• Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016
Sean Strong joins ARRI Rental NY
Sean Strong
NEW YORK -- 

ARRI Rental, a leading provider of camera, grip and lighting equipment to the feature film, television, advertising, broadcast and events markets, announced that Sean Strong has joined the camera rental department in New York. In his position as camera rental coordinator he will be responsible for coordinating equipment orders between the rental office and operations department while maintaining strong client relations.

Strong’s extensive experience spans more than 25 years in the industry. He comes from Panavision New York where he managed the camera rental department as prep service manager for the last 11 years. He started his career in 1991 as a prep tech at Camera Service Center in New York (now ARRI Rental) before he became a freelance camera assistant. After nine years in the field he re-joined Camera Service Center as quality control/technical support manager in 2002. 

“We are delighted to welcome Sean back to ARRI Rental, where he has rejoined so many friends and colleagues from his previous time with us,” said Simon Broad, president of ARRI Rental in the U.S. “It is a measure of the professional way in which he conducted himself during the intervening period that he has been greeted so warmly and the experience that he has gained will be of immediate benefit not only in New Jersey but throughout the Rental Group.”

  • Monday, Jan. 18, 2016
Heart-pounding action? Hollywood can now measure that
This file photo provided by Twentieth Century Fox shows Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass in a scene from the film, "The Revenant." 20th Century Fox says that it used a wearable wristband on over 100 people in test screenings for the Oscar-nominated film before it hit theaters in December 2015. (Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox via AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

Ever been told a movie is a heart-pounding thriller that'll have you on the edge of your seat? Thanks to wearable technology, Hollywood has the tools to prove it.

20th Century Fox says that it used a wearable wristband on over 100 people in test screenings for Oscar-contender "The Revenant" before it hit theaters in December. It's unclear if it's the first studio to obtain this sort of data from audiences, but experts say it's unlikely to be the last.

By measuring heart rate, skin moisture, movement, and audible gasps, Fox found the Leonardo DiCaprio vehicle had 14 heart-pounding moments where it measured significant jumps in people's heart rates. Fifteen scenes evoked fight-or-flight responses, as determined by a range of indicators taken together. The audience was also almost completely motionless for just over half of the 2.6-hour movie — in other words, says the studio, on the edge of their seats.

George Dewey, Fox's senior vice president of digital, said the data complements traditional written surveys and focus groups. One of its advantages, he said, is that it cuts through some of the statistical "noise" that results when audience members influence each other after the movie.

"This is a pure way to measure individual audience response," he said.

Companies like the Innerscope Research unit of measurement and ratings giant Nielsen have been doing such biometric-based audience testing for nearly a decade, said Carl Marci, Nielsen's chief neuroscientist. But Hollywood, he said, has been shy about applying these techniques to movies due to the time and expense involved.

Taking such measurements has previously involved bringing viewers into the lab one at a time, where they can be monitored by medical-grade equipment that tracks everything from brainwaves to eye movement. The spread of inexpensive wearable sensors, however, is bringing costs down to the point where even movie producers with tight budgets can consider them.

Sensors that are "wearable and smaller and lighter and less expensive" are starting to hit the marketplace, Marci said. "This is one example of the wave."

Lightwave Inc., the technology company Fox hired to run the test, said it opted for the sensor-laden wristband to avoid "white coat syndrome" — the sort of elevated blood pressure and heart rate people experience when they know they're being tested. (Or just going to the doctor.)

"The participant feels like they're just going to a movie," said Lightwave CEO Rana June.

For now, Fox plans to use the technology for marketing — for instance, to highlight scenes that provoke more of a reaction among women in advertising that targets them. But "Revenant" director Alejandro Inarritu also saw the results, Dewey acknowledged. And it's not hard to imagine such pulse and respiratory data influencing the way directors and editors put together their films, much the way test-audience reactions can lead filmmakers to drop certain scenes, or even to change a movie's ending entirely.

Dewey, however, played down the likely impact on the moviemaking process. "Nothing's ever going to replace the artistry of filmmaking," he said.

  • Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016
GoPro cutting about 100 jobs after weak 4Q sales
This June 26, 2014, file photo shows GoPro's CEO Nick Woodman being filmed by multiple GoPro cameras as he celebrates his company's IPO at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
NEW YORK (AP) -- 

Wearable camera maker GoPro says it will eliminate about 100 jobs after its fourth-quarter sales fell far short of its expectations.

GoPro says fourth-quarter revenue was $435 million instead of the $500 million to $550 million it forecast in October. The company lowered the price of its new Hero4 Session camera after saying it made the product too expensive, which reduced its fourth-quarter revenue by $21 million.

FactSet says analysts expected GoPro to report $521.2 million in revenue.

The San Mateo, California, company had around 1,500 employees at the end of 2015 after hiring more than 500 people that year. It is cutting 7 percent of its jobs, or around 100 positions.

GoPro's products are popular with extreme sports enthusiasts, but it faces competition from smartphones and other wearable gear.

It was already predicting a drop in sales compared to last year because it didn't launch a new product in the fourth quarter. The new forecast means revenue dropped about 31 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014.

GoPro shares closed at $14.61 on Wednesday, down 71 percent over the past 12 months. The stock skidded 22 percent to $11.40 in aftermarket trading.

GoPro Inc.'s June 2014 initial public offering priced at $24 per share.

  • Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016
CBS to unveil new technology for Super Bowl 50 broadcast
Chairman CBS Sports Sean McManus, from left, sportscasters James Brown and Phil Simms participate in the "CBS Sports" panel at the CBS 2016 Winter TCA on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/In vision/AP)
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- 

The Super Bowl is turning 50, although the game played next month on America's informal national holiday will hardly be showing its age because of new gadgetry CBS Sports is debuting.

A replay system will give viewers a 360-degree perspective and higher resolution than previously ever seen for the game. Thirty-six cameras strung around the upper deck of Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, can freeze the moment and revolve around the play before continuing to show the scene. Viewers on Feb. 7 will be able to check out the quarterback's view from the pocket to other players' perspectives on the field, and it can be animated, too.

"We tried it on a couple regular-season games and it looks remarkable," CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said Tuesday at a gathering of TV critics.

For the first time in a Super Bowl, CBS will use eight custom-molded pylons that house 16 cameras to film the goal lines and sidelines of both teams. The cameras also will have microphones embedded in them to enhance the game's natural sound. They were used in the College Football Playoff championship Monday.

The new technology could even influence the game. The officials are able to use any replays a network shows when they review a play.

During the game, the network will use the NFL's Next Gen stats that track how fast and far players run over the course of the day and matchup-based statistics between players.

CBS Sports is changing its logo for the first time in 35 years and updating its on-air graphics to debut during Super Bowl week.

Gayle King of "CBS This Morning" will conduct a live interview with President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle as part of the coverage.

McManus said planning for the event's landmark anniversary began five days after last year's game ended. CBS will be airing its 19th Super Bowl, the most of any network.

"We're pumped up about it," he said. "We can't wait for Super Bowl Sunday."

During game week at 8 p.m. nightly, CBS will air one-minute updates from either San Francisco or Santa Clara.

On game day, the network will air seven hours of programming using four sets: one on Market Street in downtown San Francisco and three from the stadium in Santa Clara (one outside near the tailgating area, one on the field and the main hosts on a concourse overlooking the field).

"We know the appetite is insatiable when it comes to football," pregame host James Brown said.

The game has grown dramatically since the first one Jan. 15, 1967, from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Back then, there was a scant 30 minutes of pregame programming, one marching band at halftime, 11 cameras, two production trucks and "Lassie" aired directly afterward. Besides this year's massive pregame hype, British band Coldplay and Beyonce will perform at halftime, there will be 70 game cameras, 12 production trucks and the coveted post-game slot goes to "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

Jack Whitaker was part of the announcing team for the first game, calling it "this first meeting ever between the American Football League and National Football League." The term Super Bowl had yet to be popularized.

"It's not like it is today, but we thought it would be a very important game," said Whitaker, who at 91 is the only surviving member of the original four-man broadcast team that included Ray Scott, Frank Gifford and Pat Summerall.

CBS and NBC both carried the game, with Scott calling the first half and Whitaker handling the second. Whitaker recalled that NBC got caught in commercial when the second half began, so the teams re-did the kickoff.

