Video: KDDI Technology Improves HD Video Playback On Mobile Screens

Serkan Toto

Dr. Serkan Toto is an independent consultant and advisor focusing on Japan’s web, mobile and social gaming industries. Based in Tokyo, he works together with financial institutions and startups worldwide. Serkan has been the Japan contributor for TechCrunch.com since 2008. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. → Learn More

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Japan’s second biggest telecommunications company KDDI is working on optimizing HD video streaming quality on smaller screens. Specifically, KDDI’s R&D Labs are working on making it easier to view HD content originally intended for larger screens on mobile displays.

The idea here is to boost the quality of HD streams when the user chooses to zoom in on a specific part of the screen, something KDDI expects viewers to do especially on mobile devices in the future. The way it works is that the company’s method doesn’t rely on video processing hardware in the handset to do the heavy lifting.

Instead, the video stream is on the server side, cropped and then pushed to the mobile device – without affecting the quality of the stream on the small screen. What KDDI wants to achieve is a sound “three-screen” experience, meaning giving users the same picture quality across TV, PC monitor and mobile screens.

Watch how the tech works in the video embedded below (they are using a Sharp IS01 Android Smartbook for the demo):

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