Category: Software

MUMBAI: Reliance Big TV and Sony Music have entered into a strategic agreement to showcase value added content on Reliance‘s DTH platform.

Under the strategic agreement, Reliance Big TV will premiere the Beyonce‘s Concert on its PPV channels for four weeks, starting 11 November. 
 
The special PPV offering will feature Live at Wembley concert that was shot during Beyonce‘s Dangerously in Love – International Tour in London.

The Dangerously In Love Tour was singer Beyoncé‘s first solo concert tour, intended to showcase songs from her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love.

Reliance Big TV senior VP Umesh Rao, “The Premiere of Beyonce Concert is part of our long-term plan to introduce non-film content on our PPV platform by offering enriched and unique content. We plan to address the home entertainment needs of Indian TV households through differentiated content acquired from leading content providers, like Sony Music, from across the world.”  
 
Reliance Big TV will offer Beyonce‘s Concert for Rs 50 per view. Each per view subscription will be valid for 24 hours from the time of activation. Beyonce‘s Concert on Reliance Big TV‘s PPV channels will be on air for a period of four weeks.

As part of its efforts to introduce non-film content, Reliance Big TV has earlier showcased Michael Jackson‘s Live in Bucharest Concert and Pink Floyd‘s Pulse from Sony Music on its PPV channels. Following its strategy to offer content for all audiences, Reliance Big TV will also be showcasing Maruti Mera Dost from 6 November and Luck By Chance and 13B from 11 November at Rs 25 and Rs 50 respectively.
 

MUMBAI: South Korea-based D-Cinema Korea (DCK), a digital transition firm in Korea, has chosen Real Image Media Technologies‘ (Real Image) Qube XP-D as one of the official digital cinema servers for its 1000 screen rollout across Korea.

Under rigorous testing for 2D and 3D playback at the DCK test bed since July 2008, the Qube XP-D server proved itself repeatedly under the most strenuous conditions that led to the Qube XP-D being certified and approved by DCK that later recommended to the Korean digital market for its superior technical performance and security, says Real Image in a statement. 
 
DCK, a joint-venture company between CJ CGV and Lotte Cinema, has also announced a Virtual Print Fee (VPF) deal with major Hollywood studios including Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Pictures.

The deal that involves both the exhibitors and the distributors contributing towards the cost of converting theatres to digital, will cover more than 1,000 screens all over Korea in the next two to three years.  
 
Qube, already present in over 1,600 screens across 25 countries, is part of the digitisation plans of some of the biggest theatrical chains the world over, like Odeon/UCI in Europe, DCN in Australia, Ster-Kinekor in South Africa, Phoenix Adlabs and Landmark Theaters in the US.

MUMBAI: With multiple 3D releases coming to theatres simultaneously, demand among exhibitors for 3D installations continues to increase.

Texas Instruments (TI) DLP Cinema, recognised as the leader of 3D projection technology, has reached a milestone of over 14,000 global theatre installations with over half of them powered by DLP Cinema 3D projection technology. 
 
Today, there are more than 175 DLP Cinema screens in major multiplexes across major cities in India. And many of them play 3D digital movies.

DLP Cinema is now set to honour its heritage of providing the ultimate viewing experience with DLP Cinema projection solutions, enabling theatres to showcase the James Cameron film Avatar.

During the filming of Avatar, DLP projectors were used for real-time viewing of the footage being shot. Additionally, Cameron and his production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, used DLP Cinema projectors during the post-production to provide superior contrast ratios, colour calibration and sharp 3D imagery.  
 
DLP Cinema projection technology has been installed in every continent except Antarctica. Today there are more than 7,000 worldwide screens that offer digital 3D with the use of every pixel array in the frame for the brightest picture unlike other technologies. Since last year‘s introduction, IMAX digital projection systems powered by DLP Cinema projectors have reached a total of 88 locations worldwide. 

MUMBAI: Funny or Die, a comedy website, has partnered with YouTube to launch a ‘Funny or Die‘ branded You Tube channel. 
 
