RIO DE JANEIRO—Advanced HDR by Technicolor, Fraunhofer IIS and Globo showcased high dynamic range (HDR) and MPEG-H Audio content that is compliant with Brazil's TV 2.5 standard on Hisense TVs during the just completed Paris Olympics.

The demonstration showed how standard dynamic range (SDR) content can be upconverted to deliver a premium viewing experience while watching live broadcasts of major outdoor sports  and other events, Advanced HDR by Technicolor said.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor delivered premium HDR content by leveraging the solution suite’s Intelligent Tone Mapping (ITM) feature to upconvert live SDR content to HDR while adding SL-HDR dynamic metadata to create a TV 2.5 HDR signal in an SDR backwards compatible manner. TVs that support the TV 2.5 standard received the HDR experience without compromising the quality of SDR delivered to legacy devices, it said. 

"HDR enhances outdoor sports event experiences by delivering the most vivid images to TVs capable of receiving HDR content," said Valerie Allie, Video Solution Group senior director with InterDigital. 

"As a result, the details of athletic performances, stadium environments and overall action are more vibrant, providing a more immersive viewing experience," she said.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor is a collaboration between Philips, InterDigital and Technicolor.

Fraunhofer IIS provided MPEG-H Audio technology that delivers an immersive 3D sound experience. The Next Generation Audio system provides unique personalization features in addition to an enveloping audio experience, said Fraunhofer.

This is made possible by the metadata accompanying the audio content. It contains all control information required for user interactivity and optimizing the reproduction and rendering on the end-device for the best audio experience on any platform, it said.

"MPEG-H Audio delivers an immersive experience, creating a sense of being in the middle of the action. Audio elements like the cheering crowd, athletes' movements and venue ambience are clear and realistic. The personalization options also allow viewers to customize the audio experience, by, for example, switching from a traditional to a venue mix. This enriched audio quality adds depth to the broadcast, making the experience more engaging and captivating for the audience," said Adrian Murtaza, senior manager technologies and standards at Fraunhofer IIS.

A new generation of Hisense TV models that comply with the country's TV 2.5 standards were used for the demonstration.

These advanced TV models promise to deliver a superior viewing experience by combining ultra-high-definition (UHD) and HDR-enhanced picture quality with immersive 3D sound.

"Hisense TVs integrate features like Mini-LED, Quantum Dot Color, 144Hz refresh rates, vibrant highlights, AI video processing and AI Sports Mode, which enhance the viewing of live sports. Hisense is looking forward to providing immersive visual and audio experiences that will redefine home entertainment in Brazil," said Wood Bi, assistant vice president of Hisense International.

More information is available on the Advanced HDR by Technicolor, Fraunhofer IIS and Hisense websites.

LAS VEGAS—Advanced HDR by Technicolor will demonstrate how streaming video providers and broadcasters are delivering high dynamic range (HDR) and standard dynamic range (SDR) via a single production workflow and distribution stream here at CES2024, Jan 9-12.

Advanced HDR by Technicolor, a collaboration of Philips, InterDigital and Technicolor, enables automatic conversion of SDR to HDR, and back again if required. The technology recently was recognized for its ability to deliver production- and distribution-ready content simultaneously for HDR/SDR distribution at SDR-only bitrates, it said.

The feat is accomplished by adding extremely low bitrate metadata, enabling artifact-free uncompressed HDR with 10- and 8-bit encoding, to any HD or UHD resolution content as well as content for mobile devices, it said.

"The process maximizes HDR's dynamic range and color volume without compromising SDR experiences. The suite of solutions included in Advanced HDR by Technicolor ensures optimal source fidelity on both SDR-to-HDR and HDR-to-SDR conversions," said Rick Dumont, senior director of business development of HDR video for Philips. 

"These conversions are accomplished by leveraging machine learning to deliver a single stream accompanied by dynamic metadata to end-user devices. It offers streaming providers and broadcasters a sophisticated and cost-effective approach to delivering the best possible video experience to viewers." 

Advanced HDR by Technicolor is available on all Sinclair Broadcast Group NextGen TV stations, it said,

CES2024 demonstrations include those at the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) booth, Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), Central Hall, booth 19744 and the Hisense booth, LVCC, Central Hall, booth 18217.