The atmosphere around the big game has grown accordingly, too.

Phil Simms, who will call this year's game with Jim Nantz, remembered his first Super Bowl as a quarterback at the Rose Bowl in 1987.

"One of my linemen was crying and another was throwing up. That doesn't happen anymore," he said. "Today's players are so used to being on the stage, they can't wait to get on the stage. That's why we see such exciting plays and such great moments."

Meanwhile, the NFL is reviewing network bids for the rights to Thursday night games after the first two years aired on CBS. McManus said the league sought proposals for either an exclusive package or splitting the eight weeks of games between networks.

"I think we have the advantage because the template is in place for CBS," he said. "I wouldn't call us the front runner."

  • Monday, Jan. 11, 2016
If you think drones are a passing fad, better think again
The Hexo+ Your Self-Flying Camera drone is on display at the Hexo+ booth during CES International, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- 

If you're used to thinking of drones as a passing fad, last week's CES gadget show should give you second thoughts.

Tiny, self-piloted copters promise to buzzily follow you around like something out of a Neal Stephenson cyberpunk novel. New drones that could find lost wilderness adventurers or help them see out above treetops; others purport to carry a human passenger at the touch of a button.

None of this, of course, will be happening overnight. Limited battery life means that many commercial models can't fly for more than about 20 minutes at best. Manufacturers haven't yet figured out the best way to keep many tiny drones where they ought to be, given that GPS positioning sucks too much power for their minuscule batteries. Obstacle avoidance systems that would let small drones pilot themselves are still under development. And looming over the entire field are new government rules intended to keep people safe, but which may also slow innovation.

So far, none of those obstacles are slowing down an industry that appears to be in full lift-off. The Consumer Technology Association estimates that U.S. consumer drone spending will more than double to $953 million next year. ABI Research believes the global market for drones will hit $8.4 billion in 2018, with users ranging from the military and oil companies to farmers, journalists, and backyard tinkerers.

As drone capabilities continue to grow, drones may become a mass-market product for average consumers in about three years, says Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst of research firm Moor Insights & Strategy.

"You should be able to get a drone that can effectively follow you, not run into things, and find things on its own," he says. "That's pretty cool."

That's assuming, of course, that you're not commuting to work in one. At CES, Chinese manufacturer Ehang Inc. unveiled a large drone that it said can carry a human passenger at speeds of up to 60 miles an hour. The four-armed quadcopter has been on more than 100 flights, mostly in wooded areas of Guangzhou, according to Chief Marketing Officer Derrick Xiong. Some — he didn't say how many — have carried a human passenger.

Federal aviation regulators declined to comment on Ehang's human-carrying drone, saying the company hasn't submitted any proposal to authorities. The Federal Aviation Administration advised an Ehang representative at the show to contact its unmanned aircraft system office.

In contrast with the bigger drones, smaller ones were also on display. On the small drone front, Kickstarter-funded Fleye envisions its camera-bearing flying sphere as a kind of personal videographer that follows you around street corners; you'll be able to switch between settings such as "selfie," ''panorama" and "virtual tripod." And because it's encased in what looks like a lightweight football helmet, its propellers pose less risk to bystanders.

"Instead of doing collision detection and avoidance, we just make sure if it collides, it won't hurt," says CEO Laurent Eschenauer.

Toy drone maker Spin Master Inc. showed off an augmented-reality game in which kids use a real-life drone to rescue tiny virtual people, put out fires and fight aliens. In essence, they're interacting with a virtual world overlaid on the real world; they can see the virtual elements on a tablet they're using to control the drone.

Robolink Inc. wants you to learn how to program using its "CoDrone," a flying electronics kit you can instruct to jump off a table into someone's hand with a simple line of code. CEO Hansol Hong describes the educational product as "where Khan Academy meets drone."

But the reach of some small drones still exceeds their grasp. Companies like San Jose-based UNorth Inc., maker of the Mota; Newark, Delaware-based Onagofly; and South Korean ByRobot Co. all said they're still tweaking the system needed to make tiny drones weighing less than half a pound follow their owners.

For instance, ByRobot co-founder James Hong said its engineers still need several months to modify the way its drone uses wireless Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals. The changes should help maintain a reliable connection to the user's smartphone, making possible the "follow me" function in the absence of GPS, which the company considers too power-hungry for smaller drones.

