It has been a few weeks since CES2018, and with all the PR and reports coming out of Las Vegas I think most of us have now gotten the gist of where technology is generally going from all that was shown, however I think it is important to grab our picks of items that we believe have an impact on the TV Entertainment industry in the coming year along with links to the stories that matter.
HDR Evolution
First up – High Dynamic Range (HDR) is all about 2018 and the onward improvement of HDR through dynamic metadata. Whether it was further deployment on TVs and Blu-ray devices of Dolby Vision or the alternative technologies such as HDR10+ and Technicolor’s Advanced HDR that are now entering the home eco-system, this is going to be a talking point in 2018. All are derived from the SMPTE ST.2094 series of Dynamic Metadata standards, they are an evolution of existing HDR technologies to create improved and competitive product features for the more than standard consumer. A key point – an evolution. This is not technology risk or replacement of the two key formats of HLG and PQ (HDR10), this is about improved features for those consumers who are looking for better performance of the average display or improved quality of their higher end content and display experience.
References
https://www.fairmilewest.com/2018/01/hdr-format-phoney-war/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/08/technicolor-hdr-for-philips-tvs/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/09/panasonic-new-oled-tvs-support-hdr10-dynamic-metadata/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/09/philips-amps-up-its-4k-uhd-tv-line-with-dolby-vision-hdr/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/09/tcls-6-series-roku-tvs-sport-a-metal-design-4k-and-dolby-vision-hdr/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/09/sony-launches-its-first-dolby-vision-blu-ray-player-and-a-dolby-atmos-receiver/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/12/dolby-vision-or-hdr10-dolby-wants-you-to-have-both/
Improved Processing
Secondly, we have those TV and display vendors who have looked at other ways of improving the display of HDR technologies and, more importantly, lower resolution content on higher resolution displays. Whether this was up conversion of 1080P HDR content to 4K or 1080P/HDR and 4K content up conversion for 8K displays, this was about display manufacturers knowing that content futures are going to be a wide variety of resolutions with better pixels. Manufacturers need to ensure that those pixels are squeezed and expanded to look great on the bigger displays. Artificial intelligence / machine learning techniques are being applied with higher and higher processing capability – across the board to ensure content is seen at its best.
References
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/09/samsung-uses-ai-to-transform-any-video-content-into-8k/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/09/lgs-2018-4k-tvs-include-ai-and-smarter-hdr/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/09/lg-has-come-up-with-a-surprisingly-interesting-way-to-apply-ai-to-tv/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/11/ces-2018-look-to-the-processor-not-the-display-for-tv-picture-improvements/ https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/15/sony-x1-ultimate-we-take-a-closer-look-at-sonys-next-gen-tv-processor/
Improved Display Tech
Thirdly the CES story is about new display technologies that allow better reproduction of colour and high dynamic range, as well as some that have advantage for having truly giant displays from Sony – alternatives to the OLED tech that many TV manufacturers focus on for their higher end. Micro LED came up and it will be interesting to see where that goes. OLED is also developing further including providing improved form factors for TVs such as the rollable display prototype from LG.
References
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/08/lg-display-delivers-a-65-inch-rollable-oled/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/08/ces-2018-samsung-unveils-worlds-first-modular-microled-tv-and-8k-ai/ https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/08/samsung-is-ready-to-build-a-146-inch-tv-wall-in-your-house/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/08/samsung-8k-micro-dimming-tv-first-impressions/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/09/4k-televisions-are-starting-to-look-like-the-biggest-hit-among-new-tech-products/ https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/12/8k-display-production-to-begin-ramp-up-in-2018/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/11/lg-displays-88-inch-8k-tv-turns-pixels-into-beauty/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/10/from-las-vegas-to-tokyo-the-journey-to-8k/
Voice enabling the home entertainment experience
Finally, Voice control for home devices and TV has gotten a major boost driven by the commercial success of Amazon’s Alexa voice services, the Echo products and Google Home (which won the PR war but not necessarily the product war at CES). Many providers have opened up the integration to make use of voice services to enhance their UX and customers are flocking to them. This can only keep expanding throughout 2018, including the integration of the inbuilt voice facilities ’embedded’ voice services and these voice platforms to make a much improved extension of the remote control based interfaces.
References
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/09/new-hisense-tv-range-puts-alexa-and-google-assistant-center-stage/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/09/alexa-support-comes-to-2018-tvs-from-sony-hisense-and-lg/
https://tvtechnews.eu/2018/01/12/ces-2018-voice-assistants-and-addressable-tv-garner-incremental-interest-adexchanger/
Epilogue
Of course there were some damp squibs from CES (you can see what I did there when you look at the links) – robots looked poorly formed and certainly not ready for the home, and the pushing of the ‘Smart’ Fridge is looking increasingly without merit… but these are not really affecting the TV and Entertainment industries. Seeing the result also of the power cut that greatly effected part of one of the days of CES, I am sure some people may be thinking more about coping with the same issue with their homes and how that affects more than just the TV.
It will certainly be interesting to see the end result of these developments, and I am sure we will revisit the output of CES2019 throughout the year.
References
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42614281 – LG’s Chloi not answering
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42657607 – CES 2018: Were robots more than a gimmick at the tech show? http://www.livemint.com/Technology/KH8D1r5DywGMA9PCMhXCEP/CES-2018-Samsungs-new-Family-Hub-fridge-is-all-about-smart.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42639780 – CES2018 – Power cut at Vegas tech show blamed on rain
Fairmile West is a Consulting company focused on working in the Consumer Device and Video arena. We work with clients on technology strategy and product delivery through key practices in Consumer Devices and Video Services. If you are interested in learning more about what we do, please do get in touch via our website – Contact us. You can also keep track with what interests us in the industry by following our Link blog at TV Tech News, and you can specifically follow news on Ultra HD via the following link – Ultra HD News.