Rebecca Day

Uncertainty about demand for the rest of the year caused TFT LCD panel makers to scuttle plans for price increases in mid-June, said a report from DisplaySearch. Panel makers originally expected to boost manufacturing capacity utilization to an average of 90 percent in Q3, but the demand outlook is now expected to keep it at 85 percent through September, DisplaySearch said.

Halfway into its second year, 3D TV is struggling for respectability amid gloomy market research projections and slowing interest in 3D movies at cinemas. The negative press prompted Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at CEA, to publish a blog post last week refuting negative research reports and defending progress of the technology. “Despite all of the hype and all of the panning, 3DTV is on the exact trajectory we would expect a new segment like 3DTV to experience in the early years of its adoption by consumers,” DuBravac said.

Energy management won’t be a consumer-driven profit opportunity for the custom installation market anytime soon, according to panelists on “Pioneering Technologies for the Custom Integration Industry,” part of the recent Lifestyle Technology Summit in New York.

Impressive advances in cordless phone features are getting lost at retail, where limited sales help on the retail floor and limited space on advertising tags make it difficult for manufacturers to get the message out. “The box has to be the salesperson,” said Susan Bartolucci, marketing specialist for Panasonic.

The DiiVA (Digital Interactive Interface for Video & Audio) Consortium said Thursday that four Samsung TV models in the UAXXD5500 series have passed compliance testing at the DiiVA test center in Guangzhou, China. “As the first non-Chinese TV manufacturer to join DiiVA as a promoter, Samsung is committed to playing an integral role in the new era for smart TVs and will continue to raise the bar for interactive TV experiences,” said Hong Sung Pyo, vice president of Samsung Electronics, Tianjin R&D Center.

Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Digital were selected as optional technologies for China’s DTV receiver spec for set-top boxes and TVs that will take effect Nov. 1, Dolby Labs said. “We view this outcome as a positive for Dolby, as China this year will become the largest LCD TV market in the world,” said John Vinh, analyst for Collins Stewart. Near-term, the announcement isn’t expected to have any material impact on Dolby revenue because the technology has been selected as an optional specification, he said. Long term, however, he sees a “meaningful opportunity,” citing history in Europe where Dolby was not originally mandated as an audio spec but now commands a 90-plus percent market share. Over time, a similar scenario should play out in China since the company already has more than 15 broadcasters in China broadcasting in Dolby Digital, Vinh said. Among the Chinese broadcasters that have adopted Dolby Digital Plus are Shenzhen Media Group on terrestrial, Jinan Cable and BesTV for its IPTV platform, Dolby said. China-based IC companies NationalChip and HiSilicon are also incorporating Dolby Digital Plus into their chipsets for HD set-top boxes, Dolby said. More than 50 device makers including TCL, Changhong, Huawei, Juizhou and Coship have incorporated Dolby Digital Plus into their HD set-top boxes or HDTVs, it said. Using DisplaySearch research forecasting 60 million LCD TV units shipping in China in 2014, Vinh said a 70 percent attach rate would translate to about $0.25 per share in incremental earnings for Dolby. He cited concerns about “leakage and compliance” in China, but said the inclusion of Dolby in the official spec “will make it easier for the company to collect royalties.” Taking into account anticipated leakage, Vinh said, “We note that the company has successfully collected on royalties in China on DVD players for years.”

Amid a world gone streaming, Sony held a Blu-ray news briefing in New York Tuesday to reaffirm the relevance of the Blu-ray format now and in the future. Pushing the physical Blu-ray ecosystem over cloud-based content, executives from Sony -- a co-inventor of Blu-ray that’s involved in the format chain from content creation to playback -- made the case for Blu-ray’s recordability, flexibility, robustness and capacity. Darin Scott, senior vice president of marketing, said consumers these days want a choice in how they view content and Blu-ray is one of those options whether for a standalone player, PC or PS3. “With increased high-bandwidth content, expanding storage needs and flexible solutions are needed,” he said. Even VAIO laptops that record to hard disks need the “stability” of a recordable Blu-ray drive, he said.

Tennis fans at cinemas around the world, along with ESPN 3D TV viewers, can see 3D versions of Wimbledon semifinal and final matches this weekend either on TV or at a smattering of RealD theaters showing BBC coverage of the events.

Energy management won’t be a consumer-driven profit opportunity for the custom installation market anytime soon, according to panelists on “Pioneering Technologies for the Custom Integration Industry,” part of the Lifestyle Technology Summit in New York Friday.

Baker & Taylor, distributor of physical and digital books, said at last week’s American Library Association conference in New Orleans that it’s partnering with Barnes & Noble to build awareness among Nook e-reader customers that digital books are available for loan from local libraries. Nook owners who are members of libraries that are part of Baker & Taylor’s Axis 360 nascent digital media circulation management platform will be able to “check out” e-books from their library website, on loan, for temporary download to their Nooks or other digital reading devices, Michael Bills, director of sales, digital products for Baker & Taylor, told Consumer Electronics Daily. The Axis service will also link customers directly to the BN.com website for e-book content, he said.