Even though I illustrate examples about how alternative, web-based programming - right on your big screen - are changing some of our viewing habits, the fact of the matter is that  global pay TV markets continue to grow.  This is good news for OEMs and equipment vendors building products for G.hn centric products.

According to the latest market data from ABI Research, they will expand by a quarter from 2009 to 2014.Industry analyst Michael Inouye says that, “Cable will remain the largest pay TV platform, satellite the second-largest and telco TV the smallest (DTT aside), but the latter will show the fastest growth, more than doubling its share by 2014, albeit starting from a much smaller base. Most of the subscribers captured by telco TV will be lured away from cable services.”

The growth of pay TV services is driven by three major factors: 

• the ongoing digital transition and a parallel rise in demand for premium content
• new operators and offers, and new features such as interactivity
• video on demand (VOD)
• and personal video recording (PVR).

“Interactivity is a feature mainly found in mature markets,” notes Inouye. “It’s a way to try and keep subscribers who have other options. While one might expect advanced services of this kind to spread gradually from these mature markets to developing ones, the relatively low per-subscriber revenue available in some countries like China and India may prove to be a hurdle to the expansion of additional features/services.”

Pay TV market growth is occurring in spite of some opposing factors. Chief among these is the availability of low-cost alternatives and substitutes such as digital terrestrial television (DTT) especially those that pair free-to-air (FTA) content with broadband content/VOD. Online content such as that provided by Hulu, YouTube, Netflix, Vudu, and the BBC iPlayer also poses challenges.

“Pay TV providers will ultimately develop strategies best suited to their respective markets,” Inouye concludes. “Generally speaking, however, in still-developing markets often the focus is on areas such as offering additional digital channels and HD content, as well as VOD, pay-per-view, and PVR. In more mature markets, there is growing interest in developing new features and services including interactivity and in-home networking.”

ABI Research’s new “Pay TV Overview” (http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1003566) provides the latest current and forecast data on subscriber and revenue for each major platform, broken down by region and country, as well as detailed analysis of market trends.

I

I try to look at market opportunities for the wired home network and the emerging G.hn vendors from different perspectives.

In this case, I am looking at the big screen in our home - and the probable emergence of the 3-D screen coming to a living room near us all.

Two years ago, the emergence of 3-D in mainstream movies was recognized at Display Week 2008 with a special session on “3-D in Cinema.” Since then, the sustained commercial success of 3-D titles on the big screen has fueled interest in bringing 3-D entertainment closer to home. 

Accordingly, technical presentations and demonstrations featuring 3-D TV and other enabling technologies for 3-D home entertainment were highlighted at Display Week 2009. The momentum for home 3-D has continued to build, as more and more TV manufacturers and program providers announce new 3-D products.

This year, Display Week will be emphasizing the most recent developments and approaches that are leading the way toward 3-D entertainment in the home. Compared to any other event this year, Display Week will provide the most in-depth coverage of 3-D technology and markets in a single venue. Some of the highlights include:

·       A technical program that includes a record 49 papers (36 oral and 13 posters) on advances in 3-D technology – the complete list of papers is provided below.

·       A special 3-D Cinema event is scheduled for Tuesday, May 25, from 7:30 to 10:00 pm. 3-D film shorts will be exhibited stereoscopically on a special 30-ft. silver screen with seating for over 1000 attendees, with featured talks by 3-D filmmakers and other members of the rapidly growing industry. In addition to SID Symposium attendees, special bundled tickets will be made available to the public that include a pass to the exhibition hall with entry to the 3-D Cinema, enabling enthusiasts to see the cutting edge in display technology that is bringing 3-D and other innovations into the home.

·       SID’s Business Conference (May 24), organized by DisplaySearch, will bring together display and 3-D developers to discuss the opportunities – and challenges – of 3-D. DisplaySearch will also present its outlook for adoption of 3-D technology in PCs, mobile devices, e-books, and, of course, TV.

