Walmart tapped Rakuten for its Kobo e-books, and will offer Kobo e-readers and its library of more than 6 million e-books in a co-branded partnership, it said Wednesday. "Walmart eBooks by Rakuten Kobo" will offer an audiobook subscription for $9.99 per month, including one free audiobook per month, it said. First-time customers who sign up online will get $10 off their first a la carte e-book or audiobook, Walmart said, along with a 30-day free trial for the audiobook subscription. The four Kobo e-readers were selling for $99, $129, $179 and $229 at Walmart Wednesday. Android and iOS users can download the Walmart eBook app for mobile devices, it said.
The HDMI Forum continues to make slower-than-expected progress completing work on the HDMI 2.1 compliance test suite deemed critical for manufacturers to build product conforming to the 2.1 specification it released in November after many months of delays (see 1711280041). The forum released the “first phase” of the compliance test suite last week covering the enhanced audio return channel (eARC) feature defined in 2.1, spokesman Henry Feintuch emailed us Thursday. “More phases will be released in the coming weeks and months,” he said. That’s behind the schedule the forum outlined at CES when it said developing a “complete compliance test” for 2.1 was a “top priority” and would be rolled out in “stages” beginning in Q2 (see 1801080065). The eARC feature “simplifies connectivity and supports the most advanced audio formats, highest audio quality, and ensures compatibility between audio devices and upcoming HDMI 2.1 products,” said the HDMI Licensing Administrator at CES.
Technicolor’s disc-replication business produced 472 million DVDs and Blu-rays in first-half 2018, down 11 percent from the 529 million manufactured in the same period a year earlier, said the company. Technicolor, as a top global replicator, often serves as a bellwether of declining demand for physical media. Unit volume of DVDs produced declined 18 percent to 338 million discs, while Blu-ray unit volume increased 12 percent to 134 million discs. “Obviously, the Blu-ray volume does not compensate” for the decline in DVD demand, “but as all of you know, Blu-ray from a profitability-efficiency standpoint is a lot more attractive for the bottom line of the company,” said CEO Frederic Rose on an earnings call, also Tuesday. In Q2, Technicolor completed the “onboarding” of its disc-replication outsourcing agreement with Sony Digital Audio Disc Corp. in the U.S. and Australia (see 1802220009), said Rose. “We are now starting the third quarter fully operational on behalf of Sony.” A high priority in the disc-replication business “from now on” will be on implementing new customer contracts and “renegotiating” renewals exclusively built on “volume- and activity-based pricing structures,” said Rose. That will protect Technicolor from assuming “the volume risks of what happens in the market” and ensures the company “maintains its profitability,” he said.
DTS partnered with SoundMachine on a commercial offering for background music via the Play-Fi app. The partnership gives business owners the ability to play commercial background music in their stores, restaurants, hotels, spas, and other locations through DTS Play-Fi-enabled products, it said. SoundMachine, with 250 curated music stations, offers the ability to mix and schedule music through the app. SoundMachine covers commercial music playback licenses, it said. Commercial users receive a free 30-day trial through the DTS Play-Fi app.
DTS Virtual:X post-processing technology is now available in Skyworth's S8A and S9A Max OLED TVs in China, said the Xperi subsidiary Wednesday. Skyworth will continue to integrate DTS audio technologies in future products as part of a multiyear partnership, DTS said. Addressing the trend toward thinner TVs, Virtual:X is designed to provide an immersive audio experience from a TV's internal speakers, and it supports input sources from stereo to a 7.1.4-channel layout. The Virtual:X architecture lets manufacturers use virtual height and virtual surround concurrently, DTS said.
