Hardware
TV & Set-Top Box SoC manufacturers integrate Technicolor’s HDR Decoder technology
MUMBAI: Multiple TV and Set-Top Box (STB) System-on-Chip (SoC) manufacturers have integrated Technicolor’s HDR Decoder technology into their offerings.
The SoC companies include: Marvell, MSTAR, Sigma and STMicroelectronics. The adoption of Technicolor’s technology by SoC makers, who represent the lion’s share of the market, paves the way for consumer electronics manufacturers to integrate Technicolor’s suite of HDR enhancement technologies, into their 2016 devices. It will allow consumers to access the wave of next-generation content that will become available starting this year.
At the CES 2016 conference in Las Vegas Technicolor announced a series of initiatives that accelerate the broad availability of high dynamic range (HDR) and other next generation entertainment experiences.
Technicolor’s presence in the show illustrates the importance of harnessing open innovation and industry-wide collaboration to bring the most exciting and immersive experiences to market, while protecting existing investments consumers have made in devices and customer premises equipment.
Technicolor also unveiled a strategic initiative with LG Electronics to collaborate on delivering new content experiences to the home that meet the new UHD Alliance content and display specifications and push the boundaries of video imaging. Early elements of the expanded Technicolor-LG collaboration are on display for the first time this week at CES 2016. The two companies will screen never-before-seen HDR-graded content from multi-Oscar award winning writer/director/producer Francis Ford Coppola.
Technicolor also inked an agreement with Royal Philips to merge their ongoing delivery roadmaps for HDR solutions, including content creation tools, encoding and decoding software and implementation support. As a result of this collaboration, Technicolor and Philips will offer a unique, best-in-class proposition to the market that allows HDR delivery, with full backwards compatibility to Standard Dynamic Range displays. This will simplify HDR deployments for distributors who will be able to send one signal to all of their customers, regardless of which TV they have. Their networks will be future proof as consumers upgrade to HDR displays over the next few years.
Technicolor will also make available the “Technicolor HDR Intelligent Tone Management (ITM)” solution for silicon. Consumer equipment (CE) devices that feature SoCs containing “Technicolor HDR ITM” capabilities will be able to automatically up-convert all legacy SDR content to powerful High Dynamic Range images on their new HDR devices. Technicolor HDR ITM unlocks millions of hours of movies, TV shows, video games, home videos and photos by adding contrast, wide colour palette, realistic highlights and deep shadow details of native HDR content. The solution is based on the Technicolor Hollywood production technology that was honoured with the 2015 Lumi?re Award from the Advanced Imaging Society for “outstanding technologies that advance the entertainment industry.”
Additionally, Technicolor also showcased how it is advancing the experiences that have ushered in a new era of awe in the media and entertainment sector.
Hardware
Specs Inc. partners with Qualcomm for next-generation smart glasses
Snap subsidiary to power future Specs with Snapdragon XR platforms.
MUMBAI: Snap’s Specs are about to get a serious upgrade and this time, they’re teaming up with Qualcomm to make sure the future looks crystal clear. Specs Inc., a Snap subsidiary, has announced a multi-year strategic agreement with Qualcomm Technologies to power future generations of its advanced smart eyewear with Snapdragon system-on-a-chip (SoC) technology.
This marks the first flagship engagement for Specs Inc., which is preparing to launch its standalone, see-through smart glasses for consumers later this year. The Specs are designed to seamlessly blend digital experiences into the physical world, allowing users to see, hear, and interact with digital content as if it were part of their real surroundings.
By integrating Snapdragon XR platforms, the glasses will benefit from edge AI and high-performance, low-power computing. This combination enables intelligent, context-aware experiences to run directly on the device, delivering faster and more private interactions.
The partnership builds on more than five years of collaboration between Snap and Qualcomm, during which Snapdragon platforms have powered multiple generations of Snap’s Spectacles.
Snap Inc., co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel said, “We believe the future of computing will be more human and grounded in the real world. Our work with Qualcomm provides a strong foundation for the future of Specs, bringing advanced technology and performance that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible.”
Qualcomm Incorporated president and CEO Cristiano Amon added, “The next era of computing will be defined by devices that understand what you see, hear and say, and respond instantly to the world around you. Our collaboration on Specs will enable power-efficient interactive AR devices that feel natural and intuitive.”
The agreement establishes a scalable foundation for developers and partners building experiences for Specs, supporting a predictable product roadmap and increasingly sophisticated digital interactions over time.
In a world racing toward augmented reality, Specs Inc. and Qualcomm are ensuring that the next pair of smart glasses doesn’t just look good on paper, they perform brilliantly in real life. The future of wearable computing just got a powerful new lens.
