Onkyo and Pioneer announced Thursday a Dolby Vision firmware update for 17 audio products in the 2016 portfolio, due by the end of December. Dolby Vision already is available on seven Onkyo and five Pioneer products in the 2017 lineup, it said.
Altice expanded its partnership with Arris for 4K high dynamic range set-top boxes in the U.S. and Europe starting next year. Altice-owned Portugal Telecom will use Arris STBs for its Meo 4K TV service in Portugal, said the company in a Friday announcement, and Altice and Arris will partner to deploy the Arris E6000 Converged Edge Router in France, the U.S. and the Dominican Republic.
SES will use the IBC 2017 show in Amsterdam to demonstrate the world’s first live Ultra HD transmission of HDR10+ content via satellite, SES said in a Thursday announcement. HDR10+ is the dynamic-metadata-based high dynamic range platform that Fox, Panasonic and Samsung plan to begin licensing as a royalty-free open standard in 2018 (see 1708280018). At IBC, SES also will team with LG Electronics and others to broadcast Ultra HD content at 100 frames per second -- double today's standard in TV broadcasting in Europe -- via satellite at Astra 19.2 degrees east, the company said. The content will feature fast-action scenes and will be received and displayed on an LG OLED TV fitted with prototype high-frame-rate firmware, SES said. The IBC 2017 exhibit floor opens Friday for a five-day run.
Dolby Vision can be supported on three models of the newly available Philips line of 6000-series Ultra HD TVs, starting at $799 for the 50-inch model, rising to $1,399 for the 65-inch version, said P&F USA, the Funai subsidiary that markets Philips-brand home entertainment products under license in North America. All the sets also have what P&F is calling "generic" HDR10 high dynamic range. P&F also started shipping a Dolby Vision-"capable" Ultra HD Blu-ray player at $299, it said. The BDP7502 player will support Dolby Vision playback on Ultra HD Blu-ray discs after a firmware update coming later this year, it said.
LG launched its first Blu-ray player to support Dolby Vision playback, it said in a news release. The 4K UP970 has a $299 suggested retail price, but the LG website showed a $239 promotion price Wednesday afternoon. The player is compatible with HDR10, Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, LG said. It has an HDMI 2.0a port for Ultra HD video output and an HDMI 1.4 port to connect to legacy audio products that can’t pass through a high dynamic range signal, LG said. The player has Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity along with a USB port for video playback, said the company.
Momentum is growing behind high dynamic range in general and “Dolby Vision in particular,” Dougherty & Co. analyst Steven Frankel wrote in a Monday research update to investors. Frankel referenced multiple tech blog reports that Apple is beginning to support HDR content in iTunes and the next-generation 4K Apple TV will support Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log Gamma and HDR 10. Apple TV would join Chromecast Ultra as the first two external streaming devices to support Dolby Vision, Frankel said, and "given that Roku already supports Dolby Vision in its line of Roku-embedded TVs, we'd expect Vision to be added to its standalone products in the coming months." Roku’s Premiere+ and Ultra players support HDR 10. Frankel cited the growing library of Dolby Vision content, multiple live Dolby Vision broadcast tests (see 1707260024), support by the major streaming providers and adoption by every major TV maker “except Samsung” as testimonials to Dolby’s flavor of HDR. Samsung has been focused on HDR 10 and its homegrown HDR10+, but “accelerating momentum around Dolby Vision likely amps up the pressure on Samsung to add Dolby Vision support in 2018," Frankel said. Samsung didn't comment.
Steinway Lyngdorf released a software update for the P200 surround-sound processor that adds Dolby Vision support. Other updates include improved Oppo high dynamic range support, a full bypass mode for video, support for Control4’s Simple Device Discovery Protocol and bug fixes, said the company.
Philips 5000 series 4K TVs are the latest connected TVs to launch with Google’s Chromecast built-in. Users can cast content from a phone, tablet or PC to the TV and control content via mobile device or a Google Home speaker, said the company. Additional features include high dynamic range and Sonic Emotion Absolute 3D sound. Suggested retail prices are $529 (43-inch), $599 (50-inch), $699 (55-inch) and $1,199 (65-inch), said the company.
Global shipments of high dynamic range TVs will see a 41 percent compound annual growth rate through the next five years, reaching 245 million units in 2022, ABI Research said in a Wednesday report. “As evident with Sony’s recent announcement to include HDR in all its new TV sets, the next-generation TV technology will soon be a prominent feature in many Ultra HD TV sets.” Though less expensive sets “will not yet support” HDR technology, “high-end TV manufacturers recognize the value that HDR functionality brings to the viewing experience,” said ABI.
A firmware update released Tuesday enables HDR10 streaming on Vizio SmartCast E-Series Ultra HD 4K TVs with HDR, said a Vizio announcement. The update gives consumers access to HDR content from Netflix, Vudu and FandangoNow and adds a quick access feature, giving users an on-screen side bar menu to control picture settings, said the company. HDR support is available on 2017 Vizio E-Series Ultra HD HDR models in 55-inch and above screen sizes rolling out now to retailers including Costco, Sam's Club and Walmart, Vizio said. Suggested retail prices range from $549 for the 55-inch to $3,399 for the 80-inch version.