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News in Brief

BRAVA3D, the 3D version of the Dutch-based international culture channel Brava, will switch on 1 April to a 24-hour schedule consisting exclusively of 3D programmes. By now the channel's catalogue includes hundreds of hours of 3D recordings of operas, ballet productions and music performances, which make it the first channel of its kind in the world. Brava3D is distributed in France by IPTV distributor FREE, and in the Netherlands by Glashart Media, Kabel Noord and on the 3D demo channel of satellite exploiter SES Astra.

MULTI-PLATFORM quality assurance specialist Testronic Labs has become on of the latest members of the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE), the consortium responsible for developing cloud-based UltraViolet content delivery system. "With our deep expertise and experience in over a dozen certification programs, we feel we are uniquely positioned to fill a vital information need for the organization," said CEO Seth Hallen. "We also look forward to contributing to the specification and the definition of the testing and certification protocol for UltraViolet," Hallen continued.

DEGE - Digital Entertainment Group Europe, an industry body for the Home Entertainment sector in Europe comprised of content owners and the industry at large, has announced that Nicola Pearcey, Managing Director of Home Entertainment and New Media, Lionsgate UK; and Jonathan Beardsworth, VP Sales and Marketing Europe, Technicolor HES/TCS have been named as the group's new Co-Chairs.

BLULINE II replication system has passed its final acceptance test for the production of single- and dual layer BD-ROM discs at Panasonic in Japan. "The final acceptance test run was based on production of both BD-ROM SL and BD-ROM DL discs during which an overall yield of well above 90% for BD-ROM SL and above 85% for BD-ROM DL was shown," said Toshinori Kishi, Director of Media Business Unit, Panasonic Corporation.

LOVEFiLM has revealed that in February, for the first time ever, its members streamed more films and TV series instantly over the Internet via LOVEFiLM Instant than rented DVDs, Blu-rays and Games, by over 20%. This represents an increase on the same month last year of over 400%, while the rental of physical product is also growing, up over 25% over the year.

DEMONSTRATED at Berlin’s IFA last year, Toshiba has started taking orders in the UK for what it claims is the world’s first glasses-free 3D television set. The 55-inch 55ZL2 model displays 3D images for multiple viewing positions simultaneously. An integrated camera features face-tracking technology, which monitors the viewers’ position and directs the different images for their left and right eyes in real time. The display is available now for in-store demonstrations at John Lewis and Harrods, both in London. The set retails for £6,999.

SEEFRONT wins the Innovation Award IT in the category Entertainment/3Dl last week at an award ceremony at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany. The competition is set up by Initiative Mittelstand. Hamburg-based SeeFront was founded in 2006 by German engineer and architect Christoph Grossmann. This is already the second award SeeFront received this year for its unique glasses-free 3D display technology. In January SeeFront won the “Selected Landmark in the Land of Ideas” Award in the nation-wide competition “365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas” 2012.