There’s no doubt that the audio visual industry has proven its ability to survive and thrive in trying times. Global events have facilitated the rapid evolution of audio visual technologies, and these only continue to advance. Here are some audio visual trends for 2022 collected from many sources (click the link colored to text to get to the information source):
Growing consumer demand for audio content: People are listening to all forms of audio content: news, music, podcasts and books. Nielsen reports 75 per cent of people working from home are streaming music every week, with 40 per cent tuning in daily.
Rapid smart speaker adoption: Smart speakers and voice assistants are becoming common home appliances. One-third of U.S. households are equipped with smart speakers and 44 per cent of U.S. adults use voice assistants. Smart speakers let listeners to respond to ads using voice commands. Consumers are rapidly embracing voice to access information, entertain themselves and shop. The ability to instantly answer consumers’ questions and help them solve problems is becoming a key advantage for marketers who lean into audio.
Digital Audio is becoming multi-devices: Historically, digital audio has been widely consumed via mobile devices; it can now also be launched from a variety of new technologies including tablets, connected speakers, TVs and even smart watches.
Prosumer audio: Prosumer audio gear has remained on a steady upward curve over the last few years. With podcasting, live streaming, and at-home work solutions more popular than ever, it’s been a fantastic few years for prosumer audio sales. Their need for reliable, slightly elevated gear to take their content to the next level is proving highly profitable for certain companies.
Content Still Rules: Audiophiles are fiercely loyal to their favorite DJs, hosts, podcasters, artists and stations. As a result, they’re spending more time than ever listening to audio daily. Listeners consume programming on their own terms.
TikTok has caused a seismic shift in the world of content creation, skewing it ever further into a mobile-first industry. To capitalise on the market, more and more mobile-friendly gear is being created, forgoing the need for hundreds of adaptors and plugging straight into AUX, USB-C, or iPhone ports (or working wirelessly).
Many amplifier technologies in use: While classic class AB amplifiers are more and more often replaced with class D amplifier technology, there is still special audiophile markets for class A amplifiers and tube based amplifiers. New technology just coming to the class D amplifiers are GaN-based audio amplifier powered with switch mode power supply. They promise premium audio systems with good sound quality in a small and light format.
Vinyl records: Vinyl is here to stay, it seems, despite all technological advances that would have seemed to threaten it. Vinyl records (and coincidentally, cassette tapes) are selling like hot cakes again. Vinyl sales have been steadily rising for some time, but in 2020 for the first time in 34 years, vinyl has surpassed CD sales.
Streaming has killed CD: CDs sales are continuously and quickly declining thanks to streaming and music flash drives.
The race to wireless zero latency: Companies around the world are racing to find a solution that all but eliminates latency from wireless audio, removing the need for cables in an increasingly space, waste, and aesthetically-conscious world.
Green screens: As events become more hybrid, green screens will play a significant role, enabling speakers to be placed directly in the content becoming part of the message. Green screens are a great cost-effective way to insert branding and infographics, which works perfectly for online events and we will see them become adopted further for conferences. There are also cameras with depth sense features and software that can use pretty many background for green screen type effects without building a real green screen.
Hybrid events: Events have had to embrace the constant mix of who can attend, who can possibly attend and who is not afraid to attend and as such have flipped to hybrid. Although not necessarily an AV trend, hybrid events are unsurprisingly on the increase as people work from home and corporate travel is halted. In those events content needs to be clear and targeted to get the information across efficiently. There is demand for standalone apps that can enhance hybrid events such as Slack, Slido and Survey Monkey.
Touchless Environments: COVID-19 has accelerated the desire for automation and touchless environments from a nice-to-have to a must-have. They minimize the amount that people come into contact with shared surfaces. Following the throes of COVID-19, it appears that touchless building controls are here to stay.
Remote Control And Remote Management: We’re seeing an increase in demand for remote management software that allows one person, or a small group of people, to log into a remote system and review the status of a set of classrooms or meeting spaces. Increasingly in 2022, companies can implement remote monitoring and maintenance for audio visual systems to support the advancement of technology. Whether your organization is expansive or small, remote audio visual support teams can significantly reduce operating costs for your business.
Live Streaming: As more people look to tune into events from home, we’re seeing an increased need for equipment that supports live streaming.
Video Walls: In many commercial spaces, there’s often a need for a large video display. In past years, many spaces have opted for projection screens as opposed to large LCD displays or video walls, solely because the cost was much lower. The price of video walls getting close to similar to a projection screen, and the benefits almost always outweigh the slightly higher cost.
Service And Maintenance: As more commercial spaces look for ways to save, there’s been an increasing demand for AV integrators to handle service and maintenance in order to maximize the lifespan of AV products. Businesses are focussing on reducing the overhead costs associated with maintaining and installing the equipment. Companies having expertise in sectors other than AV cannot have a dedicated team to manage and monitor their AV equipment.
Snake oil: Many audiophiles are infected by the snake oil curse, which causes them to chase endlessly after what is supposedly better sound reproduction. Audio interconnect and speaker cables have become a profitable business built on imaginative marketing and misinformation. This market now extends into power cords, HDMI, and optical cables. Untold sums of money have been wasted on the fanciful claims of cable vendors. There is lots of ridiculous pieces of pseudo-audiophile nonsense out there. Try to avoid this bullshit in 2022. Try to to restore peace of mind, and the enjoyment of music.
Hybrid environment: Although some employees are returning to the office, it is doubtful that society will return to an entirely on-site work environment. Remote workspaces from 2020-21 on will now be ‘Hybrid’ (home and office). AV technologies are playing a crucial role in creating a modern working environment. Hybrid technologies are changing their form, we had just a Skype call before the pandemic and now we have Zoom, Microsoft Team Rooms, Google Meet, etc with more advanced features allowing space for seamless collaboration and communication. Hybrid environments are expected to go beyond that with continuous innovation and development. Remote employees, distant customers, healthcare providers, and educational institutions can utilize unified communication solutions. It is now increasingly important to adopt technologies that make collaboration easier. At one time, frequent video communications, online learning, and compact hardware design were ambitious audio visual innovations that were hard for people to imagine. Today, they’re top priorities for business, educational, and religious spaces of all types, and are critical to how people interact in those spaces.
Silent Video Gains Momentum: It’s estimated that 85% of short videos viewed on Facebook are watched without sound. Yet as much as 41% of video would be incomprehensible to viewers without sound. Video marketers are using captions, context and other “no-audio” tactics to convey information.
Social Media Goes Video-First: video content is one of the internet’s main attractions. Users are being drawn to video-first platforms. One of the most common reasons people use social media is to view video. But with video streaming set to be as much as 82% of total web traffic by 2022, the importance of video content to marketing strategy is massive and still growing.
Digital audio: Digital audio consumption accelerated in 2021 and commercial engagement followed the audiences. In 2022 we foresee three key commercial trends in the digital audio space: Data-led targeting capabilities provide a powerful way to get advertising cut through, Creativity is a constant rather than a ‘trend’ in advertising and Audience Growth is attracting new advertisers. Programmatic audio is divided into three main supply sources – music streaming (through suppliers like Spotify), podcasts (the biggest opportunity for brands), and online broadcast radio (now more attractive with the addition of data overlay opportunities). Amongst these audio heavyweights we can see emerging innovation in the form of conversational and actionable audio ads.
Virtual and Augmented Reality: Although virtual and augmented reality first entered the public consciousness via video games or social media filters, they are now infiltrating every aspect of our lives. Given the rapid evolution of technology, it is inevitable that these advancements will impact the audio visual industry. Companies specializing in the development of VR and AR technologies are noticing an increase in interest from educational institutions wishing to create an enhanced learning experience. Within the healthcare sector, VR solutions are assisting healthcare professionals with socializing medically isolated patients. Virtual reality has been in development within the audio visual industry for many years. In 2022, virtual reality is becoming mainstream. Or at least tries.