With the potential for millions of new flying objects buzzing around the country in coming years, the FAA is working on new drone-safety rules. By this spring, the agency plans to unveil regulations to allow streamlined approval of commercial drone uses, instead of the case-by-case system it uses now. Last month, the FAA began requiring registration for drones weighing between about half a pound and 55 pounds.

Even as they come up with new rules, regulators don't know exactly where the technology is headed, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta acknowledged in a speech to CES attendees.

"This is not going to be a finite process, where one day we sit back and say OK, we're done," Huerta said in a speech Wednesday. "Maintaining the highest levels of safety requires us to constantly evolve in our approach."

  • Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016
Why aren't smart TVs very clever?
Joe Stinziano, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics America, stands next to Samsung SUHD TVs during a Samsung news conference at CES Press Day at CES International, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- 

Turns out that smart TVs can be, well, pretty dumb.

Even moderately priced sets can now connect to the Internet and run Netflix and other apps - that's the "smart" part. Yet many people are ignoring the built-in features and turning to Apple TV, Roku and other stand-alone streaming devices that often do a better job.

In an August report, the NPD Group estimates that roughly a third of smart TVs in the U.S. weren't actually connected to the Internet. That's down from about half two years earlier, but still not good. Researchers at Parks Associates found that even as more Americans are using smart TV functions, streaming device usage has grown even faster.

"If you're a streaming media box (maker), you've got much more ability to push new features out into the market at an affordable price," says Barbara Kraus, Parks Associates' director of research. "They're very stiff competition for smart TVs."

None of that is slowing down TV manufacturers like Samsung, though, as they continue to tout their newest and smartest models at this week's CES gadget show in Las Vegas.

In a way, putting brains in a device that most people replace only every five to seven years isn't the brightest idea. Chips get faster every year, so by the time you're ready to buy a new set, its brains will be really, really old, at least in technology terms.

The software, though, can present an even bigger problem. Smart TVs are frequently plagued with confusing interfaces, buggy functions and inconsistent updates. They are sometimes mysteriously unable to run new streaming services and may never be updated to add new features to the ones they do run.

Worse, some TV makers focus on bringing new features only to their latest models in an effort to persuade people to buy new sets. Samsung's 2016 models, for instance, implicitly inform anyone who bought last year's sets that they've already been left behind. Those earlier customers won't be able to use their Samsung TVs to set mood lighting or check security cameras in a connected home.

Among the new features in LG's 2016 models: Magic Zoom, which will let viewers zoom in on video while it's playing - using a digital magnifying glass - to make out small text and other details. But LG won't say when, if ever, older TVs will get that.

The divide between smart TVs and streaming devices could become even more pronounced as the devices adopt the types of app stores common on phones and tablets. The new Apple TV offers shopping, travel and food-delivery apps, while Nvidia's Shield Android TV device runs sophisticated games once limited to game consoles and personal computers.

A smart TV is fine if all you're doing is watching video, says Ali Kani, general manager for the Shield business. But he believes "the living room is going to be revolutionized by apps. It's not any more just about Netflix or Hulu."

There's also something to be said about letting TV makers and tech companies focus on what each does best. In other words, when you put your living room in the hands of software created by a hardware company, you may live to regret it.

"There are some TV companies that do a fantastic job of creating beautiful sets with fantastic picture quality," says Lloyd Klarke, Roku's director of product management. "Our focus is on ease of use, experience and content aggregation. It's a different kind of business."

Some TV makers, including Hisense, Sharp and TCL, have turned to Roku's smart TV system for that reason. Because the interface shares technology with Roku's stand-alone streaming devices, app makers can design once for many devices. Plus, Roku smart TVs get software updates about the same time stand-alone devices do.

But Roku isn't bringing streaming video with sharper 4K resolution to those smart TVs until this spring, even though the Roku 4 streaming device had that capability when it came out in October - yet another way buying a smart TV can make you feel like a dunce.

So why do TV makers bother making smart TVs? Call it the business equivalent of FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out.

"What they don't want to be is just a piece of glass," says Jim Denney, TiVo's vice president of product marketing.

