Jessica Lee, Netflix's vice president of Asia-Pacific communications, said, "I am glad to be able to hold such an event on the day of revealing Bong Joon-ho's movie 'Okja'. Starting with 'Okja', today 's event is set to show technologies that allow people using Netflix services to experience a better viewing experience. Netflix will continue to strive to provide the best environment to experience diverse visual content anytime, anywhere."
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▲ The technology demonstration for Netflix's original movie 'Okja' was held.
According to the announcement, Netflix started high-dynamic range (HDR) streaming service, which applies Dolby's audio technology, Dolby Atmos, and video technology, Dolby Vision. Netflix original movie 'Okja' is the first work that applied the technologies, and the additional supporting works will be continuously opened and added.
First, Dolby Atmos is a technology that provides sounds toward a specific location or moving sound throughout the room, including the ceiling. It becomes possible to implement 3D stereo sound that overcomes the existing number of channels by operating each speaker to position sound sources at the specific locations, which is departing from legacy that adding a speaker on the top of the head to the existing two-dimensional stereophonic audio and plurality of speakers on the wall play the same sound source. Through a hybrid technology, combined with channel-based mixing that plays up to 128 object-based mixing and 64 channels, each of which adjusts input sound is adjusted according to the movement and position of the object, audiences can experience more realistic and exciting sounds.
In the meantime, it was possible to experience videos mixed by using Dolby Atmos technology at some of the movie theaters to which the technology could be applied. However, recently, as home theaters and mobile devices that applied Dolby Atmos technology have been released, the opportunity to experience realistic sound effects regardless of time and location is increasing.
Dolby Vision is Dolby’s HDR technology, it provides to increase the maximum brightness of the image and significantly increase the contrast ratio, realizing a similar image to the image seen through actual human eye. It can maintain and reproduce the original video without any damage to contrast range and reproduction rate, and enhances UHD and HD video signals used in various fields including broadcasting, over-the-top (OTT) online streaming, blu-ray, game application, etc. Moreover, Dolby Vision provides images with the best quality by expressing the brightness ranging from 0 to 10,000 nit.
Netflix's HDR streaming service, which applies both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, will be available through Netflix App Firmware Update at 2017 LG OLED TV lineup. Moreover, if you have an Xbox One and an Xbox One S video game console, you can enjoy Netflix's videos that applied Dolby Atmos technology after installing home theater systems such as TV with Dolby Atmos and sound bar, headsets, and purchasing Dolby Access app on the Xbox store.
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▲ Dolby's Tom Ratty Managing Director introduced features of Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision.
Meanwhile, at the event, the policy of 'Netflix Recommended TVs' was also introduced. 'Netflix Recommended TVs' is a certification given to TVs that have a convenient environment for using Netflix or Internet TV services such as faster performance and higher app accessibility among smart TVs.
There are seven standards for the certification: 'Instant On,' requiring that TV has to be instantly turned on and applications should be instantly available like a smartphone, 'Quick App Launch,' requiring to quickly start Netflix even right after turning on TV or using several apps, 'Netflix Button,' requiring to start Netflix and turn on TV at the same time with the Netflix button on remote control, 'Easy Netflix Icon Access,' requiring that users can easily access to Netflix app from TV menu and conveniently start the app, 'TV Restart,' requiring TV to restart from the point when the power was turned off by remembering the previous activity, 'High-resolution Netflix Interface,' requiring to browsing Netflix at 1080p resolution for clear text and images, 'Latest Version,' requiring TV to provide latest version of Netflix with the latest functions. Netflix certifies TVs that meet all five of these seven criteria as 'Netflix Recommended TVs'.
