Panasonic shares details on new TVs, Blu-rays, audio gear

Panasonic revealed the pricing of the new iPod/iPhone-docking compact audio systems and new soundbar in its 2011 audio lineup, and revealed more details about a variety of new features and technologies available for the first time on its new 3D Blu-ray HTiBs.

All four compact systems are thin, vertically-oriented single-chassis models, that range from 2.5 to 2.75 inches deep, of which two of the models can be wall-mounted. These four new compact systems, as well as, the three new 3G Blu-ray HTiBs, are the company's first products of its kind to take in music in PCM digital form, from a docked iPod/iPhone to improve sound quality. Meanwhile, two of four new docking compact stereo systems are the company's first with ability to select favorite Internet radio stations for playback, via the systems' included IR remote. Three of the four compact audio systems incorporate AM/FM tuner and MP3-CD players which retail between $99 and $199. The fourth system lacks CD-tuner, and retails for a suggested price of $179. Unfortunately, Panasonic's oversight in providing access to Internet radio in two of its systems leaves users having to pay $1.99 for a vTuner app that accesses Internet radio stations via Apple devices' embedded Wi-Fi radio. The music is then streamed to the compact systems via stereo Bluetooth.

The new soundbar, the SC-HTB520, features wireless outboard subwoofer, one 3D-capable HDMI 1.4 input, an HDMI 1.4 output with audio return channel, built-in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 decoders, and Dolby Virtual Speaker to create virtual surround. The SC-HTB520 features a taller, thinner subwoofer, with downfiring driver.

Panasonic's new DVD HTiB launch is bringing 2D-to-3D conversion to the company's Blu-ray HTiB line, and offering a 3D Effect Controller for the first time. The 2D-to-3D conversion converts 2D video on DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and SD Cards to 3D. The new HTiBs upconvert streaming video-on-demand services to full 1080p, feature built-in WiFi, and allows users to customize the Blu-ray homescreen.The base price of a 3D-equipped HTiB retails at a suggested price of $399 to $499 The top two models priced at $499 and $599 priced are the company's first HTiBs with HDMI inputs. They are also the first two Panasonic HTiBs with optional Skype video chat. All three HTiBs feature 5.1-speaker systems, 1,000-watt outputs, faster loading integrated Blu-ray players, HDMI 1.4a input with audio return channel, and Cinema Surround Plus.

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Parks Associates cited in Financial Times

Google and Intel are expected to announce a significant breakthrough into consumer electronics and the broadcast industry this week with the launch of a “Smart TV” platform reported a recent Financial Times' article.

With TVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes rapidly adding wired or wireless internet connectivity to their features, a host of companies are tailoring and integrating web-based content for living room entertainment.

“If you had asked me a year ago, I would have said no way Intel and Google could make an impression,” said Kurt Scherf, principal analyst at Parks Associates. “But Intel looks to have gained some traction and the operating system space is so wide open that it’s a case of why not Google at this point.”

Google is expected to call on its Android developer community this week to create applications for TVs and its software could prove popular if it also promises advertising revenues for TV manufacturers.

“Consumer electronics manufacturers want a piece of this [advertising] pie and Google is the player in this very crowded space that can immediately offer them revenue share,” said Mr Scherf.

To view the full Financial Times article, click here.

Digital Media II - Analyzing the evolution and impact of digital media across multiple platforms

Digital Media II is a primary consumer survey measuring the adoption and use of existing platforms and gauges the market potential for future platforms including digital cameras, TVs, digital photo frames, and Blu-ray players.

Key Topics include the following:
- 3D TV
- The market potential for "slate" and tablet PCs
- Triggers for adoption, usage scenarios, and hardware configuration for emerging platforms
- Hardware configurations used for consuming Internet video on the TV
- Market interest in motion-controlled user interfaces
cloud media and digital locker services
- Prevailing digital media habits with PCs, MP3 players, mobile phones, game consoles, TVs, and other digital devices
- The demand for connected TVs and key video and non-video applications
- The digital media business models most likely to succeed
- The emerging websites and social networking destinations
- Online destinations for TV, PC, and mobile content
- New content sources and services

Parks Associates will survey over 2,000 U.S. broadband households. Additional countries will be added at client request.

Survey launches early March, click here for more information.

Parks Associates Supports Future of Television East

Parks Associates is supporting Future of Television East from November 18-19 in New York, NY.

Kurt Scherf, VP of Research & Principal Analyst, Parks Associates will be moderating the session, "The Convergence of the Internet & the Television: Who Will Be the Winners and the Losers?" on Thursday, November 19th at 11:00 AM.

Worldwide shipments of consumer-electronics devices capable of supporting Internet video, including televisions, set-top boxes, Blu-ray DVD players, video game consoles and dedicated video platforms, are projected to increase 500% from 2009 to 2013. What does this mean for traditional television broadcasters, Internet advertising networks, like Google and Yahoo, cable companies, ISPs, and consumers? Who will be the winners and the losers in a world where consumers can access anything, anytime through the big screen?

