DJI recently announced the addition of two new drones to its collection — the Phantom 3 Professional and the Phantom 3 Advanced — both of which are expected to launch in upcoming weeks. Unlike previous models of the Phantom, the Professional and Advanced versions come equipped with a 4K (30fps)/12-megapixel and 1080p (up to 60fps)/12-megapixel camera, respectively. In addition to the cameras, both models have improved Wi-Fi features, an indoor sensor and auto-take off and landing.   Continue reading DJI Introduces Two New Phantom Drones Featuring 4K Cameras

Worldwide recorded-music revenue fell below $15 billion in 2014 for the first time in years, but the growth of streaming music services may have helped slow the decline, according to a new report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. For the first time, digital music sales exceeded CD sales. Revenue from streaming services rose 39 percent, and if the trend continues, the music industry might start to see a rise in revenue as early as next year. Continue reading Streaming Services May Revive Falling Music Industry Revenue

High Dynamic Range and wider color gamut were the focus of “The Next Generation of Consumer Experiences is NOW” panel at the NAB Show. Panelists expressed their excitement about the potential of producing and delivering HDR content. Moderated by Carolyn Giardina of The Hollywood Reporter, the discussion included Bryan Barber of Warner Bros., JoDee Freck of Lionsgate, Jim Mainard of DreamWorks Animation, Michael DeValue of Disney, Hanno Basse of 20th Century Fox Film Corp., and Jim Helman of MovieLabs. Continue reading NAB 2015: Industry Leaders Discuss HDR and Wider Color Gamut

The first day of the ETC’s special 2-day track on “Media Management in the Cloud: Advances in Content Reliability & Security” at the NAB Show kicked off with a keynote by Brian Stevens, VP cloud platforms at Google. Stevens highlighted advances in cloud technologies that enabled the great acceleration of work and innovation processes for both large and small media studios. Stevens also participated in the following discussion panel of key leaders from industry cloud tenants representing each phase of the media & entertainment content chain. Continue reading NAB 2015: ETC Conference Sessions Convene Cloud Leadership

GoPro is the go-to camera for shooting low-cost VR experiences. Two vendors at the NAB Show are showing multi-camera GoPro mounts designed for a variety of VR shooting and display situations. There are different mounts for 2D and 3D capture, for 360 circle vision versus dome versus full spherical capture, and for high-resolution close-ups versus wide vista shots. 360Heros and Freedom360 both offer sealed rigs for underwater shooting down to 30 meters — as well as stitching and other post-production software and support with their mounts. Continue reading NAB 2015: 360Heros and Freedom360 Unveil New GoPro Mounts

The winners of the inaugural Best of SPROCKIT Awards have been announced at the NAB Show in Las Vegas. Five out of 30 startups showcased by SPROCKIT were chosen through voting by the trade show’s attendees. The winning companies were Fluendo (video analysis and multimedia), Psychability (big data and analytics for TV), Yottio (real-time video streaming and trafficking), ScoreStream (crowd-sourced sports information and chat), and Unruly (video ad distribution in native formats across the Open Web). Continue reading NAB 2015: Five Startups Win Best of SPROCKIT Awards in Vegas

Quantel took the stage at the NAB Show earlier this week to announce an upcoming upgrade to its Pablo Rio color grading and finishing system. The software improvement will support 8K Ultra HD. “According to Quantel, its software upgrade allows colorists to work and playback their material in real time and at resolutions up to 8K and frame rates up to 60 frame per second, allowing them to complete today’s requirements and, possibly, future requirements,” notes The Hollywood Reporter. Continue reading NAB 2015: Quantel Upgrades Pablo Rio System with 8K Support

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences used the NAB Show as the launch for the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) — a free, open, device-independent global standard for color management and image interchange that targets digital production, mastering and long-term archiving of motion pictures. The Academy also announced the support of 22 leading companies that will participate in the ACES Logo Program, which was developed to “encourage consistent, high-quality implementations of ACES concepts and technical specifications throughout the industry.” Continue reading NAB 2015: AMPAS Launches Global Standard for Color Encoding

At this week’s NAB Show in Las Vegas, Vision III Imaging has an impressive demo of a technology that adds parallax to professional camera images when displayed on normal consumer displays. Through the company’s patented process of rotating an iris inserted behind the lens at 4.3 cycles per second (e.g. parallax induction), they are able to enhance both 2D and 3D images. 2D images take on an almost 3D quality, while 3D images maintain a sense of multiple dimensions even when the viewer tilts his/her head to a full horizontal position. Continue reading NAB 2015: Vision III Imaging Demos Parallax Visualization Tech

We are past marketing and stunt VR, and now need to move quickly to paid live action VR experiences for the media to succeed, Ted Schilowitz, Fox’s Futurist said during the NMX panel “Why Content Creators Should Care About Virtual Reality” at the NAB Show in Las Vegas this week. Tim Street, board member of the International Academy of Web Television, moderated the panel that also included Cosmo Scharf, the founder of VRLA, Ikrima Elhassan from Kite & Lightning, and Michael Kintner, CEO of 260 Heroes. Continue reading NAB 2015: Why Content Creators Should Care About VR (Panel)

In an email to its YouTube Partners sent last week, YouTube confirmed its plans to launch an ad-free monthly subscription service. A YouTube subscription service free of interruptions has been long talked about and will reportedly move forward once the terms on YouTube’s Dashboard Creator have been updated. YouTube has described the service as yet another opportunity for the company and its creators to monetize their video content and provide YouTube users with additional options. Continue reading YouTube Readies its Anticipated Ad-Free Subscription Service

BitTorrent’s peer-to-peer Web browser endeavor, Maelstrom, is now in beta. Since its limited alpha release back in December of last year, the browser has reportedly seen as many as 3,500 publishers and more than 10,000 developers sign up to work on its platform. The beta release will make the browser available to more people and help gauge interest in a torrent-based service built on a decentralized, P2P architecture. For now, the beta version of Maelstrom is only available for Windows users. Continue reading Maelstrom: BitTorrent’s New Browser Built on P2P Architecture

AMC and Dolby are offering moviegoers the best of laser projected-images, immersive sound, and vibrating seats in their new brand of theaters, “Dolby Cinema at AMC Prime.” The new premium theater will show movies in high dynamic range (HDR) and a wide color gamut accompanied by Dolby’s Atmos immersive sound system. The power reclining seats will also vibrate with the on-screen action. The two companies hope to install 15 of these new theaters by the end of the year. Continue reading AMC Partners with Dolby to Offer Premium Cinema Experience

Technicolor and Sinclair Broadcast Group have successfully tested a live broadcast in 4K resolution with high dynamic range through the proposed ATSC 3.0 system. “There’s been a lot of attention on new Ultra HD (4K) TVs, which have the potential to display four times the resolution of today’s HD; and HDR, a feature that increases the range between the whitest whites and blackest blacks for a more realistic picture,” explains The Hollywood Reporter. “But currently, there isn’t a system in place to broadcast these images live and over the air.” Continue reading Technicolor and Sinclair Test Live UHD Broadcast with HDR

Audio technology company DTS will join Dolby and Barco in bringing object-based immersive sound systems to cinemas. The company already offers its DTS:X system for home theaters, but now DTS is delivering its tech to commercial theaters with a lower entry cost than rival systems. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the DTS:X system is lower in cost since theaters can start with just a few additional speakers and a supported server. About 350 DTS:X system installations are scheduled for this summer in Asia. Continue reading DTS:X is a New Immersive Sound System for Movie Theaters