Sony debuted its Bravia Core (the ‘CORE’ stands for ‘Centre of Real Entertainment’), a 4K streaming service exclusive and free to owners of its 2021 Bravia XR TVs. Its content draws from the Sony Pictures library for new releases and older movies. Sony stated that Core provides lossless 4K streaming “at a much higher bitrate than Netflix and other streaming services,” HDR, DTS sound and “the largest IMAX Enhanced movie collection.” The service, accessed through the Bravia Core app, is not available on older Sony smart TVs or other devices. Continue reading Sony Unveils 4K Streaming Service for Latest Bravia XR TVs

Google has unveiled AutoFlip, an open source, AI-enabled tool that offers smarter, automated video reframing. A lot of video is captured in landscape aspect ratios such as 16:9 and 4:3, not optimized for different (read: vertical) display devices. The traditional method has been to statically crop the material that doesn’t fit in the destination device, but that usually offers an unsatisfactory result. AutoFlip, however, relies on AI object detection and tracking to intelligently understand the video content. Continue reading Google’s AutoFlip for Automated AI-Enabled Video Reframing

During this week’s HPA Tech Retreat, BBC production standard lead Andy Quested reported on Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) screens, which are enjoying a robust 10 percent year-on-year growth. In 2018, these screens were estimated to have a 40 percent reach in the U.S., with an 11 to 18 percent reach worldwide. These advertising billboards play digital video, often mixed with artificial intelligence, interactivity and other new technology tricks, and are now responsible for a 50 percent share of the U.K.’s out-of-home ad dollars. Continue reading HPA Tech Retreat: Advance of Digital Out-of-Home Screens