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| Company name | Rovi Corporation |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public () |
| Foundation | 1983 |
| Location city | Santa Clara, California |
| Location country | USA |
| Location | |
| Key people | Fred Amoroso, President and Chief Executive Officer |
| Industry | Digital Entertainment Technology |
| Products | Media guide and program guide for television |
| Net income | US$ (2010-1-13) |
| Assets | US$3,266,589,900 (2010-1-13) |
| Num employees | 1200+ (2009) |
| Company slogan | Join the entertainment |
| Homepage | www.rovicorp.com |
Rovi Corporation is a globally-operating, US-based company that provides guidance technology, entertainment data, copy protection, industry standard networking and media management technology for digital entertainment devices and services. Its customers include consumer electronics manufacturers, cable television and satellite television operators, movie studios and online entertainment portals and content distributors.
Rovi was known as Macrovision Solutions Corporation (Macrovision) until it changed its name in July 2009.
However, with the acquisition of Gemstar-TV Guide on May 2, 2008 in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $2.8 billion, the company began developing guidance technology for the TV and cable and satellite industry.
After the announcement of the intent to acquire Gemstar-TV Guide, Rovi Corporation completed additional transactions to move its business out of the software licensing market and into entertainment technology market. On February 14, 2008, Thoma Cressey Bravo and then, Macrovision Corporation announced that an affiliate of TCB had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Macrovision's Software Business Unit in a cash transaction valued at approximately $200 million. The transaction was closed on April 1, 2008. The transaction would convert Macrovision's Software Business Unit into a stand-alone software company following the close of the transaction, which included FLEXnet, InstallShield, Adminstudio family of products. Mark Bishof, Macrovision's Software Business Unit's Executive Vice President and General Manager, would assume the role of CEO for the stand-alone software company following the close of the transaction. On the day the acquisition was completed, the standalone company was named Acresso Software.
Macrovision then divested other areas of its non digital entertainment business, including TryMedia, eMeta, TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Network and TVG - Horse Racing.
On December 12, 2007, Mars Merger Sub, Inc., merged with and into Macrovision Corporation with Macrovision as the surviving corporation. Galaxy Merger Sub, Inc., merged with and into Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc., with Gemstar-TV Guide as the surviving corporation, as a result Macrovision and Gemstar-TV Guide becoming the wholly owned subsidiaries of Macrovision Solutions Corporation. The above transactions were closed on May 2, 2008.
The company announced its intention to acquire All Media Guide on November 6, 2007 and substantially all the assets of Muze, Inc. on April 15, 2009. Both companies provide entertainment metadata.
On July 16, 2009, Macrovision Solution Corporation announced the official change of its name to Rovi Corporation.
NTSC and other analog video formats store and convey video signals as a series of “lines.” Most of these lines (483 in NTSC) are used for constructing the visible image, and are shown on screen. But several more exist (43 in NTSC) which are not shown on screen. Known as the vertical blanking interval (VBI), these extra lines are used to convey different things in different countries, like closed captioning.
Macrovision's legacy analog copy protection (ACP) works by implanting a series of excessive voltage pulses within the offscreen VBI lines of video. These pulses are included physically within pre-existing recordings on VHS, and generated upon playback by a chip in DVD players and digital cable/satellite boxes. A DVD recorder receiving an analog signal featuring these pulses will detect them and display a message saying that the source is "copy-protected", followed by aborting the recording. VCRs, in turn, will react to these excessive voltage pulses by compensating with their automatic gain control circuitry, causing the recorded picture to wildly change brightness, rendering it unwatchable.
On most televisions, these pulses cause no visible effects because their automatic gain control circuitry, unlike AGC circuits within VCRs, is purposely engineered to not react to them. Very old televisions, however, would react to them, producing distorted images as a result. On some TVs that do not properly blank the vertical retrace, dotted white lines additionally appear near the top of the picture. Some newer TVs also mistake the Macrovision pulses for synchronization pulses.
A later form of Macrovision's analog copy protection, called Level II ACP, introduced multiple 180 degree phase inversions to the analog signal's colorburst. Also known as colorstriping, this technology caused numerous off-color bands to appear within the picture. A later variant, Level III ACP, simply added more phase inversions, increasing the number of color stripes visible on screen.
Another form of analog copy protection, known as CGMS-A, is added by DVD players and digital cable/satellite boxes. While not invented by Macrovision, the company's products implement it. CGMS-A consists of a "flag" within the vertical blanking interval (essentially data, like closed captioning) which digital recording devices search for. If present, they refuse to record the signal, just as with the earlier ACP technology. Unlike digital recording equipment, however, analog VCRs do not respond to CGMS-A encoded video and will record it successfully if ACP is not also present.
Historically, the original Macrovision technology was considered a nuisance to some specialist users because it could interfere with other electronic equipment. For example, if one were to run their video signal through a VCR before the television, some VCRs will output a ruined signal regardless of whether it is recording. This also occurs in some TV-VCR combo sets. Apart from this, many DVD recorders mistake the mechanical instability of worn videotapes for Macrovision signals, and so refuse to make what would be perfectly legal DVD dubs of people's old home movies and the like. This widespread problem is another factor contributing to the demand for devices that defeat Macrovision. The signal has also been known to confuse home theater line doublers (devices for improving the quality of video for large projection TVs) and some high-end television comb filters. In addition, Macrovision confuses many upconverters (devices that convert a video signal to a higher resolution), causing them to shut down and refuse to play Macrovision content.
