HITS

CES: Dolby Vision Gets a Boost; Dell Does eSports

LAS VEGAS — Dolby Vision, the company’s high-dynamic range (HDR) video technology, has already been included on more than 80 major studio titles for streaming services. Beginning in the next few months, Ultra High-Def Blu-ray Disc titles will have them as well.

Lionsgate, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Jan. 4 all announced support for Dolby Vision on UHD Blu-ray at CES, giving the technology a major boost.

“Commitment from Lionsgate, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment for Dolby Vision Ultra HD Blu-ray content is a major milestone for expanded choice and accessibility for consumers,” said Curt Behlmer, SVP of content solutions and industry relations for Dolby. “With Ultra HD Blu-ray, we are able to scale faster to meet the growing demand for Dolby Vision content globally.”

Ron Schwartz, president of Lionsgate Home Entertainment, added: “Lionsgate is committed to being at the forefront of cutting edge technology for expanding the choices and enriching the experience of our home entertainment consumers. We’re pleased to partner with our friends at Dolby to bring Dolby Vision Ultra HD Blu-Ray to our consumers, delivering state-of-the-art images across a broad range of platforms.”

Eddie Cunningham, president of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, said 2017 should see major cross-industry adoption of UHD Blu-ray, and including Dolby Vision was a must. “Combining an impactful selection of Universal films with the spectacular dynamic range of Dolby Vision creates the best possible proposition for consumers with Dolby Vision-capable TVs.”

Ron Sanders, president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Home Entertainment Distribution, added: “With the largest library of 4K Ultra HD films with Dolby Vision available digitally, consumers will now be able to own their favorite Warner Bros. titles on Ultra HD Blu-ray with the spectacular dynamic range of Dolby Vision.”

Also at CES:

Video platform tech company You.i TV announced that it has adapted Turner’s Cartoon Network app for both the Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, expanding the Emmy-winning app from other iOS, Android and Kindle Fire devices.

The expansion of the Cartoon Network App on the You.i Engine includes expanded personalization and navigation functionality, offering more customizable access to favorite shows, and an intuitive way for children to create playlists, and watch full episodes before they debut on TV.

“Giving kids the best experience possible and a fun dynamic way to watch their favorite shows on all screens is core to our strategy,” said Chris Waldron, VP for Cartoon Network Digital. “Working with You.i TV on bringing the Cartoon Network App to TV is enabling us to continue to be the ultimate destination for kids when it comes to digital and mobile entertainment.” The latest Turner-You.i TV collaboration app to leverage the capabilities of You.i Engine, the Cartoon Network experience is based on the same software platform as FilmStruck, TNT, TBS and other Turner brands.

The immersive interface can be modified in minutes to address changes in program lineups, deliver promotional or public service messages or create in-app advertising opportunities.

Andrew Emmons, VP of product development for You.i TV, added: “Cartoon Network is the latest example of how imaginative design teams are using the power of our You.i Engine platform to deliver superior app experiences. From here, they have everything they need to keep audiences fully engaged and coming back for more.”

TiVo, meanwhile, launched a new Audience Management Platform (AMP), offering optimized audience targeting and data-driven TV services. A data-agnostic platform, the service is geared toward management executives, media planners and service providers, with the goal of helping to increase profitability via data-driven audience targeting and effective ad inventory usage.

“Advertising is being asked to do more today, and inventory management executives, media planners and service providers are challenged to deliver more value to their advertiser clients, executing on the promise of data-driven TV,” said Joan FitzGerald, VP of product management and business development for TiVo. “With the Audience Management Platform, media executives are equipped with the tools to help them manage advertising in a more complex and rapidly changing media environment.”

End-to-end inventory management, advanced audience predictions and multiple data sources (first-, second- and third-party) are all part of the system, along with programmatic reporting of audience delivery and demographic delivery for each ad campaign.

Additionally at CES, TiVo announced SongConnect, a music metadata service that “relates versions of a song to a single master work. With SongConnect, previously hidden connections are surfaced and music service providers can enable new discovery experiences for the music lover,” the company said in a statement.

The service works via a unique TiVo song ID, allowing providers to collect together alternate versions of any song, covering live, studio, acoustic and remixes.

“Music service providers need new and innovative ways for users to discover related music,” said Kathy Weidman, SVP and GM of metadata for TiVo. “SongConnect enables the discovery of alternate versions of a song across multiple languages, in all different genres, by delivering a new level of connectivity and accuracy to search.

For Dell, the big announcement to start CES revolved around eSports, with the computer tech company announcing that it will be the sole computer hardware provider for Turner’s “ELeague” competitive video gaming league and show.

“The popularity of PC gaming is at an all-time high, with hardware alone forecasted to exceed $35 billion by the end of 2018, thanks to the introduction of VR and excitement created by eSports and gaming tournaments,” said Bryan deZayas, director of Dell Gaming. “We are very proud to continue investing in gamers around the world by introducing a new Inspiron gaming line and partnering with ‘ELeague’ to power and support the eSports community, which is projected to reach 145 million fans in 2017.”

“ELeague” will use Alienware Aurora hardware with Dell’s 24-inch 144Hz gaming monitors for its competition system.

“The world’s best gamers demand bleeding edge hardware that keep them at their best,” said Seth Ladetsky, SVP of sales for Turner Sports. “’ELeague is proud to welcome Dell as a key partner, supporting the passionate eSports community and delivering the high-performance hardware needed to fuel ‘ELeague’s’ thrilling competition all year long.”

For Technicolor, its subsidiary MPC VR was chosen by 20th Century Fox to help produce a virtual reality experience for “Alien Covenant,” with director Ridley Scott executive producing. The film hits theaters in mid-May.

This will be the third film-based VR experience from Fox, following “Wild” in 2015 and “The Martian VR Experience” in 2016.

“The VR experience for ‘Alien: Covenant’ is a dread-inducing journey into the depths of the Alien universe,” a studio statement read. “Viewers will discover the true meaning of terror as they navigate through horrifying alien environments and a story where every decision could mean the difference between life and death.”

Also at CES, Technicolor was chosen by AirTV to build the Android TV streaming device, the AirTV Player.

“Technicolor manufactures more than 30 million devices that deliver video services every year. We have over four years’ experience integrating Android technology into connected home devices,” said Luis Martinez-Amago, president of the Connected Home North America division of Technicolor. “This enables AirTV to offer consumers the ability to watch streaming and OTA channels without switching inputs, and utilizing the Sling TV interface to simplify the experience.”