November 2010

It’s that time of year again. As families around the country get ready for Thanksgiving and the winter holiday season, Comcast has once again added the Yule Log feature to its on-demand library. The difference this year is that the homey holiday hearth effect is also available in 3D. Who needs a real fireplace when you can have a 3D virtual one?

And if you happen to be in Philadelphia over the next several weeks, check out the Comcast Holiday Spectacular at the HQ building in center city. The famed lobby video wall comes alive with dancing ice sculptures and a little Jingle Bell Rock.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIWvUedZ3-4]

Happy Thanksgiving, All.

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Need a brush-up on 3D TV terms? Try the Glossary for Video & Perceptual Quality of Stereoscopic Video for reference. The technical glossary was released back in August by a project team that joined members of the 3D@Home’s Consortium’s Content Committee and the MPEG IF’s 3D Working Group. The project was led by Motorola’s own Dr. Sean McCarthy, and the resulting document is quite thorough in its coverage of 3D terminology. The glossary will reportedly be updated as needed in the future, and there are plans to add multimedia examples as well. You can check out the complete document online, or browse through a selection of my favorites below.

Glossary Terms:

Accommodation – The physiological process that alters the shape of the lens of the eye and thereby the optical power of the eye so as to form a clear image of an object at both near and far distances.

Accommodation-Convergence Rivalry – A discrepancy between accommodation and convergence depth cues in which one of the depth cue impacts perception to a greater extent than the other.

Asymmetric Coding – A method of compression in which either the left- or right-eye image has a lower resolution or is compressed to a greater degree than the other eye.

Atmospheric Perspective – A depth cue in which distant objects progressively lose contrast and saturation with distance, typically as a result of atmospheric light scatter.

Binocular Parallax – The phenomenon in which the position of an object appears to change when viewed by the left eye alone and then the right eye alone, or vice versa, when the head is stationary.

Convergence – The ability of both eyes to turn inwards together. This enables both eyes to be looking at the exact same point in space.

Mosaic Artifact – A compression artifact in which adjacent blocks in an image have mismatching color, brightness, or texture.

Percival’s Zone of Comfort – An optometric rule of thumb for the viewing of stereo stimuli; it is the approximate range of vergence and accommodation responses for which the viewer can fuse images without discomfort.

Screen Door Artifact – A grid of fixed pattern noise resulting from the space between pixels.

Stereoscopic Latency – The amount of time between the presentation of a stereoscopic stimulus and the perception of depth by a typical viewer.Sticky Motion

Tautomorphic Image – A stereoscopic image which presents the original scene to the viewer exactly as it would have been perceived in life; i.e., with the same apparent scale, positions of scenic elements, and a stereo magnification of x1 for all subject matter in the view.

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Motorola released the results of a new global survey today as part of the company’s ongoing Media Engagement Barometer (MEB). Among the high-level findings: Consumers across the world prefer paid subscription TV services to free, over-the-air content. From the press release: “…while free-to-air services are available to 67 percent of global viewers, compared to 57 percent for paid-for services, the most preferred TV services are subscription only.” In other words, yes, content is king.

More incredibly, the Motorola survey found that 86 percent of Americans pay for TV services. (The NPD Group pegged the number at 81 percent this time last year.) Given the growth of DVR and VOD households, perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise. However, with regular industry discussion on how TV is evolving, it’s interesting to note that the subscription service model is still holding strong. A-la-carte optimists may have to reconsider their arguments.

The latest MEB survey covered several other consumer viewing trends as well. Take a look at the graphic below for a breakdown of scheduled TV viewing versus on-demand viewing versus online viewing. In a note of caution to traditional providers, nine percent of respondents said they watch mainly “other TV services,” generically defined as “online TV etc.”

The full press release and fact sheet on the new Motorola survey are both available online. The independent survey studied video consumption habits among 7,500 consumers in 13 markets.

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Mark it down. November 2010 is the month TV went mobile. Forget earlier efforts, or the fact that there is still massive room for growth and improvement. This month two major providers, Verizon and Comcast, have announced new applications designed to take their TV offerings to the small screen. So far the two approaches are radically different, but rest assured,Verizon and Comcast are converging on the same goals. Here’s a little comparison of what you can do today.

Verizon Flex View App

• Rent or buy videos that can be watched on up to five authorized devices
• 1,400 movies available with TV shows on the way, and a predicted library of 2,000 titles by the end of 2010
• Works on Windows, Android, and Blackberry devices
• Available only to FiOS subscribers

Note that Verizon has also previously talked about bringing linear programming to mobile devices. That’s expected to happen early next year.

Comcast Xfinity TV App

• Search linear and on-demand TV listings on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch. (Android support on its way)
• Change channels on your TV right from the Xfinity app
• Schedule DVR recordings

Like Verizon, Comcast says of its Xfinity app, “you’ll soon be able to turn your device into a TV screen to watch your On Demand shows and movies from anywhere.”

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