Shift from linear TV to streaming: Video streaming goes beyond traditional TV viewing for people under 45. The lion’s share of viewing by those over 45 is still grabbed by linear television.
912 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Filmmakers may soon be able to stabilize shaky video, change viewpoints and create freeze-frame, zoom and slow-motion effects – without shooting any new footage – thanks to an algorithm developed by researchers at Cornell University and Google Research.
“While this research is still in its early days, I’m really excited about potential future applications for both personal and professional use,” said Noah Snavely, a research scientist at Google Research and associate professor of computer science at Cornell Tech and in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/07/software-creates-entirely-new-views-existing-video?fbclid=IwAR21nNMamgb33eXpRcedplzeLlTLeaVQ0K4AXi8oyTjkjVMvZKFa0iTAEPE
Tomi Engdahl says:
Suoratoisto-oppaasi elokuville, TV-sarjoille ja urheilulle
https://www.justwatch.com/?fbclid=IwAR3rCmeej7KPwqz7lJPEgrKdJKAI7hlZNt1KClbJ9WxD9m0rd2sh1BUJWKw
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kid Cudi says Dolby Atmos isn’t enhancing music – “it’s f**kin’ it up”
“Artists should not have their music manipulated like this”
https://musictech.com/news/music/kid-cudi-dolby-atmos-apple-music/
Kid Cudi has criticised Dolby Atmos for Apple Music, claiming it’s altering how he wants his music to sound. The rapper aired his grievances on Twitter, tagging Apple Music to request a resolution.
“Yooo @AppleMusic, dolby atmos is ruining my artwork,” he wrote. “This is a problem that fans cant [sic] hear the music as intended. This is very bad. I am listenin to multiple songs of mine that are completely full of errors. Drums drop out middle of verses, start off not on the one, all messed up. Artists should not have their music manipulated like this.”
In a further tweet, Cudi responded to a fan who was surprised that something like that could have happened. “I guess this dolby atmos shit is suppose to “enhance” the sound??? But all I see is it fuckin it up,” he said. “I sat for days mixing all my records to sound just right. This is madness.”
He later pointed fans towards the physical editions of his music so they could have a chance to hear how he intended the music to sound. “Vinyls yall, get them vinyls and cds when u can. That way u know ull be hearing it how ur suppose to”
A fan in the comments then suggested what might have gone wrong, and that it wasn’t Apple Music’s problem but his label’s. “Apple Music doesn’t work like this. The file uploaded by the artist or label has to be an Atmos file for it to be labeled and played as a Dolby Atmos track, there is no “auto conversion” on Apple’s side. Someone from your label converted your albums to Atmos and put them up.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
THE SCREENWRITER’S SIMPLE GUIDE TO TV WRITING
What’s the difference between a feature film script and a TV script?
https://screencraft.org/blog/the-screenwriters-guide-to-formatting-television-scripts/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reddit beats film industry, won’t have to identify users who admitted torrenting https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/08/reddit-beats-film-industry-wont-have-to-identify-users-who-admitted-torrenting/
Film companies lost another attempt to force Reddit to identify anonymous users who discussed piracy. A federal court on Saturday quashed a subpoena demanding users’ names and other identifying details, agreeing with Reddit’s argument that the film companies’ demands violate the First Amendment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The classic film “Alien” was once promoted with the tagline “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Researchers in Finland have found that in certain situations, sound can be transmitted strongly across a vacuum region.
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-physicists-transmitted-vacuum.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Whoops! A new Guns N’ Roses song titled “Perhaps” accidentally leaked over the weekend via TouchTunes’ digital jukeboxes in bars across the United States and beyond. Audio recordings of the jukebox leak have been posted online, but quickly removed by Universal Music.
Like Guns N’ Roses’ other recent songs “Hard Skool” and “ABSUЯD,”, “Perhaps” is not entirely new.
https://consequence.net/2023/08/guns-n-roses-song-perhaps-jukebox-leak/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/517919938413134/permalink/2145798942291884/
Hi and thanks for the add!
I’m a licensed low volt contractor in Fl.
My background is in networking but have been branching out to commercial audio, primarily in restaurants, recently.
I’m a sonance dealer/installer.
I’m quoting a new restaurant being built from ground up.
A couple questions for the more experienced:
Can I / should I put my network gear and audio gear in the same network cabinet? Will I get humming or interference?
I prefer Sonance speakers and amps for asthetics, but I’m not married to them, what system or systems might you recommend for the end–user to control the multiple zones? I’d like an electronic option, not the rheostat knobs if possible.
Any other advice one might give to a fellow pro audio diy?
Thanks in advance!
its 2023 – today you do use audio over Ethernet with switching amplifiers within active speakers ! the days of 100 volt , rheostat and passive speakers in wall are long gone !
mixing common Ethernet with audio depends on how the audio is done ! with RCA line level you getting interference and all bad stuff ! sym/bal and most problems are gone !
speaker power and RJ54 cabling dont mix well too! make two networks – one for audio and one for computer data networking !
the last 8 locations i did , i strictly used surface transducers aka exciters and VBAN or Dante audio protocol with TAS5760 based amplification and alike ! these systems will last at least a decade !
most important is an acoustic setup being planned wisely
I would say also that for restaurant/similar installs there should be no problems having units in the same rack as long as you keep good rack design rules in mind (cooling, equipment placing, cable routing).
You don’t want the rack to become too hot and you don’t have everything packed too tightly. I would have few rack units free space between audio and networking stuff just to minimize any potential issues
For restaurant/similar installs there should be no problems having units in the same rack. Don’t know about sonance stuff but if your happy with networking it might be worth looking into Dante hardware for various parts of the install. Some companies make install speakers, and wall panels with controls on and you can setup different routing presets for zones etc
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Nielsen: in July, linear TV made up less than 50% of all US TV usage, a first in over two years of tracking, and streaming hit a record 38.7% high of TV usage — Nielsen’s monthly platform rankings show broadcast and cable making up less than half of all TV use.
Linear TV Falls Below 50 Percent of Viewing for First Time
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/broadcast-cable-lows-july-2023-tv-platform-rankings-1235566545/
Nielsen’s monthly platform rankings show broadcast and cable making up less than half of all TV use.
Broadcast and cable networks made up less than half of all TV use in July — the first time linear TV viewing has fallen below 50 percent in Nielsen’s two-plus years of tracking viewing time by platform.
While overall TV use in July edged up from the previous month, the growth came in streaming — which hit an all-time high of 38.7 percent of all TV usage — and the “other use” category, which includes video games played on a TV screen and physical media playback, among other things. That made up 11.6 percent of
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wall Street Journal:
Analysis: the average price of major ad-free streaming services is up nearly 25% in about a year, as companies try to push users toward ad-supported tiers
Streamflation Is Here and Media Companies Are Betting You’ll Pay Up
https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney-max-hulu-netflix-streaming-price-2c3bac2a?mod=djemalertNEWS
Price push by Disney, others is part of effort to trim losses, steer users toward more-lucrative ad-supported plans
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/08/14/black-graphics-on-your-tv-for-a-greener-world/
Tomi Engdahl says:
AV OVER IP
AND COMPLEX
ENTERPRISE
NETWORKS
https://www.panduit.com/content/dam/panduit/en/solutions/solution-pdf/ICTToday_AVoverIP.pdf
Distribution of audio and video signals over data networks, also known as AV
over IP (AVoIP) or networked AV, potentially offers significant benefits for pro
AV systems integrators and end users. Compared to traditional systems for AV
distribution, networked AV systems can be designed with virtually unrestricted
scalability and flexibility, in addition to the convenience and cost efficiency
of standard data networks. The benefits of AVoIP can especially be realized
in large installations for enterprises and other organizations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IC Pair Drives Superior PC Audio Experience
July 19, 2023
PC and laptop audio performance is enhanced by this IC set that also delivers output power, low THD, and other benefits.
https://www.electronicdesign.com/technologies/analog/article/21269866/electronic-design-ic-pair-drives-superior-pc-audio-experience?utm_source=EG+ED+Analog+%26+Power+Source&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS230713172&o_eid=7211D2691390C9R&rdx.identpull=omeda|7211D2691390C9R&oly_enc_id=7211D2691390C9R
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kuinka olla “onnellinen” ja Mun Tarina tubettajaks – 24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4eBynIVYvY
Pitää kuvausta miettiä vielä. Sanotaa sitku 100 jaksoo täynnä, ni osaan kunnolla kertoa, et mitä tää podcast käsittelee. Mutta pähkinänkuoressa haluan olla avuksi ja viihdyttää.