More information is available on the Advanced HDR by Technicolor website. 

LAS VEGAS—Hisense, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Advanced HDR By Technicolor are demoing technologies at CES 2023 showcasing high dynamic range (HDR) programming using NextGen TV, aka ATSC 3.0, broadcasts.  

Sinclair Broadcast Group is delivering high dynamic range content broadcast over the air to Hisense TVs that have integrated Advanced HDR by Technicolor solutions on display at the Hisense booth located at Tech East, LVCC, Central Hall – 16659. 

Currently 36 NextGen Broadcast (ATSC 3.0) stations owned by Sinclair transmit over-the-air content in HDR 24 hours a day, seven days a week, using Advanced HDR by Technicolor solutions. 

“The integration of Advanced HDR by Technicolor into Hisense TVs -- a brand that is rapidly growing in the United States -- means more viewers will be able to enjoy vibrant HDR content offered by leading broadcasters, such as Sinclair,” said Tony Bozzini, head of business development for Advanced HDR by Technicolor at Philips. 

The single-stream solution from Advanced HDR by Technicolor uses metadata to upconvert legacy standard dynamic range (SDR) content to HDR on devices like the U7K and U8K models of Hisense TVs, which can decode the metadata and display the enhanced signal, greatly increasing the viewing experience compared to SDR. Meanwhile, households that still need to purchase TVs capable of displaying content in Advanced HDR by Technicolor can continue to receive the highest quality SDR signal. 

“Hisense is committed to providing the best possible picture quality to consumers. With leading broadcasters, like Sinclair, offering a growing array of HDR content, especially live sports, Hisense ensures those in service areas of Sinclair’s increasing number of deployed NextGen Broadcast stations can access and enjoy the full visual benefits offered by the latest technological innovations”, said David Gold, President of Hisense USA. 

The companies noted that live sports remain a key differentiator for major broadcasters. Including Advanced HDR by Technicolor in the ATSC 3.0 standard ensures broadcasters remain the top choice for viewing live sporting events. 

“For broadcasters who put the customer experience at the top of the list, delivering the best visual image is essential. This is especially true when it comes to broadcasting live sporting events. That is why Sinclair Broadcast Group is ensuring that stations implementing ATSC 3.0 do so with Advanced HDR by Technicolor,” said Mark Aitken, senior vice president of technology for Sinclair Broadcast Group and president of ONE Media 3.0.

The demo is available at the Hisense booth located at Tech East, LVCC, Central Hall – 16659. 

PARIS—Technicolor this week touted Hisense’s announced support for ATSC 3.0 and Advanced HDR by Technicolor in upcoming ULED TVs, saying it demonstrates how the broadcast and consumer electronics industries have converged on advancing high-quality over-the-air (OTA) and over-the-top (OTT) television.

“This is an exciting step. Technologies, like those embedded in Advanced HDR by Technicolor, will greatly enhance how consumers experience OTA broadcasts, even as NextGen TV enables broadcasters to compete even more effectively in the OTT market,” said Tony Bozzini, head of business development with Advanced HDR by Technicolor.

“The availability of free, high-quality programming – especially sports and live event broadcasts – will provide consumers who purchase the equipped ULED TVs from Hisense with immediate return on their investments," he continued. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group, a supporter of Advanced HDR by Technicolor, is continuing its aggressive rollout of NextGen TV. The availability of the new Hisense U8H and UH9 TVs with support for Advanced HDR by Technicolor ensures viewers of Sinclair’s 3.0 stations will be able to enjoy sports, local news and other programming transmitted in HDR.

“ATSC 3.0 continues to change the way the world experiences entertainment and broadcast television. More importantly, the ATSC has focused on ensuring that no one gets left behind as innovations are introduced,” said Mark Aitken, senior vice president of technology for Sinclair and president of ONE Media 3.0.

“Broadcast is one of the most ubiquitously available platforms in the market, meeting the needs of all segments of the market," Aitken continued. "Hisense is demonstrating how HDR –especially Advanced HDR by Technicolor –can enhance engagement and the user experience. It offers a clear path for the entire ecosystem, including broadcasters like Sinclair, to establish early differentiation in this fiercely competitive market.”