Start with competition. It's very difficult for a manufacturer to make a dumb TV, particularly one larger than about 40 inches, when competitors are all throwing smarts in.

Hardware manufacturers also want to avoid being marginalized the way they were in smartphones. In adopting Google's Android system, companies like Samsung and LG effectively ceded revenue from apps, movies and search ads to Google. On TVs, seen as one of the next frontiers, they want to retain control - and the cash.

To be sure, smart TVs do offer a few economic benefits. If you've got several TVs in your house, it might be cheaper not to buy streaming devices for each set, and instead to rely on built-in features in some rooms.

Some smart TVs also offer seamless switching between regular TV and streaming. Samsung will do this for the first time on 2016 models. A single remote will control both the set and set-top boxes from Dish and Time Warner Cable - and even the Apple TV.

Won-Jin Lee, Samsung's executive vice president of its visual display business, says consumers get frustrated with too many connected devices plugged into their TVs and a jumble of remote controls. "We wanted this to be a solution that actually fixes the problems that consumers are dealing with," he says.

Meanwhile, with LG's new smart TVs, a touch of a button adds favorite channels from an antenna to the on-screen interface. On Roku's smart TVs, your antenna channels or cable service appears as a tile on the home screen alongside those for Netflix and games.

By contrast, streaming devices typically require viewers to change the input source with the remote, which can lead to confusion and arguments if a family member forgets to change it back.

But there's yet another audience smart TVs continue to alienate: app makers. These software designers have little incentive to write and rewrite their apps for a multitude of incompatible TV systems, such as Samsung's Tizen and LG's webOS, when viewers are voting with their remotes.

The satellite TV company Dish launched an app for LG's smart TVs two years ago, but found "very small usage," and now it is more focused instead on improving its own set-top box, says Vivek Khemka, Dish's senior vice president for product management. "We have kind of put a pause on these smart TV platforms."

  • Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016
Kodak launches Super 8 revival initiative at CES 2016
This Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015 photo shows director/producer J.J. Abrams during a promotion for the new film, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
LAS VEGAS -- 

On the heels of celebrating 50 years of manufacturing Super 8 film, Kodak is launching an initiative aimed at putting Super 8 cameras into the hands of a new generation of filmmakers as well as meeting the needs of top directors, indie filmmakers and others who appreciate the art and craft of filmmaking.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Kodak will kick off its Super 8 Revival Initiative with a display of an early prototype of a new Kodak Super 8 camera that combines the classic features of a Super 8 with digital functionality as well as opportunities for visitors to shoot their own Super 8 footage and watch home movies on the Kodak CES booth (South Hall #20618).

The Kodak Super 8 Revival Initiative reaches far beyond the introduction of a new camera. The company has built a roadmap that includes a range of cameras, film development services, post production tools and more. “It is an ecosystem for film” said Jeff Clarke, Eastman Kodak CEO. “Following the 50th anniversary of Super 8, Kodak is providing new opportunities to enjoy and appreciate film as a medium.”

Film has generated huge buzz in Hollywood recently as the chosen medium for award-winning movie directors and blockbuster movies. Now the Kodak Super 8 Revival Initiative is being applauded by the industry’s top directors, many of whom got their start on Super 8 film.

At 7 years old, director and producer Christopher Nolan began making short movies with his father’s Super 8 camera. "The news that Kodak is enabling the next generation of filmmakers with access to an upgraded and enhanced version of the same analog technology that first made me fall in love with cinematic storytelling is unbelievably exciting,” said Nolan.

"For me, 8mm was the beginning of everything,” said Academy Award®-winning director Steven Spielberg. “When I think of 8mm, I think of the movies.”

“While any technology that allows for visual storytelling must be embraced, nothing beats film,” said JJ Abrams, writer and director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. "The fact that Kodak is building a brand new Super 8 camera is a dream come true. With a gorgeous new design, interchangeable lenses and a brilliant scheme for development and delivery of footage, this camera appears to be the perfect bridge between the efficiency of the digital world and the warmth and quality of analog.”

By launching its first Super 8 camera product in more than 30 years, Kodak is demonstrating its resolve to ensure that film plays an important role in the future of filmmakers – both professionals and amateurs. This product, like many in Kodak’s history, will be a tool for artists and all those who aim to capture special moments.

