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Content Everywhere…In What Form, What Format?

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: Photo and video content is everywhere. It is rapidly becoming the leading form of communications, information and entertainment. Where is the technology going? What lies ahead? We spent two days at the 6Sight Conference in Monterey listening and learning about what consumers want (or think they want) and issues hardware/software producers are wrestling with. Cameras, camcorders, camphones and more...see what is behind the curtain.

Content Everywhere…In What Form, What Format?

Photos grab moments.

Videos/movies tell stories.

The challenge is to figure out which one the market will want (or get) in the next 3, 5, 10 years.

That sorta sums up the annual information-rich 6Sight Conference in Monterey, CA.

Sure there are a few of the boring “gee we’re great” company sessions but for the most part the event keeps a clear focus on the light at the end of the tunnel …information, imaging, communications convergence.

The Broad Brush
The chip industry has long had its Moore’s Law (transistors double every two years). Not to be outdone the imaging industry has (Barry) Hendy’s Law – pixels per dollar.

The microprocessor industry ships over 400M units a year and 10B embedded microprocessors a year. The imaging industry ships over 100M photo/video devices annually and 1B camphones.

Obviously photo/video folks have some catching up to do.

In addition to dropping them into cameras, camcorders and phones they plan to put cheap and ultra small complete and general purpose units …everywhere!

Chris Aubuchon of Tessera gave attendees a look at what could be possible when you get image sensors wafer level small, power conservative, onboard intelligent and cheap.

As he said, “If it can be done, it will!”

Ok so he sees cameras everywhere.

But if the industry can come close to Hendy’s Law units could be used for:
- TV – gesture control and personalized settings, content/lighting settings
- Autos – safety, lane change detection, passenger monitoring, security systems
- Toys – speech/emotional detection/personalization
- Advertising – crowd/demographic settings, content control/modification
- Home – security, family monitoring, personalized settings, safety
- Public – security, foot and auto traffic flow, activity monitoring

The British already complain about their images being captured at least 300 times a day.

If Aubuchon’s vision turns into reality we may have to give up eating, going to the bathroom and having…ever again!

Capturing Today, Tomorrow
It became painfully obvious that professional and casual consumers wanted/expected more for less…even if they didn’t need it, didn’t know how to use it.

Camera sales peaked a year ago and while initial projections showed a slight increase, analysts felt the market would be flat or even drop a little.

NPD noted that there was a total 76 percent camera penetration in the US, 74 percent compacts and 10 percent SLR (single lens reflex). Globally, Gfk said sales rose from 126M units (+18%) in ’07 to 140M (+11%) in ’08. InfoTrends noted that device sales would remain static or experience a slight increase in ’09.

To stimulate demand there’s a growing stress on delivering higher resolution, increased sensitivity, speed/performance, packaging style, in-camera processing, overall ease-of-use.

Two years ago the average resolution was 5MP. It jumped to 7+MP last year and this year it’s 10MP. Tomorrow ?

While the panelists agree that more MP is so much BS, no one is willing to blink in the MP race.

Devices with 50MP and AVCHD capture just mean more storage requirements.

But RED’s 261MP camera seems a little over the top unless you make your living using this instrument.

Higher resolution units are sitting in the wings.

Raising the bar on MP resolution also causes sensitivity problems.

New devices have increased computational power to reduce noise, improve low-light sensitivity and reduce blur.

Early digital camera users hated the horrendous click-to-capture shutter lag.

Today it’s pretty difficult to see any difference in devices.

Speed and performance are expected.

Manufacturers continue to push the envelope with five - seven frames-per-second (fps).

Leave it to RED their camera captures 120 RAW fps and some of the leading edge movie cameras capture 1,000 + fps.

It’s seems ironic that the industry talks about device specs in old-fashioned photography terminology.

Younger videographers never “used” them and you get a blank stare when you discuss them with normal consumers.

It was agreed that added capabilities and functions would include onboard computer editing capabilities to help make even photos/videos “viewable.”

Cameras/camcorders are available with computerized features:
- enhanced scene and face/smile/blink detection
- facial/ shadow enhancement
- object/image tracking
- red-eye, complexion modification
- High dynamic range (HDR) luminescent/image techniques

We’re not certain who but firms that leap to the next level will deliver:
- automated face recognition/labeling
- GPS geo-tagging
- Automated means of finding either of these without searching every folder, every image

Analyst Check
Kristy Holch, one of the founders of InfoTrends, moderated a blue ribbon analyst roundtable to give attendees the 30,000 ft view of issues, opportunities and challenges.

