Despite the findings in a Natural Resources Defense Council report that high dynamic range potentially could have a “bigger impact” on TV energy use than the jump to Ultra HD itself (see 1511200032), the group’s energy-efficiency point man has no regrets that HDR didn’t get more play in the Energy Star 7.0 TV spec that took effect Oct. 30, he emailed us last week. EPA began working on the Energy Star 7.0 TV spec in December 2013 and finished the spec a year later when HDR technology still had little industry visibility, agency officials have said. NRDC’s “hope” is that EPA “will include HDR in its next revision” of the Energy Star TV spec, said NRDC Senior Scientist Noah Horowitz. “The missing piece of course is the absence of HDR content in the test method.” Unless an HDR-ready set is tested with real HDR content, one can’t “capture the extra energy consumed by these TVs when HDR content is played,” Horowitz said. EPA officials have told us they’ll monitor market developments to see whether HDR “correlates” with an increase in TV power consumption, and if it does, they'll begin revising the Energy Star TV spec to account for that.

Dolby faces “significant challenges” in China enforcing intellectual property and other rights, as the company is expanding its business with cable and Web content providers, it said in its annual SEC filing. Dolby technology most recently supported in the Microsoft Edge browser, and Comcast plans to support Atmos in its X1 platform next year, said the vendor. In Dolby’s mobile business, its technologies are in 12 handsets and tablets from Amazon, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft and ZTE, while Dolby Atmos has been adopted in a dozen handsets and tablets from Lenovo and Amazon, it said. Dolby believes additional Dolby Vision titles from content providers will “soon be available through Netflix,” it said. As of Sept. 25, Dolby had about 5,100 issued patents expiring at various times through 2040, the company said last week.

Global shipments of connected TV devices, which include smart TVs, videogame consoles and digital media streamers, jumped 18 percent in Q3 to 52.7 million units, from 44.5 million in Q3 2014, Strategy Analytics reported. Shipments of smart TVs, which have the largest share (47 percent) of installed connected TV devices, grew 26 percent to 30.1 million units, the research firm said Tuesday. Consumers “increasingly expect their next TV purchase” to be a smart TV, it said. Samsung remained brand-share leader in smart TV shipments, followed by LG.

Video programming distributors had to ensure starting Thursday that televised emergency information conveyed visually outside newscasts is also being conveyed aurally through a secondary audio stream, the FCC Media Bureau said in a reminder public notice Wednesday. The rule change, approved in April as part of FCC implementation of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, is intended to allow the blind and visually impaired to receive the same emergency information often made available on TV through text crawls, the PN said.

The Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period for comScore buying Rentrak has expired, comScore said in a news release Tuesday. The deal's closing is still awaiting approval by comScore and Rentrak shareholders but has been approved by the boards of both companies, it said. The deal is expected to close in January, it said. When complete, comScore stockholders are expected to own about 66.5 percent of the new company, and Rentrak shareholders are expected to own about 33.5 percent, said the acquirer. The audience measurement companies have said various media firms back the deal (see 1510080044).

Technicolor completed its acquisition of Cisco’s connected devices operations for $450 million cash and $150 million in newly issued Technicolor shares, Technicolor said in a Friday announcement. The acquisition, announced in late July (see 1507230028), includes a “strategic collaboration agreement” with Cisco that will allow both companies to develop and deliver “next generation video and broadband technologies,” with a special emphasis on IoT “solutions and services,” Technicolor said. In a separate development Friday, Cisco announced plans to acquire Acano, a privately held London-based company that supplies “collaboration infrastructure and conferencing software.” The acquisition will speed Cisco’s “collaboration strategy to deliver video everywhere, providing the best collaboration experience across every endpoint, every screen, every workspace, and to every user," the company said. Terms weren’t disclosed.

The FCC released the text of its user interface accessibility item, adopted last week, which includes a second report and order, an order on reconsideration and a second Further NPRM. The order released Friday received as expected (see 1511190054) no dissents, but Commissioner Ajit Pai concurred in part and approved in part.

Samsung received the Natural Resources Defense Council report on Ultra HD TV energy consumption (see 1511180067) only Wednesday and is “closely reviewing the findings,” spokeswoman Megan Pollock emailed us Thursday. The company is “a pioneer in creating exciting new TV experiences, including Ultra HD 4K and high dynamic range, that are recognized for their award winning energy efficiency capabilities,” she said.

Vudu 4K UHD titles with Dolby Atmos/Dolby Vision will be priced “around $25-$30 to own and $10 to rent,” a Vudu spokesman told us. Vudu and Dolby announced Tuesday (see 1511170036) the first round of 4K Ultra HD titles remastered for Dolby Vision and mixed in Dolby Atmos. Vudu will let customers know the release day for the titles “soon,” said the spokesman. The Warner-supplied titles include Mad Max: Fury Road, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Gallows, San Andreas, American Sniper, Man of Steel, Jupiter Ascending, Edge of Tomorrow and Into the Storm.

The findings in a Natural Resources Defense Council report that Ultra HD TVs consume on average about 30 percent more energy than comparably sized 1080p models weren't surprising, since the new Energy Star Version 7.0 TV specification already contains an “allowance" that lets Ultra HD sets consume up to 50 percent more incremental power than comparably sized HD sets and still be deemed Energy Star-compliant (see 1412040035). But a more standout conclusion in the report released Tuesday was that Ultra HD TVs with high dynamic range (HDR) have the potential to consume 50 percent more power than basic Ultra HD TVs without the HDR capability. Since the “shift” toward Ultra HD TVs “is now in its early stages,” there's still time “for manufacturers to incorporate more efficient designs and components into all new models and prevent much of this potential additional electricity use and resultant pollution,” the report said. Before NRDC did its study, “very little was known about the precise energy impact of the recent changes in the television market and the technology advancements that are occurring,” it said of HDR power consumption.