Tykkään ajatella asioita syvällisesti, en ota itteeni liian tosissaan, tykkään nauraa ittelleni.
Koen itsekurin olevan erittäin tärkeätä, jos haluaa onnellisen elämän.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DisplayPort on edelleen pelaajan näyttöväylä
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/15218-displayport-on-edelleen-pelaajan-naeyttoevaeylae
DisplayPort on edelleen pelaajan näyttöväylä
Julkaistu: 18.08.2023
Devices Embedded
Jos pelaaja haluaa siirtää pikselinsä suuremmalle näytölle, väliin pitää asettaa joko HDMI- tai DisplayPort-kaapeli. Mutta kumpi on parempi? Edelleen harvinaisempi DisplayPort on suorituskyvyltään omaa luokkaansa.
DisplayPortin uusin versio eli 2.0 yltää peräti 80 gigabittiin sekunnissa. Todellinen datanopeus on yi 77 gigabittiä sekunnissa, minkä ansiosta 4K-ruutukin päivittyy 270 kertaa sekunnissa. Todellisen datanopeuden suhteellinen kasvu uusimmassa DP-standardissa selittyy 128b/130b-koodauksella, jonka ansiosta valtaosa kaistasta on täysin databittien käytössä.
HDMI 2.1 paransi linkin nopeutta, sillä kellosignaali siirtyy datasignaalin sisällä. Näin kaikki neljä linjaa siirtävät dataa. Maksiminopeus on 42 gigabittiä sekunnissa ja todellinen datanopeus 42,6 gigabittiä sekunnissa. Se riittää päivittämään 4K-ruutua 144 kertaa sekunnissa. Pelaajille resoluutio ei ole yhtä tärkeä kuin pelin päivitysnopeus, joten 4K ei ole peleissä vielä yleistynyt.
Lukujen perusteella valinta olisi selvä: DisplayPort on selvästi nopeampi väylä. Tällä hetkellä uutta DisplayPort 2.0:aa ei kuitenkaan tue markkinoilla oikein mikään, eivät näytöt eivätkä grafiikkaprosessorit. Suurin osa DP-laitteista tukee versiota 1.4 tai 1.3 ja ne jäävät slevästi HDMI 2.1:n taakse.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Spotify reportedly has a $38 million white noise problem / Bloomberg reports Spotify considered banning new uploads of white noise podcasts after realizing how much its algorithm promoted them.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/17/23836403/spotify-podcasts-white-noise-algorithmproblem?fbclid=IwAR1Mz_zEkGzcD9u-QM68crWGO2uqAkMr5YrxaDtTeseBSq_hb5U3_4sdtEE
Spotify is spending a lot of money on podcasts that don’t actually involve any talking. That’s according to a report from Bloomberg, which states the company could increase its annual gross profit by a whopping $38 million if it steers users away from so-called white noise podcasts.
These kinds of podcasts play various types of relaxing sounds on a loop — like static, crashing waves, or rain — and they’re more popular than you may think. One of the reasons for their popularity is that Spotify has been unwittingly pushing them in front of users thanks to its “algorithmic push for ‘talk’ content (versus music),” according to Bloomberg.
The creators behind these “podcasts” make money off the ads that play during its episodes. Last year, a report from Bloomberg suggested that white noise podcasters could rake in $18,000 per month from the ads placed by Spotify; now it reports based on internal documents that white noise podcasts made up 3 million daily consumption hours on Spotify as of January 2023.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.geckoandfly.com/13143/50-things-smartphone-replaced-will-replace-future/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/people-are-just-now-learning-how-vinyl-records-work-70233
Tomi Engdahl says:
John Petrucci on Digital vs Tube Amps: ‘Nobody Can Probably Tell the Difference’
“I think that it has gotten so incredibly good that nobody could probably even really tell.”
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/john_petrucci_on_digital_vs_tube_amps_nobody_can_probably_tell_the_difference.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://gamechangeraudio.com/light-pedal/
The LIGHT Pedal combines all the best features of a classic spring reverb with an innovative infrared optical sensor system and a unique effects section, enabling you to create countless new types of reverb textures that have never been possible before now.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/07/11/displayport-a-better-video-interface
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung laajentaa Auracastilla
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/15259-samsung-laajentaa-auracastilla
Samsung aikoo Berliinin perjantaina alkavilla IFA-messuilla esitellä sekä nappikuulokkeita, että televisioita, jotka tukevat Bluetoothin uusimpia ominaisuuksia. Auracast-tekniikalla voidaan esimerkiksi television musiikkia jakaa langattomasti kaikkien kantaman sisällä olevien kuulokkeisiin.
Auracast on uusi brändinimi tekniikalle, joka tunnettiin aiemmin nimellä Audio Sharing. Se on osa BLE-standardia (Bluetooth Low Energy). Tekniikka tekee tuloaan myös älypuhelimiin, sillä Android 13 tukee sitä.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hyvästi HDMI-kaapelit! Dolbyn uusi tekniikka mullistaa kotiteatterit
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/15258-hyvaesti-hdmi-kaapelit-dolbyn-uusi-tekniikka-mullistaa-kotiteatterit
Dolby Laboratories on lanseerannut uuden liitäntätekniikan, joka voi olla pitkään aikaan merkittävin uudistus kotiteattereissa ja olohuoneissa. Dolby Atmos FlexConnect yhdistää television äänijärjestelmän langattomiin kaiuttimiin. Hyvästi, HDMI-kaapelit!
TCL on jo ilmoittanut, että sen ensi vuoden mallisto tukee uutta Atmos FlexConnect -tekniikkaa. TCL tuo markkinoille myös langattomien lisäkaiuttimien sarjan, joka on suunniteltu täydentämään sen tulevaa Dolby Atmos FlexConnect -televisioiden valikoimaa.
FlexConnect toimii Atmos 5.1:n ja stereoäänen kanssa. Sen ideanan on sopeuttaa kuuntelutila kaiuttimien erilaiseen lukumäärään ja erilaiseen sijoittelun.
Tekniikka hyödyntää television mikrofoneja, jotka automaattisesti mappaavat kunkin kaiuttimen sijainnin siten, että audiokokemus on aina optimaalinen. Järjestelmään voi lisätä kaiuttimia vapaasti ja ne voidaan vain lisätä audiotilaan.
Atmos Flexconnect lanseerataan virallisesti IFA-messuilla Berliinissä. Messut alkavat perjantaina ja kestävät viisi päivää.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
LG and Samsung say their smart home apps will work with the other company’s appliances and TVs in 2024, as part of the Home Connectivity Alliance formed in 2021
You’ll soon be able to control an LG appliance with Samsung’s app — and vice versa
https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/29/23850250/samsung-lg-app-home-connectivity-alliance-appliances-ifa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cristina Criddle / Financial Times:
Senior YouTube staff express concerns that Shorts is drawing audiences away from longer-form videos, which produce more revenue but are “dying out” as a format — Concerns raised that TikTok rival is drawing audiences away from the platform’s longer-form videos
Shorts risks cannibalising core YouTube business, say senior staff
https://www.ft.com/content/c51ce73a-8ae7-4f5e-aa3c-5e24e471cc7b
Tomi Engdahl says:
High Quality 3D Scene Generation From 2D Source, In Realtime
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/02/high-quality-3d-scene-generation-from-2d-source-in-realtime/
Here’s some fascinating work presented at SIGGRAPH 2023 of a method for radiance field rendering using a novel technique called Gaussian Splatting. What’s that mean? It means synthesizing a 3D scene from 2D images, in high quality and in real time, as the short animation shown above shows.
Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) are a method of leveraging machine learning to, in a way, do what photogrammetry does: synthesize complex scenes and views based on input images. But NeRFs work in a fraction of the time, and require only a fraction of the source material. There are different ways to go about this and unsurprisingly, there tends to be a clear speed vs. quality tradeoff. But as the video accompanying this new work seems to show, clever techniques mean the best of both worlds.
3D Gaussian Splatting
for Real-Time Radiance Field Rendering
https://repo-sam.inria.fr/fungraph/3d-gaussian-splatting/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maailman pienin projektionäyttö
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/15288-maailman-pienin-projektionaeyttoe-2
Lisättyä todellisuutta yritetään tuoda kuluttajille, mutta se edellyttää yhä pienempiä ja edullisempia komponentteja, joilla näytön projisointi toteutetaan. Itävaltalainen TriLite kehittää nyt yhdessä ams OSRAMin kanssa moduulia, joka sopii alle kuutiosentin tilaan.
Itävallan Grazissa ams OSRAM toimittaa RGB-laserdiodinsa TriLiten Trixel 3 – skanneriin (LBS, lase rbeam scanner), joka on samalla maailman pienimmän projektionäyttö. Moduuli painaa alle puolitoista grammaa.
Trixel 3:n virrankulutus on erittäin alhainen, alle 320 milliwattia
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Vinyl Records Are Made (feat. Third Man Records) | WIRED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd2SW-Fys6I
We visit Jack White’s Third Man Records vinyl pressing plant in Detroit, Michigan to find out exactly what goes into the creation of a vinyl record; from cutting and pressing to making sure they sound great.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/08/tear-apart-your-house-for-200-with-this-rotary-subwoofer/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Editing Analog Tape
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TARpAdIjRM
Bradshaw Leigh demonstrates editing analog tape.
Mixing Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” on an Analog SSL Console – GoPro POV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em9EwVQy-6s
This is not an official mix, this is just for fun.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CUI Devicesin Audio Group on julkistanut uuden vedenpitävän MEMS-mikrofonin, joka on ihanteellinen ankariin ympäristöihin. CMM-3424DT-26165-TR MEMS-mikrofonilla on IPX7-vesitiiviysluokitus sovelluksissa, joissa kosteuden ja nesteen sisäänpääsy ovat uhkana.
https://etn.fi/index.php/new-products/15295-mems-mikrofoni-kestaeae-puoli-tuntia-metrin-syvyydessae
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/09/11/out-with-the-circus-animals-in-with-the-holograms/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dolbyn ”HDMI:n tappaja” voi osua kultasuoneen
https://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15306&via=n&datum=2023-09-12_15:29:43&mottagare=30929
Dolby Laboratories esitteli Berliinin IFA-messuilla uuden liitäntätekniikan, joka mahdollistaa tilaäänen tuottamisen langattomasti ilman HDMI-kaapeleita. Tekniikka saattaa ratkaista yhden tilaäänen suurimmista ongelmista.
FlexConnect toimii Atmos 5.1:n ja stereoäänen kanssa. Sen ideana on sopeuttaa kuuntelutila kaiuttimien erilaiseen lukumäärään ja erilaiseen sijoittelun. Tarkoituksena on vahvistaa Atmos-ääntä tilanteissa, joissa kaiuttimien sijoitus on rajoitettu esteiden, kuten huoneen koon, huonekalujen tai pistorasioiden vuoksi.
Nyt Dolbyn IFA-demoista on alkanut ilmestyä videoraportteja, joissa tekniikkaa tukeva televisio kalibroi järjestelmän langattomien kaiuttimien kanssa. Prosessi vie demoissa aikaa vain reilut 12 sekuntia, joten HDMI-piuhojen katkaiseminen mahdollistaa rajattoman kaiuttimien sijoittelun. Ainakaan järjestelmän säätämiseen kuuvasta ajasta se ei jää kiinni.
Tekniikka hyödyntää television mikrofoneja, jotka automaattisesti mappaavat kunkin kaiuttimen sijainnin siten, että audiokokemus on aina optimaalinen.
Dolbyn tekniikka on laiteagnostinen eli laitevalmistaja voi toteuttaa varsin vapaasti. Itse ohjelmisto pitää toki lisensoida Dolbylta. Lisäksi toteutus voidaan tehdä eri langattomilla linkeillä. Vaatimus lienee tietty latenssitaso ja mahdollisuus synkronoida signaali tarkasti.
Todennäköisesti Dolby Atmos FlexConnect ei pysty tuottamaan tilaääntä, joka kilpailisi täysin studiotasoisesti viritetyn eli mittauksiin perustuvat kaiutinjärjestelmän kanssa. Soundbarien kanssa tappeleville eli isolle yleisölle tekniikka voi olla taivaanlahja, jos haluaa kotiinsa mahdollisimman teatterinkaltaisen elokuva- tai musiikkikokemuksen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.loc.gov/collections/national-jukebox/articles-and-essays/acoustical-recording/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://paquinsound.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-problem-with-19232bit-recordings.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://en.dopl3r.com/memes/dank/ohh-so-youre-the-one-who-took-all-our-jobs/116323#!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Taylor Swift Makes History as First Artist With Entire Top 10 on Billboard Hot 100, Led by ‘Anti-Hero’ at No. 1
https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/taylor-swift-all-hot-100-top-10-anti-hero-1235163664/amp/
Taylor Swift scores one of the most historic weeks in the 64-year history of the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, as she becomes the first artist to claim the survey’s entire top 10 in a single frame.
Swift surpasses Drake, who logged nine of the Hot 100’s top 10 for a week in September 2021.
Leading the way for Swift on the Hot 100, “Anti-Hero” launches at No. 1, marking her ninth career leader.
Swift also surges past Drake and The Beatles for the most titles from the top of the Hot 100 in a single week, as her monopoly of the top 10 bests those acts, each of whom infused the top five for a week each in 2021 and 1964, respectively.
Meanwhile, as Swift adds 10 new Hot 100 top 10s, she now boasts the most top 10s among women in the chart’s history, with 40 (surpassing Madonna’s 38). Among all acts, she trails only Drake (59 top 10s).
Elon Musk is attempting to enlist Taylor Swift’s help to boost traffic on his X platform
https://fortune.com/2023/09/21/elon-musk-taylor-swift-eras-tour-twitter-x-platform/?utm_campaign=fortunemagazine&xid=soc_socialflow_facebook_FORTUNE&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3GMIuybFZzf-Ewc3p4RdrZL0uyTzAhb7rL0x2nZQ6RuUcuHYed9SI0dOk
When mega star Taylor Swift comes to town, the impact to the local economy has been likened to hosting the Super Bowl. Experts call it the “TSwift Lift” and even the austere Federal Reserve reserved a place in its research for documenting the commercial effect of her concerts.
Her Eras tour is expected to be the first to breach the threshold of $1 billion in ticket sales and could end up generating nearly $5 billion in overall spending as fans splurge over $1,300 each just to experience her live.
Tomi Engdahl says:
There were once 60 hertz monitors (i.e. 60 frames per second) at the forefront of consumer tech. Seemed reasonable. Many systems today still get by at 60 Hz. Then came 120 Hz. Apple does that well these days. But some smartphones are now up to 250 Hz. Now comes, brace yourself, the 500 Hz gaming monitor.
But do 500 frames per second even matter? For high-end gaming applications, according to our correspondent Matthew S. Smith, absolutely. In fact according to some experts, up to 1000 Hz can be detectable by the human eye—again, though, for those very high-end applications.
And does it make good sense for an actual consumer user and perhaps player of various games? Well, it can. But 500 Hz is also arguably just a stepping stone toward higher refresh rates still.
