Gracenote Connected TV Technologies Ship With Leading Home Entertainment Products

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer Electronics Show (CES) --Gracenote® today announced its connected TV technologies have been adopted by leading home entertainment brands to bring richer and more interactive experiences to consumers, as well as drive new revenue opportunities for display and media device manufacturers and content providers. These technologies will be announced in new products from Sony Electronics Inc. and LG Electronics at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week.

Gracenote's connected TV technologies - which include MusicID®, VideoID™ and Video Explore™ - are designed to take the consumer beyond characters and storylines to create a "lean forward" entertainment experience that allows users to navigate and interact with movies, TV and music, explore and access related content, and link to commerce services to download and stream media.

Consumers in many markets spend more than four hours per day watching TV, while 22 percent of global online consumers own or have a definite interest in purchasing a TV with an Internet connection in the next year (How People Watch: A Global Nielsen Consumer Report, Aug. 2010).

"With the steady growth of video consumption and the skyrocketing amount of content available, there is a need for a solution to manage it all," said Stephen White, senior vice president of product and content management, Gracenote. "With our technology, consumers get a simplified, customized and enhanced experience, while manufacturers and content owners benefit from our ability to steer people to purchase, stream and download content."

Gracenote's home entertainment solutions tap Gracenote's Global Media Database, the most comprehensive music and video database in the world. To achieve its breadth and depth of information, Gracenote populates its database using direct feeds from content owners, industry-leading content partners, such as Tribune Media Services, as well by creating its own propriety content though music and video experts and top media categorization, genre and schema specialists covering all major regions of the world. Gracenote also incorporates contributions from community members who use Gracenote-enabled products and services.

Gracenote Video Explore

Searching through a seemingly endless array of video and music can be overwhelming for consumers. Gracenote Video Explore simplifies this experience by enabling more confident and intelligent searches of any video library. The technology filters and sorts information by more than 40 data attributes of hundreds of thousands of feature films, including cover art, cast members, bios, music, imagery, production crew and notes, studio, genre, keywords and language.

For example, if a movie fan is watching a film on Blu-ray Disc, Gracenote Video Explore can take them behind the scenes to read the director's filmography and view production images. They can then drill even deeper and explore the director's influences, or learn trivia about the film and the actors.

Gracenote MusicID

Have you ever heard a great song on a Blu-ray or DVD movie and wanted to know who the band was? Gracenote's MusicID uses advanced audio fingerprinting technology to recognize the sonic characteristics of any song playing on a TV or media source. Within seconds, the artist name, album and track is delivered to the screen. After identifying the track, consumers can be directed to a digital entertainment service to purchase the song or complete album. And by providing track, album, artist and genre information, music fans can control their disc and file-based movie and music collection, making it easier to manage.

Gracenote VideoID

Gracenote VideoID is easily integrated into Multi-Disc Changers, game consoles and other video systems. The technology leverages Gracenote's Global Media Database to identify DVD and Blu-ray discs in the collection, pulling down movie cover art, synopsis and other metadata to improve search and navigation. With Gracenote VideoID, consumers can easily navigate their video library by key fields such as: Title, Release Date, Cast and Credits. They can then link to other metadata, such as cast and characters or even commerce services.

Gracenote Showcases Home Solutions at CES 2011

Several Gracenote-powered home entertainment products will be demonstrated at CES 2011 in the Gracenote booth No. 31106 in South Hall 3 of the LVCC. New products featuring Gracenote technology include:

Sony:

    --  Sony BDP-S380  Blu-ray player, featuring Video Explore, VideoID, MusicID
        and contributor and artist images from Gracenote
    --  Sony BDP-S480 Blu-ray player, featuring Video Explore, VideoID, MusicID
        and contributor and artist images from Gracenote
    --  Sony BDP-S580 Blu-ray player, featuring Video Explore, VideoID, MusicID
        and contributor and artist images from Gracenote
    --  Sony BDP-S780 Blu-ray player, featuring Video Explore, VideoID, MusicID
        and contributor and artist images from Gracenote
    --  Sony Bravia HX929, HX820, and NX720 series HDTVs featuring Video Explore
        and MusicID

LG:

    --  LG BD670 Blu-ray player, featuring VideoID and MusicID
    --  LG BD690 Blu-ray player, featuring VideoID and MusicID
    --  LG HX996TS Real 3D Sound Home Theater System - Blu-ray player, featuring
        VideoID and MusicID
    --  LG HB906SB Blu-ray 3D Disc Home Theater System - Blu-ray player,
        featuring VideoID and MusicID

Gravity Mobile: Multi-screen Applications

Gracenote home entertainment solutions are also available for mobile devices including tablets, as well as for the automobile and desktop industry, and can be fully implemented and launched by customers quickly and easily. Gravity Mobile, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gracenote and a leading mobile applications and solutions company, will be demonstrating new interactive multi-screen applications in the Gracenote booth at CES.

For more information or to schedule a demo and briefing at the show, please contact Veronica Skelton at 415.342.3435 or veronica@conceptpr.net.

About Gracenote

A pioneer in the digital media industry, Gracenote combines information, technology, services and applications to create ingenious entertainment solutions for the global market. From media management, enrichment and discovery products to content identification technologies, Gracenote allows providers of digital media products and the content community to make their offerings more powerful and intuitive, enabling superior consumer experiences. The company's solutions integrate the broadest, deepest, and highest quality global metadata and enriched content with an infrastructure that services billions of searches a month from thousands of products used by hundreds of millions consumers. Gracenote's customers include the biggest names in the consumer electronics, mobile, automotive, software and Internet industries. The company's partners in the entertainment community include major music publishers and labels, prominent independents and movie studios. Gracenote, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, is headquartered in Emeryville, California. www.gracenote.com.

Gracenote and MusicID are registered trademarks of Gracenote, Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

    For More Information Contact:
    -----------------------------
    Veronica Skelton
    Concept Communications for Gracenote
    415.342.3435
    veronica@conceptpr.net

    Graham McKenna
    Director of Marketing Communications, Gracenote
    510.428.7288
    gmckenna@gracenote.com

SOURCE Gracenote

SOURCE: Gracenote

CONTACT: Veronica Skelton of Concept Communications, +1-415-342-3435, veronica@conceptpr.net, for Gracenote; or Graham McKenna, Director of Marketing Communications of Gracenote, +1-510-428-7288, gmckenna@gracenote.com

Web Site: http://www.gracenote.com