Join Television Industry Leaders - including senior participants from major studios and networks, social networks, online distributors, mobile companies, online content distributors, association heads and more!

For more information, please click here.

BluFocus Approved as Official Testing Center for the Blu-ray Disc Association

BluFocus Inc, an advanced testing and certification facility, announced it has established the first, and currently only, Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) approved Testing Center in the United States for Movie Player Verification. BluFocus has also been approved by the BDA as a Testing Center for BD-ROM Audio Visual Content and is in the process of finalizing its approval for BD-ROM PC Application Software.

BluFocus recognizes that in order to continue ensuring the quality of Blu-ray products released into the market, it is necessary that these products are operating as intended, per the Blu-ray specification and that advanced levels of testing are conducted within all areas. With BluFocus’ expertise and knowledge, the company is highly qualified and positioned to process discs, players and content through a wide variety of tests to ensure their compliancy and compatibility.

These additional services expand BluFocus’ already comprehensive list of offerings in the areas of testing, compatibility, verification, THX Certification and Project Engineering. This allows BluFocus to continue assisting their clients at all levels to ensure a seamless, issue-free consumer experience as demonstrated with BluFocus’ involvement on Warner Bros.’ “The Dark Knight”.

For the full press release, click here.

Managed Copy Coming to Blu-ray Discs

Consumers will be able to make one full-resolution digital copy of Blu-ray discs, thanks to a licensing agreement that was made on June 5, reports Video Business. Hardware that supports copies, however, won't be available until the first or second quarter of 2010.

Initially, managed copies can be made to recordable Blu-ray or DVD discs, as a download to a Windows Media DRM-compatible portable player or hard drive, on a memory stick, SD card or as a bound copy, such as a digital copy file on the disc.

Downloads to iPods, iPhones and other Apple devices are not approved, and the AACS-LA has not received a submission from Apple to make Blu-ray copies to Apple devices, though Ayers said Apple could apply at any time. The final AACS license allows for additional copying formats to be added.

The AACS is the Advanced Access Content System License Administrator, a consortium of studios, hardware manufacturers and technology companies that licenses the AACS copy protection used on Blu-ray Discs.

Connected consumer electronics sales to exceed 100 million units annually by 2013

Consumer demand for digital media and online content will push worldwide annual sales of connected CE to more than 100 million units by 2013, according to the new Parks Associates report Home Networks for Consumer Electronics.

The market for connected CE includes networked TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, home media servers, and set-top boxes. Through network and Internet connections, these devices can access and display home network content such as photos and music and retrieve online content such as widgets, games, and video from Hulu and YouTube.

Diverse user scenarios create multiple challenges for technology developers, according to Scherf, including interface design as well as connectivity.

Home Networks for Consumer Electronics covers consumer and technology trends in the connected CE market and provides forecasts for multiple connected CE product categories. For more information, visit www.parksassociates.com/, or contact 972-490-1113, sales@parksassociates.com.

The CONNECTIONS™ conference, June 2-4, features a Connected CE track, including the panels Extending the Reach of Wired Networks and Interfaces and Bringing “Cloud Media” to Consumer Electronics Devices. For registration, or to request a press pass, visit http://www.connectionsconference.com/.

Blockbuster and Sonic Want a Piece of a $4.6 Billion Pie

Today, movie rental giant Blockbuster announced a partnership with Sonic Solutions that will allow it to stream movies and shows not only on TVs and PCs, but also on mobile phones, portable media players, Blu-ray players, set-top boxes and digital video recorders. Between them, Blockbuster and Sonic already have deals with such CE manufacturers as LG Electronics, Samsung, and VIZIO. VIZIO had just taken the wraps off of its “Connected HDTV” Platform at CES last week. VIZIO’s other content partners include Accedo Broadband, Adobe, Amazon.com, Flickr, Netflix, Pandora, Rhapsody, and Yahoo! The Blockbuster and Sonic direct-to-CE service is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2009.

The bulk of the content available through the service will be newer titles, which will be available to consumers a la carte. Pricing has not been disclosed yet; however, Blockbuster will have to charge around $5 per movie to remain competitive with pay video-on-demand offerings from the cable operators. Blockbuster is also contemplating a subscription model.

The partnership comes as no surprise. One may say it’s in the partners’ blood (pardon the expression), since Blockbuster owns Movielink and Sonic Solutions recently acquired CinemaNow (both companies offer online video purchase and rentals). However, both Blockbuster and Sonic Solutions must beware of the pitfalls that have made Movielink and CinemaNow acquisition targets in the first place:

•Business model: consumers already pay for content by going to movies, renting videos and paying their monthly cable/satellite/IPTV bills. Getting them to buy/rent more content will be tricky.