The Endless Quest for the Perfect Computer Display Better refresh rates mean better motion, but gamers will always want more
https://spectrum.ieee.org/computer-display-500-hertz?share_id=7877900&socialux=facebook&utm_campaign=RebelMouse&utm_content=IEEE+Spectrum&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2VHEeIvUMI2LedELAwzm-h0SIG4ww9skHSvn0kNVRFmsIgn4QXpMpmb7c#toggle-gdpr
Computer monitors have improved tremendously since the first mainstream color LCDs edged out CRT displays two decades ago. But odds are high the motion performance of the monitor you’re using right now is far from perfect.
This is the reality of modern displays with a 60-hertz refresh rate, which refresh their image 60 times each second. However, not all displays share this limitation. Apple delivers a 120-Hz refresh rate in the iPhone Pro and MacBook Pro. Sharp’s cutting-edge Aquos R8 smartphone provides a refresh rate up to 240 Hz. And displays built for competitive e-sports, like the Alienware AW2524H, push refresh rates up to 500 Hz.
“If the ideal means the fastest and smoothest graphics, then 500-Hz refresh is the most ideal at the moment,” says Yoon Lee, vice president of displays at Dell Technologies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The rat race ends here. I’m All Ears.
Swedish mice have all the cool stuff: House mouse music.
It’s a godawful small affair the record selling business has become.
https://thevinylfactory.com/news/new-miniature-record-shop-for-mice-has-opened-in-sweden-ricotta-records/
https://thespaces.com/a-miniature-record-shop-for-mice-has-opened-in-sweden-called-ricotta-records/
Tomi Engdahl says:
8K-signaali siirtyy varmasti 15 metrin päähän
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/15361-8k-signaali-siirtyy-varmasti-15-metrin-paeaehaen
Jos katsoo uusia televisioita tällä hetkellä, speksien kanssa kannattaa olla todella tarkkana. Samanhintaisissakin isoissa ruuduissa tuetaan eri versioita esimerkiksi HDMI-väylästä. Lisäksi raskaimmat signaalit tarvitsevat omat dedikoidut kaapelinsa.
Moni myynnissä oleva televisio tukee HDMI:n 2.0-versiota, mutta todelliset kotiteatteriharrastajat valitsevat toki HDMI 2.1:n. Se tukee 48 gigabitin maksimikaistaa, joten standardi siirtää myös 8K-tasoista kuvaa. Sille tulee tarvetta jo lähivuosina.
8K kuitenkin vaatii oman, sertifioidun kaapelinsa. THX on nyt tuomassa myyntiin uusinta kaapelisarjaansa, joka takaa sertifioidut HDMI 2.1 -nopeudet niin puolesta metristä viiteentoista.
THX:n myyntinimi uusille kaapeleille on Interconnect. Kyse on Ultra High Speed HDMI® 2.1 -kaapeleiden perheestä, jotka pystyvät välittämään 100-prosenttista pakkaamatonta 48 Gbps signaalia. Kaikki sarjan kaapelit tukevat 8K-10K-resoluutiota 60 ruudun sekuntinopeudella.
Alemman pään kaapelit 0,5 metristä aina viiteen metriin asti ovat kuparikaapeleita. Sen jälkeen (7,6-15 metriä) kaapelit ovat hybridiversioita, joissa on sekä kuparia että kuitulinkki. Kallein kaapeli maksaa 399 dollaria
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jeff Baumgartner / Light Reading:
Filing: LG suspends including IP-based broadcast signaling standard ATSC 3.0 in its 2024 lineup of US TVs due to a “challenging and uncertain patent landscape” — Citing a ‘challenging and uncertain patent landscape,’ LG has suspended the inclusion of ATSC 3.0 tech in its 2024 TV lineup.
LG halts production of ATSC 3.0-compatible TVs over patent concerns
https://www.lightreading.com/video-broadcast/lg-halts-production-of-atsc-3-0-compatible-tvs-over-patent-concerns
Citing a ‘challenging and uncertain patent landscape,’ LG has suspended the inclusion of ATSC 3.0 tech in its 2024 TV lineup. The decision stems from a lawsuit LG faced from an entity called Constellation Designs.
ATSC 3.0, the next-generation broadcast signaling standard, is facing a setback of sorts after a top TV manufacturer decided to suspend the inclusion of ATSC 3.0 capabilities in its 2024 lineup of televisions due to the “challenging and uncertain patent landscape” surrounding the standard.
LG Electronics dropped that bomb in a September 15 filing (PDF) with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in comments submitted about the current marketplace for Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) related to the ATSC 3.0 suite of standards.
LG’s decision stems from a court battle the TV-maker faced and lost against a company that holds patents linked to the ATSC 3.0 standard but is not participating in any of the ATSC 3.0-related patent pools.
As the successor to the legacy ATSC 1.0 standard, ATSC 3.0, which carries the consumer branding of “NextGenTV,” is an IP-based signaling platform capable of supporting enhancements and advancements such as 4K video, advanced advertising and immersive audio. US broadcasters are deploying ATSC 3.0 across dozens of markets.
LG, an early champion of ATSC 3.0, expressed to the FCC an overarching concern that there are some entities with patents and other intellectual property tied to the new standard that are not participating in ATSC processes for licensing and/or have not committed to license their intellectual property on so-called reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms.
“This challenging and uncertain patent landscape has forced LG to make the difficult decision to suspend the inclusion of ATSC 3.0-compatibility in its 2024 television lineup for the United States,”
While the loss of support from LG is a blow to the ATSC 3.0 ecosystem, it’s not a complete loss. Consumers, for example, can still buy pre-2024 LG TV models equipped with ATSC 3.0 tuners. Samsung, Sony and Hisense also make ATSC 3.0-compatible TVs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stephen Shankland / CNET:
A deep dive into the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro’s camera tech, like Video Boost, which uses AI processing in Google’s datacenters to dramatically improve image quality
Google Gave the Pixel 8 Cameras a Major Upgrade. Here’s How They Did It
https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/google-gave-its-pixel-8-cameras-a-major-upgrade-heres-how-they-did-it/
In an exclusive interview, Google’s Pixel camera leader shares a deep dive into the photo and video improvements in the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro.
With its Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones, Google is bringing its big guns to the battle for smartphone photo and video leadership. Among more than a dozen notable improvements coming to the Android phones is a tool called Video Boost that uses AI processing on Google’s server-packed data centers to dramatically increase image quality.
When you first shoot a video on the Pixel 8 Pro, you’ll have just a 1080p preview version. But during a couple hours or so for uploading and processing, Google uses new artificial intelligence models too big for a smartphone to improve shadow detail, reduce pesky noise speckles and stabilize the video. That means Google’s Night Sight technology, which in 2018 set a new standard for smartphone photos taken in dim and dark conditions, has now come to video, too. Or at least it will when Video Boost ships later this winter.
“Night Sight means something very big to us,” said Isaac Reynolds, the lead product manager in charge of the Pixel cameras. “It is the best low-light smartphone video in the market, including any phones that might have recently come out,” he said in an unsubtle dig at Apple’s iPhone 15 models. But Video Boost improves daytime videos, too, with better detail and smoother panning.
Camera abilities are key to smartphones, but especially to Google’s Pixel phones. They’re gaining market share but remain relatively rare, accounting for just 4% of North American phone shipments in the second quarter. Good photos, bolstered by years of computational photography work, are arguably the Pixel line’s strongest selling point.
But the Pixel phones’ video has been weak when there’s not much light. Improving that, even if it takes a helping hand from Google’s servers, is crucial to making a Pixel phone worth buying.
“Where we really wanted to make a huge difference this year was video,” Reynolds said. Video Boost is “the most exciting thing that I’ve done in years.”
How Google’s Video Boost works
Many developments were necessary to make Video Boost possible.
At the foundation is a newer image sensor technology in the main camera called dual conversion gain that improves image noise and dynamic range — the ability to capture both shadow and highlight details. Google refers to its approach as “dual exposure,” but unlike conventional HDR (high dynamic range) technology, it doesn’t blend multiple separate shots.
