Sensio’s recent distribution agreements for...
Sensio’s recent distribution agreements for Paramount and Disney titles will account for 80 percent of Sensio’s 3DGO! on-demand movie service at the start, Sensio Executive Vice President Richard LaBerge told us. Sensio’s 3DGO! is scheduled to launch this month with…
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about 60 titles, including content from Disney/Pixar and Paramount/DreamWorks as well as Starz and Big Pictures Digital Productions, which has a library of 12 3D IMAX films. Sensio, which developed Hi-Fi 3D Technology, had planned to launch 3DGO! a year ago with the backing of three studios. But beta testing didn’t begin with Sensio and Vizio employees until last fall as the company worked on digital rights management, encoding and other issues, LaBerge said. Sensio also needed to land deals with movie studios that would “trigger” interest from other content providers, LaBerge said. “With the agreements with Paramount and Disney, we have given 3DGO! a jump start and family content is where 3D works well,” LaBerge said. The beta testing started with Vizio smart TVs and Big Pictures titles including Grand Canyon Adventure and Ultimate Wave Tahiti and added Disney/Pixar films Brave and Frankenweenie, in an agreement with the studio, LaBerge said. Vizio will be the first of the smart TV suppliers to add the 3DGO! app, with Hisense and TCL to follow in the second half, LaBerge said. Vizio also is expected to have 3DGO! on its Co-Star Google TV streaming device, LaBerge said. Sensio also has pacts with several chip suppliers for Hi-Fi 3D capable ICs, including Mediatek and Marvell Technologies. “We are in discussions with other TV suppliers and once 3DGO! is online, it’s going to accelerate,” LaBerge said. “Many TV suppliers are shifting to adding third-party apps, but they want us to show them that we can do it.” The titles will be available for a 24-hour streaming period and will likely be priced in the $5.99-$7.99 range, depending on the title and film length, LaBerge said. Customers also will be able to download a film to their libraries and view it over a 30-day period, LaBerge said. The service will feature adaptive bit-rate technology and the recommended speed for streaming will be 6 Mbps, although service can drop down to 4 Mbps, LaBerge said. To support 3DGO, Sensio raised $3.45 million last fall from institutional investors, funding that also will be used for development of its AutoDetect technology, LaBerge said. AutoDetect, which automatically determines a video stream’s input format and processes it in the correct mode, will be used in future versions of Marvell’s chips, LeBerge said. A Marvell spokeswoman declined to comment.