•Consumer experience: The digital rights management (DRM) software has the potential of undermining the consumer digital media experience. Content partners require strict DRM to protect content from being pirated. The side-effect of strict DRM is that consumers may only play content on a limited number of devices (such as the original PC to which the content has been downloaded). Poor experience will limit consumer interest in the offering.

•Competition: Obviously, Blockbuster’s direct competition is Netflix, which has made its Watch Instantly feature available through numerous consumer electronics devices (LG HDTVs and Blu-ray players, Samsung Blu-ray players, the Roku Netflix Player, the Xbox 360, and TiVo). Additionally, this new partnership will compete with cable operators’ ever-growing VoD collections. It will also compete with numerous free offerings directly from content owners, including Hulu, CBS, and Disney, to name a few.

Parks Associates recent study TV 2.0: The Consumer Perspective, indicates that the potential exists to convert the more than 26 million monthly users of online video services to premium offerings, as Blockbuster and Sonic Solutions are offering. Bringing premium Web video content directly to the consumer electronics device – whether it is the TV, the set-top box, the Blu-ray player, or other devices should be a lucrative business in the next few years. From our report Internet Video: Direct-to-Consumer Services: Second Edition, we forecast that that transactional revenues for online video consumed directly at the TV (via a connected CE device) will grow from $1.2 billion in 2009 to $4.6 billion in 2013. Not only could Blockbuster drive new transactional revenues from both a PC- and CE-oriented online video strategy, but there is much to be said about simply offering the additional online video content as a value-add, and – longer term – there may be some opportunities to derive ad revenues. However, Blockbuster’s success depends on the specifics of how the offering is implemented in terms of business model and the user experience, predominantly. As always, the devil is in the detail.

BD-Live as a Key Feature to Watch

Like everyone else, we've been anxiously tracking announcements coming from the Blu-ray business, trying to gauge how the players and the software are doing. The Blu-ray Association held its annual CES press conference last week, and revealed the following information (compiled from TWICE):

• 10.7 million stand-alone Blu-ray Disc players and PlayStation 3 gaming consoles had shipped to retail since the launch of the Blu-ray Disc format 2.5 years ago.
• The industry saw a three-fold increase in the sales of Blu-ray Disc players compared to 2007.
• The rate of household penetration of Blu-ray Disc players is far outpacing other key consumer electronics devices at the three-year points in their rollouts. Color TV registered a little more than three percent household penetration after three years, CD was a little less than two percent after three years, and DVD saw about four percent penetration after three years. In contrast, Blu-ray players are seeing a nearly eight percent household penetration rate after two and half years.
• In software, nearly 1,100 Blu-ray titles are now available in the U.S. market.

I had commented about BD-Live features after seeing Disney's CTO Art Hair speak at Cisco's C-Scape event in December. These interactive features and related services should be a very interesting space to watch in 2009.

I didn't get the chance to visit with this company, but Dreamer, a provide of interactive TV solutions, announced last week that their BIDDLE™ platform will be utilized by Technicolor to offer digital content delivery services including online and disc-based direct-to-TV solutions for Blu-ray; allowing movie studios, broadcasters, record labels and other content distributors to utilize BD-Live as a fully-controllable direct marketing and e-commerce tool.

Disney is Bullish on BD-Live

Art Hair, Disney Studios CTO, is speaking now at C-Scape. Disney has released a Blu-ray version of Sleeping Beauty that includes the interactive features of BD-Live. There's actually a good video demonstration of the functionality on YouTube. Disney has launched the BD-Live Network that offers chat, gaming, and other interactive features.

Our Digital Media Evolution study, the results of which will be available soon, reveals that consumers are more likely to view such BD-Live features as access to expanded VoD content and trailers are more valuable than other features like chatting or attending virtual watching parties. I talked to Art about this yesterday at lunch, and he acknowledged that for "old people" like he and I, these may not make much sense. However, when you make Hannah Montana a virtual experience (Art mentioned virtual pajama parties), one can only imagine how the younger generation may respond to a feature like this.

CEA and Sony say Blu-ray is Doing Well

I had the chance to attend CEA's Webcast this afternoon Holiday Update and Post Black Friday Analysis. They indicated that 54% of Black Friday buyers purchased consumer electronics products.

CEA says that 2.2 million Blu-ray players have been shipped (purchased) so far this year, and that we're on track to hit 2.75 million units before year-end. I've been more conservative on Blu-ray players, forecasting 2.35 million sales for all of North America for 2008, but it would be nice to be pleasantly surprised here.

Sony offered some good news regarding its own Black Friday experience. On a corporate blog, they noted that sales of their BRAVIA LCD televisions, Blu-ray Disc players and Reader electronic book devices all exceeded expectations.