“We are very excited to distribute a sub set of our videos through YouTube. As one of the premiere names in comedy, it seemed like the right time to launch a Funny or Die branded channel,” said Funny or Die CEO Dick Glover. 
 
Said YouTube strategic partner development George Strompolos, “Funny or Die brings a welcome blend of comedy, celebrity and web originals to YouTube,”

Under the partnership, all Funny or Die-produced videos will continue to premiere on www.funnyordie.com. Following an exclusive window on funnyordie.com, the videos will then appear globally in Funny or Die‘s YouTube channel for a limited time.
 

MUMBAI: The Asia Pacific region now has 326 million pay-TV homes, up 26 million from the year-ago period.

According to Casbaa estimates, backed by global data, subscription television in Asia Pacific now reaches more homes than the rest of the world (ROW) combined. Digital pay-TV subscription households now account for over 115 million homes. 
 
China and India have spearheaded much of the growth, accounting for 90 per cent of all Asian pay-TV subscribers in 2009.

India now has 19 million digital pay-TV households, while China represents 69 million digital video connections. Overall, Asian digital penetration stands at 35 per cent across 14 markets.

Casbaa CEO Simon Twiston Davies says, “These are very encouraging figures. Much of the digital promise of the last five years is now being delivered.”

Eighteen new pay-TV operators have emerged across the region in the past 18 months, Casbaa said today during its annual Convention in Hong Kong.

The list includes Reliance, Videocon and Bharti Reliance (India); Hikari TV (Japan); Korea Telecom and SK Telecom (Korea); Cignal (PLDT), G-Sat (Global Destiny), PLDT/Smart (MyTV) (Philippines); Aora-TV and Okevision (Indonesia); Top Up TV (Next Step Co.) (Thailand); VSTV (VTV/Canal Overseas), VTC (HD channels), HTV (Ho Chi Minh TV), FPT Telecom and VNPT (Vietnam National Posts & Telecom) (Vietnam); and Telecom Malaysia. 
 
Meanwhile, Casbaa‘s annual pay-TV piracy survey of 15 Asia Pacific markets, conducted in association with Standard Chartered Bank, reflects the regional growth but also generating an updated estimate of $1.94 billion in annual revenue losses to the industry.

This estimate uses highly conservative assumptions. Actual totals are likely to be much higher. Last year‘s Casbaa piracy survey produced an estimate of $1.75 billion in annual pay-TV revenue leakage in Asia.

Evolving factors in the past 12 months include the strong growth in the legitimate pay-TV market which, inevitably, has meant more piracy; as new content is made available in more Asian languages, the stimulus to piracy increases.

“Pay-TV is becoming more attractive but that means more people want to steal,” adds Twiston Davies.

As new markets open, previously hidden pockets of piracy have become apparent as in Indonesia, for instance, where the local industry and government have paid increasing attention to pay-TV signal theft in the last year. Likewise, Vietnam is going through the same process.

In some places, piracy has declined as investment in digital technology make signals more difficult to steal. Thus, piracy numbers in Hong Kong and Manila have declined as cable operators have deployed new digital transmission systems.

Tax specialists at PricewaterhouseCoopers participated in the analytical exercise, and came to the conclusion that the revenue leakage from the legitimate pay-TV industry cost regional governments at least $247 million in uncollected taxes.

The biggest revenue losers were the governments in Thailand ($76 million), Pakistan ($56 million) and the Philippines ($39 million).

MUMBAI: Continuing their foray into creating games with Indian contents, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has announced the launch of Desi Adda: Games of India – specially developed by an Indian Game Development Studio – GameShastra Solutions, for the two PlayStation console formats: PS2 and PSP.
 
As a continuing commitment towards partnership with the Indian game development industry, this is the second time Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is working with an Indian game development company to publish ‘Desi Adda: Games of India.

Desi Adda: Games of India comes with a number of firsts:

– First console game completely developed by Indian Development Studio for the PSP

– First console game to be playable in 3 Indian languages : Hindi, Punjabi and in Tamil

– Features six traditional Indian games: Pachisi, Goat & the tiger, Kite Fight, Kabaddi, Gilli Danda and the beat matching dance game

‘Desi Adda: Games of India’ emanates from the inspiration drawn from the good old, traditional games of India on to a contemporary and modern platform. The interest about such traditional games will help broadcasting both the usage of PlayStation as well as the knowledge of the game amongst the young Indians.

