Consumer Electronics Daily News

Comcast Launches X1, A Next-Generation Cloud-Based Video Platform, In Utah

Comcast, a global media and technology company, today announced the launch of its cloud-based interactive television experience, the X1 Platform from Xfinity, across Utah.

Unlike any other video service available today, X1 is a cloud-based platform that transforms TV into an interactive and integrated experience. It integrates the largest collection of video with social media features, interactive apps, web content and more in one easy-to-navigate, sleek viewing experience. The launch of X1 is part of Comcast's ongoing and evolving effort to take advantage of its powerful network and IP technology to constantly bring new innovations to market. 

"The X1 Platform is a huge leap forward for us and transforms traditional television viewing into an entirely new entertainment experience," said Comcast Regional Vice President Kyle McSlarrow. "X1 uses cloud-based technology to make the TV smarter, richer, and more personalized, and allows us to deliver new features to our customers faster than ever." 

New X1 features and capabilities available to customers in Utah today include:

• Visual, Sleek User Interface: A modern user interface that enables one-click access to programs and a highly visual guide to entertainment options and related information.
• Faster, More Personalized Search and Discovery: A personalized viewing experience with recommendations based on search input and previously watched shows and movies. They also have the ability to search simultaneously across live TV, Xfinity On Demand and DVR recordings – and see the last nine programs watched across all services with a single tap on the remote control.
• In-Home Convenience: The ability to watch DVR recordings from any room in the house and simultaneously record up to four shows while watching another.
• Social Integration and Customized Apps: An expanding selection of tailored-for-TV apps, including traffic, weather, voicemail, and a sports app to track multiple games at once and check the latest scores, standings and schedules while watching a favorite show. X1 also includes a selection of Web-based apps, including Facebook and Pandora.

In addition, the X1 Remote App lets customers use motions, gestures, and voice commands to control their TVs with their Apple handheld devices. For example, customers can use voice commands to navigate the guide and search for content; swipe their iPhones to page through the interactive TV guide and program personalized short-cuts and favorites ("Quick Links"); and shake their device to pause Xfinity On Demand content.

X1 will initially be available to new Xfinity Triple Play customers and will become available to additional customer segments in the future. The X1 Platform is currently available in more than a dozen markets, and Comcast plans to launch the service in all remaining markets by the end of the year. 

PRNewswire

The Smaller The Device, The Greater The Attention Of The Mobile-TV Viewer

Mobile-TV viewers are more focused on TV content when viewed on their smartphones than on larger devices, according to new study findings. 

Viewers performed unrelated multi-tasking on other electronic devices during only 14 percent of the occasions on which they viewed TV programming on smartphones. This compared to 27 percent for tablet viewing, 31 percent for computer (desktop and laptop) viewing and 34 percent of the television-set viewing occasions, according to study participants.

At the same time, viewers watching a TV show on a smartphone also were more likely to engage in online activities related to that show-– such as looking up show information, or posting about the show on social networks.  Such activity occurred during 21 percent of the television set viewing occasions, 27 percent for tablet viewing occasions, 31 percent for computer viewing occasions and 39 percent of the smartphone viewing occasions.

These findings come from additional analyses of the study conducted by Boston-based market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey for the Council for Research Excellence (CRE), a diverse group of senior-level research professionals from throughout the media and advertising industries dedicated to advancing the knowledge and practice of audience measurement methodology. 

The study, "TV Untethered," was launched in November 2012 to understand if and how mobile media devices--tablets, mobile phones and laptops-– impact overall television viewing behavior.   

Other new findings:

• Mobile TV viewers tend to be younger (mean age 35), higher income professionals with graduate degrees, and reflect more ethnic diversity than non-mobile-TV users;
• The portion of overall TV-viewing devoted to mobile devices decreases for older mobile-TV users – 28 percent for users ages 15-to-24, 18 percent for ages 25-34; 12 percent for ages 35-49; and 8 percent for ages 50-64; 
• Mobile TV viewers are often heavy overall TV viewers and are more likely than non-mobile-TV viewers to be TV show opinion leaders and to use social media to talk about TV.

The CRE previously disclosed study findings that 64 percent of smartphone-TV viewing occurs in the home-- reflecting some simultaneous viewing with TV sets, which continue to dominate in-home viewing at 90 percent. The top drivers of in-home mobile viewing cited by participants are content and device availability, family dynamics, device preference and inertia.  Mobile-TV viewers do most of their out-of-home smartphone-TV watching (23 percent) at work.  By contrast, only 14 percent of computer-based TV viewing occurs at work.  Convenience, portability and filling downtime are the top drivers of out-of-home smartphone viewing.

The study was overseen by the CRE's Media Consumption & Engagement Committee, co-chaired by Joanne Burns, Head of Research for 20^th Television, Fox; and Laura Cowan, Research Director, LIN Media.

"This research suggests greater audience measurement needs to be directed at smartphone viewing," Burns said.  "People are bringing devices from room to room, and out of the home, and on their commutes.  TV sets still rule in the home, even for the younger demographics -- but elsewhere, and even in the home for multi-taskers, smartphones are becoming an important device for viewing professional TV content.  It all goes to convenience and portability; more people are watching more TV – everywhere – and increasingly on smartphones."

The full report on the latest "TV Untethered" study findings can be found (under "New Research") on the Media Consumption & Engagement Committee page at the CRE website. 

PRNewswire

LG Begins Selling First OLED HDTV In The U.S.

LG Electronics today announced the first U.S. availability of the revolutionary new OLED HDTV, combining the pinnacles of picture quality and design to deliver the ultimate in display technology for home entertainment.

