Four years from now, a third of TV shoppers will buy 1080p (sometimes referred to full) HDTV sets, according to display market research firm Displaybank.
The company forecasts that in 2011, the number of 1080p HD displays sold will reach 70 million. Last year, Displaybank estimated that 2.1 million full HDTV sets were sold and expects the number to reach 7 million this year.
According to Displaybank, the value of the 1080p market is expected to hit $19.6 billion in 2007, and will probably jump to $82.5 billion by 2011. LCD 1080p HD displays will account for 57 percent of the total, followed by plasma display panels at 34 percent.
For more information, visit www.displaybank.com.
Sony shooters have long wanted an HDV camcorder that records 24p video. In December 2006, Sony began shipping the Region 60 HVR-V1U HDV camcorder. The V1 is relatively small and lightweight: 12.8"x7.2"x5.2i" and 3.6lbs. The MSRP for the HVR-V1 is $4,890.00.
The HVR-V1U employs three 16:9 ClearVid CMOS sensors; each 1/4in. chip has 1.03 million effective pixels. The chips are always progressively scanned at either 60Hz or 48Hz (Region 60) or 50Hz (Region 50). Unlike other CMOS chips, 3ClearVid features elements that have been rotated 45 degrees.
Full Article at: http://digitalcontentproducer.com/hdhdv/depth/hdvatwork_sony_hvrv1u_031207/
Arqiva, a provider of transmission services for broadcasters and end-to-end media solutions for content and channel providers, has acquired 48 Zandar Predator HD8 MultiViewers to help produce live HD broadcasts of Championship Football for Sky Sports and its Sky HD channel.
The compact Predator units are installed inside two UK-based mobile production (OB) trucks, 24 for each, making it one of the largest single HD8 OB projects completed. Sony Professional Services installed the systems on both trucks.
On each truck, 10 multiviewers are installed in the production area, 12 in the videotape recording area and two for the audio mixing section. The Predator HD MultiViewers feature native HD input processing to display HD images up to 1080p. The multiviewer also offers low frame delays (less than one frame) from source to output.
The Predator HD8 accepts and auto-detects up to eight SDI or HD-SDI inputs with a high quality DVI output to the LCD displays up to 1080p resolution. The systems feature Zandar Dual Head (ZdH) display to drive one or two displays independently or configured as a virtual monitor wall, with spanning capability. ZdH is particularly ideal in space-restrictive OB vehicles because the system saves on rack space by combining two MultiViewers in a compact 1RU enclosure.
For more information, visit www.zandar.com.
When director David Fincher's "Zodiac" hit movie screens worldwide last week, it marked the first time a major studio feature had been shot and produced digitally without the use of videotape or compression.
The hard drive-based datacentric workflow for "Zodiac" began with Fincher's use of the Grass Valley Viper FilmStream Camera system from Thomson. Fincher worked with Grass Valley and its partner companies to develop and implement a digital, disk-based workflow.
Shot in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the principal photography on "Zodiac" lasted 117 days and made use of two Viper cameras with Zeiss DigiPrime lenses shooting in uncompressed 10-bit 4:4:4 1920x1080/24p FilmStream mode with a 2.37:1 anamorphic aspect ratio.
Data from the Viper cameras as well as on-set metadata fed a rotating group of 20 D.MAG (digital magazine) removable hard drives loaded in Digital Film Recorders (DFRs) from S.two of Reno, NV. The Camera House in North Hollywood, CA, rented and supported the equipment.
Data captured on set was transferred from D.MAG to LTO-3 data tapes using S.two's A.Dock, where images would go through quality control and inspection; then, two additional LTO-3 clones were made as backup files.
Up to six Viper cameras were used, at times, including for scenes at San Francisco's KGO-TV studios, where the Viper cameras were mounted inside the empty shells of studio broadcast cameras for POV shots.
Fincher's next feature, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which began principal photography in New Orleans last fall, is currently shooting with four Viper cameras and recording, once again, to S.two disk-based systems.
For more information, visit www.grassvalley.com.
Download the pdf brochureThe MCS-HD quickly integrates into a facility's existing operations. It features a front panel that mimics familiar VTR controls and is compatible with Odetics and VDCP automation protocols as well as the P2 protocol. It can record all popular high definition and standard definition video formats.
The MCS-HD features JPEG2000 video compression of the SDI and HD-SDI inputs. JPEG2000 is particularly suited to HD video compression. It can provide near uncompressed quality video using a fraction of the storage required with uncompressed systems.
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Video Formats: SDI and HD-SDI - 625 (50Hz) and 525 (60Hz)Vivid Entertainment next month will release a sequel to its adult film "Debbie Does Dallas" in Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats.
The 1978 film was among a number of adult features that industry observers have credited with propelling VCR sales.
Vivid is due to release "Debbie Does Dallas…Again" April 18.
High Definition and Standard Definition Baseband Picture Quality Measurement and Video Quality Analysis Device. The VP21H is a powerful high-picture quality measurement and analysis device for Baseband Video (HD/SD SDI).
Congressman Bobby Rush, D-IL, introduced a bill March 5 aimed at protecting users of wireless mics from harmful interference that could be generated by proposed unlicensed consumer electronics devices that would share TV channel spectrum.
