During a 90-minute event at its headquarters in Cupertino yesterday, Apple unveiled two new iPads (the iPad Air 2, starting at $499, and the iPad mini 3, starting at $399), a 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina display, and its new operating system, OS X Yosemite. CEO Tim Cook explained that the new Apple Pay mobile payment service will launch on Monday with more than 500 partners including American Express, MasterCard and Visa. Cook also said that the Apple Watch would be available early next year. Continue reading Apple Introduces Two New iPads, 5K iMac and OS X Yosemite

Panelists at the Entertainment Merchants Association’s Digital Media Pipeline 2014 conference last week considered what defines a premium experience for consumers and how to best deliver it. Execs from Inception, MovieLabs, The Orchard and Sony discussed today’s variety of platforms, ways to keep consumers connected to content, meeting consumer demands, the need for a universal specification that supports multiple platforms, using social tools for search and discovery, and more. Continue reading Digital Media Pipeline: Making Digital a Premium Experience

Netflix is raising its monthly subscription rate by more than 30 percent for those interested in streaming 4K video. Subscribers who have not yet signed up for 4K content will be charged $11.99 per month (the family plan), up from the standard $8.99 charge. For customers who have already signed up for a 4K-enabled account, the price change will not take effect until August 2016. Netflix 4K streams currently only work with Ultra HD TVs released this year that include a built-in H.265/HEVC decoder. Continue reading Netflix is Charging More for Subscribers Streaming 4K Video

Google X, Google’s secretive advanced projects lab, is currently developing large-scale video displays that are comprised of smaller modular screens intended to plug together like Legos to form a seamless image. According to people familiar with the previously undisclosed project, the displays can be configured in different shapes and sizes. The project is led by Mary Lou Jepsen, former MIT professor who co-founded the One Laptop Per Child project and three startups involving display technology. Continue reading Google X Project: Building Large-Scale Modular Video Displays

GoPro will launch its Hero4 line on October 5th with some notable new features. The $499 Hero4 Black, which the company claims doubles the performance power of its predecessor, supports cinema 4K video recording at 30 fps, 2.7K at 50 fps, and 1080p at 120 fps. Meanwhile, the $399 Hero4 Silver features a touchscreen display, 2.7K recording at 30 fps, 1080 recording at 60 fps, and 720p at 120 fps. Both models include 12-megapixel photo resolution, improved audio capture, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and more. Continue reading GoPro’s Hero4 Black Features 4K Video Recording at 30 FPS

The Entertainment Merchants Association will hold its Digital Media Pipeline on October 8 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Celebrating its sixth year, Digital Media Pipeline is a one-day B2B event that brings together thought leaders to discuss digital delivery of home entertainment. ETC’s Phil Lelyveld will be a featured speaker as part of a next-gen technology panel. ETC community members are invited to attend the conference at the discounted EMA member price of $295. Continue reading EMA to Hold Sixth Annual Digital Media Pipeline Next Week

Higher dynamic range in both the cinema and CE viewing experience was a recurring message yesterday at Con-Tech: The 2015 Preview Seminar. The NAB Show and the International 3D and Advanced Imaging Society held a seminar on content and technology trends including 4K production, color gamut, HDR and new workflows. The event, hosted by Paramount Pictures, featured panelists from companies such as Barco, CableLabs, Disney, DreamWorks Animation, Film Magic, Lionsgate, RealD and Technicolor. Continue reading Con-Tech: 4K Production, Color Gamut and High Dynamic Range

Vizio has announced the availability of its P-Series 4K LED HDTV line we first saw during January’s CES. The company is dramatically undercutting most current UHD offerings from competing manufacturers. The 50-inch model is priced at $999, which could help push 4K into the mainstream — while the top-of-the-line 70-inch model is priced at a reasonable $2,499. Despite the cost of the P-Series line, Vizio has not skimped on the specs, including features such as Full-Array LED backlighting and local dimming. Continue reading Vizio Undercuts Price with Launch of P-Series 4K LED TV Line

SanDisk unveiled its new 512GB memory card at the International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam last week. The $800 Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I card — which SanDisk touts as “the highest capacity SD card on the market” — is designed for professionals that shoot 4K video, Full HD video and high-speed burst mode photography. The new offering marks an increase in SD card capacity by 1,000 times in just over a decade. It was only 2003 when consumers were scrambling for SanDisk’s 512MB cards. Continue reading IBC 2014: SanDisk Premieres Record-Breaking 512GB SD Card

Samsung announced that it is partnering with Amazon to offer Ultra HD content. Samsung plans to offer Amazon’s UHD on-demand service in October, in addition to expanding its pre-existing Netflix UHD service in Europe. Samsung, in collaboration with 20th Century Fox and Paramount, converted 40 movies to UHD over the summer to increase the content collection. It should be in the interest of manufacturers to expand 4K offerings in order to spark consumer interest in the new TV sets. Continue reading Ultra HD: Samsung to Offer 4K Amazon and Netflix Streaming

Award-winning engineer Yves Faroudja has come out of retirement to explore how new approaches to compression and processing can help with the transition to Ultra HD. Los Altos-based startup Faroudja Enterprises is currently testing a prototype technology to move 4K in real time, while preserving image quality at reduced bit rates with existing compression systems. Faroudja has filed for eight related patents, and the company has plans to either license the tech or introduce it as software. Continue reading Ultra HD: New Processing Tech Improves Video Compression

Sony debuted a campaign this weekend to market 4K entertainment. The promotion — launched by Sony Electronics, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Best Buy, in collaboration with National CineMedia — includes a 30-second spot for NCM’s FirstLook pre-show content. The spot features outtakes from “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (available tomorrow on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD) with an emphasis on viewing movies via Sony 4K Digital Cinema projectors in theaters and Sony 4K TVs at home. Continue reading Cross-Promotion Highlights the 4K Entertainment Experience

Sony will soon join LG and Samsung in offering curved 4K LCD television sets. The Japanese company is expected to unveil two models at 65- and 75-inches during next month’s IFA show in Berlin. While Sony has yet to announce pricing and availability, the curved sets will compete with Samsung’s HU9000 line, which includes a 65-inch model priced at $4,300 and 78-inch model at $8,000. Sony currently sells a 65-inch curved 1080p TV for $2,500. Continue reading Sony Planning to Debut a Pair of Curved 4K TVs Next Month

Samsung Electronics America announced that it is now taking orders on its 105-inch curved Ultra HD LED LCD TV, which offers 5,120 x 2,160 resolution (11 million pixels) and features a cinematic aspect ratio. The massive curved set will be built to order for a suggested retail price of $119,999. Each sale will be supported by Samsung Elite Service, which includes field engineers being dispatched to customers’ homes to explain features and configure the TV for an optimal viewing experience. Continue reading Samsung Takes Orders on $120K 105-Inch Curved Ultra HD TV

Last week, wireless startup Nitero unveiled its first WiGig radio silicon. The low-power WiGig chip is targeted at smartphones, tablets and TVs, specifically to transfer large files in a short range at extremely fast speeds. For example, the WiGig chip can stream 4K video from a TV to a smartphone using high frequency 60GHz waves. Nitero’s 28-nanometer WiGig chip reportedly consumes 10 times less power than competing chips from Wilocity. Continue reading Nitero WiGig Chip Brings Multi-Gigabit Speeds to Smartphones