Friday, January 4, 2013

The tablet for good and ill

September 16, 2011
For an informed view on connected entertainment in the UK & Ireland, visit Cue Entertainment 



Two big shows take place in September each year and they usually provide an accurate indication of what will drive the home entertainment industry over the next year. The first is IFA in Berlin, the equivalent of the consumer electronics show (CES) in the US, and the second is IBC in Amsterdam, the European counterpart to NAB, which covers almost the entire entertainment supply chain from cameras and sound systems in the studio to content delivery to the home.

Connected television was the headline maker at both events this year, the vanguard of a market that has already outpaced 3D in both volume and financial terms. In its wake comes a stream of “companion devices” — smartphones and tablets that incorporate the technology to synchronise with the main TV and even “throw” video from one screen to another.

Content delivered to the main screen in the home is licensed, regulated and frequently advertising-supported. Airtime is a relatively scarce resource, particularly within the first screening of a feature film, an important sporting event or other premium content and it is priced accordingly.

The advent of the companion screen presents content owners and rights holders with a disruptive challenge, since it is now possible to detect and synchronise with the content on the main screen without payment or authorisation. The spectre of inappropriate advertising or dubious extras appearing on the companion screens should worry rights owners and programme makers alike. When thousands of pounds have changed hands for the rights to a particular slot, an advertiser expects the full attention of the viewing audience. Yet the unregulated companion screens could display a competing brand message or divert the viewer to a discounter rather than the advertised store, with the advantage of immediate online purchase.

It is not only broadcast content that runs the risk of the companion screens piggybacking on copyrighted content. The technology to detect and synchronise with DVD and Blu-ray discs or even music tracks played on the radio was on display at IBC. There is little to prevent a simple app in an iPad from synchronising to the content, whenever and wherever it is heard.

If the smart device detects the “The Sound of Music”, for example, it could automatically display advertising from the Austrian tourist board, with a discount voucher on offer if the user clicks before the end of the song. Salzburg is a beautiful city and many visitors go there after seeing the musical but it is unlikely that Fox would be happy to give a free ride for a commercial message. This is, of course, an entirely imaginary example, yet it is hard to imagine how such synchronisation could be prevented.

There is no physical connection between the source of the soundtrack and the device, which simply listens to the world around it and responds to what it hears by calling information from a database. The user may idly consider a trip to see the von Trapp family home on hearing the song; the app provides timely fulfilment to that wish and without legislation or control, such synchronised links could lead the user to far less idyllic locations than Salzburg.

Parks Associates forecasts tablet sales of more than 125 million by 2015 and consumer electronics manufacturers already provide the links required to use them as remote controls, this time with a range of many miles, rather than a few feet across the living room. Users are able to programme the home network from afar, selecting what and when to record and whether they want to view it on their handheld or on the main screen in the house.

Inevitably, there were bigger, brighter and better screens on display in Berlin and Amsterdam, with many offering S3D as standard alongside impressive HDTV performance. The demonstrations of the so-called “glasses free” auto-stereoscopic 3D screens were the biggest disappointment, however, simply serving to confirm that fact that satisfactory results are still many years away.

The return of the 4,320-line Super Hi-Vision system from NHK in Japan proved a hard act to follow, especially when viewed on the Sharp 85-inch LCD screen. The effect was rather like standing beside an open window, with no flicker or visible line structure. This stunning image offered the illusion of depth with no need for glasses. The BBC has already announced that some events at the London Olympics will be recorded in this format.

Lesser mortals will have to wait until at least 2015 before they can watch Super Hi-Vision in the home, by which time IHS iSuppli predicts the shipment of 780 million connected devices per year. The forecast for 2011 is no less remarkable at around 250 million and almost a quarter of that total is tablet devices.

The connected TV requires just two inputs: one to receive broadcast programmes via the aerial or satellite dish on the roof and the second, probably wireless, to connect to the home network. Plug in, switch on and every other connected device in and around the home becomes part of what we must learn to call the domestic “ecosystem”. Smartphones, laptops, tablets, games consoles and maybe even refrigerators can join the party, invisibly linking and syncing content with each other and to the cloud beyond.

The ecosystem is so user-friendly that there is no escape from its all-embracing tentacles. All you need is more storage space to take your content with you — and since telecoms operators threaten to charge per bit for mobile broadband, that is probably the best thing you can do. However, there are snags.

When your Blackberry tells you that you there is no more space on your media card, it is probably because it has synchronised seamlessly with every audio track that you ever added to iTunes. For PC owners, Windows Media Player joins in, desperate to transfer video files to any receptive handheld device in the area. If your mobile phone rings while on charge in another room, the connected TV will tell you about it. No beer in the fridge? In the connected world, a case of your favourite brew is probably already on its way, or at least has been added to the shopping list on your Android smartphone or Apple iPad.

With the arrival of UltraViolet later this year, up to 12 devices can coexist within an ecosystem. However, if the screen on the fridge in your kitchen gets a liking for culinary porn and downloads it from your digital locker in the Cloud, even a dozen connections may not be enough — take another look at that iSuppli forecast and its implications are clear.

Of course, the kitchen is not on the front line in the coming fight for eyeballs, the battleground will be around the connected living room TV. However the synchronisation rights question is resolved, there can be little doubt that the group gathered around the main screen in the home will keep taking their tablets.

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