million. Similarly, Hulu has reached 12 million subs, up from 9 million in the year-ago quarter, and Amazon Prime had some 63 million subs as of June, up from 44 million the year prior. However, some reports indicate that OTT growth is slowing, and the segment has churn rates of 20% or more
LRG: U.S. Pay TV Down 255,000 Subs in Q3
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/11/lrg-u-s-pay-tv-down-255-000-subs-in-q3.html?cmpid=videotechnology11212016&eid=289644432&bid=1594061
According to the Leichtman Research Group, the 11 largest pay TV providers in the United States – representing about 95% of the market – lost about 255,000 net video subscribers in 3Q 2016, compared to a loss of about 210,000 subscribers in 3Q 2015.
The top pay TV providers account for 93.65 million subscribers, with the top six cable companies having 48.8 million video subscribers, satellite TV companies having 34.4 million (including more than 900,000 from DISH’s Internet-delivered Sling TV), and the top telephone companies having 10.5 million.
“The top pay TV providers lost about 255,000 subscribers in this year’s third quarter, a cumulative total that was about 45,000 more than in last year’s third quarter,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ericsson: Mobile Video to Grow 50% a Year
http://www.btreport.net/articles/2016/11/ericsson-mobile-video-to-grow-50-a-year.html?cmpid=videotechnology11212016&eid=289644432&bid=1594061
According to Ericsson’s (NASDAQ:ERIC) Mobility Report, mobile data traffic continues to grow, driven both by increased smartphone subscriptions and a continued increase in average data volume per subscription, fueled primarily by more viewing of video content. In Q3 2016, data traffic grew around 10% quarter-on-quarter and 50% year-on-year.
Ericsson forecasts mobile video traffic to grow by around 50% annually through 2022, to account for nearly 75% of all mobile data traffic. Social networking is the second biggest data traffic type after video, forecast to grow by 39% annually over the coming six years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AV Connectivity and Infrastructure for the 21st Century Meeting Space
https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&partnerref=em1&eventid=1308533&sessionid=1&key=8910591BC72490FCA0ECFAD42A987716®Tag=&sourcepage=register
Ten years ago you didn’t have a smart phone, an interactive flat panel display or a tablet computer. Meeting and conference rooms weren’t prepared for the sudden explosion of high definition sources, teleconferencing communications and mobile device integration. Imagine how much productivity your organization lost trying to use 20th Century VGA analog connectors and outdated displays that make every presentation an eye chart in the competitive 21st Century marketplace. Making good choices in scalable AV connectivity and infrastructure is critical to getting the maximum return on your wiring investment.
core of next generation unified communication and collaboration spaces, including HDBaseT, USB, DisplayPort and HDMI
the growth of BYOD, parse wireless and wired infrastructure options
Tomi Engdahl says:
Radio Free Linux
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/radio-free-linux?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+linuxjournalcom+%28Linux+Journal+-+The+Original+Magazine+of+the+Linux+Community%29
You would have a difficult time today finding a radio station that was all-live and did not have some kind of computerized, automated means of storing and playing audio.
In a bygone era, hands-on media management of records and tape cartridges (“carts”) was the way of the world. Through the years, turntables, CD players and “cart decks” gave way to mechanized playback of content by banks of reel-to-reel machines under crude sequential control. The earliest fully computerized “audio on hard drive” systems for radio stations and networks ran generally under DOS, evolving into the elaborate Windows-based systems in use everywhere today.
So What about Linux?
Do a web search for “Linux radio station”, and the pickings are slim indeed, with most sites promoting instead ham radio software or streaming audio players, and a handful devoted to setting up a streaming web radio station—including one such optimistic article in Linux Journal some 15 years ago
In and around the nation’s capital, actual over-the-air radio programming driven by Penguin power is a reality, and you already may be listening to it wherever you are.
Gleason’s handcrafted code includes the GlassSuite collection of audio tools for Icecast and HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), and what he calls “a slew of code” to perform audio format conversions whenever new audio is imported into the station’s audio library.
Today, there are three major broadcast operations based in Washington, DC, that employ Rivendell—Radio America Network, Salem Communications DC and Radio Free Asia—with listeners everywhere in both Eastern and Western hemispheres. This is not to say that Rivendell is available only to major players. Many smaller users have come to depend on Rivendell as well.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DVEO’s Jitter Box IP/IP
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/dveos-jitter-box-ipip
Telco TV/OTT and IPTV operators must deal with the fact that many IP transport streams are asynchronous. This makes the streams prone to poor video quality due to jitter if they are sent to Program Clock Reference (PCR)-compliant devices. A new corrective solution for this challenge is DVEO’s Jitter Box IP/IP, a low-power, Linux-based IP PCR jitter-correction appliance.