·       SID’s two day Market Focus Conference on Television (May 26 and 27), organized by IMS Research, will delve into the market development issues surrounding 3-D content, 3-D content delivery and distribution, 3-D TVs, 3-D panels, and the retailer view. For more information, please visit www.sidmarketfocus.com.

·       Two technical seminars on 3-D technology are scheduled for presenation on Monday, May 24 within SID’s Seminar Series. The first seminar, Stereoscopic Displays, will describe the improvements made to established stereoscopic cinema projection systems and their progression into the consumer marketplace. The second seminar, Human Factors of Stereo (3-D) Displays, will cover various human-factors and perceptual issues with stereo displays from a visual- science perspective and provide insight into future design solutions.  

I am listing the technical details of the program in hopes that my readers will pass this information on to their technical teams and keep this event on their radars, or consider sending delegations to attend.

Technical program details:

Session 3:  Polarization-Based Stereoscopic Projection Displays (3-D/Projection)

3.1:      A Novel Design of a Stereoscopic 3-D Display with a Patterned Retarder

3.2:      A New Approach to Dynamic Polarization 3-D LCDs

3.3:      Efficient Polarization-Based Stereoscopic Projector with Extended Color Gamut: Combining Two Projectors into One

3.4:      Simultaneous Projection of Stereoscopic 3-D Left- and Right-Eye Images in Orthogonal Polarization through a Single Lens

3.5:      Novel Broadband Retarder Evaluation Metrics for 3-D Projection Display

Session 10:  Crosstalk in Stereoscopic Displays (3-D/Display Measurement)

10.1:    Crosstalk Simulation for Polarization-Switching 3-D LCDs

10.2:    Crosstalk Suppression by Image Processing in 3-D Displays

10.3:    Crosstalk Evaluation of Shutter-Type Stereoscopic 3-D Displays

10.4:    Measuring Gray-to-Gray Crosstalk in a LCD-Based Time-Sequential Stereoscopic Display

Session 16:  Autostereoscopic Displays (3-D/Display Systems)

16.1:    Prototyping of Glasses-Free Table-Style 3-D Display for Tabletop Tasks

16.2:    Backlight for View-Sequential Autostereoscopic 3-D

16.3:    Directional Backlight Timing Requirements for Full-Resolution Autostereoscopic 3-D Displays

16.4:    The Optics of an Autostereoscopic Multi-Viewer Display

Session 23:  Autostereoscopic Display Measurements (3-D)

23.1:    Viewing Angle and Imaging Polarization Analysis of Polarization-Based Stereoscopic 3-D Displays

23.2:    Optical-Performance-Analysis Method of Autostereoscopic 3-D Displays

23.3:    Characterization of 3-D Image Quality of Autostereoscopic Displays: Proposal of Interocular 3-D Purity

23.4:    Qualified Viewing Spaces for Near-to-Eye and Autostereoscopic Displays

Session 30:  2-D/3-D Switching for Autostereoscopic Displays (3-D)

30.1:    Fast-Switching Fresnel Liquid-Crystal Lens for Autostereoscopic 2-D/3-D Display

30.2:    Autostereoscopic 2-D/3-D Displays by Using Liquid-Crystal Lens

30.3:    Autostereoscopic Partial 2-D/3-D Switchable Display Using Liquid-Crystal Gradient Index Lens

30.4:    2-D/3-D Hybrid System for Digital-Signage Application

Session 37:  Human Factors of 3-D Displays (3-D/Applied Vision)

37.1:    Invited Paper: 3-D Technology Development and the Human-Factor Effect

37.2:    New Methodology for Evaluating the Quality of Stereoscopic Images

37.3:    The Effect of Camera Distortions on Perception of Stereoscopic Scenes

37.4:    Accommodation Response in Viewing Integral Imaging

Session 44:  Volumetric and Integral Imaging (3-D/Display Systems)

