Sony released a 4K movie store which fueled concerns about bandwidth caps on broadband connections. EyeIO is handling the encoding and, if what they showed me holds up, the concerns could be overblown. Sony worked with musician Kurt Hugo Schneider to create a unique music video featuring cello with coke bottle accompaniment!
According to Sony, the 4K movie titles will each take up 45 to 60 gigabytes, allowing users download and store up to 50 movies on the company’s FMP-X1 4K set-top. Sony’s using an encoding system from startup Eye IO to compress the video, but has declined to specify the compression rate.
Sony is trying to keep bandwidth requirements in check using proprietary compression encoding technology developed by Eye IO, but the new 4K downloading service could wreak havoc on emerging usage-based broadband service policies that charge extra when customers exceed their monthly consumption limits.
Sony, which is using compression technology from Palo Alto-based eyeIO, obviously thinks otherwise and believes that it has timed everything right — the bandwidth availability and compression technology are both ready for 4K content and screens.
Sony has developed the FMP-X1 4K media player to provide 4K content for its 4K UltraHD TVs and to cope with streaming 4K’s high bandwidth demands, the company has licensed EyeIO’s UltraHD compression encoding technology.
Today’s TVs and other devices have decompression software on a chip inside the device.  Sony’s new 4K TVs and accompanying 4K media player use compression from tech company eyeIO, but the media player sidesteps the problem by downloading content instead of streaming it.
For the content on the service, Sony is using 4K encoders from EyeIO but isn’t divulging details of the compression rate for its 4K video. However, according to Sony, the 10 movies will take up about 400 gigabytes total on the FMP-X1, or an average of 40 GB per pic.
Content encoded at eyeIO’s Palo Alto headquarters are full 4K UltraHD, 3840×2160 resolution and include support for extended gamut color (xvYCC). eyeIO’s certified, 4K UltraHD offering has been refined over the course of the last two years. eyeIO’s technology is said to be 50 percent more efficient than MPEG-4/H.264.
I stopped by eyeIO offices to get a demonstration of some of the 4K content. What I found convinced me more than ever that online delivery will lead the ultraHD charge. However, regardless of 4Ks fortunes advanced video codecs like eyeIO’s are a game-changer.
Looking to avoid the chicken-and-egg scenario that plagued the early days of HDTV and attract new customers to the next-generation UltraHD (4K) TV, Sony Pictures is licensing video compression technology from a company called eyeIO to deliver some of its most popular movies stored on its $699 FMP-X1 4K media player to Sony’s UltraHD TV sets, which will […]
At CES eyeIO claimed its software suite was “studio grade” 4K ready and it will be put to the test soon, since Sony Pictures is licensing it to deliver movies to theFMP-X1 4K media player this summer. Sony didn’t have any more details to reveal about its 4K delivery plans just yet, but eyeIO’s press release claims […]
EyeIO, a Palo Alto startup, announced today that its Ultra HD compression encoding technology has been licensed by Sony Pictures to offer 4K content delivery using the Sony FMP-X1.
eyeIO has confirmed that its UltraHD compression encoding technology has been licensed by Sony Pictures to enable the studio to offer the first-ever 4K UltraHD content delivered to the home.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based technology company Eye IO has licensed its 4K Ultra HD technology to Sony Pictures, helping the studio deliver 4K content to the home for the first time.
EyeIO said Friday that Sony Pictures has licensed its Ultra High-Definition compression-encoding technology to support native 4K movie downloads to the home.
While it’s still unclear how many consumers will take a shine to new Ultra HD TVs, Sony is getting ready to launch the industry’s first 4K streaming service this summer using an encoding system from startup Eye IO to squeeze the video down for broadband delivery.
Owners of Sony’s Ultra HDTVs will soon be able to access 4K movies delivered to their sets via a Sony 4K media player (pictured above), which was first previewed at CES and launches this summer. To help make this possible, Sony Pictures is working with eyeIO.
One of the themes at NAB 2013 was high efficiency video codecs. I spoke with several vendors, including upLynk and Harmonic, claiming that we would not have to wait very long to begin to reap the benefits of HEVC/h.265 technology.
There are a number of trends in the broadcast environment relating to the evolution of the codecs for compression and managing the workflow to support more channels and devices.
THX has been quietly developing patents and buying technology. Recently it bought a color-management technology called Cinespace, [and] also forged a partnership with a startup called eyeIO – the technology that powers Netflix’s instant streaming service – which could lead to THX’s involvement in high-quality streaming video feeds.