The new Hisense U8H and U9H, announced at this year’s CES, introduce MiniLED technology to the company’s 2022 television lineup. The sets deliver HDR performance with a bright picture, vivid color and excellent contrast. 

“Hisense, ATSC 3.0 and Advanced HDR by Technicolor are working to deliver technologies that will allow all viewers – including sports fans and gamers – to enjoy the latest next-gen features with a tear-free, stutter-free and low latency HDR experience,” said David Gold, president of Hisense USA.

More information is available on the Technicolor website.

LOS ANGELES—Streamland Media and Technicolor have come to an agreement that would see the Technicolor Post business transfer to Streamland. The acquisition is still subject to closing conditions.

Streamland Media, formerly Picture Head Holdings LLC, is located in Los Angeles and operates through integrated business units around the world that focus on post-production work that includes picture, sound finishing, visual effects and marketing. Technicolor Post would join a roster that already includes Picture Shop, Formosa Group, Ghost VFX, Picture Head, The Farm Group and Finalé Post.

Technicolor Post will merge into Streamland’s existing portfolio, but will continue its services to clients in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the U.K. All Technicolor Post employees are also expected to be part of the transition.

“The strategic sale of Technicolor Post is part of our long-term vision for Technicolor Production Services to focus on VFX and animation for the entertainment industry, and creative services and technologies for the advertising industry, which provide the maximum value to our clients,” said Richard Moat, CEO of Technicolor.

“We are thrilled to have the extraordinary caliber of Technicolor Post artists join us,” added Streamland Media CEO Bill Romeo. “Adding Technicolor Post’s technologies and worldwide locations to Streamland will allow us to partner with all of our clients to an even greater degree. I am excited for what’s ahead.”

The acquisition is backed by Trive Capital and Five Crown Capitals, and is expected to close in the first half of 2021.

DALLAS—Velos Media has announced that Technicolor has become a licensee of its HEVC patent portfolio. This portfolio provides licensees with patents for high-efficiency video coding from BlackBerry, Ericsson, Panasonic, Qualcomm, Sharp and Sony.

The HEVC patents available in the portfolio work for TVs, digital video cameras and set-top boxes. They represent around 40% of the adopted contributions to the Main and Extension profiles of the HEVC standard, according to Velos.

Technicolor is now one of more than 35 licensees on the Velos Media platform. These licensees can now enable customers to enjoy richer video experiences, as well as other categories of HEVC capable products like smartphones, computers and cameras, per Velos.

For more information, visit www.velosmedia.com.  

As a fan of movies and after having studied through my corollary sequence under Ohio University’s School of Film, I have a great interest in movies and movie making. I’m always seeing a movie and certainly appreciate the work involved in creative story telling. Adding to my love for story telling is the idea that technology has now “evolved” (that word might not be the same word used by die-hard “film” people) into 4K video and even 8K video. Besides my radio engineering career, I’m also a video engineer currently converting a full facility from HD to 4K (technically, UHD in this instance, but many people use them interchangeably). This Off the Beaten Path column is about the movies and the HD and 4K/UHD technology behind them.

First, a quick explanation of 4K/UHD video to get you up to speed. The easiest way to put it is that UHD a combination of four HD images. The difference between 4K and UHD? 4K is what the movie people use for big displays in theaters. The aspect ratio is just a little wider than the standard TV widescreen ratio of 16:9, while UHD follows the 16:9 aspect ratio. Unlike common HDTV, 4K/UHD now has something thrown in called HDR or High Dynamic Range. The interesting thing about HDR is that it’s like pre-emphasis in FM. To use an FM analogy what it really means is that if you use HDR with UHD/4K, you really need to have a monitor capable of decoding that HDR — something like encoding audio with dbx then listening to the audio without running it back through a decoding circuit. It sounds odd.

To take it a little further, an HDTV image streams over coax/BNC at 3 Mbps. To send 4K/UHD video over a coax (or four of them if being done as “quad-link”), you need to push 12 Mbps. Oh, and the next generation of video, called 8K, requires 48 Mbps of bandwidth!

So that’s the Cliff’s Notes version of 4K/UHD, which is the current main display spec for movies. 8K is on the horizon, but for a typical consumer TV in a home, you won’t see big differences on images unless your screen size is excessively large — such as viewing on an 8-foot TV screen! Remember when the days when a 25-inch RCA or Zenith console TV was considered a “big screen”?

