Earlier teardowns of 13-inch Apple M3 MacBook Air models revealed a pleasing storage performance upgrade. Popular American e-commerce watchdog, iFixit, has joined in on the fun—CEO Kyle Wiens has confirmed that the 15-inch M3 MacBook Air 256 GB base model also houses two 128 GB flash storage chips. A provisional repairability score of 5 out of 10 has been awarded—this verdict could change once iFixit staffers finish up in-depth investigations into Apple's latest thirteen and fifteen inch ultraslim notebooks. A revised figure might appear online once the site publishes its full how-to-guides.

iFixit's video teardown demonstrates that not much has changed when comparing the new models to Apple's M2 MacBook Air family of products. Tinkerers will face the usual obstacles, mainly dreaded pentalobe screw designs. The team discovered plastic pull-tabs during the removal of M3 MacBook Air batteries—a pleasing alternative to older (headache inducing) adhesive-fastened methods of securing power cells in place. The iFixit team had to deal with many fiddly screws and brackets during excavation efforts—they noted that Apple's interior design does not include any labelling, and the screws are not numbered. Framework's Laptop 16 was cited as a shining example of doing things correctly.

With the advent of high-resolution video and surveillance systems, the demand for stable performance (Sustained Performance) and Power Loss Protection in SSD storage devices continues to rise among video recording equipment and surveillance system integrators. Therefore, Phison Electronics (8299TT), a leading provider of NAND controllers and NAND storage solutions, today announced the launch of specialized SSD storage solutions for video and surveillance systems, including the mid-high-range S12DI and the cost-effective S17T SSD solutions.

With the advent of high-resolution video and surveillance systems, the demand for stable performance (Sustained Performance) and Power Loss Protection in SSD storage devices continues to rise among video recording equipment and surveillance system integrators. Therefore, Phison Electronics (8299TT), a leading provider of NAND controllers and NAND storage solutions, today announced the launch of specialized SSD storage solutions for video and surveillance systems, including the mid-high-range S12DI and the cost-effective S17T SSD solutions.

A video review has highlighted some curious internal changes on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition graphics card—Geekerwan has discovered that the board design has been "updated" to a small degree, when cross examined with the non-SUPER variant. Team Green engineers have chosen to decrease the number of phases from 13 to 11, while the memory phase count goes from 3 down to 2. HXL (@9550pro) TLDR-ed the situation on social media: "4080 Super FE vs 4080 FE: Core: -2 phase & VRAM: -1 phase." Tech experts have also noticed that the new SUPER FE's board does not have a phase near to its power connector. VideoCardz found these changes to be a little bit odd, considering that the card arrives with faster memory and a increased core count.

Geekerwan reckons that NVIDIA has implemented these internal adjustments in an effort to reduce power consumption in gaming scenarios. The official comparison table confirms this ambition—in the "Average Gaming Power" category we see the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER target 246 W, and GeForce RTX 4080 (non-SUPER) aim for 251 W. The reviewer notes that their ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 4080 SUPER GAMING sample card features the same power layout as its non-SUPER sibling. They believe that NVIDIA's Founders Edition is the only model bearing an adjusted phase tally—while Team Green's board partners have simply rolled out the previous RTX 4080 layout.

Logitech has announced that all video collaboration devices that run on the CollabOS operating system will now be manufactured with next-life plastics, helping enterprise customers support their sustainability objectives. Existing products- Rally Bar, Rally Bar Mini, Tap IP, Tap Scheduler, and Scribe- are being refreshed with materials that lower the carbon impact of each product. This provides organizations with a partner that in turn helps position them to better manage their carbon footprint. "By transitioning our portfolio of conference room devices to a lower product carbon footprint, we are helping other companies navigate their sustainability challenges," said Prakash Arunkundrum, Chief Operating Officer at Logitech. "We're not only designing and manufacturing new products with recycled plastic and other lower carbon materials, but refreshing existing products to provide IT leaders with a new way to evaluate their workplace technology investment in conference room systems—one that includes people and planet. We do this without increasing prices or compromising the highest quality and performance companies expect from Logitech."

