CREATION—AUDIO
Linear Acoustic has released the next phase of their award-winning StreamStacker-HD system. “We are excited by this significant release because, in addition to passing Dolby-compatible metadata, the system is now capable of generating and re-generating metadata in both encoders and decoders,” said company president and founder Tim Carroll. Phase Two also enhances the performance of the DTS Coherent Acoustics encoder upon which the system is built. StreamStacker-HD has advanced future-proof metadata handling features that will ultimately improve the end-user experience and meet the growing consumer demand for high quality multi-channel audio. In addition, the new release offers improved jitter performance, increased error resilience, and activates a GPI controlled soft-bypass mode to allow the system to be installed in series with other coding systems to support legacy content. A software development kit (SDK) is also available for OEM customers wishing to incorporate a software version of the e-squared decoder into their products. Real time and faster than real-time decoding can be realized with low CPU and memory requirements. More info—Lancaster, Pennsylvania
DELIVERY
Macrovision Corporation [NASDAQ:MVSN] has a license agreement with a leading set top box manufacturer, which provides the licensee rights to use Macrovision’s Connected Platform within its digital set top boxes in the North America cable market. The growing volume of high–quality personal digital content available within the home, as well as on the Internet, has driven greater demand for networked entertainment devices. Currently, most consumers are limited to accessing premium linear and on demand content on their set top box. They must store and view personal digital media content, such as photos, on a personal computer. System operators and manufacturers are quickly adopting technologies to bridge the gap between the PC and cable set-top boxes. Macrovision’s Connected Platform allows hardware providers to create cutting-edge wired and wireless digital home products that enable users to discover, browse, search and enjoy personal content and connect between silos of digital entertainment with the capability to acquire streamed music, photos and video from PCs and networked storage devices. More info—Santa Clara, California
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MyStarU.com, Inc. has announced its majority owned subsidiary, Subaye.com, Inc.’s ( https://www.subaye.com ) wholly owned subsidiary, Media Group International Limited (MGI) will provide bundled advertising and entertainment content to IPTV company China Netcom Guangdong and Liaoning provinces, starting in Q1 2008. Additionally, a new report from BizChina has predicted global digital television is being driven by China. The country will account for a quarter of all digital TV households by the year 2012. According to figures published by Informa Telecoms and Media in its Global Digital TV report, more than 264 million digital homes will be added between the end of 2007 and the end of 2012. That’s more than double the current total, with China accounting for 60 million of those extra homes.
CREATION—VIDEO CODECX
On2 Technologies [AMEX:ONT] now has an extensive agreement with Texas Instruments (TI). The two companies will collaborate on technology to implement On2’s industry leading TrueMotion VP6 and VP7 video compression formats on TI’s OMAP Platform and DaVinci technology for mobile handsets and digital video applications. Under their agreement, the two companies will share technology and development resources allowing TI to optimize VP6 and VP7 codec performance for different applications with TI’s development partners and community. Earlier this year, On2 became a TI development partner, further extending the availability of VP6 and VP7 codecs to TI’s development communitymore TrueMotion codec info—Tarrytown, New York
DELIVERY
Silicon Image, Inc. [NASDAQ:SIMG] has released the most energy-efficient HDMI transmitters available in the market today. The new generation of VastLane HDMI transmitters, the SiI9022 and the SiI9024, deliver dramatically reduced power consumption, improving reliability and battery life in mobile devices. The SiI9022 transmitter is specifically designed to bring HDMI capability to ever-smaller mobile devices, such as digital cameras, portable media players, camcorders and mobile phones. The SiI9024 transmitter is intended for use in mobile devices designed to carry premium content. The Sil9024 incorporates an integrated High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) engine and keys that enable the secure distribution of content between HDMI enabled devices. These new transmitters also help reduce system BOM costs with an integrated on-chip consumer electronics control (CEC) function, a universal remote control feature typically implemented with the added cost of an external microcontroller. This feature provides consumers with added convenience and allows them to use a single remote control to run multiple CEC-enabled HDMI devices. More info—Sunnyvale, California
digitBITS…
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A groundbreaking deal is now in place between the BBC and interactive media sector allowing producers to retain their ownership of their content ideas. This is the first time such an agreement has been reached and is similar in terms of trade to that of TV producers, who have more rights to their programs. The indie producters’ trade organization, Pact, hopes this agreement will “kick start” the the digital content’s secondary market in the United Kingdom.
DELIVERY
According to a survey performed by the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa), Thailand’s digital content market was worth Bt102.billion last year. The survey found the industry had a high growth rate of about 50 percent over the last three years, according to an article in The Nation Technology online edition. Of the total Bt102. billion, approximately Bt4.5 billion was derived form the animation industry with the remaining Bt5.7 billion from the game industry. Sipa hopes animationa nd games content industries willd rive revenues to Bt30 billion in the next three years. Complete article.
DELIVERY
Strategy & Technology Limited (S&T) have announced the company is further expanding its support for the Asia-Pacific region with the opening of an office in Hong Kong to support their receiver and broadcaster customers. The news comes as Asian broadcasters look to select MHEG-5 middleware for their digital TV platforms. MHEG-5, or ISO/IEC 13522-5, is part of a set of international standards that relate to the presentation of multimedia information, standardized by the Multimedia and Hypermedia Experts Group (MHEG). The opening of S&T’s Hong Kong office will also allow its RedKey MHEG-5 middleware team to enhance its support to new and existing receiver and television manufacturer customers across the region. The new office is initially co-located with that of the company’s Asia-Pacific systems integration partner, Magna Systems & Engineering, and is staffed with highly trained local engineers and is also available to support S&T’s global sales effort.
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News Corp’s Internet division has informed Reuters they will launch an online network, possible during the first half of next year. The network has the initial name of FIM Serve and its main purpose will be ad serving to other News Corp. entities. There is, allegedly, no conflict with News Corp’s Google partnership. In additional News Corp’s news, their online social network acquisition, MySpace, will debut a Facebook-like news feed sometime during the next 1-1/2 months. Subscribers will be able to receive alerts from their online friends and associates as news feeds, and users will be able to create more than a single profile. There is also a push by News Corp to obtain as many U.S. wireless operators to present a MySpace mobile version on their main menus or mobile phone decks. The mobile version of MySpace has already debuted and an agreement with AT&T should bring this service to their customers shortly.
DELIVERY
Car radio sales are expected to remain quite solid, even should the U.S. auto sales market hit the basement, says XM Satellite Radio Holdings Chairman Gary Parsons. The company relies almost wholly on car buyers for their growth, with 70 percent of their new subscribers buying the service for their cars. However, once account cancellations are taken into consideration, the reliance upon auto sales for subscriber growth is quite evident—XM lost a net of 17,000 retail customers during Q3. The CEO predicts that 40 percent of new vehicles will have satradio in them next year and expectations are that will rise to 50 percent by 2009.
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So, what exactly IS next for online gaming? If you happen to in, near, or arriving in London on Monday, December 3rd, you can find out for yourself as Second Chance Tuesday London offers all a serious night of fun and games at Cavendish Conference Center, 22 Duchess Mews, In London. Try your hand at a casual massivley multiplayer game (MMOG) such as World of Warcraft. Also learn about in-game advertising. Alice Taylor will be leading discussions with a number of industry experts, such as Toby Rowland of King.com, Klass Kersting of gameforge.de and Michel Cassius of Imagini. Registration.