H.R. 1320 acknowledges that introduction of such devices "without adequate safeguards" would interfere with "other existing television band devices already operating on the unassigned, non-licensed television channels." It further states that these existing devices "require protection to preserve their important operation."
The bill outlines requirements for the FCC to follow in allowing such devices to be used, including:
It also spells out how the commission must protect wireless mics and other such devices from harmful interference generated by these new devices. Steps include:
While not directly addressing the concerns of those in the broadcast community that such devices will cause harmful interference to DTV receivers and ultimately threaten the successful end of the transition to DTV service, the bill is seen as a positive development.
Saying Rush's bill "addresses an important element of the debate," MSTV president David Donovan characterized the bill as "a step in the right direction."
The FCC has established a test bed to evaluate how well these unlicensed devices may co-exist with DTV.
The WW20000BA H.264 HD encoder from W and W Communications was suc cessfully used by Broadcast Sports inside its onboard wireless HD cameras for transmission of live video feeds from racecars in this month's Daytona 500 race. The race was the first ever Daytona 500 race broadcasted in HD. Broadcast Sports, a wholly owned subsidiary of L-3 Communications/WESCAM, delivered the compact, wireless HD broadcast camera systems that were mounted in the cockpits of several cars in the race.
A COFDM microwave transmission link provided non line-of-sight transmission of the AV bit stream to production and satellite uplink units.
The WW20000BA video encoder was used in these camera systems to compress the video in HD broadcast quality at bit rates low enough and with very low latency, to make live coverage in HD over wireless links possible from cameras within the racecars.
'The successful broadcast in HD of this month's Daytona 500 race was a major milestone for the live broadcast industry'.
'Without the WW20000BA H.264 HD encoder from W and W Communications and their commitment in supporting us, we would not have been able to achieve this milestone'.
'This first success is opening the door for BSI to bring viewers world wide live sports coverage in HD', says Adam Toner, Engineering Manager at Broadcast Sports.
The H.264 standard produces superior results at lower bit rates compared to the older MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video compression standards.
However, the significantly higher computational complexity of H.264 poses a major challenge in terms of power and footprint.
BSI found the solution to this dilemma in the WW20000BA encoder from W and W Communications, which runs at 110MHz only and comes in a single chip implementation.
The WW20000BA encoder compresses 1080i/p HD video at 2x lower bit rates and 15% better PSNR than MPEG-2 HD encoders.
'The combination of our video encoder expertise for low delay applications, combined with BSI's HD camera and microwave transmission expertise made it possible to achieve this milestone'.
'W and W Communications is proud to be partners with Broadcast Sports and to supply the company with the industry's best H.264 HD broadcast quality encoders', says Kishan Jainandunsing, Vice President Marketing at W and W Communications.
The WW20K H.264 codec chipset from W and W Communications consists of the WW20000BA encoder and the WW200001BA decoder.
Encode-decode tandem delay is less than 35ms or about 1 frame at 30frame/s with performance very close to the H.264 Joint Model.
The W20000BA encoder integrates an advanced context-adaptive noise reduction filter.
This not only reduces noise in the source video, but also improves the encoder's compression efficiency significantly depending on the video content.
Accurate constant bit rate control guarantees video quality versus available channel bandwidth over broadband wireless transmission links.
Software upgradeability of the chipset makes it easy to apply field upgrades.| Release date: February 27, 2007 W&W Communications Introduces H.264 Codec Chipset for Live HD Broadcast Applications The WW20K H.264 HD codec chipset from W&W Communications delivers broadcast quality 1080i/p video with minimum delay at low bit rates SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 27 -- W&W Communications, Inc., the leader in H.264 HD encoders, announced today its WW20K H.264 HD codec chipset for live broadcast applications. The chipset consists of the WW20000BA single chip encoder and the WW20001BA single chip decoder. The low encode-decode tandem delay and ability to encode 1080 video at high quality and relatively low bit rates makes the WW20K chipset suitable for live HD video broadcast applications, such as sports and news events. "The broadcast industry is in the midst of converting to the HD format. However, the high bit rates of broadcast quality HD video material poses a challenge to real-time news and event coverage in high-definition," said Kishan Jainandunsing, Vice President Marketing at W&W Communications. "Our WW20K chipset provides the broadcast industry with a practical and robust solution to take down this last barrier towards HD video broadcasting." About W&W Communications, Inc. W&W Communications develops best-in-class video compression software and hardware solutions for video-enabled consumer, professional, enterprise and infrastructure platforms. Its innovative product line includes highly optimized, low-delay, power-efficient, high-definition H.264/MPEG-4 AVC encoders and decoders, as well as multi-format, multi-channel transcoders. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA with offices in Beijing, China and Madrid, Spain. For more information visit www.wwcoms.com. CONTACT: Kishan Jainandunsing of W&W Communications, Inc., +1-408-481-0264, or fax, +1-408-213-2951, or kishan@wwcoms.com |
| Contacts: General Information: Kishan Jainandunsing USA Phone: 408-481-0264 FAX: 408-213-2951  E-mail this person |
Company Information: Name: W&W Communications, Inc. Address: 2903 Bunker Hill Ln #107 City: Santa Clara State: CA ZIP: 95054 Country: USA Phone: 408-481-0264 FAX: 408-213-2951 http://www.wwcoms.com |