"By transitioning our portfolio of conference room devices to a lower product carbon footprint, we are helping other companies navigate their sustainability challenges," said Prakash Arunkundrum, Chief Operating Officer at Logitech. "We're not only designing and manufacturing new products with recycled plastic and other lower carbon materials, but refreshing existing products to provide IT leaders with a new way to evaluate their workplace technology investment in conference room systems - one that includes people and planet. We do this without increasing prices or compromising the highest quality and performance companies expect from Logitech." Efforts to reduce negative environmental impact have rapidly become a business imperative. In a recent survey of IT professionals by analyst firm Frost & Sullivan, 65% say that becoming a leader in environmental, social, governance and sustainability practices is a critical or very important business objective in the coming year.

Video interface and IP workflow innovator Magewell has announced that the company has joined the Q-SYS Technology Partner Program. This program enables software and hardware technology partners to create market-ready solutions that integrate seamlessly with Q-SYS, a cloud-manageable audio, video and control platform. The first result of the initiative—the Q-SYS Control plugin for Magewell's USB Fusion video capture, mixing and presentation device—has been endorsed with Q-SYS Certified status and is now available for download through the Q-SYS Designer Asset Manager found in Q-SYS Designer Software.

Magewell will showcase USB Fusion among other innovations in stand 5E710 at the ISE 2024 exhibition in Barcelona from January 30 to February 2. Magewell's USB Fusion hardware and accompanying app let users easily combine cameras, wired or wireless screenshares, and media file sources into visually compelling live presentations for streaming, live event production, online lectures, webinars, video conferencing and other applications. Users can switch between sources or combine inputs into attractive scene layouts.

Roland announces BRIDGE CAST X, the latest addition to the growing family of BRIDGE CAST products for online gaming and livestreaming. BRIDGE CAST X is a powerful desktop interface and connection hub that allows streamers to simplify their setups and improve their content with Roland's renowned pro AV features. Multiple USB-C, HDMI, and audio ports provide simultaneous connectivity for computers, gaming consoles, and other devices, eliminating the need to repatch for different streaming scenarios. BRIDGE CAST X also includes an XLR mic input, assignable control pads, and support for thousands of royalty-free backing music titles via the BGM CAST service on Roland Cloud.

From online gaming to podcasting, vlogging, and other video content, BRIDGE CAST X keeps users focused on creating rather than fussing with cables and different pieces of specialized gear. The integrated design simplifies connections and reduces clutter, while the friendly panel is filled with controls for executing actions in real time while streaming.

MSI has done it yet again, that is to leak Intel confidential information about upcoming products. In a live stream earlier today, the company put on a slide clearly marked "NDA, do not share!" which confirms the specs of some of Intel's upcoming 14th Gen Core CPUs, also known under the Raptor Lake-S Refresh code name. That said, the only thing that really needed confirmation that is on the slide is that the Core i7-14700K is getting an additional four E-cores.

That said, MSI does provide some insight on what to expect in terms of performance gain over the 13th Gen Core processors and it's not a whole lot. According to MSI, we should expect an average performance boost of around three percent compared to the same SKU from the previous generation. That's possibly one of the worst performance gains ever from Intel, generation to generation, although it is only a refresh, but the question is, why did Intel even bother? The Core i7-14700K does on average get a 17 percent performance boost in multi-threaded applications thanks to the extra E-cores, but this is hardly going to make anyone with a Core i7-13700K going to want to upgrade. Note that the video has been taken down by MSI as of the time of this article being posted.

LG Electronics (LG) announces the global rollout of its new Smart Cam (model VC23GA). A Full HD (FHD) video camera with built-in dual microphones and multi-view function, the Smart Cam seamlessly integrates with LG's webOS-powered smart TVs to provide enhanced user interaction with a host of premium apps and services. The pairing offers convenient video calling and conferencing, an elevated home fitness experience and much more to cater to the diverse needs of customers as they enjoy various services offered by LG Smart TVs.