Blu-ray players at $230 and heading to $150

So, if retailers aren't willing to cut prices on flat-screen TVs, they're definitely dropping prices on Blu-ray players, according to today's Wall Street Journal. The article says that entry-level Blu-ray players have dropped below $230 at major retailers, including Target, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy. Some observers think that the price will fall below $150 in time for Black Friday.

Parks Associates’ global forecasts of technology products and services guide companies through difficult economy

Data networks, HDTVs, Blu-ray (BD) players, and services such as residential broadband, mobile phones, and DTV will be the main product and service categories driving global growth in consumer technologies, according to Parks Associates.

Digital Living Forecast Workbook – Global, a compilation of product and service forecasts from the research firm Parks Associates, finds several product and service categories show intriguing growth potential, despite the global economic slowdown. For example, almost one-third of households worldwide will have a PC by 2012.

Digital Living Forecast Workbook – Global provides five-year forecasts for fourteen service and product areas:

Household Figures: Worldwide households

Service Subscribers: Mobile phones; Digital television; Residential broadband; Mobile television

Product Sales: PC households; Data network households; High-definition televisions; Set-top boxes; Stand-alone Blu-ray players; Game consoles; Portable multimedia players; Network-attached storage; Digital media adapters

The full press release is available here: http://newsroom.parksassociates.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=5106

Sony's Bullish on BD Players

Today's Wall Street Journal discusses Sony's holiday plans. They include a lineup of Blu-ray players and recorders. Sony indicates that BD players sales will triple in this year (which ends next March), growing to more than seven million units.

Sony's comments, along with internal numbers that we heard from other manufacturers, Our recently-released Digital Living Forecast Workbook - Global predicts about five million unit sales in 2008.

Blu-ray Game: Aliens vs. Predator vs. You

Many of my colleagues have written about their impressions on CES last week. For me, CES served two purposes: 1, to expand my horizon and see the cool, new gadgets and talk to knowledgeable people; 2, to test how many miles I can go in a day, as it takes both brain and brawn to be an analyst here at Parks. In preparation for the first purpose, I meticulously planned my schedules and read related industry articles. In preparation for the second, for the first time in my life, I attended a Pilates class in a local 24-Hour fitness club to prompt myself for the upcoming hardship. But it was almost embarrassing to find out that I was the only male in the class. Anyway, I found the CES show to be great. Many trends struck me during the three days such as gigantic flat-panel TVs and wireless HD content transmissions, but as gaming is more of my focus, I want to share some new things happening in the gaming industry.

It is not news anymore that games consoles such as XBox 360 and PS3 are able to provide on-demand videos and even serve as TV Set-Top Boxes. Now, new-generation DVD players are jumping into the role of game consoles too. Studios are able to combine the power of Blu-ray video with its interactive features to provide innovative gaming services. The first example I saw during the show was the Blu-ray version of the Aliens vs. Predator movie, with an add-on interactive game titled Alien vs. Predator vs. You. In order to play the game, players first have to upload a picture of theirs to create their avatars. Then, they can choose and wield weapons to fight the monsters in the movie. Players are awarded points based on how hard they hit the opponents. The whole experience was exciting at first but sort of awkward afterwards as it was not a real game per se but nothing more than a game interface slapped on the movie videos. Plus, players access the game through a remote control. The company providing technology behind the scenes is called RCDB (Related Content Database) based in San Francisco. So far, they are working with Panasonic and Fox on interactive initiatives. I talked to the staff from RCDB. They told me interactive games of this sort will be provided free of charge as extras to Blu-ray movies. As Blu-ray machines will be connected to the network, users can enter their profiles, get game updates and game statistics easily. In addition to that, game players can post comments and form game communities.

This exhibition shows that technically Blu-ray gaming is a viable gaming channel. But does this mean new-generation DVD gaming will be exploding anytime soon? I don't really think so, at least not in 2008. A few conditions have to be met before it goes mainstream. First, format war has to end to accelerate consumers' adoption of next-generation DVD. My colleague Chris Roden has written about this below and he thinks we may see the end of the tunnel in2008. Secondly, the design of new-generation DVD games has to improve. A game interface slapped on movie videos is far from optimal. A trivial casual game testing viewers' knowledge on the movie they just saw or the stars in the movie, anyone? Studios can set up a leader board or gaming center to reward those who score high on these mini-games. Or, if they are using PS3 to watch the Tomb Raider on their Blu-ray DVD, maybe they can download a free demo version of the Tomb Raider video game or purchase a full-blown version?

To end this entry, I found myself feeling more flexible just after one class of Pilates. So I found a good website on Pilates for anyone who might be interested. Maybe that's what we should add to our New Year's resolutions: work hard, play games hard, and don't forget to exercise. (Picture Courtesy of http://www.1up.com)