Instead, the dual conversion gain technology is able to simultaneously capture details from both low-light and bright areas of a scene pixel by pixel, then blend the best of both. The result: “Whether it’s a high-contrast scene or a low-light scene, you’re going to see dramatically better performance versus the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro,” Reynolds said. “You don’t have to give up the dynamic range. That means less underexposure, which means less shadow noise.”
The technology is on both the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, but only the 8 Pro gets Video Boost.
Next is the new Tensor G3 processor, the third generation of Google’s Pixel phone processors. The G3 has more built-in Google circuitry for AI and image processing than last year’s G2, and Google uses it to produce two videos. One is the 1080p preview version you can watch or share immediately.
The other is the Video Boost version that’s uploaded to Google for more editing. The G3 preprocesses that video and, for each frame, adds up to 400 metadata elements that characterize the scene, Reynolds said.
The last Video Boost step takes place in Google’s data centers, where servers use newly developed algorithms for noise reduction, stabilization and sharpening with low-light imagery. That processed video then replaces the preview video on your phone, including a 4K version, if that’s the resolution you originally shot at.
Reynolds defends the video’s data center detour as worthwhile.
“The results are incredible,” he said. Besides, people like to reminisce, revisiting a moment through photos and videos hours later, not just months or years later. “I don’t think there’s any downside at all to waiting a couple of hours,” he said.
It may be worth the wait, but the wait also might be longer than just a couple hours to pump gigabytes of video to Google. If you’re away from home Wi-Fi, you might be worried about blowing through your plan’s mobile data cap. And when you’re at home, you might be among the millions of people whose broadband doesn’t actually offer fast upload speeds.
If you’re nervous about sending your videos to Google’s cloud, Video Boost largely follows the same privacy policies Google already used. “If you delete the backed-up version after processing but keep it on-device, Google will not retain any copy,” Google said. The difference is with intermediate versions of the video the company creates during Video Boost processing. Those are discarded once the new video is done.
When Apple introduced its iPhone 14 Pro in 2022, it let photographers shoot 48-megapixel photos with the main camera. Samsung goes even further with a 200-megapixel sensor, though the results aren’t generally impressive beyond 50 megapixels. In comparison, even though the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro had 50-megapixel main cameras, Google offered photos at only 12-megapixel resolution. (Though it did offer 2x and 10x modes that took advantage of the full resolution of its sensors.)
This year, Google is leapfrogging Apple when it comes to pixel count on the Pixel 8 Pro. Not only can you take photos at the main camera’s full 50-megapixel resolution, you can also take 48-megapixel ultrawide (like this year’s OnePlus 11) and 48-megapixel 5x telephoto shots. (The Pixel 8 only can take 12-megapixel ultrawide shots.)
Like all flagship phone makers, Google has employed a technology called pixel binning that offers photographers a choice between full-resolution shots and lower resolutions that work better in low-light situations. But this year, it’ll let you shoot full-res shots even in low light if you prefer. That’s unlike Apple, which switches to pixel binning and low resolution automatically when it’s dark.
“You will always get more detail by enabling 50 megapixels [than when shooting at 12 megapixels], even in very low light, although you may suffer some noise penalty,” Reynolds said.
Apple changed its main camera’s default photo resolution from 12 megapixels to 24 megapixels with the iPhone 15 models, released last month. It also uses the HEIF image format, which stores files more compactly than the older JPEG. If you’re a Pixel photographer, you can choose the full resolution or 12 megapixels, but nothing intermediate. And there’s no HEIF support, because Google prefers JPEG’s universal compatibility.
New Google camera app gets “pro controls”
Google is proud of its “computational raw” technology, which combines the multishot blending used to create ordinary JPEGs with the editing flexibility of raw photos. That means more dynamic range than with single-frame raw shots, which is handy for people who edit their photos afterward in software like Adobe Lightroom.
With the Pixel 8 Pro’s camera app, Google is giving photographers new controls to give photographers fine-tune their shots as they’re taken. It’s got new “pro controls” that expose options for shutter speed, exposure length, white balance, ISO sensitivity and focus, Reynolds said.
Most people won’t shoot raw or use the manual controls, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important. “It gets you the photo you need when you absolutely have to have it a certain way,” Reynolds said.
Another big change to Google’s camera app has already started arriving. For years, that app has presented buttons with a choice of modes like photo, video, panorama, Night Sight and slow motion video. Now Google offers a master switch for video and photo, each with its own range of buttons.
Also new to the camera app is an improvement to the DNG files used for raw photos. They now store more metadata so software like Adobe Lightroom will display a version that better matches the colors and tones of the Pixel’s fine-tuned JPEG. Raw photos in general have been retuned for better color and subtle tonal differences, Google said.
The Pixel 8 and 8 Pro phones are the first smartphones to use Ultra HDR, an Android photo format that adds extra information to a JPEG photo so compatible software can show a high dynamic range version. For instance, Ultra HDR brightens stars in astrophotography photos, which show more detail at 50-megapixel resolution.
/CNET
With its Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones, Google is bringing its big guns to the battle for smartphone photo and video leadership. Among more than a dozen notable improvements coming to the Android phones is a tool called Video Boost that uses AI processing on Google’s server-packed data centers to dramatically increase image quality.
When you first shoot a video on the Pixel 8 Pro, you’ll have just a 1080p preview version. But during a couple hours or so for uploading and processing, Google uses new artificial intelligence models too big for a smartphone to improve shadow detail, reduce pesky noise speckles and stabilize the video. That means Google’s Night Sight technology, which in 2018 set a new standard for smartphone photos taken in dim and dark conditions, has now come to video, too. Or at least it will when Video Boost ships later this winter.
“Night Sight means something very big to us,” said Isaac Reynolds, the lead product manager in charge of the Pixel cameras. “It is the best low-light smartphone video in the market, including any phones that might have recently come out,” he said in an unsubtle dig at Apple’s iPhone 15 models. But Video Boost improves daytime videos, too, with better detail and smoother panning.
p1021184
Watch this: Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro First Look
04:11
Reynolds spoke during an exclusive deep dive interview about the new photo and video technology in the $699 Pixel 8 and $999 Pixel 8 Pro, unveiled Wednesday. He detailed the new hardware Google calls dual exposure that makes Night Sight video possible, along with a range of new Pixel photography advances: higher-resolution photos, better lenses, a new app with advanced photography controls, an ability to create a group photo where everybody is smiling and an Audio Magic Eraser to clean up the sound in a video.
Camera abilities are key to smartphones, but especially to Google’s Pixel phones. They’re gaining market share but remain relatively rare, accounting for just 4% of North American phone shipments in the second quarter. Good photos, bolstered by years of computational photography work, are arguably the Pixel line’s strongest selling point.
But the Pixel phones’ video has been weak when there’s not much light. Improving that, even if it takes a helping hand from Google’s servers, is crucial to making a Pixel phone worth buying.
“Where we really wanted to make a huge difference this year was video,” Reynolds said. Video Boost is “the most exciting thing that I’ve done in years.”
Here’s a detailed look at how Google is trying to wring better photos and videos out of its Pixel 8 phones.
How Google’s Video Boost works
Many developments were necessary to make Video Boost possible.
At the foundation is a newer image sensor technology in the main camera called dual conversion gain that improves image noise and dynamic range — the ability to capture both shadow and highlight details. Google refers to its approach as “dual exposure,” but unlike conventional HDR (high dynamic range) technology, it doesn’t blend multiple separate shots.
A side-by-side comparison of video from Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and Google’s Pixel 8 Pro processed with Video Boost video technology. In the comparison, Google’s video shows more details on a person’s shadowed face and a bluer sky.