Compatible with many of the services available on LG TV's webOS platform, LG Smart Cam opens up a range of diverse and compelling interactive experiences. For example, users can now conveniently connect with co-workers, clients, family or friends via RemoteMeeting, an innovative web-based video conferencing service that also works across PCs, laptops and smartphones. The FHD resolution (1,920 x 1,080) Smart Cam provides smooth, crisp video that looks remarkably clear and lifelike when displayed on LG's large screen TVs, which are known for their excellent picture quality. Setting up the RemoteMeeting app on LG TV is fast and simple and conveniently eliminates the need for a laptop or PC connection. Moreover, the Smart Cam's built-in mics mean no extra peripherals are required.

Atari, once a leader in video game consoles, has today published... a new game! Called Mr. Run and Jump, the game is a classical 2D platformer, following Mr. Run and Jump with his trusty pal Leap the Dog, who defeats the terrifying Void and collects all the Power Gems from the Realms of Color. The gameplay is self-explanatory, as this 2D platformer aims to bring some of the vibes of older games with modernized stories and elements. Interestingly, the game is available for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC, and Atari 2600, also called Atari Video Computer System (VCS). The last game for Atari VCS was developed in 1990, and this game comes after 33 years to the platform.

Coming in a cartridge for the VCS console, the cartridge design has been updated a bit. It now has beveled edges and gold-plated connectors. Atari prices the cartridge at 60 USD, with availability on July 31. This version of the game is toned down a bit, as the older VCS hardware can not support all the features that modern console/PC versions have. There are 80 levels in the game and as many as five different enemy types, with a unique high-score system.Below are more screenshots of the game.

Veeo, based in Las Vegas, NV, is proud to announce its first T-OLED-based display, named Veeo T30 at INFOCOMM 2023. Veeo's BDC system, centrally placed behind a 30" or 50" LG T-OLED display panel, captures images of users sitting on the opposite side with a perspective as if the camera is placed in the front center of the screen. When captured this way, video images are more aligned with the user's line of sight when looking at the display content. This contrasts the effect when a camera is placed on the top edge of a display, creating the erroneous impression that the user is lowering their eyes to avoid eye contact with people on the other end.

With Veeo T35, users in video conferences appear to be looking at one another, eye-to-eye, with the BDC aligned with the user's eye level. This brings us one step closer to recreating the in-person meeting experience where users can look at each other in the eye. "Veeo is a game-changer in the world of remote collaboration," says Bayley Pierson, Veeo's Director of Product Marketing. "It solves the two biggest problems of virtual communication, delivering a genuine face-to-face connection while allowing for seamless collaboration on digital content. Veeo is the future of video conferencing, and we're thrilled to be at the forefront of this revolution."

Somewhat unexpectedly, QNAP has entered the high-end video production market with a couple of products that the company was demoing at Computex. First up is the TBS-574TX, which is a high-end, yet compact NAS with 10 Gbps Ethernet and Thunderbolt 4 support. However, what makes this device so unique, is that it features five hot-swappable E1.S drives, which means that video production companies can easily swap between different projects which can be put in cold storage when not worked on. The TBS-574TX is based around a 12th gen, 12 core Intel Core i5 CPU, although QNAP didn't specify the exact model, but it's likely to be a mobile part with native Thunderbolt 4 support. The CPU is paired with 16 GB of RAM, which should make this a fairly snappy NAS overall. QNAP will also offer E1.S to M.2 adapters, but the company is still working on how to implement these with a suitable cooling solution.

For companies that need something faster than 10 Gbps or even 25 Gbps networking to shuffle files around, QNAP also demoed the QSW-M7308R-4X—a model name that just rolls off your tongue—which features no less than four 100 Gbps ports and eight 25 Gbps ports. The key selling point of this fibre based switch is that it doesn't require any user configuration before it can be deployed in a network, even though it can be managed when needed. It also features quieter cooling fans than your average enterprise switch, plus it comes in a much more compact half width 1U form factor. QNAP will also launch the QSW-M3216R-8S8T later this year, which will be an updated version of its current 10 Gbps managed switches, but with around a US$100 lower price tag.

Dangbei, a leader in innovative home entertainment solutions, is today proud to unveil the Dangbei Neo, an all-in-one mini projector with native Netflix. Officially licensed by Netflix, the DLP projector delivers 1080p FHD visuals on a screen up to 120" and immersive surround sound powered by Dolby Audio. The Neo also packs advanced features in a sleek, compact design that is sure to impress.