The First Film Makers

Just like radio & TV’s history, film history becomes a little checkered and cloudy when you go back in time. Who is taking credit for what become a common issue with technology. Though Edison has a large influence in the U.S., Luis and Auguste Lumière (“The Lumière Brothers”) are generally credited as the first true film makers. By 1881, the young teenaged brothers had created a developing process which took Edison’s “peephole film viewing” technique and gave it the ability to become something that could be “projected;” which is the reason they’re more frequently credited with inventing “film” (or something more closely resembling film today).

Early Movies

It’s simply amazing to see where we’ve come from and where we are going with movie-making technology — from the earliest days of Edison and the Lumière brothers, to Charlie Chaplin, to Walt Disney and his multiplane camera, George Lucas, and into today. We began with studios where the roofs were open because they needed more light than was technically possible using the then current lighting technology. Then came “rocking” sets. “Talkies” followed. Visual effects like forced perspective created size illusions while matte paintings created incredible backgrounds. Now computer graphics and digital animations make “virtual everything” — from people to places to create pretty much anything we want in film (from the truly believable to the unbelievable!). When you look at movie technology and consider all the invention behind it, a lot has happened in just over 100 years!

Technicolor

Here’s an awesome video about the technology behind Technicolor. Technicolor was not the first movie film available, but it really became the first great color film technology. The Technicolor process really held its own over the years and through the life of 35mm film.

Movie Mistakes

For fun, I’ve had this link about the worst on-set mistakes from Hollywood. Just like staying until the end of a Jackie Chan movie where you get to see the outtakes, it’s interesting to see things when they don’t go right!

Movie Technology “Past Predictions”

This link is now six years old, but I included it because it was a look at the future of movie technology. Now we can look at it and see what came true and what hasn’t. For instance, they talk about IMAX “with lasers,” and the fact is that now high-lumen projectors are incorporating laser technology! Long gone are the days of carbon-arc projecting … and now even xenon bulbs are seemingly old technology. Instead of a massive 6,000 watt bulb, projectors have transitioned to multiple stacks of bulbs (no more single point of failure with a “bulb blow-out”) and laser technology. Just three years ago, I had the opportunity to see a 90,000 (!) lumen projector in Christie’s digital labs in Kitchener, Ontario. Until then, 35,000 lumens was about the brightest output for a projector. To give you an idea how bright 90,000 lumens is, if you stand close in the path of the light, dark clothing can start to smolder and ignite! Though this technology hasn’t advanced, likely due to the danger involved and the very unique need for something that bright, laser technology has continued to advance.

More on Movie Technology

Since the days computers found their way into movie making, things have changed a lot. Here’s another look at the technology today and where it’s going.

Time to Think About 8K?

And here’s a sneak look into 8K video and the development. By the way, the next Olympics from Japan will be shot in 8K.

And finally ...

If you stumble across a good or unusual website that might be of interest, please don’t hesitate to send me the link and any info you might have about it. My email address is dan_slentz@yahoo.com.

PARIS—AirTV, which was recently introduced by EchoStar, has announced that its first product is now available, the Android TV streaming device AirTV Player. Constructed by Technicolor, the AirTV Player features built-in Wi-Fi capability and the ability to integrate free local over-the-air channels with streaming services.

The AirTV Player can be used with the AirTV Adapter and an OTA antenna for live streaming and video-on-demand shows, as well as providing access to OTA TV channels. In addition, consumers can access the Sling TV OTT video platform and games and applications from the Google Play Store.

The AirTV Player is also capable of delivering 4K content.

AirTV Player is now available at AirTV.net.

CULVER CITY, CALIF.—The ribbon has been cut on the new Technicolor Experience Center. Led by the newly appointed Senior Vice President of Immersive Media for Technicolor, Marcie Jastrow, the new facility will “develop high-concept content, platforms and technology for virtual reality, augmented reality and other immersive media applications,” according to Technicolor.

Based in Culver City, Calif., the Technicolor Experience Center will enable communities of artists and technologists at Technicolor—and its partners—to create immersive experiences in entertainment, advertising and other commercial applications.

