LCD TV Shipments Continue to Grow.

In light of the current economic and financial situation, iSuppli Corp. has trimmed its forecast for LCD-TV shipments, but still anticipates growth in 2008 and 2009. The market analysis company now forecasts global LCD TV shipments will amount to 93.4 million units in 2008, down nearly 6% from its previous prediction of 99 million. iSuppli also reduced its previous forecast of 124 million units for 2009 to 112.6 million units for the year. Despite this more subdued outlook, worldwide LCD TV shipments still will rise 18.9% in 2008 and by 20.5% in 2009. "The economic downturn in the US and Europe has had a knock-on effect on global economies, spurring a slowdown in gross domestic product (GDP) growth, an increase in inflation and a deceleration in consumer spending around the world," said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst, Television Systems, iSuppli. However, this slowdown won't be sufficient to cause an annual decrease in unit shipments in 2008 or 2009. "LCD TV shipments will continue to rise due to strong consumer interest and declining average selling prices (ASP) for sets," Patel noted. "Furthermore, iSuppli expects the major brands' marketing and promotional efforts will fuel demand." iSuppli's updated forecast for LCD TV shipments in 2009 has been reduced by 10%, given that the economic recovery will take longer than expected. "Starting in 2010, the market will bounce back and the demand for LCD TVs will pick up," Patel added.

NASA Uses iTunes to Share Development Progress of Ares Rocket.

The Ares Projects team at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has announced that quarterly video progress reports of its newest family of exploration vehicles -- the Ares I crew launch vehicle and Ares V heavy cargo launch vehicle are now available on iTunes. The video progress reports, which have been produced quarterly beginning in August 2006, have been used to visually share progress with the NASA team at all levels and to record the historical work being completed on America's newest fleet of spacecraft for future generations. Now, in an effort to share the Ares development with a broader audience, NASA is posting the full library of reports on iTunes. The programs range in length from 5-15 minutes, and offer viewers a rare glimpse at the on-going development work of the next-generation launch vehicles that will take explorers to the moon and beyond in coming decades. Beginning in 2015, the Ares I rocket will launch the Orion crew capsule, carrying astronauts and payloads to the International Space Station. The 10 quarterly reports produced to date spotlight the detailed evolution of the Ares vehicles, from earliest conception through various design phases and the most recent testing. For additional interactive features and podcasts about NASA, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia

Dreamworks Animation - CG Animation Leader Connects with Markertek !

Glendale, CA. - Markertek is the leading technology supply source for the Hollywood film and media industry. We just shipped cable and connectivity products to Dreamworks Animation at its feature animation studio in Glendale, CA. Dreamworks Animation is one of the world's leading computer generated (CG) development and creation film companies, releasing numerous blockbuster films such as Shrek, Madagascar, The Bee Movie and their newest hit, Kung Fu Panda. Dreamworks has revolutionized the look of CG media with the newest in digital computer imagery and colorization methods. Markertek salutes this innovation and technology that has brought film and media into a bright new era for motion pictures.

LIFE Releases 10 Million Images.

America's largest magazine publisher, Time Inc. has announced that access to LIFE's Photo Archive -- over 10 million images in total -- will soon be available on a new hosted image service from Google. Ninety-seven percent of the LIFE photographs have never been seen by the public. Among the largest professional photography collections on the Web, the collection contains some of the most iconic images of the 20th century, including works from great photojournalists Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Parks, and W. Eugene Smith, and will be one of the largest scanning projects ever undertaken. Millions of images have been scanned and made available on Google Image Search, with all 10 million images to be available in the coming months. "For 70 years, LIFE has been about one thing, and that's the power of photography to tell a story," says Andy Blau, LIFE's President. "LIFE will now reach a broader audience and engage them online with the incredible depth and breadth of the LIFE Photo Archive from serious world events, to Hollywood celebrities to whimsical photographs." Images can be found when conducting a search on Google.com or on Google Image Search. Users can also search through the LIFE Collection directly by visiting http://images.google.com/hosted/life. LIFE's Photo Archive is free for personal and research purposes. Copyright and ownership of all images remain with Time Inc.

Faster HD Surfing from Thomson.

Global media management, delivery and high-definition set-top tuner maker, Thomson has announced new updates to the ViBE encoder that delivers high-definition channel changing 50% faster than current HD tuners. Dubbed by the company as “fast zapping solutions”, the latest advances in the encoders provide simultaneous compression and encoding of two streams of the same channel - a full resolution and a low resolution stream while also managing up to three HD sets per home. When the channel is changed, the set-top box is able to quickly decode and display the low resolution version of the channel and transition to displaying the full resolution version seamlessly without disrupting viewing. Thomson claims its advanced video compression technologies means that the transmission of the two simultaneous streams is no more bandwidth intensive than sending a regular HD or standard definition (SD) stream on its own. “A differentiator of Thomson's fast zapping solution is that there is no need for additional investments in infrastructure to be made - as competing systems on the market require the installation of a large bank of servers,” said Graham Cradock, general manager of Thomson’s video head end solutions. According to the company, fast channel change approaches “will be standardized with the relevant standards bodies during the course of 2009."

Panasonic Proposes 3D Blu-ray Standard.

As Hollywood and the industries that support it gear up for what many see as the next step in entertainment, Panasonic Corp of Japan has submitted a proposal to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), for a Blu-ray Disc standard to store three-dimensional (3D) imagery formed of left-/right-eye two-channel full-High Definition (HD) images (1,920 x 1,080 pixels). The new standard which is based on technology that is currently in use, uses the two-channel encoding function implemented in Moving Picture Coding Experts Group Phase 4 Advanced Video Coding (MPEG-4 AVC) H.264. The second channel stores only the data different from channel one, holding the increase in data volume to about 1.5 times. The HDMI standard is used to transfer data from the player to the television, with left- and right-eye images alternated in single-field (single-frame) units. “All we have to do is define a flag to identify image data, equipment and other elements supporting 3D imagery. We really don’t need any other major changes,” explained Hiroshi Miyai, director, High Quality AV Development Center of Panasonic. In an effort to to prevent patent conflict related to 3D imagery standards and avoid the same sort of futile standards war that occurred between HD-DVD and Blu-ray, the company moved quickly to propose a standard ahead of other companies. “Standards wars, patent monopolies and the like would seriously interfere with the widespread adoption of any 3D image standard. We developed a standard based on existing technology, specifically designed for easy acceptance.” The BDA hopes to begin formal discussion on the standard proposal before the end of 2008, with commercial adoption possible by 2010.

Markertek Welcomes to the Family this Week:

Two Birds Films
KBWB Television
Dreamworks Animation
Directv
Access IT
Yale School of Drama
Miami Dolphins
Chicago Recording Company
Draper Laboratory
Detroit World Outreach
Peter Erskine
Taos Local Television
National Grid
American Safe and Vault
Oregon State Lottery

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