One of the outstanding features of the Dangbei Neo is its native and officially licensed Netflix. This means that users can enjoy the same streaming experience for their favorite Netflix shows and movies without the need for any additional devices or software, and all on the big screen. With hotkeys for three popular streaming apps - Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube - navigating through their favorites has never been easier.

In a blog post, NVIDIA claims that its AV1 video encoder is vastly superior in terms of quality, compared to both AMD and Intel's alternatives. The still shot provided by NVIDIA to show its superior quality over its competitors, was encoded at 4K60p, obviously using the AV1 codec. Nvidia used its own GeForce RTX 4080 card and compared it to an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT and an Intel Arc A770, with all three cards encoding the video at 12 Mbps using the latest release of OBS Studio.

It just so happens that OBS Studio 29.1 added support for AV1 over the Enhanced Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) and now allows for live streaming using AV1 to YouTube. This is also the main reason for the NVIDIA blog post, as prior to this release, it wasn't possible to stream using AV1 in OBS Studio. NVIDIA has been known for the quality of its video encoder for quite some time, but we'd like to see some independent testing before we give NVIDIA the win here, especially as the company has only provided a single screenshot as proof of its superiority.

AMD is late in releasing its Phoenix Zen 4 lineup of mobile APUs - the original April launch has been missed, and laptops bearing Ryzen 7000HS & H-series are expected to arrive at some point this month. Preview hardware has made its way into the hands of testers, and one particular outlet - Golden Pig Upgrade, a content creator on the Chinese Bilibili video site - has performed benchmark tests. He seems to be the first reviewer to get hands-on time with AMD Ryzen 7040 Phoenix APUs, and his findings point to class leading performance results in terms of graphical capabilities - the 7840HS (packing a Radeon 780M RDNA3 iGPU) is compared to the Rembrandt-based 7735H, as well as a pair of Intel Raptor Lake CPUs - the 13700H and 13500H models.

AMD's newest Phoenix APU is the group leader in GPU performance stakes, but the jump up from the last-gen Rembrandt (RDNA2 iGPU) chip is not all that significant. VideoCardz reckons that the Radeon 780M integrated GPU is roughly equivalent to an NVIDIA GeForce MX550 dGPU and not far off from a GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics card (in terms of benchmark performance). According to AMD's internal documentation the RDNA 3 core architecture utilized in Phoenix APUs is referred to as "2.5" so this perhaps explains why the 780M is not doing laps around its older silbing(s).

The future of 3D viewing is here: United States reservations are now open for Leia Inc.'s Lume Pad 2, the world's first 3D•AI tablet equipped with embedded technology to create fully immersive 3D calling, streaming, and gaming experiences along with content sharing and creation apps - all without the need for any eyewear. Starting today, the Lume Pad 2 is available for reservation via LeiaInc.com at a suggested retail price of $1,099. Customers who reserve before March 31 will receive a $100 discount when they confirm their order in April, when tablets begin shipping.

"With Leia's unique 3D•AI experiences, now available worldwide, people no longer have to settle for unnatural interactions like video chat on a flat screen," said Cecilia Qvist, CEO, Leia Inc. "Lume Pad 2 is for anyone who has ever sought a more genuine human connection from their online experiences." "We know that 3D isn't new - but how we do it is," said David Fattal, Leia Inc. co-founder and CTO. "With the world focused on how AI will continue to shape our future, we feel that this is one of its most thrilling applications - giving the naked eye a fully immersive 3D viewing experience that we believe makes Lume Pad 2 a 3D device for everyone."

In April 2021, the Vulkan Working Group at Khronos released a set of provisional extensions, collectively called "Vulkan Video," for seamlessly integrating hardware-accelerated video compression and decompression into the Vulkan API. Today, Khronos is releasing finalized extensions that incorporate industry feedback and expose core and decode Vulkan Video functionality to provide fully accelerated H.264 and H.265 decode.

Khronos will release an ongoing series of Vulkan Video extensions to enable additional codecs and accelerated encode as well as decode. This blog is a general overview of the Vulkan Video architecture and also provides details about the finalized extensions and links to important resources to help you create your first Vulkan Video applications.

