CyberLink joined the global focus group of professional authoring facilities, tech companies and service providers working on the development of Ultra HD Blu-ray software titles, the multimedia software design developer said in a Wednesday announcement. The focus group, called UHDG, was launched by Scenarist, a supplier of Blu-ray Disc authoring systems to Hollywood, to promote the successful launch of Ultra HD Blu-ray by allowing its members to gain expertise in the new format through the creation of test titles and the sharing of feedback during the development phase, Scenarist said in an NAB Show announcement in April. CyberLink will provide UHDG members with PC-based player software for testing H.265 and high dynamic range video titles, the company said. “The PC is the main entertainment platform for millions of movie watchers worldwide, so it makes sense for us to support Ultra HD Blu-ray, which will offer viewers the opportunity to enjoy their entertainment in greater colors, better resolution, and across a wider range of devices.” Other UHDG members include Deluxe Entertainment, Dolby Labs and DTS.

Harmonic continues to see “encouraging signs” that the Ultra HD market “is slowly gaining momentum,” CEO Patrick Harshman said on a Tuesday earnings call. Ultra HD TV sales “continue to grow” and H.265-compatible set-tops “are starting to be deployed,” he said. “We expect this market momentum to continue to build, while we continue to demonstrate superior picture quality at lower bit rates than our closest competitors, which in turn is enabling us to assemble a growing pipeline of new Ultra HD opportunities.” Harmonic’s partnership with NASA to launch North America’s first linear Ultra HD channel “is generating quite a bit of interest among our customers,” he said. The channel is available as a test and is on track to go “fully live” Sunday, he said.

A new signaling compression system called Perseus, now being promoted by British tech company V-Nova, hails from Milan, Italy, and claims three times the efficiency of existing codecs such as H.265, V-Nova’s website shows. Perseus was heavily pitched by V-Nova Executive Chairman Eric Achtmann at a recent SES Ultra HD conference in London. “We can deliver UHD at HD bandwidth, around 6 Mbps, or HD with SD bandwidth,” Achtmann told the conference. “We can get 4K over 3G or 4G mobile links. We can use the existing TV infrastructure for UHD.” V-Nova's company backgrounder page claims Perseus support from such heavy industry hitters as Broadcom, Intel and Nvidia and that the company is seeking a vice president-sales, North America to promote further adoption. At the London conference, Achtmann neither demonstrated Perseus nor gave technical details. But we found about two dozen patents for Perseus filed over the past five years by V-Nova founders Guido Meardi, the company’s CEO, and Luca Rossato, its chief scientist. Key U.S. patents and patent applications (2013/0301946, 2014/0321555 and 8,531,321) describe a tiered or hierarchical approach to compression. The original signal is encoded at SD or HD quality using a standard system such as MPEG, enabling this baseline version to be played on existing equipment, the patents show. Perseus additionally layers on a higher-quality version, with more pixels or more frames per second, they say. The difference between the two versions is then used to generate a proprietary helper signal, which is transmitted or recorded alongside the basic signal, they say. A standard decoder processes the basic signal and ignores the helper, while a new decoder uses the helper to reconstruct the higher-quality version, thus making Perseus backward-compatible, they say. The composite signal containing both versions can be broadcast over a conventional MPEG transport stream, or recorded onto a Blu-ray and carried by standard HDMI and DisplayPort connectors, they say. In each case, the helper metadata is ignored by existing equipment, but exploited by a new decoder, they say. Several different helpers can be bundled together with the same baseline signal, the patents say. For example, one helper can add pixel detail, while another adds higher frame rate, they say. The multiple helpers can be used individually or together, so the final signal quality is matched to the capability of a consumer’s display, they say.

NanoTech Entertainment signed a licensing agreement with the San Francisco 49ers to offer streaming live 4K Ultra HD video of 49ers' pregame shows and a TV documentary series to UltraFlix users, it said Friday. The UltraFlix 4K channel is available on 2014 Samsung and Vizio 4K TVs in the U.S. In addition, UltraFlix is going through the quality assurance process with LG, Sony and Roku, which will make UltraFlix available in their next firmware updates for compatible TVs, an UltraFlix customer service rep told us. Harmonic supplies the 4K HEVC video encoding and adaptive streaming technology and Verizon EdgeCast manages delivery, NanoTech said. Using enhanced video compression, adaptive streaming and intelligent bandwidth management technologies, UltraFlix, Harmonic and Verizon can stream “visually lossless” live UHD video with uninterrupted viewing at 8 Mbps, said NanoTech. In a news release, NanoTech made a historical comparison between HD and 4K, saying mass adoption of HD “coincided with the advent of live HD events, such as sports and concerts.” UltraFlix is on track to be available on 90 percent of 4K TVs in North America this year, NanoTech said. UltraFlix offers more than 100 hours of free 4K content and 500-plus hours of VOD content at prices from 99 cents to $9.99, the rep told us.

Xiaomi, which is redefining the upscale, low-priced smartphone market in China, is now taking on advanced TVs. Multiple sources reported Monday that Xiaomi launched an upgradable 60-inch 4K TV that will sell in China beginning next month for under $800. CNET reported the TV has its motherboard and processor built into a detachable speaker that will allow users to update the MiTV’s smart capabilities without having to trash the display, a strategy similar to Samsung’s with the Evolution Kit.

