Post by
3D_Guy on Dec 24, 2015 11:54am
Waking up
I do not think Hedge will ever wake up.
I've seen this in faith-based people.
Even when the facts are right in their face, their faith cannot process the disconnect.
The reality is this:
- The company was ahead of the curve at the start of the game, in 2006, with a technology that could bring 3D at home with the limited bandwidth of the time.
- When the 3D wave arrived, they held stubbornly to their proprietary standard, and got rolled over by the manufacturers rushing to put product on the shelves with the expedient, free side-by-side format for broadcast.
- By the time Blu-Ray won over HD-DVD, the bandwidth was already there to provide full frame 3D (frame packing) without the need for the stop-gap measure of Sensio HiFi.
- Broadband advances made the need for the Sensio technology obsolete. A full frame left and right stream could now be sent efficiently in HEVC.
- 3D at home eventually was a bust. Every single CE manufacturer lost money over it, and shut down their 3D capabilities. It began with the phasing out on the oldest manufacturing lines (HD), and will reach the newer lines (UHD) soon.
- Manufacturers moved on to "smart" devices and funny controllers; the market responded with a yawn. Now it's the UHD alliance, which is pushing for higher spatial resolution and high dynamic range. No 3D.
- There is not a single company left in Hollywood that shoots native 3D (IMAX is an exception, but I do not consider 45-minute documentaries to be Hollywood). They all closed, or moved to VR.
- All the 3D movies you see today in the theater are made by conversion companies, with indian and chinese labor, at a fixed cost per minute with very small profit margins. The main reason it is still alive in theaters is that it allows studios to bypass the foreign film embargo imposed by China.
- There has never been a strong business in VOD. Today's consumer wants unlimited and flexible binge watching, which is why Amazon and Netflix are at the top, and why everyone else wants to join that field.
- Content is king. Netflix almost disappeared when Big studios and Starz tried to screw them over. As I've often said, if 3D Go had been a success, Studios would have been super fast to undercut Sio and take over. Netflix responded (and Amazon imitated) by divesting some of the licensing money to start creating top of the line original content. In doing so, Netflix is quickly becoming another HBO, with the benefit of tons of older content offered for binge watchers.
- Netflix will never be interested in SIO. They have no technology that can interest Netflix (they could pack a 3D signal with today's bandwidth and codecs any day without SIO tech), and the royalties SIO has are the equivalent of a warehouse full of dusty DVDs that work on only one system. They can't convert the licenses into subscriber-based licenses, the studios would not let them. Anyways, Netflix experimented with 3D a few years back and they found no interest in the market and dropped it.
THAT is the reality of Sensio. A stop-gap technology that did not catch the wave when it was time, and then never admitted the error, and just stuck stubbornly to 3D at home instead of using their IP base to apply it in other fields. I often suggested it could be of use in camera imaging systems.
The winners:
- Sprott, who bought it just before the 2010 CES, rode the hype, and massively sold at the peak of media frenzy, in two steps: CES 2010 and NAB 2010. They kept some shares as play money after they made their massive profit.
- Routhier, LaBerge and Choquette. They may have much less hair and a lot of it is probably gray by now, but they did manage to extract millions of dollars in compensation for more than a decade without ever showing any profit.
- Major studios, who were only too happy to take SIO's money without taking any risks.
- Wi-Lan who's getting a discounted rate on IP paid for by others.
The losers:
- Day-traders and small investors, who did not hear the repeated warnings, discouted those who know the industry as bashers, and still to this day do not understand this dog never had a chance
- Bruce Campbell, who looks like a complete a$s right now. The guy bought the hype. Maybe a bit of arrogance in thinking he understands the entertainment industry.
- The CDP and Desjardins, socialists trying to play the capitalist game. Hint: the capitalists will always win the money game. Legislation is the only way to win against capitalism.
Routhier is smart; he has already planed his exit, and probably has been for quite a while. He's a patents guy, not a CEO, not a manager, not an entertainment industry guy. I think he just let LaBerge sink on the 3DGo ship, and now he's moving "his" IP and expertise elsewhere.
Comment by
MAZZMEX on Dec 24, 2015 12:32pm
What's with the .0125 Transactions going thru and showing on the TSXV?? since when can we trade in 1/4 pennies?..Mazz..