MPEG LA, LLC today announced measures to bring its pool license for Versatile Video Coding, or VVC (introduced to the market on January 27, 2022), into conformity with market realities that will free implementers to invest in VVC adoption. First, a waiver of royalties for standalone (not in or with hardware) VVC software products Sold (with or without compensation or consideration) to an End User is available to any VVC Licensee that commits to becoming a Licensor to MPEG LA's VVC License if they or their Affiliates presently or in the future have the right to license or sublicense VVC Essential Patents. Products to which the waiver applies will still benefit from coverage as licensed products under the VVC License.

Second, a 25% VVC royalty discount is available to any VVC Licensee that enters into and is compliant with MPEG LA's AVC Patent Portfolio License, HEVC Patent Portfolio License and VVC Patent Portfolio License.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) announced today that it has released DisplayPort 2.1, the latest version of the DisplayPort specification, which is backward compatible with and supersedes the previous version of DisplayPort (DisplayPort 2.0). VESA has been working closely with member companies to ensure that products supporting DisplayPort 2.0 would actually meet the newer, more demanding DisplayPort 2.1 spec. Due to this effort, all previously certified DisplayPort 2.0 products including UHBR (Ultra-high Bit Rate) capable products - whether GPUs, docking station chips, monitor scalar chips, PHY repeater chips such as re-timers, or DP40/DP80 cables (including both passive and active, and using full-size DisplayPort, Mini DisplayPort or USB Type-C connectors) - have already been certified to the stricter DisplayPort 2.1 spec.

Achieving a robust, end-to-end user visual experience remains the utmost priority for VESA's DisplayPort specification, whether across a native DisplayPort cable, via DisplayPort Alt Mode (DisplayPort over the USB Type-C connector), or tunneled through the USB4 link. As such, DisplayPort 2.1 has tightened its alignment with the USB Type-C specification as well as the USB4 PHY specification to facilitate a common PHY servicing both DisplayPort and USB4. In addition, DisplayPort 2.1 has added a new DisplayPort bandwidth management feature to enable DisplayPort tunneling to coexist with other I/O data traffic more efficiently over the USB4 link. This increased efficiency is on top of mandated support for VESA's visually lossless Display Stream Compression (DSC) codec and VESA's Panel Replay capability. DSC bitstream support can reduce DisplayPort transport bandwidth in excess of 67 percent without visual artifacts, while VESA's Panel Replay capability can reduce DisplayPort tunneling packet transport bandwidth in excess of 99 percent when Panel Replay operation is taking place.

BenQ, internationally renowned innovator of visual solutions and digital lifestyle devices, unveiled today GV11 smart portable projector, focusing the company's professional color expertise and quality leadership into an ideal personal entertainment appliance.

Offering unlimited enjoyment for modern lifestyles with space and time constraints, GV11 provides the freedom of rotating-angle ceiling / wall / screen projection and battery-powered portability with the convenience of certified Android TV content diversity in an all-in-one audio-visual design.

Today, GoPro (NASDAQ: GPRO) announced three versions of its all-new HERO11 Black camera: HERO11 Black, HERO11 Black Creator Edition and HERO11 Black Mini. All three cameras feature a new, larger sensor that delivers the highest resolution, highest 10-bit color depth, highest level of video stabilization and widest field of view ever featured natively in a HERO camera.

All three HERO11 Black cameras also take GoPro's subscription service to a new level by delivering automatic highlight videos to your phone. As a GoPro subscriber, you need only plug-in your HERO11 to charge and the camera will upload your footage to your GoPro cloud account where it's automatically edited into a highlight video that is sent to your phone via the GoPro Quik app. It's now that easy.

Intel's upcoming Meteor Lake (MTL) processor is set to deliver a wide range of exciting solutions, with the first being the Intel 4 manufacturing node. However, today we have some interesting Linux kernel patches that indicate that Meteor Lake will have a dedicated "Standalone Media" Graphics Technology (GT) block to process video/audio. Moving encoding and decoding off GPU to a dedicated media engine will allow MTL to play back video without the GPU, and the GPU can be used as a parallel processing powerhouse. Features like Intel QuickSync will be built into this unit. What is interesting is that this unit will be made on a separate tile, which will be fused with the rest using tile-based manufacturing found in Ponte Vecchio (which has 47 tiles).