More than 330 million 4K Ultra HD TVs will be sold worldwide by the end of 2019, up from 2 million sold in 2013, Parks Associates said in a report issued Wednesday. Among U.S. broadband households planning to purchase a flat-panel TV in 2015, 56 percent think that 4K picture quality is an important feature. However, Parks data indicate 4K still has an uphill climb to make with many consumers. Among flat-panel shoppers not planning to buy a 4K TV, Parks said, 42 percent weren't familiar with 4K/Ultra HD technologies, while 44 percent either were turned off by the price or felt the picture quality did not justify the price.

Blu-ray disc replication equipment maker Singulus Technologies concedes it’s “more complicated” to produce 100-GB Ultra HD Blu-ray media than a 66-GB disc (see 1510130055), but has no data to disclose on the 100-GB disc's relative costs and production yields, spokesman Bernhard Krause emailed us Wednesday. For a UHD 100 disc with a storage capacity of 100 GB, “you will need 3 layers with 33-GB each,” Krause said. “One layer is coming from the molding machine, the other 2 storage layers are produced with two embossing stations compared to only one used for a dual layer BD 50 disc.” Krause was vague on the deployment schedule for replicators commercializing 100-GB discs for Ultra HD Blu-ray using his company’s Bluline III manufacturing equipment. “We are waiting for potential customers to get started,” Krause said. He also declined comment when asked whether Singulus expects specific studios to come to market in 2016 with Ultra HD Blu-ray discs produced on the Bluline III equipment. The Singulus Bluline II production equipment can produce existing 50-GB dual-layer Blu-ray discs with a cycle time of about four seconds per disc, Krause said. “Our machines are running typically with a yield about 88%.” For the new Bluline III system, “we have no data yet in terms of cycle time, yield, etc.,” he said. “The investment will be higher” for a Bluline III compared with a Bluline II for the BD-25 and BD-50 formats “because for UHD 100 we have in addition one metallizer, embossing station and the related lacquering stations integrated,” he said.

Toshiba’s Satellite Radius 12 4K Ultra HD convertible laptop will be available Sunday, the company said Tuesday. The Radius 12, with a 12.5-inch IPS touch-screen display, was calibrated and certified by Technicolor for color fidelity, and Corning’s Gorilla Glass protects against damage, Toshiba said. The PC’s 360-degree hinge rotates into five viewing modes: laptop, tablet, tabletop, presentation and audience, the company said. The Harman Kardon audio system adapts automatically to the viewing mode, and DTS processing tunes speakers for volume and quality, Toshiba said. The laptop is powered by a sixth-generation Intel Core processor and 8 GB of RAM, and can be configured with a 256 GB or 512 GB solid-state drive. For security, the Radius 12 features Windows Hello with facial authentication, Toshiba said. Ports include one HDMI capable of 4K output, one USB Type-C connector that enables USB 3.1 data transfer and two USB 3.0 ports, one of which has USB Sleep & Charge technology that can power mobile devices in sleep or off mode, the company said. The 2.9-pound laptop will be available at Best Buy for $1,299, and an HD model will start at $999, Toshiba said.

Roku’s first Ultra HD streaming player, the Roku 4, became available for pre-order Tuesday at $129 and will be shipped Monday, the company said in an announcement. The Roku 4 has a quad-core processor for 4K streaming up to 60 frames a second with HDCP 2.2 content protection and optical audio out, the company said. It enables access “to more streaming channels for 4K entertainment than any other streaming player," the company said. The Roku 4 runs the new Roku OS 7, which also was announced Tuesday. Roku OS 7 will be rolled out to current-generation Roku players and Roku TVs through a software update beginning next week, the company said. It expects to finish the updates in November, it said.

HDMI Licensing announced a 4K Ultra HD cable certification program Monday. The Premium HDMI Cable Certification Program is designed to ensure that consumers who buy the labeled cables enjoy the full potential of the 4K Ultra HD experience, said HDMI Licensing. The program encompasses cable testing and an anti-counterfeiting label program. Participating HDMI adopters will be able to design and test their high-speed HDMI cables for reliability and performance in 4K applications, said the organization. The program includes a best-practices design note and an expanded set of cable testing requirements, it said. Participants will test cables at an HDMI authorized testing center to certify that their HDMI cables can reliably support the full 18 Gbps bandwidth of the HDMI 2.0 specification, which is what is “typically needed for the most advanced video formats” such as 4K Ultra HD, wide color gamut and high dynamic range, said HDMI Licensing. The program also incorporates new testing guidelines for EMI (electromechanical interference) levels to minimize unwanted interference with wireless signals, it said. Once cables have passed testing and been registered, companies can brand and promote their cables as Premium High Speed HDMI Cables or Premium High Speed HDMI Cables with ethernet, said the licensing group. Certified cables will carry a tamper-proof, anti-counterfeit label to differentiate them from other HDMI cables, it said. A mobile app that scans the label will allow manufacturers, distributors, retailers and consumers to confirm the authenticity of Premium High Speed HDMI Cables, it said.