This week, Multichannel News included comments from ARRIS engineering fellow Sean McCarthy on the future of Ultra HD and how High Dynamic Range (HDR) TV will bring a new level of realness to the platform. Light Reading ran a similar story and noted that, while HDR is already mainstream in photography, the technology is starting to gain momentum in the video world.
Separately, Rapid TV News published a contributed article from ARRIS senior vice president Steve McCaffery on how, as smart technology and home automation become more commonplace, the gateway has emerged as a central point of communication to simplify the home entertainment experience.
In other industry news, FierceCable covered the results of Adobe's Q3 2014 U.S. Digital Video Benchmark Report, which found that unique users of TV Everywhere content increased 34 percent year-over-year during the third quarter of 2014.
Finally, the Washington Post highlighted consumer research from NPD Group that found that, during this year’s Thanksgiving week, sales of TVs that are 32 inches or smaller fell 50 percent compared to last year, likely because solitary TV viewing is increasingly done with over-the-top (OTT) services on laptops and tablets.
Check back next week for the latest industry news.
Picture Imperfect (Dec. 15) By Jeff Baumgartner, Multichannel News: Proponents of Ultra HD/4K are still waiting for the pixel-packed format to deliver the kind of “wow” factor that excites consumers to snap up new, shiny 4K televisions in droves.
HDR: The Next Big Video Thing (Dec. 19) By Mari Silbey, Light Reading: Let the hype cycle begin. Even with 4K TV still in its earliest deployments, video technologists have already moved on to the next big thing: High-Dynamic Range (HDR).
The Future of TV Hinges on One Device (Dec. 15) By Steve McCaffery, Rapid TV News: The way we watch TV has changed completely. We’ve transitioned from a linear, living room model to an always-on, whole-home, distributed, time-shifted, multiscreen paradigm with more kinds of content than there are flavours at your local ice cream parlour.
TV Everywhere Use Doubled in Q3, Adobe Says (Dec .17) By Daniel Frankel, FierceCable: Continuing to report surging use of authenticated multiscreen services from pay-TV operators, Adobe said the number of videos started within TV Everywhere apps nearly doubled in Q3, up 108 percent year over year.
How Cord-cutting Is Changing The Kinds of TVs We Buy (Dec. 16) By Sarah Halzack, Washington Post: For shoppers who bought TVs during Black Friday sales, bigger was definitely better. Consumer research firm NPD Group found that over Thanksgiving week, sales of TVs that are 32 inches or smaller fell 50 percent compared to last year.