“The Technicolor Experience Center creates a vibrant ecosystem that enables our teams, partners and customers to advance the state-of-the-art in this new form of storytelling,” said Tim Sarnoff, Technicolor deputy CEO and president of product services.

Currently, Technicolor is working on virtual and augmented reality projects that include Warner Bros.’ “Suicide Squad,” MGM/Paramount’s “Ben-Hur” and Jack Daniels’ marketing campaigns.

PARIS—Comcast recently announced that it is launching an advanced consumer trial of gigabit Internet service in Atlanta. To help support that, Technicolor will provide a Docsis 3.1-powered gigabit modem for Comcast to use in its early developments.

The Docsis 3.1 modem technology was certified by CableLabs in January 2016. The technology is designed to provide higher speeds, higher capacity on existing networks and energy efficiency, according to Technicolor.

Comcast plans to expand its gigabit service to additional markets later this year.

NEW YORK—Technicolor is going to need some boxes, as the company has announced that it has leased a 50,000-plus square foot space at a building in Midtown, New York. The new space, which Technicolor says is scheduled to open early in the summer, will house 120 editing rooms for TV and film productions on either a long-term or short-term rental basis.

Editing systems and related technology will be provided for the new location by Technicolor, as well as on-site support and engineering. The space will also be linked to the company’s existing downtown finishing and sound facility network.

The lease will have Technicolor in the new property beyond 2026. The office is located at 1411 Broadway.

NEW YORK—At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show back in January, Technicolor shared some new about its work on high dynamic range. However, that may have just been an appetizer. In an interview with TV Technology sister publication Broadcasting & Cable, Technicolor Vice President of Partnership Relations and Business Development Mark Turner shared that there will be even more HDR news from the company at the 2016 NAB Show.

One of the topics that Technicolor will expand on, according to Turner, is the company’s partnership with Philips. Announced at CES, Turner says Technicolor will explain what the collaboration means, as well as what features and delivery systems they’ll have.

To read B&C’s full interview with Turner, click here.

PRINCETON, N.J.—The storied name “Technicolor” continues to break ground in media development, most notably in recent technology trials for an entirely new method of transmitting television over the air known as “ATSC 3.0.” Technicolor contributed content and prototype reception technology to the simulations, which took place last month in Las Vegas with Sinclair Broadcast Group and ONE Media. (See “Sinclair Demos HDR 4KTV Over ATSC 3.0 in Vegas.”)

Alan J. Stein, vice president of Technology, Corporate Development and Technology Office for Technicolor USA, fielded questions from TV Technology about Technicolor’s participation in the trials.

TV Technology: Alan, tell us the nature of Technicolor’s contribution the test of ATSC 3.0 transmission in Las Vegas earlier this month with Sinclair. Technicolor essentially wrote the algorithm used in the Ateme single-pass decoder, correct?

Stein: Technicolor contributed several components to the Sinclair Las Vegas test. We provided the pre-encoded SHVC [scalable high-efficiency video codec] HDR [high dynamic range] content, which utilized a base layer at 1920x1080 resolution and a spatial enhancement layer, increasing the resolution to 3840x2160.
We also provided a streaming server employing MPEG-MMT [MPEG media transport] transport, a real-time SHVC decoder/player for the UHD 4K display, and a real-time HEVC decoder/player for the HD and mobile receivers.
Ateme’s live broadcast encoder was used in an offline mode to create the streams; we did not shoot live UHD+HDR video in this test, but stay tuned.

TV Technology: Why is SHVC an important component to the new standard? Why not ordinary HEVC?

Stein: SHVC refers to a set of tools standardized in HEVCv2 that enhance HEVC to offer scalability. ATSC has focused on spatial scalability to efficiently address ATSC 3.0’s UHD and mobile TV requirements.
As we have shown in previous over-the-air tests, having an HD base layer video stream transmitted on a robust PLP [physical layer pipe] provisioned for mobile reception, plus a UHD enhancement layer transmitting on a highly efficient PLP designed for only fixed reception, offers broadcasters a way to reach all ATSC 3.0 devices simultaneously, with far greater efficiency than simulcast.

