Broadband boom boosts interest in domestic multimedia devices

-CeBIT 2007 presents the latest trends in high-definition DVDs and flat-screen TVs -Strong growth in audio and video downloads -Industry association estimates that Germany will have more than 15.6 million broadband Internet connections by the end of 2006

When the first TV sets with built-in PCs appeared on the market in the 1990s, they evoked a far from enthusiastic response. Who wants to sit on the sofa to read e-mails on a TV screen, the critics asked. Today the Web has established a firm foothold in the living-room. With the help of high-speed broadband it is now possible to download audio and video files in a matter of seconds. One domestic connection is sufficient – so-called media centres take care of the rest. The files are downloaded to the media centre’s hard drive and then distributed via wireless LAN to consoles located anywhere in the user’s house or apartment. CeBIT 2007 (15 – 21 March) in Hannover will highlight – among other things – the latest developments in high-definition DVDs and flat screen TVs.
Broadband stimulates enormous growth in downloaded entertainment
According to the Association of Telecommunications and Value-Added Service Providers (VATM), the number of broadband connections in Germany will rise during the current year by 47 percent to a total 15.6 million. The vast majority of these connections (95.5 percent) are digital subscriber lines (DSL). More and more consumers are purchasing music via the Internet. The German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) estimates the number of downloads in the first six months of 2006 at 11.7 million. This is equivalent to a sales volume of €21.2 million and represents a year-on-year increase of more than 30 percent. BITKOM attributes this surge in demand to the boom in broadband connections and the fall in connection charges. In the words of the organization’s president, Willi Berchtold, “around 50 percent of users already exploit the advantages of flat rate charging.” At present German consumers are downloading approximately 160,000 commercially produced videos every month – twice as many as one year ago. Even faster Internet connections are on the horizon. These will provide the basis for distributing high-definition TV programs (HDTV).
2007 will be the year of the high-definition DVD – New patent for hybrid disk
An interesting duel has emerged between two rival formats. The Blu-ray standard (max. 50 gigabytes capacity – six times more than a conventional DVD) is being championed by Samsung, Panasonic and Hollywood studios such as 20th Century Fox (“Ice Age”). It faces tough competition from the HD-DVD (up to 30 gigabytes per disk) developed by Microsoft, NEC, Intel and Universal Studios (“Apollo 13”). Both systems represent a quantum leap in terms of quality. Compared with the current generation of DVDs they offer five times as many pixels, as well as seven-channel surround sound.

The first high-definition DVD players are expected to cost around 600 euros. Toshiba has announced a slimline recorder for laptop computers, while Samsung and Panasonic are planning to launch Blu-ray devices in the near future. The dream of a dual-format DVD is about to become reality. Engineers at Warner Brothers recently submitted a US patent application for a hybrid disk.
CeBIT presents a new generation of TVs with full-HD and SED technology
Whereas high-definition DVDs are poised to make their breakthrough, flat screen TVs have already become firmly established in the marketplace. According to BITKOM, German consumers are expected to spend 3.6 billion euros on flat screen TVs by the end of 2006 – 70 percent more than in 2005. The organization forecasts growth of more than 20 percent in 2007 – equivalent to a total market volume of 4.4 billion euros. The new generation full-HD TVs (now becoming available in the shops at consumer-friendly prices) will command a significant share of this market. Since the early months of 2006 the prices of LCD screens have fallen by around 20 percent (source: Display Search). At next year’s CeBIT the big-name manufacturers will be taking the wraps off HDTV screens with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels. These high-tech devices will be augmented by the first HDTV-capable recorders. Industry watchers are convinced that HDTV will receive a further boost when the public-service stations commence high-definition broadcasting. (According to a spokesman of Germany’s public channel ZDF, this will coincide with the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.) A further highlight at CeBIT 2007 will be the presentation of the first market-ready products based on SED technology (short for “Surface Construction Electron Emitter Display”). SED claims to unite the advantages of cathode ray tubes and LCD displays.

High-tech future: terabyte DVDs and Web 3.0
While Blu-ray and HD-DVD are still jockeying for position in the marketplace, the next-generation storage medium is already on the drawing board. The most promising technology is HVD (Holographic Versatile Disc). This will offer a capacity of up to 1 terabyte (=1,024 gigabytes), which is two hundred times more than today’s DVDs. In terms of appearance, the HVD will differ only marginally from its predecessors.
The Internet continues to develop at a breathtaking pace. Under the heading “Web 2.0”, the Internet now boasts a growing spectrum of community platforms such as YouTube, Flickr and myspace.com. During his time at the European atomic research organization CERN Sir Tim Berners-Lee helped to lay the foundations for today’s World Wide Web. He has now mapped out a bold new vision codenamed Web 3.0: “Soon there will be more web-capable mobile phones than desktop computers,” he said in a recent interview with Wirtschaftswoche. “Just imagine, you arrive home in the evening and your mobile automatically switches on the light next to your favourite armchair and your digital video recorder is already recording the film you selected on your laptop in the office. This form of communication and the automatic exchange of information will have a radical impact on the way we live,” Berners-Lee is convinced.

CeBIT 2007 will centre on these exciting developments – and many others besides.