The partnership between Sony Computer Entertainment with GameShastra Solutions Pvt Ltd has resulted in the development and publishing of ‘Desi Adda: Games of India‘, for India as well as the global market.

Developed for both the PS2 and PSP, ‘Desi Adda: Games of India’ will be available in the Indian market at a suggested retail price of Rs. 499 for PS2 and Rs. 999 for the PSP.

Sony Computer Entertainment country manager PlayStation Atindriya Bose said, “We are very proud to launch the first Indian game on PSP with localised content, in three Indian languages completely developed in India These are the long-established, traditional games of India that are now inspiring games on the very modern interactive platform of PlayStation. On PS2 and PSP platform, people will, for the first time, get to play these time-honored games and carry forward the flavors of traditional India to the newer generations.” 
 
Gameshastra CEO Prakash Ahuja said, “When we presented the concept of Desi Adda to SCEE , we were pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm and the support that we got from SCEE to build India based thematic content for the Indian market and the Diaspora globally. We are very excited with the way the game has evolved and are thankful to SCEE for all their belief in launching this title across their major platforms. Currently, we are also working on a new genre of game based on Indian Martial Arts, along with multiple titles for the PSP Minis platform for the global market.”

The game is the story of Avinash, son of an NRI businessman, who comes to visit his ancestral village. Since Avinash has lived all his life abroad, and this is his first visit to an Indian village, he is fascinated by what he sees. The story unfolds as he roams around the village, plays the different village games, and meets Gowri and Gopal, a couple who are in love, but cannot get married as the village head, Garjan Singh, is opposed to their match. Avinash must now seek different people in the village, who play a part in this story one way or the other, and try to find a way to get the Gowri and Gopal married and also save the village from the evil plans of Garjan Singh.

The six traditional Indian games include:

Pachisi -Pachisi is a turn based board game played using the cross shaped board and two rectangular dice. It’s a game of change and strategy. Pachisi game played between the Pandavas and Kauravas is the significant event in the great epic of Mahabharata

Aadu Puli Aatam (Goat & the Tiger) – This is a hunt game and game between the extravagant Tigers and the deceitful goats. The general rule of this interesting strategy game is the number of tigers varies from 1 to 4, and the number of goats from 11 to 12 to 23 or 24. The general aim is to hem in the tigers so that they cannot move, but the arrangement of pieces, the method of play and the rules of capture vary from game to game.

Kite fight – In India people fly kites to cut other kites. Specially made threads, mostly coated with fine powdered glass, are used for the kite fight. Kites are made from colored paper and are available in various shapes. Two bamboo sticks called “tuddah” (which is straight) and “Kaamp” which is arched, hold the paper together. The string attached determines the performance of the kite.

Kabaddi – Two teams compete with each other for higher scores, by touching or capturing the players of the opponent team. Each team consists of 12 players, of which seven are on court at a time, and five in reserve. The two teams fight for higher scores, alternating defence and offense.

Gilli Danda is a game like cricket or baseball but without a ball and with a different set of rules. The ball is replaced by a small stick called Gilli. The Gilli 3 to 4 inches long and both the ends are tapered. Danda is a 24 inches long cylindrical stick used like a bat. Player can enjoy batting the Gilli or fielding among the free cattle.

Dance game is a beat matching game, in which the user has to match the beats of a song playing in the background, by pressing a combination of buttons at the right time as they scroll on the bottom of the screen. The aim is to try and successfully press the right combination of buttons at the right time in order to win the game.

MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC will be providing the public with access to the democratic institutions across the UK.

Democracy Live offers live and on-demand video coverage of the UK‘s national political institutions and the European Parliament at bbc.co.uk/democracylive, backed by innovative search technology to allow the public to follow political debates and developments around the areas and issues that matter to them most.
 