Google says its Video Boost technology produces better video dynamic range, including shadow detail and highlights that aren’t blown out, when compared to the Apple iPhone 15 Pro. But you’ll have to wait hours to get your Video Boost video back from Google’s data centers. Google; Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET
Instead, the dual conversion gain technology is able to simultaneously capture details from both low-light and bright areas of a scene pixel by pixel, then blend the best of both. The result: “Whether it’s a high-contrast scene or a low-light scene, you’re going to see dramatically better performance versus the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro,” Reynolds said. “You don’t have to give up the dynamic range. That means less underexposure, which means less shadow noise.”
The technology is on both the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, but only the 8 Pro gets Video Boost.
Next is the new Tensor G3 processor, the third generation of Google’s Pixel phone processors. The G3 has more built-in Google circuitry for AI and image processing than last year’s G2, and Google uses it to produce two videos. One is the 1080p preview version you can watch or share immediately.
The other is the Video Boost version that’s uploaded to Google for more editing. The G3 preprocesses that video and, for each frame, adds up to 400 metadata elements that characterize the scene, Reynolds said.
The last Video Boost step takes place in Google’s data centers, where servers use newly developed algorithms for noise reduction, stabilization and sharpening with low-light imagery. That processed video then replaces the preview video on your phone, including a 4K version, if that’s the resolution you originally shot at.
Reynolds defends the video’s data center detour as worthwhile.
“The results are incredible,” he said. Besides, people like to reminisce, revisiting a moment through photos and videos hours later, not just months or years later. “I don’t think there’s any downside at all to waiting a couple of hours,” he said.
See the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro Up Close and Personal
Google’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro smartphones in their rose and bay colors
Google Pixel 8 Pro’s three-camera camera bar
the Pixel 8 smartphone in Google’s rose color
+9 more
See all photos
It may be worth the wait, but the wait also might be longer than just a couple hours to pump gigabytes of video to Google. If you’re away from home Wi-Fi, you might be worried about blowing through your plan’s mobile data cap. And when you’re at home, you might be among the millions of people whose broadband doesn’t actually offer fast upload speeds.
If you’re nervous about sending your videos to Google’s cloud, Video Boost largely follows the same privacy policies Google already used. “If you delete the backed-up version after processing but keep it on-device, Google will not retain any copy,” Google said. The difference is with intermediate versions of the video the company creates during Video Boost processing. Those are discarded once the new video is done.
More megapixels on Pixel 8 cameras
If you’re taking photos, the sensor doesn’t use the image sensor’s dual conversion gain technology — at least yet, though Google says it’s excited about the technology’s potential.
But there are other big improvements: Like Samsung and Apple, Google is now advancing beyond the 12-megapixel smartphone photo resolution we’ve had for years.
Pixel 8 and 8 Pro phones emerge
Best Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro Preorder Deals
Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro Pack More AI and New Cameras, But at a Higher Price
When Apple introduced its iPhone 14 Pro in 2022, it let photographers shoot 48-megapixel photos with the main camera. Samsung goes even further with a 200-megapixel sensor, though the results aren’t generally impressive beyond 50 megapixels. In comparison, even though the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro had 50-megapixel main cameras, Google offered photos at only 12-megapixel resolution. (Though it did offer 2x and 10x modes that took advantage of the full resolution of its sensors.)
This year, Google is leapfrogging Apple when it comes to pixel count on the Pixel 8 Pro. Not only can you take photos at the main camera’s full 50-megapixel resolution, you can also take 48-megapixel ultrawide (like this year’s OnePlus 11) and 48-megapixel 5x telephoto shots. (The Pixel 8 only can take 12-megapixel ultrawide shots.)
Google’s Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 8 smartphones in their bay and rose colors
Google’s Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 8 smartphones in their bay and rose colors. Stephen Shankland/CNET
Like all flagship phone makers, Google has employed a technology called pixel binning that offers photographers a choice between full-resolution shots and lower resolutions that work better in low-light situations. But this year, it’ll let you shoot full-res shots even in low light if you prefer. That’s unlike Apple, which switches to pixel binning and low resolution automatically when it’s dark.
“You will always get more detail by enabling 50 megapixels [than when shooting at 12 megapixels], even in very low light, although you may suffer some noise penalty,” Reynolds said.
You can also use Night Sight for lower noise. It works at 50-megapixel resolution.
Apple changed its main camera’s default photo resolution from 12 megapixels to 24 megapixels with the iPhone 15 models, released last month. It also uses the HEIF image format, which stores files more compactly than the older JPEG. If you’re a Pixel photographer, you can choose the full resolution or 12 megapixels, but nothing intermediate. And there’s no HEIF support, because Google prefers JPEG’s universal compatibility.
We won’t know until testing whether Google’s high-resolution shots are worth it. Small pixels are worse when it comes to image noise and dynamic range. But Google has invested in better hardware, including wider aperture lenses that gather more light.
Pixel 8 camera hardware upgrades
Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro get the new higher-end main camera with dual conversion gain, and that gathers 21% more light than on the Pixel 7 generation.
Both phones get a new selfie camera, but it autofocuses only on the Pixel 8 Pro. Better image processing possible with the G3 helps improve color and reduce noise on both phones, Google said.
And as with the 2022 phones, only the Pro model gets a 5x telephoto camera. It uses the same sensor as the Pixel 7 Pro, but this year, the Pixel 8 Pro gets a wider f2.8 aperture lens to gather 56% more light. That’s the same aperture as on the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 5x telephoto.
“We’re going hard on low light,” Reynolds said. A secondary benefit: Switching to the 5x camera is faster because the phone can lock focus more swiftly than with the Pixel 7 Pro’s f3.5 lens.
Google Pixel 8 Pro’s three-camera camera bar
Photos and videos are a top priority and a competitive strong suit for for Google’s phones. This closeup of the “obsidian” colored Google Pixel 8 Pro shows its larger new 48-megapixel ultrawide camera at left, its updated 50-megapixel main camera in the center and its 48-megapixel 5x telephoto camera at right. Stephen Shankland/CNET
Only the Pro gets an improved ultrawide camera. It can gather 105% more light thanks to a larger sensor with a wider-aperture lens. That’s important for low-light scenes and for supporting the 48-megapixel resolution.
The Pro’s ultrawide camera also gets autofocus abilities and reduces its close-focus distance from last year’s 3cm to 2cm — about 0.8 inch. That means macro shots will have much better background blur, Reynolds said.
New Google camera app gets “pro controls”
Google is proud of its “computational raw” technology, which combines the multishot blending used to create ordinary JPEGs with the editing flexibility of raw photos. That means more dynamic range than with single-frame raw shots, which is handy for people who edit their photos afterward in software like Adobe Lightroom.
With the Pixel 8 Pro’s camera app, Google is giving photographers new controls to give photographers fine-tune their shots as they’re taken. It’s got new “pro controls” that expose options for shutter speed, exposure length, white balance, ISO sensitivity and focus, Reynolds said.
Most people won’t shoot raw or use the manual controls, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important. “It gets you the photo you need when you absolutely have to have it a certain way,” Reynolds said.
Another big change to Google’s camera app has already started arriving. For years, that app has presented buttons with a choice of modes like photo, video, panorama, Night Sight and slow motion video. Now Google offers a master switch for video and photo, each with its own range of buttons.
Also new to the camera app is an improvement to the DNG files used for raw photos. They now store more metadata so software like Adobe Lightroom will display a version that better matches the colors and tones of the Pixel’s fine-tuned JPEG. Raw photos in general have been retuned for better color and subtle tonal differences, Google said.
The Pixel 8 and 8 Pro phones are the first smartphones to use Ultra HDR, an Android photo format that adds extra information to a JPEG photo so compatible software can show a high dynamic range version. For instance, Ultra HDR brightens stars in astrophotography photos, which show more detail at 50-megapixel resolution.
New Pixel 8 shooting tricks
“The computational photography in Pixel camera is one of the biggest mobile computing breakthroughs in the last decade, and it’s moved the entire industry forward,”
Computational photography, often employing artificial intelligence technology, figures into some other abilities of the of Pixel 8 and 8 Pro:
For group photos, a new feature called Best Take lets you choose the faces you want from a group of photos. It shows thumbnails of each face in the photos, and when you tap on one, it shows you the various expressions. You can pick everybody’s best smiles or goofy faces for the composite photo the camera creates.
