Stream TV Networks Hopes to Revive 3D TV in '8K Lite' Partnership With BOE
LAS VEGAS -- 3D, as much a buzzword at CES nearly a decade ago as artificial intelligence and 5G today, is attempting a revival by way of Philadelphia-based Stream TV Networks. The company, which partnered with Chinese panel maker BOE last fall, is planning 16 million-pixel panels -- between 4K and 8K resolution -- and hopes to have a 65-inch TV in the China market this year. It’s looking at a North American launch under the SeeCube brand in 2020, Duncan Humphreys, head of broadcast, told us.
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Stream TV, likely to re-emerge under a different brand to reflect the company’s repositioning as a “technology company,” sees its “multidimensional” solution as an answer to TV brands’ 8K TV “problem,” Humphreys said. The company landed the BOE partnership because the OEM ran a focus group that determined viewers couldn’t tell the difference between 8K and 4K panels, he said. That issue already existed in the transition from 1080p to 4K at normal viewing distances, said the executive, and with 8K, in screen sizes from 85 inches down, consumers likely won’t perceive a resolution benefit unless they are less than 2 feet from the screen, he said.
Pitching an industry that has to move forward to the next generation of resolution, glasses-free 3D gives TV makers a feature differentiator, Humphreys said. The company envisions an “Intel Inside” model for its SeeCube technology comprising three parts: a lens that’s bonded to the front of an existing panel in a process developed for mass production; a rendering engine that instructs pixels to behave in 2- or 3D; and a chipset that accepts any input source and automatically converts it to 3D. Its technology allows users to tune the degree of 3D to their personal viewing tastes, Humphreys said.
Stream TV is banking on the library of available 3D content, and through a relationship with William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, it's looking to partner with studios and content owners to deliver media in the SeeCube format. Studios see the format as “an additive revenue stream, not a cannibalistic one,” Humphreys said: These days, post theatrical release, there’s no market for 3D content since 3D TVs and Blu-ray players have gone away, he said.
When we pointed out TV makers attempted 3D and consumers rejected it, Humphreys attributed its failure to consumers not wanting to wear the required glasses. Manufacturers sold a lot 3D TVs, “but the practicalities of living meant that the glasses became a hindrance,” he said. Watching TV is a shared experience that wearing glasses interfered with, he said, saying the SeeCube experience doesn’t involve glasses and promises a group-friendly 140-degree viewing angle.
Careful not to oversell 3D, Humphreys said, “You don’t need to make everything full-blown 3D if you don’t want to.” Higher-end productions will, but most movies today are conversions, not originally captured in 3D, and the same is possible in the SeeCube format.
The cost of conversion to SeeCube is relatively low if a film has been shot in 3D. For library movies not in 3D, “there is a cost there,” and Stream is talking with studios about supplying the service to them. One of the ways it's looking to acquire content is by taking on the conversion, he said, saying conversion requirements aren’t as exacting for a 65-inch TV screen as they are for a commercial movie theater, he said.
Projecting SeeCube's progress 10 months from now, Humphreys expects to see product in the China market, with TVs to follow in North America and Europe next year. The first product will be the 65-inch TV in "8K lite,” a 16 million pixel version positioned to hit an affordable price point, he said. Also for SeeCube, a 27-inch PC monitor is on the timeline -- and may reach the market before the TV -- followed by tablets and smartphones before the company "backfills" additional TV sizes, he said. Other negotiations are in the works that “may surprise people,” he said.