Intel Linux PatchesStarting with [Meteor Lake], media functionality has moved into a new, second GT at the hardware level. This new GT, referred to as "standalone media" in the spec, has its own GuC, power management/forcewake, etc. The general non-engine GT registers for standalone media start at 0x380000, but otherwise use the same MMIO offsets as the primary GT.

Standalone media has a lot of similarity to the remote tiles present on platforms like [Xe HP Software Development Vehicle] and [Ponte Vecchio], and our i915 [kernel graphics driver] implementation can share much of the general "multi GT" infrastructure between the two types of platforms.

BizLink, a global leader in interconnect solutions, is proud to announce the release of the world's first VESA certified DP80 Enhanced full-size DP cable after the launch of DP80 mDP cable in March 2022. DP80 as the highest standard for cable configuration defines a new standard for display connectivity with emphasis on higher link rate. Certified with the latest version of DP technology, BizLink's DP80 Enhanced full-size DP cable provides a maximum throughput data rate up to 80 Gbps, covering new data rates per lane: UHBR10 (10 Gbps), UHBR13.5 (13.5 Gbps), and UHBR20 (20 Gbps).

In an era consisting of trends such as remote work and extended reality, to deal with the growing needs for high-performance displays and "stay connected" at the most elevated implementation levels becomes crucial. Satisfying user experience and reliable connectivity requires higher data rate conversion. The DP80-marked cable supports UHBR20 at their highest transfer rate, enabling ultimate connections of advanced and latest display applications and systems. With a satisfactory data rate value up to 80 Gbps, the DP80 standard unleashes new capabilities for bringing superior connection to achieve a given level of video quality as image capture and display technology advance.

Encoding video is one of the significant tasks that modern hardware performs. Today, we have some data of AMD and NVIDIA solutions for the problem that shows how good GPU hardware encoders are. Thanks to Chips and Cheese tech media, we have information about AMD's Video Core Next (VCN) encoder found in RDNA2 GPUs and NVIDIA's NVENC (short for NVIDIA Encoder). The site managed to benchmark AMD's Radeon RX 6900 XT and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPUs. The AMD card features VCN 3.0, while the NVIDIA Turing card features a 6th generation NVENC design. Team red is represented by the latest work, while there exists a 7th generation of NVENC. C&C tested this because it means all that the reviewer possesses.

The metric used for video encoding was Netflix's Video Multimethod Assessment Fusion (VMAF) metric composed by the media giant. In addition to hardware acceleration, the site also tested software acceleration done by libx264, a software library used for encoding video streams into the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC compression format. The libx264 software acceleration was running on AMD Ryzen 9 3950X. Benchmark runs included streaming, recording, and transcoding in Overwatch and Elder Scrolls Online.Below, you can find benchmarks of streaming, recording, transcoding, and transcoding speed.

Today, Logitech is creating more equitable experiences for hybrid workers with RightSight 2 software that now simultaneously presents both a close-up view of the individual speaker and a view of the entire meeting room during video calls. With RightSight 2 auto-framing technology, far-end participants can follow the active speaker while also getting situational context from the group, such as one person gesturing to another or writing on a whiteboard.

As the workforce adapts to a long-term hybrid environment, Logitech continues to advance its software intelligence to deliver the immersive, inclusive experiences that remote participants would have if they were physically in the room. RightSight 2 is Logitech's latest innovation in an ongoing goal to make meetings more equitable now and in the future.

This year, Matrox proudly celebrates its 45th anniversary. Innovation has been central to the brand's identity since its inception, and continual evolution has propelled Matrox through decades of technological and industry change. Its two divisions - Matrox Imaging and Matrox Video - enjoy a longevity that far outpaces many other major players in the pro AV/IT, broadcast, industrial imaging, and machine vision markets.

Continued innovative product releases evince Matrox's sustained market leadership; in 2021 alone, the company launched a highly anticipated IoT edge device, released new software tools that leverage deep learning capabilities, unveiled next-generation multi-4Kp60 encoders, and continues to advance work in remote production and champion open standards in the AV-over-IP realm.