TV Technology: So SHVC allows a broadcaster essentially to tier a signal into a base layer and an enhanced layer that would allow simultaneous broadcast and OTT payloads, for example. Would you elaborate further?

Stein: Some broadcasters have expressed strong interest in ‘hybrid’ delivery schemes, to conserve their [over-the-air] bandwidth and supplement this transmission with OTT streams.
One example is as you note: an HD base layer signal would be broadcast, and an enhancement layer would stream OTT. These would be combined at the receiving device.
Another use case of interest is to offer alternate language or enhanced-quality immersive audio signals via OTT streaming. The MPEG-H audio codec proposed for ATSC 3.0 is capable of such scalability.

TV Technology: Is the dividing line between those those layers dynamic, similar to adaptive bitrate technology?

Stein: Encoders can dynamically adjust the bitrates of each layer, such that statistical multiplexing could be supported. If by “adaptive bitrate technology,” you refer to HTTP streaming such as MPEG-DASH or Apple HLS, I’d note that the use of scalable video in broadcast is addressing a slightly different paradigm.
Scalable video assumes a point-to-multipoint delivery mechanism and different classes of service, and offers robustness to overcome the “cliff effect” we see with a single broadcast stream (e.g. ATSC A/53.) That is to say, if a two-layer signal is broadcast and the receiving device is only able to receive the base layer, that base video can still be decoded and displayed, instead of experiencing a total loss of signal.
Internet adaptive streaming addresses robustness as well but solves a different problem, that is, one where the bandwidth available is varying due to network congestion. Since Internet streaming is unicast to each device, the service switches between streams of different bandwidths. This technique is very effective when multicast is not available.

TV Technology: Are there any other applications or implementations of SHVC?

Stein: Previous scalable video coding standards (e.g. SVC) have been deployed commercially for Internet videoconferencing applications.
In the broadcast space, Ateme is the first encoder company announcing support for SHVC. Technicolor first demonstrated real-time SHVC decoding capabilities at NAB 2014 and it is expected that commercial SHVC decoders will become available in time for ATSC 3.0 trials.

TV Technology: Are there any other flavors of SHVC in development?

Stein: The HEVC extension activity that brought SHVC tools into the standard is now complete.

TV Technology:What did you learn from the Las Vegas ATSC 3.0 transmission test? Where might the technology bear improvement or modification?

Stein: This was our first experience with integrating with ATSC 3.0 physical layer equipment. While it is similar to DVB-T2 (European digital terrestrial television standard), obviously, it is less mature.
In this test, we were working with prototype equipment at the physical layer. From the ATSC point of view, itwas very important that the physical layer be proven. What we saw for the first time is that the ATSC 3.0 physical layer is able to transmit IP video and audio efficiently. That had not been done before.To my knowledge, this was the first time an ATSC 3.0 physical layer implementation had actually carried video and audio on a live, over-the-air system.

TV Technology:When will we see a public demonstration of this ATSC 3.0 transmission methodology?

Stein: A public demonstration is imminent, but it is up to others to make that announcement.What I can say is that we are well beyond the proof-of-concept phase for ATSC 3.0. The Las Vegas test proved that we are abletodevelop practical and implementable television applications based on ATSC 3.0.

TV Technology:Can you give us an idea how much it will cost broadcasters to transition to 3.0?

Stein: While that is a great question, it is not a simple one. The goal of investing in ATSC 3.0 is not simply to replace the functionality of existing technology. This is about introducing an entirely new system supporting a variety of business models that will allow broadcasters to reach new markets in new ways.
Therefore, the investments need to be viewed in the context of the opportunities that will be raised and created.A number of analysts are in the process of quantifying the required investment and potential return of various deployment scenarios.

PARIS—Last week the UHD Alliance announced the completion of specifications for UHD displays and content. Now, Technicolor has revealed its new services that allow them to accelerate content production that is in compliance with those specifications.

Among the new services that Technicolor is offering is to utilize Technicolor colorists and color scientists to natively grade content in HDR. Technicolor also has announced new remastering services with its Intelligent Tone Management plug-in for major color grading to create HDR content from archived content. Technicolor’s Home Entertainment Services was also recently fully certified by the Blu-ray Disc Association to create 4K HDR UHD Blu-ray discs.

Technicolor is a founding member of the UHD Alliance.