Key execs from Lyra, InfoTrends, Gfk, NPD, PMA and Future Image had similar crystal ball visions of 2011.

While they agreed on the challenges for’09, their priorities were all over the scale:
- Economy
- HD – living room
- Telling stories with images
- Camera types (emerging, DSLR, compact)
- Video/still convergence
- Image management, preservation, retrieval
- Content infrastructure, connected experiences
- Tagging/sorting/managing images

That’s what makes the industry interesting.

Veni, Video, Vici
Today, nearly every camera shoots video and every camcorder shoots video.

The two devices coexist in the consumer market. In the professional and prosumer markets there are clear distinctions.

Paul Worthington, moderator and FutureImage analyst, set the stage by noting that video is the most powerful communications tool available. Anyone can access the tools to capture, view, distribute high quality video.

He said good VGA content can be captured with cameras, camcorders and even camphones but few people do anything more than file it…somewhere.

Tanguy Leborgne, VP of worldwide marketing for Pinnacle, made a distinction between photos and videos.

“Photos capture a moment, videos tell a story – HD on the TV screen or VGA on YouTube,” he noted.

People want to tell their story,” he continued, “but non-professionals don’t have the training or self-discipline to think through, begin and end the story.”

He noted it’s not a daunting task but the thought and flow functions are foreign to average users.

“Our task as hardware and software providers is to help them break hurdles and help them produce really interesting videos,” he added. “They may never produce a Hollywood spectacular but at least they will be movies for their family, their church, their school, their neighbors that they can be proud of. When they do that…we make the world a more beautiful place.”

Content Calls
Tony Henning, senior analyst at Future Image, referred back to the camera market update and noted that while camera/camcorder sales were flat in the established markets and increasing only slightly in the emerging market, which certainly wasn’t the case for camphones.

As with most people, he credits the iPhone in turning the “nice to have” feature of camphones to a requirement.

The growth inhibitors for camphones has been poor image quality, awkward hardware design, nearly impossible software, poor transfer options, slow/spotty networks and overly expensive data plans.

But in looking at sites like Flickr that tracks the type of device photos and videos are uploaded from, the iPhone leads the pack by more than 3:1!

Despite the introduction of a wide range of iPhone “competitors,” the recently introduced Motorola Motozine comes close to being a serious camera/camcorder/phone.

Henning sees a steady increase in camphone resolution and at this stage he feels pixels do matter.

He believes in the next year or two we will see camphones with:
- Auto-focus mechanisms
- Improved video including VGA at 30fps, slow-mo, fast-mo, HD
- DSC features including anti-shake, face/smile/blink detection, red-eye reduction, panorama/scene modes and more
- Larger, tighter displays with richer color palettes
- Geo-tagging
- Complete connectivity options

Shrinking Pixels
Henning’s projections were probable music to Tessera’s Aubuchon ears who showed the audience how the industry had progressed from Apple’s 1994 Quicktake 100 to today’s cameras, camcorders, camphones and next generation modules.

Back then the image sensors were 9 micro millimeters costing about $20 per module. Today they are 1.75 um costing about $2.30 per VGA module.

While camphones have stimulated the development of smaller, more integrated, more intelligent mechanisms; he sees a world of “camera” opportunities in the years ahead.

The new compact imaging sensors are only the tip of the iceberg in his estimation thanks to significant research including:
- Sub-wavelength pixel research sub-500 nm at Stanford U
- Color filter, complex optical integrated color pixels at Stanford U
- Multi-aperture imaging/polydioptric cameras at Stanford U
- Smart and OptiML algorithm optics at Tel-Aviv U
- Compressive sensing/imaging at Rice U
- Fast 3D Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), photo stitching – UC Berkeley
- Polynomial texture mapping - HP
- Real-time image processing/generation – UC San Diego

He added that there are hundreds of photo and video research projects that will place will put cameras…everywhere!

During the dinner reception at the Monterey Aquarium, Alexis Gerard (founder of Future Image) noted that the content industry is growing in both depth and breadth.

“There are some outstanding solutions being introduced for professional and prosumer photographers and videographers,” he commented. “But the real excitement is the rapid improvement of and merging of imaging and communications technologies that is being put into use by normal people around the globe.

“Photos and videos are really the universal language that make ideas and things easy to understand no matter where you work, live or relax,” he added.

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Article Tags: aubuchon, auto traffic, broad brush, cameras camcorders, chip industry, content control, gesture control, going to the bathroom, hendy, image sensors, light at the end of the tunnel, microprocessor industry, monterey ca, public security, purpose units, s vision, tessera, traffic flow, video devices, wafer level



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