Democracy Live will provide unmediated content straight to the public who can view information first hand and through the various features find out about their elected representatives and the decision-making process.

The extensive guides, search facilities and the easy navigation are designed to ensure Democracy Live provides information for people with different levels of interest, supporting the BBC‘s commitment to build a greater understanding of the democratic institutions amongst the public.

BBC Political Programmes head Sue Inglish says, “Democracy Live is an important addition to the way the BBC brings politics to our audiences across the UK, allowing people to see first hand the work of their elected representatives and ensuring we have a healthy and informed democracy. 
 
“This is precisely the sort of different content the BBC should be providing in fulfilling our public service remit and representing all of the democratic institutions in the UK.”
The key feature of the Democracy Live home page is an eight-screen video wall covering full sittings of the institutions and committee proceedings.

The search engine is based on an innovative “speech-to-text” system which allows users to search the video for specific topics and contributors from the Democracy Live archive. The archive holds the items of business which have been covered live on the site.

In addition to live and on-demand coverage, Democracy Live features a Historic Moments section containing video of memorable political events over the past two decades.

Democracy Live also offers guides to each of the institutions and an explanation of how the UK‘s devolved political system works. People will be able to follow representatives they are interested in and Democracy Live will gather video in which they appear and store this to be watched later.

A Comment section brings together all of the BBC‘s main political blogs and offers a place for public figures to explore topical issues.

The first of these contributions is an article by the House of Commons Speaker, John Bercow MP, exploring what reform is needed to rebuild the level of public trust in the House of Commons.

MUMBAI: Sirius XM Radio‘s XM Skydock, the satellite radio that can be controlled by an iPod or iPhone, is now available for purchase in the United States.
 
The XM Skydock is available in stores including the Apple Store, Best Buy, Radio Shack, independent retailers and online retailers and is priced at $119.99. It is compatible with iPod touch (1st and 2nd generation), iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.  
 
“We are excited to launch XM SkyDock at our subscribers‘ retailers. The XM SkyDock can bring live satellite radio entertainment to iPod touch and iPhone users in their vehicles,” said Sirius XM Group VP/GM after market division Bob Law.

MUMBAI: Daily high-definition viewing among HDTV viewers aged 13- 54 years has escalated by 65 per cent in the last two years, says a survey by Knowledge Networks.

To compile the data, Knowledge Networks met the same set of high-definition viewers who had participated in a similar kind of study in 2007. The study found that 43 per cent now watch HD programming on a day-to-day basis compared to 26 per cent two years ago. 
 
68 per cent of the respondents said that they always make an effort to watch a show in HD when it is available in SD and HD at the same time.

The report also discovered that males were more likely to say that they check HD channels first when turning on their TV set (48 per cent versus 19 per cent for females), and more likely to choose HD over an SD simulcast (58 per cent to 41 per cent.).  
 
Said Knowledge Networks VP and group account director David Tice, “Viewing of high-definition programming is becoming more frequent, including programme types.This sends a message to advertisers that HD is becoming the new norm for those with HD access across all programme types.”

MUMBAI: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is planning to launch 3G (third generation) mobile services across 50 cities in Maharashtra.

The 3G process is scheduled to start from Pune in December.
 
Said MTNL executive director Mumbai J Gopal, “The greatest benefit to customers of 3G services would be mobile TV and mobile internet. Customers in metropolitan cities should make use of this opportunity as the PSU has offered a very competitive rate for the high frequency 3G services that enables video and other streaming download on their mobiles including films, music, video games, and several other facilities.”

Adds Bharti Airtel SVP 3G and network quality Abhay Savargaonkar, “The problem in the telecom industry was the sharp rise in mobile customer base but precipitate fall in revenue per-customer. The customer base in India raised by 400 million.”  
 
Broadband connections were still far behind the 20 million by 2010 projected by the government. 3G data revenue was growing upto 240 per cent in two years in countries like Brazil. For 2G operators facing falling ARPU, 3G offered good hope of providing richer services and better revenues. World 3G subscriber revenues were growing by 30 per cent CAGR, adds Savargaonkar.