Technicolor’s disc replication business produced 953.5 million DVDs and 303.7 million Blu-rays in 2017, both formats declining about 11 percent in unit volume from a year earlier, said the company in a Wednesday earnings presentation. Technicolor blamed a weak U.S. summer box office and lower levels of “game content activity” for the declines, which produced a 14.7 revenue decrease in 2017 to 1.02 billion euros ($1.3 billion). For 2018, Technicolor expects revenue in its replication sector to be flat or slightly higher because of a late-2017 improvement in the U.S. box office that will translate to more compelling DVD and Blu-ray releases in Q1. Technicolor also expects a boost in its replication business from its recent outsourcing agreement with Sony’s disc manufacturing operations in Terre Haute, Indiana. Sony will permanently eliminate about 375 jobs in Terre Haute beginning March 23 by outsourcing operations, said the company in a filing Jan. 17 at the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Technicolor only will start to “onboard” the outsourced Sony volume in Q2 “and we're onboarding it throughout the year,” said CEO Frederic Rose on a Wednesday earnings call. “So the reality is the full benefit of the onboarding will really be felt next year when it's fully operational. It's not as if we go from zero to 100 in one day. It's a gradual onboarding process, providing actually more visibility on 2019.” Year over year, “we all know the market” for physical media “is actually in structural decline” to the tune of 8-10 percent, “depending on which analyst you listen to,” said Rose. “On the other side, we know that a few blockbusters do make a difference to return to growth.” That Technicolor expects replication operations will be “generally stable year-on-year is a strong statement for a business which is in a secular long-term decline,” said Rose. “What we have done with the Sony agreement is we've given you assurances that we continue to be in this business, that we will continue to be able to generate significant cash flow moving forward.” The Sony outsourcing agreement is evidence that Technicolor’s “last-man strategy” in disc replication “is clearly delivering,” said Rose.
Google Play rolled out audio books Tuesday in 45 countries and nine languages, allowing customers to buy a single audio book without a subscription and “with no commitments,” blogged Greg Hartrell, head-product management, Google Play Books. By comparison, Amazon’s Audible subscriptions start at $14.95 per month. Google Play customers get a free preview of a book, and they can share an audiobook with family members through Google’s Family Library service for no additional fee even on different devices, said Hartrell. Google Home customers can have Google Assistant read a book to them, he said. For now, Google Assistant integration with audiobooks is available on Android phones and smart speakers globally in English. It will be coming "soon" to the Assistant on Android Auto in the U.S., said Hartrell.
Dougherty & Co. analyst Steven Frankel repeated a “buy” rating on Dolby Labs after “good expansion” of the ecosystem for Dolby Vision and Atmos at CES. Frankel, in a note to investors Friday, maintained a price target of $66 a share on the company’s “dominant competitive position, strong cash flow, increased traction with new revenue initiatives and potential for material operating margin expansion.” Frankel’s technology questions ahead of Dolby’s Wednesday earnings focused on Dolby’s share of the 4K market with Dolby Vision; the number of Dolby Cinema locations opening this year; and the presence of Dolby technology at Mobile World Congress next month. Dolby shares closed 1.4 percent higher Friday at $64.05.
LG’s 2017 OLED TVs, announced at CES as the first TVs to implement Dolby Atmos audio, also will gain Dolby TrueHD lossless sound capability via an over-the-air firmware update, LG said in a Thursday announcement. LG announced at CES that the OLED TVs would have Atmos via a cable to an offboard module (see 1701040051). The 2017 LG OLED TVs have Dolby AC-4 decoding, allowing them to handle object-based audio, and the update adds Codec MAT (Metadata-enhanced Audio Transmission) support to enable Dolby TrueHD audio bit streaming on compatible 2017 TVs when playing console games, said the company. To get the maximum benefits of Dolby TrueHD, users need to stream content through a compatible sound bar to the TV, said LG, which noted TrueHD is found on the latest 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray movies.
Teledyne LeCroy is taking orders for what it called the industry's first HDMI 2.1 protocol analyzer module. The module runs on the 980 series platform and supports analysis of incoming HDMI 2.1 video streams at 48 Gbps from sources outputting higher video resolutions, said the company. The analyzer gives visibility into underlying protocol elements necessary for transporting HDMI video streams at the 48 Gbps transfer rate, enabling developers of HDMI 2.1 source devices to verify designs and ensure interoperability early in the product life cycle, it said.