Designed for telco TV/OTT and IPTV operators, the Jitter Box IP/IP corrects the PCR in IP video transport streams so IP streams can be jitter-free and interoperate with PCR-sensitive devices, such as modulators, muxers, decoders and encapsulators.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Printed GoPro Toy Car Mount
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/24/3d-printed-gopro-toy-car-mount/
There’s been a spate of YouTube videos of people strapping GoPro cameras onto things recently. [Ruiz] at [Adafruit] is looking to contribute to this trend with this tutorial on 3D printing a GoPro Session toy car mount. The entire toy car mount is 3D printed, except for the axles, which are made of the unprinted filament with melted ends to hold the wheels in place.
https://learn.adafruit.com/hot-wheels-gopro-3d-printed-car-mount/overview
Tomi Engdahl says:
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Google and its TV and speaker hardware partners are phasing out Google Cast branding in favor of “Chromecast built-in” — Innovating in the internet-connected TV space is hard. Finding the right way to market this technology to consumers may, however, be even harder.
Google Quietly Phases Out ‘Google Cast’ Branding for TVs, Speakers
http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/google-cast-becoming-chromecast-1201925162/
Innovating in the internet-connected TV space is hard. Finding the right way to market this technology to consumers may, however, be even harder.
Case in point: Google has been phasing put the ‘Google Cast’ branding for TVs and internet-connected loudspeakers that are compatible with Google’s own Chromecast streaming adapters. Instead, the company and its partners have switched to describing these products as having “Chromecast built-in.”
“First, nothing about the technology has changed. We’re rebranding Google Cast to “Chromecast built-in” to help users identify the technology that they’ve come to enjoy and appreciate. The new branding officially starts in 2017, which is why you’ll see it slowly rolling out in the meantime.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making While Mobile
https://hackaday.io/project/18563-making-while-mobile
A documentary about how to participate in the Maker Movement while on a perpetual road trip.
Producing a high-quality video series is indeed a lot of work — especially when working solo. I have been enjoying the entire very-time-consuming process. The biggest challenges have been polishing up the scripts for season one & memorization of the monologues.
While this project initially will discuss some of the basic challenges & successes of making a video series; it will soon delve into some of the specifics about the off-the-shelf hardware I’m using. I have already built a few accessories for shoots & expect to need a few more very soon. There are many on the interwebs that are offering their knowledge to the world in an audio/visual format. These content creators have been instrumental in helping provide both inspiration & wisdom as I move forward with the project. The free exchange of knowledge is a marvelous thing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Script Your Way Out Of Video Editing Drudgery
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/26/script-your-way-out-of-video-editing-drudgery/
[Victor Frost] has a deep voice and a fancy top of the line camera. While one would assume this to be a more than generous situation for life to put a person in; it’s got its own set of problems. Mainly that his fantastic fancy camera uses the most modern version of the popular h.264 encoding scheme, h.265. Gasp!
While that too seems like a pro, unfortunately h.265 doesn’t play as nice with his editing software. The solution seems easy, just transcode it and get on your way. However, when you start talking about transcoding 4K video from a top-of-the line source and retaining the quality. Well… It can bring a processor to its knees. Since he’d rather be playing overwatch than transcoding video on his main computer, he decided to offload and automate the drudgery to his spare.
That’s how the Ingest-a-Tron 9000 came into play. It uses a lot of open source software and, yes, windows batch files to take the files off his camera, process it on one computer, and dump it to another.
Ingest-a-Tron 9000
https://hackaday.io/project/18447-ingest-a-tron-9000
Automating the media ingestion, transcoding, and transfer process using Windows Batch scripts, FFmpeg, Fastcopy, and PsExec. God help me.
Almost the entire project is based on Open Source software including FFmpeg and FastCopy. The exception is the use of PsExec, though it can easily be adapted to use PAExec instead.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Low-cost Video Streaming with a Webcam and Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/25/low-cost-video-streaming-with-a-webcam-and-raspberry-pi/
Some people will tell you that YouTube has become a vast wasteland of entertainment like the boob tube before it. Live streaming doesn’t help the situation much, and this entry level webcam live-stream server isn’t poised to advance the art.
We jest, but only a little. [Mike Haldas] runs a video surveillance company that sells all manner of web-enabled cameras and wondered what it would take to get a low-end camera set up for live streaming. The first step was converting the Zavio webcam stream from RTSP (real-time streaming protocol) to the standard that YouTube uses, RTMP (real-time messaging protocol). Luckily, FFmpeg handles that conversion
Raspberry Pi IP Camera YouTube Live Video Streaming Server
http://videos.cctvcamerapros.com/raspberry-pi/ip-camera-raspberry-pi-youtube-live-video-streaming-server.html