From March 27th to March 30th, 2024, the 11th China Internet Audiovisual Conference was held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. At the "HarmonyOS Empowers Audiovisual Industry Upgrade: Technology Enables Comprehensive Content Experience and Distribution" sub-forum, Huawei Video, focusing on AiMax new technology, new experiences, new models, and new promotional methods, jointly discussed the future trends of HarmonyOS ecological audiovisual experience and distribution development with industry experts and ecosystem partners, conveying the latest developments from Huawei Video.
Wu Hao, CEO of Huawei Interactive Media Legion and President of Huawei Terminal Cloud Interactive Media BU, mentioned that as a major contributor and active practitioner of the HDR Vivid and Audio Vivid industry standards, Huawei Video, based on the HarmonyOS ecosystem, adheres to technology innovation in software and hardware collaboration to enhance user experience. Simultaneously, it continues to upgrade standard production tools, empowering industry chain partners through content incentives, helping partners expand value scenarios, bringing more commercial opportunities, and promoting the sustainable and healthy development of the audiovisual industry.
AiMax technology continues to evolve, enhancing the advanced home theater experience. Built on HarmonyOS NEXT, Huawei Video's AiMax technology receives further upgrades and advancements, now supporting HDR Vivid and Audio Vivid standards at their highest levels. Future developments will explore applications of 8K ultra-high-definition quality and 120 frames per second ultra-smooth frame rates, further elevating the immersive and lifelike viewing experience.
Today, as user demands for audiovisual products soar, there's a clear trend towards larger TV sizes, with screens of 75 inches and above becoming mainstream in living rooms. With bigger screens comes higher expectations for picture quality, making 8K resolution the next frontier in both broadcast television and video production. Leading technology and an open content ecosystem are key to promoting the 8K standard. Leveraging advanced software and hardware technologies, Huawei Video aims to address the commercial production of 8K content at scale through AI solutions. In the near future, with the new HarmonyOS NEXT, Huawei Video will further optimize algorithms, enhancing algorithm effectiveness and performance at various stages from cloud to management to endpoint, bringing capabilities like video super-resolution, HDR Vivid, frame interpolation, facial enhancement, video denoising, and image quality restoration to the system's core and gradually opening them as standard capabilities to partners. Together with partners, Huawei Video aims to provide users with more high-quality ultra-high-definition content, delivering an ultimate cinema-grade viewing experience.
Partnering to Build PVOD Home Theaters, Bringing Theatrical Films Home In the realm of viewing experiences, home entertainment remains a quintessential scenario. Movies are pivotal in home entertainment, yet traditional home theaters have struggled to gain mass acceptance due to high costs and mediocre experiences. Today, people seek more freedom and autonomy in enjoying premium viewing experiences. In this context, Huawei Video collaborates with partners to establish the AiMax PVOD home theater solution, promoting the establishment of home theater standards from multiple dimensions including audiovisual technology, content, device connectivity, and marketing. This initiative aims to drive industry standardization and provide users with a superior viewing experience.
Simultaneously, the AiMax PVOD model presents new opportunities for the film industry. Challenges such as the lack of quality content, difficulties in copyright protection, and opaque revenue sharing hinder the distribution of online movies. The AiMax PVOD home theater, with its integrated software and hardware ecosystem, offers solutions to these issues, enabling a broader reach for quality online movies during appropriate release windows and ensuring sufficient marketing exposure and expected commercial returns.
From the perspective of the film market, the Huawei Video AiMax PVOD model complements the current film market environment. On one hand, while theatrical films tend to be more focused in content types, user consumption demands are becoming increasingly diverse. Richer content in online movies can enhance the service capability of movies to meet users' diverse consumption needs. On the other hand, low-cost, high-quality home theaters may convert trial users into moviegoers, thus becoming a new source of growth for the film market.
As of now, Huawei Video's AiMax theaters have collaborated extensively with upstream and downstream partners. Deep partnerships have been established with top industry content partners such as Huashixi, Disney, Universal, Sony, and Paramount, curating over 2000 premium domestic and international theatrical films to meet diverse user viewing demands. With the new HarmonyOS, Huawei Video will continue to leverage its synergistic software and hardware advantages to enrich the content ecosystem, delivering high-quality audiovisual services and experiences. By enriching the content ecosystem and partnering with collaborators, Huawei Video aims to provide users with a cinema-grade viewing experience across all scenarios, driving commercial value conversion through high-quality content and audiovisual experiences and jointly promoting the sustainable and healthy development of the audiovisual industry.