As LG's exclusive OLED TV launch partner, Best Buy today began selling the 55-inch class (54.6-inch diagonal) LG CURVED OLED TV (Model 55EA9800) at the Richfield store. In the coming weeks, Magnolia stores inside Best Buy in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and San Antonio will display and begin selling the thin new premium TV at a suggested price of $14,999. Over the summer, the new TV is expected to roll out to select Magnolia inside Best Buy locations nationwide.

The U.S. launch solidifies LG's early lead in the OLED TV race. Global demand for OLED TV is expected to grow to more than 7 million units by 2016, according to DisplaySearch. LG is the first company to commercialize both the flat screen OLED TV, which has been sold to consumers in Korea since January, and the innovative new CURVED OLED TV, which began sales in Korea in April.

For Best Buy, being first to launch OLED TV in the United States supports the retail giant's leadership strategy focused on offering the latest and greatest technology products.  

Exceptional Picture Quality and Design

At only 0.17 inches (4.3 millimeters) thin at the edge of the screen and weighing less than 38 pounds (17.2 kilograms), the new OLED TV produces astoundingly vivid and realistic images thanks to LG's proprietary WRGB technology. The unique WRGB four-color pixel system features a white sub-pixel that works in conjunction with conventional red, green and blue pixels to create the perfect color output. LG's exclusive Color Refiner delivers even greater tonal enhancement, resulting in images that are more vibrant and natural than anything seen before.

The LG CURVED OLED TV is the world's first OLED TV to achieve THX® Display Certification, signifying that it passed more than 600 THX laboratory tests to ensure it delivers the picture quality of a professional post production display.

With its gently curved screen, the new LG CURVED OLED TV represents a unique design statement for discerning high-end consumers. This represents the first major design change in the industry since the widespread introduction of flat-panel TVs to the consumer marketplace more than a decade ago. With more than five years of research behind developing the optimal curvature, the LG CURVED OLED TV delivers an IMAX-like viewing experience in the home.

For more information on the LG CURVED OLED TV, visit http://www.lg.com/us/oled.

PRNewswire

Next Generation TV Market Insight 2013

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Next Generation TV Market Insight" report to their offering.

LCD manufacturers are experiencing profitability deterioration which can no longer be neglected. As a solution, companies are finding a breakthrough by realizing a large-size high-resolution LCD panel screen and commercializing OLED television technology which might lead to the fourth "Big Bang" in the market.

At the same time, ultra-high resolution TV and large-size screen TV over 50 inch is being competitively launched to dominate the next generation technology market, as the price of large LCD panel continue to drop to a level where large TV preferring customers are able to afford, the market for super large, high-resolution (4K2K:UHD) TV over 50 inch in size is growing in a rapid speed.

LCD panel manufacturers have experienced a severe profit deterioration caused by rapid price decline and economic downturn. In order to increase glass efficiency from a current level of 90%-95% to a level of 95%-98%, MMG (Multi Model Glass) was used to produce models of different size simultaneously from a single piece of circular glass plate. As extra-large MMG panel of maximized efficiency started to be developed and mass produced, the sales of new size panel and set product started to expand in the global market, starting from China.

The resolution of a display is rapidly improving to ultra-high definition to produce clearer picture as processor, memory and display device technology develops. The change is not just a simple transition of TV screen resolution but it is a fundamental change and innovation of clouding computing such as broadcasting system, network, contents and imaging technology.

The era of 4K2K (UHD) TV is to come faster than expected as consumers are aware of the value of high-resolution since they are already accustomed to devices like smartphones and as LCD panel manufactures are trying to break through the market with large-size panels. The current FHD (1920x1080) resolution is insufficient in providing high-resolution images for large-size panel of above 50 inch. The keyword for the next generation display technology which Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China focus on is not the state-of-the-art technology but production capacity and process technology.

In the future TV market, deposition technique that is suitable for large-size high-resolution (over 4K2K) having mass production yield rate of conventional LCD level will become the standard technique for OLED and will be the key factor determining the success and failure of the business.

 PRNewswire

Smart TVs Outflanked By Tablets and Smartphones, Say Early Adopters

Smart TVs are getting a thumbs-down from early adopters, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics' Digital Home Observatory. The study, "Online Video Lead Adopters Bypass the Smart TV with Personal Devices", offers an in-depth examination of how the behavior of eight advanced user households has changed over the past three years as new connected TV technologies have arrived. Even though half of the sample had acquired a smart TV over the past three years, no one was found to be using it as their main source for connected media entertainment since they found tablets, smartphones and other connected TV devices easier to use. Early adopters who have not purchased a smart TV yet were concerned that these products were not ready to deliver an adequate experience, and were happy to continue using other connected devices instead.

One participant noted: "The smart TV is limited in apps and doesn't allow you to easily search. I had a battle between the PS3 and the smart TV in which one to use, and the PS3 won."

"OEMs and app developers are failing to provide smart TV users with apps and services that enhance the TV experience," says Taryn Tulay, Senior Analyst in the User Experience Practice. "Furthermore, an intuitive remote that works fluidly with the UI and provides ease of text input with an integrated touchscreen is imperative to consumers finding the apps and services functional on a TV."

The study concludes that while traditional TV will continue to play a key role in domestic lifestyles, people will increasingly rely on the convenience of personal devices and OTT TV/video services to support their entertainment needs.

Methodology: Strategy Analytics undertook eight in-depth in-home observation interviews with connected TV and multi-device owners who were previously interviewed in 2010. The latest research was conducted in March 2013 in San Diego, CA, and London, UK.

PRNewswire