PARIS & ERLANGEN, GERMANY—Technicolor and German-based Fraunhofer IIS have announced a new licensing program as part of the market introduction of the next-generation TV audio system developed by the MPEG-H Audio Alliance, which is also under consideration for the ATSC 3.0 standard.

The MPEG-H Audio Alliance TV system enables TV broadcasters to capture and deliver next generation audio and allows consumers to customize content experiences. The MPEG-H Audio Alliance uses a subset of the MPEG-H 3D audio standard, according to Manuele Wahl, head of technology and trademark licensing, Technicolor.

The licensing program will focus on a per-unit royalty, with annual volume discounts for manufacturers of both professional and consumer hardware and software. No patent royalty will accrue for producing , transmitting or distributing content under this licensing program.

Technicolor will administer the licensing program of the standard essential patents for the MPEG-H Audio Alliance TV system. The program builds upon Technicolor’s MP3 licensing program, as well as the company’s experience managing 1,100 licensing agreements across 15 licensing programs.

PARISAND SAN JOSE, CALIF.—After years of wrangling with investors about the future of its set top business, Cisco has announced that it is selling the division to Technicolor for $600 million in stock and cash. The deal will make Paris-based Technicolor one of the world’s largest providers of set-top boxes (also referred to as “gateways” or “customer premises equipment”), with a market share of 15 percent.

Under the terms of the agreement, upon the closing of the transaction, Cisco will receive approximately €413 million ($450 million) in cash and approximately €137 million ($150 million) in newly issued Technicolor shares, subject to certain adjustments provided for in the agreement. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year or by the first quarter of 2016.

With this acquisition, Technicolor will be shipping more than 60 million devices annually, with an installed base of 290 million set-top boxes and 185 million gateways in more than 100 countries. It is expected to generate €3 billion (approx. $3.3 billion) of pro-forma revenues in 2014, doubling Technicolor’s revenues in the Connected Home segment. Technicolor and Cisco will form a “strategic partnership” to develop and deliver new devices that will extend the two company’s platforms into additional communications devices based on IoT (Internet of Things) technology.

“The strategic relevance of video to every consumer, business, city and country around the world is only growing, and the market is moving rapidly," said John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco. “This is the right time and we have the right company in Technicolor to drive the future of the CPE business to deliver what our customers and partners need, today and into the future. At Cisco, we are prioritizing our investments to deliver on our strategy of video in the cloud, and will partner with Technicolor to position the CPE business and employees for future success.”

Technicolor’s acquisition is the latest move in an industry that has seen new entrants come and go in recent years. The market has experienced a decrease in set-top box shipments amid growing interest in cord cutting and OTT services such as Apple TV and Roku, as well as a decline in pay-TV subscriptions worldwide. Ten years ago, Cisco entered the business with the acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta, but in recent years, investors and others have complained that the division was not a good fit with Cisco's core business. Three years ago, Google acquired Motorola’s set-top box business after buying Motorola Mobility Holdings. Shortly thereafter, it sold off the STB division to ARRIS Group for $2.35 billion. In May, ARRIS Group acquired European set-top box maker Pace for $2.1 billion, making it the largest provider of pay-TV boxes in the world.

LOS ANGELES – As part of its commitment to enabling High Dynamic Range for all aspects of content creation and distribution, Technicolor has announced that its new HDR single-layer technology is now available for testing by key ecosystem partners. The system creates a video which benefits from improved compression efficiency over unprocessed HDR files. It is compatible with MPEG HVEC standards, as well as backwards compatible with legacy SDR displays.

Technicolor’s HDR single-layer technology enables the coding and delivery of HDR content in a single stream to accurately display the content regardless of display type. It allows broadcasters, pay TV operators and OTT services to store and deliver one video file, which plays back on both legacy SDR TVs and new HDR TVs. Additionally, it contains a HDR pre-processing step that will work with any HEVC compatible video encoder and post-processor on devices after video decoding.

The single-stream system provides a universal method to support delivery of HDR content without the need of consumer adoption of HDR-ready devices.

Technicolor has submitted the technology for standardization to the Motion Pictures Expert Group, and testing is underway with Marvell Technology Group, MStar Semiconductor and STMicroelectronics.