44.1:    Volumetric Display Using Scanned Fiber Array

44.2:    An Analysis of Color Uniformity of Three-Dimensional Image Based on Rotating-LED-Array Volumetric-Display System

44.3:    Characterization of Motion Parallax on Multi-View / Integral-Imaging Displays

Session 51:  3-D TV and 3-D Video (3D/Applications)

51.1:    Novel Simultaneous Emission Driving Scheme for Crosstalk-Free 3-D AMOLED TV

51.2:    New 240-Hz Driving Method for Full-HD and High-Quality 3-D LCD TV

51.3:    An Ultra-Low-Cost 2-D/3-D Video-Conversion System

51.4:    3-D Video Framework Design for FVV Realization

Session 58:  Novel 3-D Displays (3-D/Display Systems)

58.1:    3-D Interactive Display with Embedded Optical Sensor

58.2:    Spatio-Temporal Hybrid Multi-View 3-D Display

58.3:    Interference-Filter-Based Stereoscopic LCD

58.4:    Control of Subjective Depth on 3-D Displays by a Quantified Monocular Depth Cue

Poster Papers:

P.1:     3-D Display Using Artificially Generated Motion Parallax and Psychological Factors of Image Size for
Extended-Depth Perception

P.2:     Visual Strain Evaluation of Physiological Effect by Using 3-D Displays

P.3:     Evaluation of Rendering Algorithms for Presenting Layered Information on Holographic Displays

P.4:     A Reconfigurable Stereomicroscopic Imaging System for Digital Pathology

P.5:     A New 360˚ Holo-Views Display System with Multi-Vertical Views

P.6:     A Novel 3-D Display Based on Spliced Images

P.7:     A New Information Capacity Analysis of Integral Imaging

P.8:     Depth-Map-Based Multi-View Synthesis Using Joint Bilateral Upsampling on GPUs

P.9:     Integral imaging of 3-D CG Animation Using a Laptop PC and General-Purpose Fly's-Eye Lens

P.10:   Design and Fabrication of Wide View In-Cell Microretarder and Polarizer for Stereoscopic LCD

P.11:   Improvement of 3-D Crosstalk with Over-Driving Method for the Active Retarder 3-D Displays

P.12:   Depth Super-Resolution for Enhanced Free-Viewpoint TV

P.13:   Using LTPS TFTs as Oblique Light Sensors for 3-D Interaction Display

Display Week 2010 will be the place to be to learn and see the latest developments in 3-D home entertainment. We are actively soliciting vendors of 3-D products and services to join us in Seattle. Display Week 2010 is going to be an invaluable opportunity to meet to the display industry’s decision-makers and end-users of 3-D products and services. Visit www.sid2010.org for future updates.

If you are attending the upcoming IPTV World Forum in London, make sure you connect with HomeGrid Forum, where they will be showcasing G.hn technology and demonstrate the power of this award-winning next-generation wired networking standard. 

As part of its activities at the event, the organization will host two seminars on G.hn to help service providers and network equipment manufacturers understand what’s necessary to deploy the technology.    

Some details are:

WHAT: ITU-T’s Next-Generation Wired Networking Standard and the IPTV Revolution: a seminar on G.hn and its applications, key components of the standard (including Physical and Data Link Layers, and coexistence mechanisms), and what service providers and network equipment manufacturers need to know to implement and deploy this technology.

WHO: Presented by HomeGrid Forum and its member companies, a growing number of industry-leading organizations including service providers, computer manufacturers, and consumer electronics companies.  Speakers will include representatives from BT, DS2, Intel, Lantiq, Sigma and others.

WHEN: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 – starting at 11:00 a.m. and a second session beginning at 2:30 p.m.

WHERE: IPTV World Forum, Olympia National Hall, London
            Training Theatre on Exhibit Floor

HomeGrid Forum will also host briefings in its booth 145. To schedule a briefing, please contact HomeGrid Forum at events@homegridforum.org.