As one of the first American companies to recognize the value of industrial design, Kodak has engaged with Yves Béhar, design entrepreneur and founder of Fuseproject, to ensure that the new Kodak Super 8 camera design echoes the look and feel of the original Kodak Super 8 camera, introduced in 1965, while adding a modern sensibility.

“Kodak has always represented innovation that is approachable while delivering the craft of filmmaking. Our design aspires to express both these ideals. We are designing the Kodak Super 8 camera with robust materials and new ergonomic features to serve the needs of Super 8 fans, whether shooting action or static scenes,” said Béhar.

  • Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016
New TV tech promises sharper colors, but not much to watch
Tim Baxter, president and COO of Samsung Electronics America, speaks during a Samsung news conference at CES Press Day at CES International, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- 

For years, TV makers have focused on making pictures sharper by squeezing more pixels onto screens. Now, their attention is shifting to improving the way sets display color, with a newish technology called HDR taking center stage.

HDR, or high dynamic range, promises brighter whites, darker blacks, and a richer range of colors — at least when you're watching the few select movie titles that get released in the format. Trouble is, there aren't all that many of those yet, and other HDR viewing options are likely to remain scarce for the immediate future.

Even worse, there are likely to be several different flavors of HDR, just to keep TV buyers on their toes.

HDR represents the latest effort by the world's television makers to goose demand for new sets. Global television shipments are expected to flatline this year, says research firm IHS — and that's an improvement over 2015, when shipments fell 4 percent.

TV makers are still touting the previous new new thing — 4K, or ultra high-definition, sets, which have four times the pixels of current high-definition screens. While 4K has stopped the bleeding, it hasn't jolted the TV industry back to life, not least because such high resolution only makes sense if you sit up close and get a very large screen.

HDR faces some similar challenges. As with 4K, studios have to release movies and shows in the new format for owners to get the most out of new HDR sets. To date, there have been only a handful of releases, including "The Martian" and Amazon's original series "Mozart in the Jungle." More are coming, and Netflix aims to join Amazon this year in streaming some HDR titles, but getting an HDR-ready set still mostly means preparing for the future.

It's the same chicken-and-the-egg problem that previously confronted would-be buyers of Blu-ray discs, high-definition TV, 3-D TV and most recently, 4K.

Beyond that, there's the complicated issue of choosing between different versions of HDR. For starters, your version of HDR may look better or worse depending on the kind of set you get.

Basically, only two types of TV screens can display HDR: those using organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), now built only by LG; and liquid crystal display (LCD) panels that use quantum dots, which are being made by everyone else.

OLEDs are more expensive but provide higher contrast, with truer blacks made possible by pixels that turn all the way off. LCDs, by contrast, will give you a brighter image than OLEDs, but require a backlight that limits just how black its screen can get. (A similar argument over "true" blacks and higher contrast ratios once raged between proponents of plasma-screen and LCD-screen TVs; LCDs won that round.)

Then comes the next wrinkle: a new proliferation of HDR-related marketing labels. For instance, there are actually two ways of defining "premium" HDR technology — one for OLED sets and one for LCDs. The LCD standard allows a brighter screen with less contrast, but the Ultra HD Alliance of electronics manufacturers, studios and distributors says both deserve the tag "Ultra HD Premium."

At least those sets will offer better pictures when you watch HDR-compatible programming. But many lower-end sets will also play HDR-formatted shows, just without the technology's trademark wider color and brightness range — and they'll still be able to boast of "HDR compatibility" even if it's largely meaningless.

Confused yet? You probably won't be alone. "People can understand that more pixels is better than fewer," says IHS's TV analyst Paul Gagnon. "When you start talking about color gamut and HDR, people's eyes start to glaze over."

Set manufacturers aren't making it any easier on us. LG, for instance, has three levels of HDR: "HDR Pro" for its top-of-the-line OLED sets, "HDR Plus" for high-end 4K TVs with contrast-limited LCD screens, and then a lower level simply called "HDR" that still promises better color display than vanilla high-def sets — for instance, by displaying less "banding" on a sky with complex shades of blue.

