Partnerships with Portrait Displays and Marseille Networks take consumer
viewing experience to a dramatic new level
Paris (France) & Hollywood (CA) – June 20, 2013 – Technicolor, a worldwide technology leader in the media and entertainment sector, is leveraging its expertise in Hollywood color and imaging science, to deliver improved viewing experiences for consumers at home and on-the-go. Technicolor has teamed up with Portrait Displays (www.portrait.com) to create a Color Certification process that guarantees the color quality on any computer or mobile device display and has awarded the first 4K Image Certification to Marseille Networks (www.marseilleinc.com) for its system on chip to deliver stunning content on 4K televisions.
With these two certification programs, Technicolor is providing solutions to critical issues – inconsistent color accuracy on computer and mobile devices and the lack of content for viewing on 4K televisions. “Our expertise in working with Hollywood and our desire to deliver outstanding content drove us to develop the Color and Image Certification processes,” said Manuele Wahl, SVP, Technology Licensing, Technicolor. “We spend hundreds of hours to ensure color perfection on movies and we wanted to find a way to guarantee that consumers are seeing the content as the director intended, no matter what device they are using. Plus, our partnership with the studios and device manufacturers ideally positions Technicolor to help spearhead consumer acceptance of 4K,” she added.
By working with two Silicon Valley companies, Technicolor is capitalizing on their expertise and relationships. “Portrait has two decades of experience in color technology, licensing color control software to more than 25 of the leading worldwide manufacturers of computing products including monitors, laptops, notebooks, and all-in-one computers, stated Wahl. “Marseille is an innovator in video processing, compression and networking technology and is the clear leader with expertise in up-scaling content from SD to HD and from 2K to 4K.”
Importance of Color Accuracy
Accurate color representation is more important than ever given the wide variety of content—including video content from streaming media services, Blu-ray discs, and photos featuring diverse color settings. Consumers are viewing a significant percentage of their content on computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones, which do not deliver the true rich colors as intended by the Hollywood artist, thus reducing their enjoyment. Additionally, e-commerce also suffers from color inconsistencies as the color of the item purchased often is not the same as depicted on the screen.
“While today’s displays are dramatically improved for a superior visual experience, there is significant color inconsistency across the many types, resulting in oversaturated, washed out or simply incorrect colors—a substandard viewer experience, explains Portrait Displays President & CEO J. Michael James. “When a display has gone through the Technicolor Color Certified process, consumers will know that they are buying a product that delivers accurate color and they can be confident in their purchase.”
Technicolor Color Certified will be a differentiator for device manufacturers looking to sell more features and will help generate increased revenues for e-commerce retailers by reducing merchandise returns.
Upscaling HD content for true 4K viewing
Today’s film studios use 4K as the native format for production of Hollywood movies, and it will eventually become the content standard for the new generation of 4K TVs. In the meantime, while the industry transition to native 4K content is underway, it’s critical that consumers also be able to enjoy the benefits of 4K TV for their existing HD content libraries. In addition, entertainment content that consumers watch on their TVs increasingly comes from a multiplicity of sources beyond cable, satellite and over-the-air connections. DVD and Blu-ray players, streaming media players, laptops and desktops, game consoles, set-boxes and more bring a diverse video and graphics viewing experience. However, the variety of different video resolutions, frame rates, and compression formats from these sources results in uneven levels of quality, which are particularly evident when viewing on a 4K TV. Technicolor’s Image Certification initiative addresses this dilemma.
With Technicolor 4K Image Certified products, consumers can be confident of a 4K source device’s ability to deliver a stunning 4K Hollywood movie experience in the home from their existing HD content. Technicolor has certified the performance of Marseille’s technology in identifying key characteristics of incoming video and the quality of the resulting processed and up-scaled output video stream without injecting image damaging artifacts. The Marseille Networks VTV-122X family of video processors provides unparalleled image enhancement and 4K upscaling for source devices such as Blu-ray players, streaming media devices, and other consumer electronic products to ensure optimal 4K viewing.
“We are pleased to be the only company to pass Technicolor’s rigorous 4K image certification testing and have our VTV-122X family of video processors ’Technicolor 4K Image Certified’. This is an important independent validation of the depth of our video processing expertise. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of our virtual silicon development methodology, which enables us to deliver world class products that delight our customers and the market,” explained Marseille Networks President and CEO Amine Chabane. “The result is stunning quality for everything 4K including photographic quality still images, clear crisp menus and graphics, and most importantly full-motion video that creates the Hollywood movie experience at home with HD content. We see the designation of ’Technicolor 4K Image Certified’ as a key point of market differentiation for consumer electronics manufacturers and a significant benefit to consumers for identifying and selecting the best performing 4K video products.”
For more information on Technicolor Image and Color Certification visit www.technicolor.com/certified.
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About Technicolor
Technicolor, a worldwide technology leader in the media and entertainment sector, is at the forefront of digital innovation. Our world-class research and innovation laboratories enable us to lead the market in delivering advanced video services to content creators and distributors. We also benefit from an extensive intellectual property portfolio focused on imaging and sound technologies, based on a thriving licensing business. Our commitment: supporting the delivery of exciting new experiences for consumers in theaters, homes and on-the-go. Euronext Paris: TCH www.technicolor.com
About Marseille Networks
Marseille Networks, Inc. has created a revolutionary business model enabling fast chip innovation while lowering development risks and costs. The Marseille proprietary “Virtual Silicon” platform enables unprecedented design collaboration with OEMs, resulting in market-validated, cost-optimized, production-ready products that create predictable, repeatable revenue streams. The Company’s Video Through Virtualization (VTV) family of video processors have achieved the highest levels of cost performance for HD to 4K video processing and scaling for the cost sensitive CE source devices such as Blu-ray and streaming media players. These products enable the massive installed base of legacy HD content to be delivered to the new generation 4K TVs with near native 4K video quality. Consumers can enjoy the Hollywood movie theater experience at home today without waiting for 4K content. Marseille is the first and only chip manufacturer to qualify as Technicolor 4K Image Certified. At Marseille, we and our customers say…See it, Perfect it, Build it. http://www.marseilleinc.com
About Portrait
Portrait Displays, Inc., since 1993, is a leading application software provider (ASP) for PC, smart phone, and tablet displays. Portrait Displays’ software is bundled with OEM displays and leading global systems manufacturers as a value-added, feature-rich solution for enhancing the end-user experience. Additionally, Portrait Displays is an Intel Capital Portfolio company, who has an interest in the value and services Portrait Displays provides to the OEMs. Portrait Displays is a private corporation with headquarters in Pleasanton, California, USA; representatives in Europe, Taiwan, China, Japan, and Korea. For more information about Portrait Displays and its products or services, visit www.portrait.com
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