The G3′s AI acceleration abilities automatically cut noise from crowds and wind out of videos. But a new editing tool called Audio Magic Eraser isolates different sounds to let you pick what you want. Sound level sliders adjust the mix of sound from speech, wind, music, crowd hubbub and background noise.
A new Magic Editor tool lets you increase or decrease the size of scene elements like people. One tap outlines a scene element, then pinching or dragging moves it around. Like Video Boost, this tool goes to Google’s cloud computing system to do the heavy lifting of creating any new imagery that’s needed. The tool will only be available in an early access version to start.
A tool called Zoom Enhance will use generative AI to create higher-resolution photos out of smaller, pixelated originals.
Google has taken some measures to improve lens flare problems common on smartphones. Among other things, when shooting toward bright point sources of light like the sun, the Pixel can remove the distracting green dot such sources often produce.
Magic Eraser, which lets you obliterate scene elements like distracting people in the background, gets a big AI boost. It now uses generative AI so the phone can fill in larger areas. It also can remove shadows from selected elements you’re erasing.
Florence Ion / Gizmodo:
Pixel 8 and 8 Pro hands-on: an iterative update focused on camera and AI improvements, Bay blue is stunning, and adding a temperature sensor to the Pro is odd
Hands-On With the Google Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, and Pixel Watch 2
https://gizmodo.com/hands-on-google-pixel-8-pixel-8-pro-and-pixel-watch-2-1850893865
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
Memo: Amazon is shutting down Amp, its live audio streaming app launched in March 2022 that let users act like DJs by playing music and talking alongside songs — The service launched in March 2022 following a frenzy around live-audio services during the pandemic.
Amazon Shuts Down Amp, Its Live-Audio Streaming App
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-04/amazon-shuts-down-amp-its-live-audio-streaming-app#xj4y7vzkg
Service let users become DJs with music from major labels
Online retail giant has trimmed other projects recently
Tomi Engdahl says:
Audacity is an extremely popular open source audio editor, with hundreds of millions of downloads on the books. But due to some controversy over changes the Muse Group wanted to implement when they took ownership of the project back in 2021, the userbase has fractured somewhat. Some users simply stick with an older version of the program, while others have switched over to one of the forks that have popped up in the last couple of years….
AUDACITY RUNS SURPRISINGLY WELL IN YOUR BROWSER
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/05/audacity-runs-surprisingly-well-in-your-browser/?fbclid=IwAR3mlNypeBXc_nAJKQnYf8-jJ5rtMfTjw8N7Ra9HgJceyUsCfcCrN2BeCSU
Audacity is an extremely popular open source audio editor, with hundreds of millions of downloads on the books. But due to some controversy over changes the Muse Group wanted to implement when they took ownership of the project back in 2021, the userbase has fractured somewhat. Some users simply stick with an older version of the program, while others have switched over to one of the forks that have popped up in the last couple of years.
The Wavacity project by [Adam Hilss] is a bit of both. It looks and feels just like an older version of Audacity (specifically, 3.0.0). But the trick here is that he’s managed to get it working with WebAssembly (WASM) so you can run it in your browser. Impressively, it even works on mobile devices.
Given the popularity of Audacity, it was a natural choice for webificiation. The final result works remarkably well, to the point you might actually forget it’s running on a tab on your browser.
https://wavacity.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/01/hypersonic-speech-jammer-works-at-a-distance/
Tomi Engdahl says:
These DIY Super Headphones Take Sound Seriously
https://hackaday.com/2023/10/01/these-diy-super-headphones-take-sound-seriously/
[Pete Lewis] from SparkFun takes audio and comfort seriously, and recently shared details on making a customized set of Super Headphones, granting quality sound and stereo ambient passthrough, while providing hearing protection at the same time by isolating the wearer from the environment.
Such products can be purchased off the shelf (usually called some variant of “electronic hearing protection”), but every hacker knows nothing beats some DIY to get exactly the features one wants. After all, off-the-shelf solutions are focused on hearing protection, not sound quality. [Pete] also wanted features like the ability to freely adjust how much ambient sound was mixed in, as well as the ability to integrate a line-level audio source or Bluetooth input.
https://docs.sparkfun.com/SuperHeadphones/introduction/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meta
Introducing the New Ray-Ban | Meta Smart Glasses
https://about.fb.com/news/2023/09/new-ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses/
Takeaways
In partnership with EssilorLuxottica, we’re launching a new generation of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, available for pre-order now.
The new glasses feature improved audio and cameras, over 150 different custom frame and lens combinations, and they’re lighter and more comfortable.
You can now livestream from the glasses to Facebook or Instagram, and use “Hey Meta” to engage with Meta AI, our advanced conversational assistant, just by using your voice.
Today at Meta Connect, in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, we announced our next-generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses collection. We redesigned these from the ground up, improving all the core features of the first generation while adding new capabilities that have never been seen on a pair of smart glasses before. They start at $299 USD. Pre-orders are open now on meta.com and ray-ban.com, and the smart glasses will be available for purchase online and in retail stores starting October 17.*
Since we launched our first-generation smart glasses built in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, millions of moments have been captured and shared. From music festivals and birthday parties to first steps, graduations, and beyond, Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses free you from the constraints of a hand-held camera. Instead of keeping the world at arm’s length (or worse, missing out on the action completely as you struggle with your smartphone’s lock screen), Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses let you snap a photo or video clip from your unique point of view — allowing you to not only relive the moment, but really live in the moment, too.
The next generation of smart glasses
https://www.meta.com/fi/en/smart-glasses/
Iconic style, cutting-edge technology and lightweight form unite in a range of frames designed for living in the moment while expressing yourself to the max.
Designed for living in the moment
Capture life’s best moments and live-stream to Instagram and Facebook. Now with a 12 MP camera and 5-mic system. Stay connected with hands-free calls and messages and listen to your favourite tracks through built-in speakers.
Ray-Ban Stories Smart Glasses
https://www.ray-ban.com/row/ray-ban-stories
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/15456-tarkkaa-kuvaa-pienellae-virralla
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gen Z Complain About The Difficulties of Using Digital Cameras
https://petapixel.com/2023/10/16/gen-z-complain-about-the-difficulties-of-using-digital-cameras/?fbclid=IwAR0hHGOkO2vxsTADsIDvHz3wMDzg_2ROLxcU_1rRMQiK4AWmkf5lyrH_oUg
Generation Z users on TikTok are complaining about the difficulties of using a digital camera — instead of a smartphone — for taking photos.
Earlier this year, PetaPixel reported on how younger TikTok users had discovered that traditional digital cameras outperform smartphones in terms of taking photos and were eager to learn about DSLRs.
Now, Generation Z are taking to to TikTok to discuss the hardships of being the owner of a digital camera in their friendship — and the frustration of uploading photos from a digital camera in a new trend.
Violet films herself laboring away as she removes the SD card from her Sony Cybershot camera as soon as she returns home from a social event — because her friends, who are used to the immediacy of smartphone photography, want to see the pictures immediately.
She then shows viewers how she has to put the SD card into a reader and then wait as she transfers the photo files from the card reader to her computer.
However, Bryant admitted that the pain of using a digital camera instead of a smartphone was worth it because “the photos always turn out so good.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.canonrumors.com/canon-eos-m-has-been-quietly-discontinued/?fbclid=IwAR2ocqydKbqQhVENc-wxoBk2ihFg52nKqCmUsPeX5Hd8oc_GC2qbvWvY7jY
Canon dipped its toe into the mirrorless world with the EOS-M back in July 2012, over 11 years ago. Today quietly, Canon Japan has all the EOS-M cameras as being discontinued, a sign from the world’s largest camera manufacturer that the system is no longer available. We all knew that Canon would stop developing the EOS-M system once the RF-S was made available and that sooner or later the cameras would be all discontinued. That day is here now.