SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB) announced today a partnership with VIZIO to bring Dolby Vision to the consumer market through the VIZIO Reference Series 65” and 120” Ultra HD Full-Array LED Smart TVs. With an initial slate of Warner Bros. 4K Ultra HD Dolby Vision titles confirmed for distribution via VUDU, Walmart’s video on demand service, combined with play back capabilities on the VIZIO Reference Series, consumers will be able to experience the power of Dolby Vision in their living room.
Dolby Vision breathes life into images by providing viewers with peak brightness, local contrast, and a full range of colors that more closely mimic what the human eye can see. The technology combines a wider color gamut and high dynamic range, to revolutionize the viewing experience both in cinema and on TV.
Dolby Vision augments the fidelity of UHD and HD video signals for over-the-top (OTT) online streaming, broadcast, and gaming applications. Today’s state-of-the-art cameras already capture more visual information than current TVs can display; with Dolby Vision, creative teams will have confidence that their content will be reproduced faithfully on Dolby Vision enabled televisions.
“We are delighted to see the VIZIO Reference Series as the first TV with Dolby Vision, a dramatically different visual experience that engages your senses,” said Giles Baker, Senior Vice President, Broadcast Business Group, Dolby Laboratories. “VIZIO Reference Series customers will have access to a slate of Dolby Vision content that demonstrates the impressive capabilities of this TV and bring viewers closer to the original intent of the content creators.”
With Dolby Vision, content is much more nuanced, powerful, and distinct: sunsets sinking deep into the horizon, bursts of fire and explosions, and the darkest shadows are pronounced to provide a strikingly vivid and realistic imaging experience like no other. As the first-ever High Dynamic Range-enabled Ultra HD TV, the VIZIO Reference Series was built pixel-by-pixel, pushing the boundaries of brightness, color and contrast with Dolby Vision. A Full-Array 800-Nit LED backlight makes for an incredible difference in picture, enabling a wider and more dynamic range of luminance with an unprecedented 384 Active LED Zones for precise contrast control. Clear Action 1800 is set by a whole new standard that allows consumers to enjoy fast action sports and movies with superior motion clarity thanks to powerful image processing and blazing 240Hz effective refresh rate. The new VM50 Ultra HD engine, a dedicated Ultra HD motion and picture-processing engine, provides enhanced clarity in every Ultra HD image. Unlike most TVs, which can only reproduce a limited color gamut of Rec 709 – a standard that has been in place since 1990 – the VIZIO Reference Series features an Ultra-Color Spectrum which widens the color gamut; rendering colors closer to what the human eye can see, something never before possible on a home TV screen.
“As the most sophisticated and technologically advanced TV, the VIZIO Reference Series was designed to set an entirely new standard for immersive entertainment,” said Matt McRae, Chief Technology Officer, VIZIO. “We are proud to be working with technology leaders such as Dolby and VUDU to bring these amazing advancements in picture quality into consumers’ living rooms, pushing the boundaries of brightness, color and contrast for an entirely new entertainment experience.”
In January, Warner Bros. announced several 4K Ultra HD Dolby Vision titles: Edge of Tomorrow, Into the Storm, and The Lego Movie. Since then, Warner Bros. has committed to a steady pipeline of new and remastered 4K Ultra HD Dolby Vision titles, including additional titles like Man of Steel, Sherlock Holmes, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. With the release of unparalleled blockbuster content from Warner Bros. on VUDU, consumers will be able to experience a new form of entertainment that combines the best of Hollywood with the depth and richness of Dolby Vision.
“By combining 4K resolution, high dynamic range, and a wider color gamut in our 4K Ultra HD Dolby Vision titles, we are able to offer a truly impactful home entertainment experience and bring audiences closer to the filmmaker’s vision,” said Jim Wuthrich, President, Americas, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
To deliver Dolby Vision content in 4K Ultra HD, Dolby has partnered with VUDU, Walmart’s video on demand service for movies and television, and one of the pioneers of high definition digital movies and TV.
“VUDU is committed to offering our customers the latest and greatest technology to experience movies. Supporting 4K Ultra HD content with Dolby Vision provides that premium, quality home entertainment experience that they demand,” said Scott Blanksteen, VP of Product at VUDU.
For more information and to sign-up to receive Reference Series product updates, visit VIZIO.com.
About Dolby Vision
Dolby Vision delivers a dramatically different visual experience—astonishing brightness, incomparable contrast, and captivating color—that brings entertainment to life via OTT online streaming, broadcast, and gaming applications.
Even though most content is captured and rendered using technology that produces the colors and brightness of real life, much of that richness is lost by the time it gets to your living room. That’s because current color-grading standards are based on the limitations of current television technologies and require that the content be altered to match their display performance—dramatically reducing the range of colors, brightness, and contrast.
Dolby Vision changes that, giving creative teams the freedom to use the full gamut of colors, peak highlights, brightness, and contrast, with the confidence that those will be reproduced faithfully on televisions that feature Dolby Vision technology.
About VUDU
VUDU, a leading digital video on demand service, is the easiest way to discover, watch and collect the latest movies and TV shows. VUDU is free to join and provides instant access to over 100,000 titles to rent or own in up to stunning 1080p resolution and 7.1 digital surround sound. VUDU is committed to making entertainment digital and accessible, launching innovative features such as Disc to Digital, InstaWatch™, and Share My Movies. VUDU is unmatched in availability across platforms and devices, and works on internet-connected TVs and DVD/Blu-ray players, Windows and Mac computers, iOS and Android mobile devices, set-top boxes like Roku, and PlayStation and Xbox game consoles. VUDU is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walmart Stores, Inc., and is based in Sunnyvale, CA. For more information, visit www.vudu.com.
About Warner Bros. Entertainment
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) brings together Warner Bros. Entertainment’s home video, digital distribution, and interactive entertainment businesses in order to maximize current and next-generation distribution scenarios. An industry leader since its inception, WBHE oversees the global distribution of content through packaged goods (Blu-ray Disc™ and DVD) and digital media in the form of electronic sell-through and video-on-demand via cable, satellite, online, and mobile channels, and is a significant developer and publisher for console and online video game titles worldwide. WBHE distributes its product through third-party retail partners and licensees.
About Dolby Laboratories
Dolby Laboratories (NYSE: DLB) creates audio, video, and voice technologies that transform entertainment and communications in mobile devices, at the cinema, at home, and at work. For nearly 50 years, sight and sound experiences have become more vibrant, clear, and powerful in Dolby®. For more information, please visit www.dolby.com.
Dolby and the double-D symbol are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Vision are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. © 2015 Dolby Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. S15/28807
