The evolution of the metaverse, virtual reality and TV technology are just a few of the buzziest trends that will be on display at the 2023 CES Show, which gets underway Jan. 5 in Las Vegas. Organizers are hoping to reach 100,000 attendees, which is far below pre-COVID levels (the org reported 171,000 at its January 2020 show) but nevertheless would be a strong showing for a pandemic-era trade event.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, tech leaders at major studios outlined promising developments — like one day seeing Avatar: The Way of Water at home in a format as it’s shown in theaters or having easier access to Filmmaker Mode on your TV to preserve the director’s intent and remove the “reality TV”-like quality of high-def viewing — as well as incoming challenges (i.e., how the masses the embrace the metaverse) in 2023.
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8K TVS POWER UP, BUT LACK CONTENT
It’s been an evolutionary year in the TV space, but, citing advanced display tech such as miniLEDs and microLEDs, Warner Bros. vp emerging and creative technologies Michael Zink says that this year’s lineup of TVs has “a lot more capabilities in expressing stories and bringing what you can really do in a theater all the way into the home.” Expect to hear set makers touting features including high dynamic range (a wider range between the blackest blacks and whitest whites in an image) and 8K (four times the resolution of 4K’s horizontal display resolution of about 4,000 pixels). As to available features or series content, collectively, Hollywood has put far more energy into producing movies and shows in HDR than upping their resolution beyond 4K, and that doesn’t seem to be changing. Still, knowledgeable observers point out that 8K TVs could offer other options for the home.
“It’s hard to quantify how much material’s gonna be available [in the format], but there’s other interesting opportunities that come with 8K television sets, which goes beyond the resolution of 8K, [such as] being able to do 4K high frame rates [and] other options that are within that spec,” says Bill Baggelaar, exec vp and CTO at Sony Pictures. “Potentially an Avatar at 48 frames [per second] in 4K on an 8K set may be possible at some point. I think [there is] going to be an expansion of the toolset for filmmakers [and the question will be] how do we actually take advantage of that to give the best experience or the intended experience to the consumer. Because there are things we can do theatrically that we can’t necessarily do in the home just yet.”
Where 8K is concerned, Renard T. Jenkins — senior vp production integration and creative technology services at Warner Bros. Discovery and the newly elected president of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) — sees opportunity in the virtual reality and game space on platforms like Meta’s Oculus. “I think that’s where 8K is really going to start to see a lot of use. I know for me, as a gamer, it does make a difference,” Jenkins says. “I don’t know how much will happen, but I do know there’s a lot of work that’s going on right now, and there are a lot of things that are in the hopper.”
FILMMAKER MODE MAY BE CATCHING ON
A vital topic for many filmmakers as well as tech executives is the need to ensure that the director’s creative intent is presented on television displays. These conversations have led to developments such as Filmmaker Mode, a TV setting that effectively disables post processing such as motion smoothing and aims to provide a cinematic representation of images in terms of color, contrast, aspect ratio and frame rates that avoids a visual quality likened to reality TV. The effort has earned the support of filmmakers including Ava DuVernay, Ryan Coogler, Rian Johnson and Martin Scorsese. Filmmaker Mode was developed under the banner of the UHD Alliance, a coalition whose members include Hollywood studios and consumer electronics manufacturers, which is currently chaired by Warners exec Zink. The setting was introduced in 2019 and the focus is now on implementation and consumer education.
“We have a lot more adopters that have joined over the last year,” Zink says, citing Roku, JVC and Leica among the latest companies to unveil adoption plans, joining the likes of Samsung, LG and Panasonic. “One of the things we’re hoping for is that it becomes one of those checkbox items. It’s not something that manufacturers go out and tout as a differentiating feature, but instead it’s something that just happens to be in every one of those manufactured products,” he says. “I think we are getting very close to that.”
Companies that don’t offer Filmmaker Mode still share the goal of preserving filmmakers’ creative intent. For example, Sony provides similar technologies from Imax Enhanced in its custom settings.
BUT THE METAVERSE IS STILL A BIG QUESTION MARK
At CES, the promise of the metaverse is expected to be a big topic, though tech execs caution that its potential is far from being realized. “We don’t really know what that means for entertainment yet. There are a lot of technical hurdles, let alone standards and other things [that need] to come together to create whatever that seamless sort of experience is. We have a ways to go on that,” Sony exec Baggelaar says, adding, “You’ve got to have mass adoption, too. And that’s hard.”
Warner Bros. Discovery exec Jenkins points out that many players — Roblox, Epic and Meta among them— are throwing their hats into the metaverse ring. “I think that one of the things that we have to keep in mind is that it’s not going to be a single place. It’s going to be a multiverse. Because you have so many players in this space right now, and so many different groups are trying to create an experience for their particular customer base,” Jenkins elaborates, noting that “if you want to tie someone into your metaverse and only your metaverse, you’re going to run into some of the problems that we’re already seeing when it comes to the VR experience. And people are either gonna have to buy a bunch of stuff or they’re just gonna say, ‘you know what? I’m not really interested.”
Jenkins believes that his organization, SMPTE, which is a standards-setting body, has a role to play in addressing these emerging spaces and helping consumers, with the goal “to make sure that as all these things start to be developed, that there’s some sort of interoperability or some sort of common standard that’s there to help you to be able to move from one experience to the next.”
VIRTUAL PRODUCTION IN FOCUS
The CES exhibition is vast and in past year’s has also provided a glimpse at emerging production technology; this year should be no different. For instance, at the 2020 CES, Sony highlighted its work in virtual production using its Crystal LED displays to create a volume, and this year Baggelaar believes delegates can expect to hear more on virtual production from various companies. “It’s really on the content creation side, but I think overall, it’s kind of creeping into the consumer consciousness on how this stuff is being made, at least the more curious about how content is made,” the Sony exec says.
Baggelaar adds, “But there’s so many other things in virtual production space that we can do with realtime game engines that maybe isn’t as in your face, but is definitely going to help us on the content creation side. So you might see some of that stuff coming out too.”
This story first appeared in the Jan. 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
