Europe's online source of news, data & analysis for professionals involved in packaged media and new delivery technologies
Testronic Laboratories, the global leader in quality assurance and testing services to the Blu-ray and Broadcast industries, has announced the opening of its new 3D Test Lab. Set to launch in the first... Read more...
On 4 January in Guangzhou, the China High-definition DVD Industry Association announced that Guangzhou-based optical disc manufacturer Opus Media has begun producing China Blue High-definition Discs (... Read more...
According to a recent Screen Digest report, Blu-ray Disc over-production to meet retailer initial ordering is "already evident". Pipeline fill may account for an extra 30% above what is required to meet... Read more...
In a landmark victory for the US film industry, the World Trade Organization rejected China’s appeal of its earlier ruling that sided with the United States to get China to provide greater access to... Read more...
Market research group DisplaySearch forecasts that the total stereoscopic 3D display market will grow from 700,000 units and $902 million in revenues in 2008, to 196 million units and $22 billion in revenues... Read more...
The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, the coalition with support from every sector of digital entertainment, announced at the Consumer Electronics Show it has reached key milestones toward establishing... Read more...
Cinram Logistics UK is operating a new voice-directed picking system at its site in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. The 10 VDP terminals – which are used for the picking of very fast-moving lines from pallets... Read more...
DivX, Inc. unveiled at CES DivX TV, a comprehensive embedded Internet TV platform that provides access to a diverse line-up of online media content streamed directly to any connected device from any manufacturer... Read more...
Technicolor has announced that Greg Gudorf and Peter Lee have joined the company to launch a newly-created business focused on integrated digital content delivery and device management. The new team will... Read more...
The Blu-ray Disc Association announced the finalization and release of the “Blu-ray 3D” specification. The specification, which represents the work of the leading Hollywood studios and consumer electronic... Read more...
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced two Blu-ray packaging initiatives "that will give consumers greater value and portability." It follows in the footsteps of Universal which unveiled Blu-ray/DVD... Read more...
There have been ongoing concerns in the media manufacturing industry that the high costs and confusing structure of royalties and licence fees for Blu-ray Disc manufacture are inhibiting investment in... Read more...
2009 was the most successful year for mobile content ever despite a difficult economic climate and a declining handset market, says Screen Digest in its latest research. The market awakening was primarily... Read more...
Optical Disc Solutions S.R.L. is the first certified plant in Romania under the CDSA Copyright And Licensing Verification Program. The accreditation resulted from a comprehensive examination and review... Read more...
Technicolor and Testronic Labs have teamed up to offer comprehensive Blu-ray Disc testing capabilities that combine the unique areas of expertise that each company offers – Testronic Labs’ expertise... Read more...
US standards body Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) has launched a certification programme for broadcast equipment and consumer receiving devices that comply with the new A/153 ATSC Mobile ... Read more...
Back to business!
Even though our website activities were on the back burner for over a year while we reshaped our operations, professionals from nearly 50 countries have kept logging in to tap into fifteen years of archives that uniquely chronicle the birth, the life, but not yet the death, of packaged media.
Though our service brief has been including coverage of new content delivery channels for several years, there is still enough activity on the DVD and Blu-ray Disc front – globally – on which to focus our reporting energy, especially as 4K UHD seems to be gathering pace.
While our company, Globalcom Ltd, remains based in the UK, we are running the website afresh from South Korea! Always looking for new challenges and a desire to share widely the knowledge gained, I took up a faculty position at Hannam University’s Linton School of Global Business (in Daejeon) where I teach globalization and communication technology courses.
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TECHNICOLOR has posted its results for the full year 2016. Group revenues increased by 34.8% at constant currency, reflecting the change in scale of Connected Home and Entertainment Services. The two segments combined recorded revenue growth of 48.2% year-on-year at constant rate resulting from the contribution of the acquisitions completed in 2015 and double digit organic growth in Production Services activities.
VODAFONE SPAIN is launching a new 4K TV service with 5 TV channels (10 by year end ) and VoD content for subscribers with convergent packages, like Vodafone One. The five new channels are Odisea 4K, Festival 4K, FunBox UHD, Insight TV and Slow Channel – and one 4K transmission of the best football match of La Liga every week. The company will be the first in the country to offer 4K VoD content with 850 titles including films, TV series and documentaries.
APPLE will make its first forays into original content in the “next few months”, according to Eddy Cue, the company’s SVP of internet software and services. Speaking at the Code Media conference in California, Cue revealed that Carpool Karaoke and Planet Of The Apps will become available “in most countries in the world” on Apple TV. Mac and iOS devices as part of Apple Music, the company’s subscription music offering.
MPEG LA ANNOUNCED that several patent owners in MPEG LA’s AVC Patent Portfolio License have filed patent enforcement actions in the Landgericht Düsseldorf, Germany, against both Huawei Technologies Deutschland GmbH and ZTE Deutschland GmbH for infringing patents essential to the AVC/H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10) digital video coding standard used in mobile devices and other products. According to the complaints, Huawei and ZTE offer mobile phone products in Germany, which use patent-protected AVC methods without licenses with the individual patent holders or a portfolio license that includes these patents offered by MPEG LA. The suits seek monetary damages and injunctions.
DELUXE is to close its UK restoration operation at the end of March with the potential loss of 12 jobs.Recent projects worked on include the nine surviving silent Alfred Hitchcock films for the BFI. In 2015, the department won the Best Archive Restoration award at the 2015 Focal International Awards for its work on Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection for Arrow Films. The division was formed in 2011 through the merger of Deluxe Digital London (DDL) and Deluxe 142’s restoration operations following Deluxe’s acquisition of Ascent Media. Deluxe said it would maintain its restoration facilities in Madrid, Spain and Los Angeles, US.
MOBILE and desktop video consumption are running virtually neck-and-neck, with 86% of consumers saying they watch video on smartphones and other mobile devices, compared to 70% on desktops, AOL found in a fresh study that tracked usage trends across seven global regions. Additionally, 57% of consumers watch videos on a mobile phone every day, compared to 58% on desktops and laptops.