LG's director of new product development for home entertainment, Tim Alessi, acknowledges the challenge: "We definitely need to do a good job on educating the consumer on what HDR is all about."

Chinese manufacturer Hisense is putting lower-end "HDR processing" in its 4K TVs, starting at $400 for a 43-inch version, while introducing "ultra smart peaking" in sets that can achieve a brighter picture for better HDR for models priced at $1,000 and up.

Competitor TCL is introducing HDR support in partnership with Dolby on its own format called Dolby Vision.

Market leader Samsung, which introduced TVs with HDR support last year, is improving this year's sets by boosting brightness on the top line "SUHD" models by 20 percent, and ensuring the whole line can earn the UHD Alliance's "premium" label.

Joe Stinziano, an executive vice president with Samsung Electronics America, said Samsung wouldn't muddle the HDR issue, unlike its competitors.

"We don't sell 'HDR compatible' sets like some others do," he said in an interview. "All that means is that the picture will show on your TV ... but it's not HDR. We never did that and we don't do that."

  • Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016
Global tech spending to fall 2 percent
Workers install a monitor in preparation for the International CES gadget show Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- 

Global technology spending is expected to decline 2 percent to $950 billion in 2016.

Blame falling prices for smartphones, TVs and laptops and weak economic growth in places like China. All that is putting a damper on growing categories like wearable fitness bands, smart home devices and drones.

Steve Koenig, the Consumer Technology Association's director of market research, announced the grim forecast at the opening press briefing at CES, the annual gadget show in Las Vegas that officially kicks off Wednesday.

Among other headwinds are the strong dollar, which makes devices sold in other currencies seem worse. The CTA's forecast is calculated in U.S. dollars.

Another big forecast is that tablets are being squeezed out of the market, as smartphones come with larger screens and convertible laptops act like tablets when detached from their keyboards.

Global unit sales of tablets are seen falling for the second year in a row, to 176 million units from 192 million last year. The peak was in 2014 when 224 million tablets were sold.

- Ryan Nakashima, AP Business Writer, Las Vegas

  • Monday, Jan. 4, 2016
Inuitive and gestigon bring gesture recognition to VR at CES
The Intuitive/gastigon technology demo at CES is on an Oculus Rift platform.
LAS VEGAS -- 

Inuitive, a developer of advanced 3D computer vision and image processors, and gestigon, known for hand and finger tracking gesture control middleware, have announced a collaboration to bring gesture recognition to embedded virtual reality platforms. The first stage of this collaboration will be demonstrated by both companies at CES 2016 in Las Vegas.

“Using today’s head-mounted VR displays, my hands are either not visible, or the tracking is so slow and inaccurate that the hands feel more like a robot’s and not my own,” said Moritz v. Grotthuss, CEO of gestigon.

Second generation head-mounted-devices will include front-facing 3D sensors to improve realism, but component cost and power consumption are key concerns.  Bringing together the Inuitive NU3000 multi-core imaging processor and gestigon gesture recognition algorithms, the collaboration between the two companies aims to address these concerns.

“Our unique technology and architecture uses input from standard, low-cost cameras to efficiently generate depth maps. Now, through our collaboration with gestigon, we can offer a complete one-stop solution to our customers, shortening the development cycle,” said Shlomo Gadot, CEO and co-founder of Inuitive.

Inuitive’s NU3000 processor incorporates two CEVA MM3101 high-performance, low-power imaging and computer vision vector DSP cores. In addition, it integrates a dedicated hardware accelerator capable of extracting real-time depth maps from stereo vision input. The gestigon gesture recognition algorithms, based on its Carnival AR/VR Interaction Suite, are customized and optimized to run directly on this processor to provide fingertip and hand tracking, as well as gesture recognition.

“Gestigon is in the business of enabling new 3D sensors for global OEMs;  Inuitive provides a unique and attractive solution especially suited for embedded environments.” stated Grotthuss.

“This collaboration is a key step Inuitive is taking towards the goal of offering a complete reference design for VR and AR products,” added Gadot.

The CES 2016 demonstration consists of a depth sensing module utilizing the Inuitive NU3000 processing engine and featuring gestigon’s gesture recognition software. For demo purposes, the unit is assembled on an Oculus Rift development kit.

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