Some DVD players give the user the option of disabling the Macrovision technology. This is possible since the signal is not stored on the DVD itself; instead commercial DVDs contain an instruction to the player to create such a signal during playback. Some DVD players can be configured to ignore such instructions.
There are also devices called stabilizers, video stabilizers or enhancers available that filter out the Macrovision spikes and thereby defeat the system. The principle of their function lies in detecting the vertical synchronization signal, and forcing the lines occurring during the vertical blanking interval to black level, removing the AGC-confusing pulses. They can be easily built by hobbyists, as nothing more than a cheap microcontroller together with an analog multiplexer and a little other circuitry is needed. Individuals less experienced with such things can purchase video stabilizers off the Internet. The best device for defeating Macrovision is a Time Base Corrector (TBC), although they are more expensive than the simpler video stabilizers.
Discs made with DVD copying programs such as DVD Shrink automatically disable any Macrovision copy protection. USB-based video interfaces designed to allow DVD recording on PCs are legally required to detect the presence of Macrovision signals on any analog signals input to them, and if so, inhibit the recording.
The MPAA maintains it has every right to limit copying of movies, comparing DVDs to pay-per-view where the consumer is allowed to view the movie in question but nothing more. Many are concerned that the organization is attempting to quash fair use by disallowing consumers to make personal copies.
On the other hand the ease with which Macrovision and other copy protection measures can be defeated has prompted a steadily growing number of DVD releases that do not have copy protection of any kind, CSS or Macrovision.
United States fair use law, as interpreted in the decision over Betamax (Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios), dictates that consumers are fully within their legal rights to copy videos they own. However, the legality has changed somewhat with the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act. After April 26, 2002, no VCR may be manufactured or imported without Automatic Gain Control circuitry (which renders VCRs vulnerable to Macrovision). This is contained in title 17, section 1201(k) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. However, there are a number of mostly older VCR models on the market that are not affected by Macrovision.
On October 26, 2001, the sale, purchase, or manufacture of any device that has no commercial purpose other than disabling Macrovision copy protection was made illegal under section 1201(a) of the same controversial act.
In June 2005, Macrovision sent a cease and desist letter to "Lightning UK!", the maker of DVD Decrypter, a program that allows users to backup their DVDs by bypassing CSS and Macrovision. They later acquired the rights to this software.
In June 2005, Macrovision sued Sima Products under section 1201 of the DMCA, claiming that Sima's video processors provided a way to circumvent Macrovision's analog copy protection. Sima received an injunction barring the sale of this device, but the parties ultimately settled without a judgment on the legal issues.
Category:Companies based in Santa Clara, California Category:Companies listed on NASDAQ Category:Companies established in 1983 Category:Digital technology
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Jay Sean |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Kamaljit Singh Jhooti |
| Alias | Jay Sean |
| Born | March 26, 1981Harlesden, Brent, London, England |
| Instrument | Guitar, piano |
| Genre | Pop, R&B;, hip hop, bhangra |
| Occupation | Singer–songwriter, rapper, beatboxer, record producer, arranger |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Label | Relentless, Virgin, 2Point9, Jayded, Cash Money, Universal Republic, Island |
| Associated acts | Birdman, Craig David, Drake, Kevin Rudolf, Lil Jon, Lil Wayne, Sean Paul, Sway, Thara, Keisha Buchanan |
| Url |
He eventually left Virgin in 2006 and founded his own independent label, Jayded Records. After a gap of nearly four years, he returned in 2008 with "Ride It", which reached #11 in the UK and topped the charts in several Eastern European countries, including Romania where it was one of the best-selling singles of the year. It was followed by hits such as "Maybe", which reached #7 on the Japan Hot 100, and "Tonight". They were included in his second album, My Own Way, which became his most successful album on the UK Albums Chart, reaching #6, and topped the UK R&B; Chart.
Since the end of 2008, has he been signed to Cash Money Records. In 2009, his American debut single "Down" topped the Billboard Hot 100, making him the first solo artist of South Asian origin and first UK urban act to top the Hot 100. It was the seventh-best selling song of 2009, having sold more than three million digital copies in the United States, and six million copies worldwide, It was soon followed by another hit, "Do You Remember", which has sold more than a million copies in the US, and entered the top ten on the Hot 100, making him the first male act since Chingy in 2003 to "simultaneously appear in the Hot 100 top 10 with his first two charting singles." They were included in his American-debut album All or Nothing, which debuted at #37 on the US Billboard 200 and reached #11 on the Japan Oricon Albums Chart. and was ranked #35 in Billboard's Hot 100 Artists of 2009.
Despite initially failing to reach the top 20 on the UK Albums Chart (where it peaked at #29), the album gradually managed to sell 100,000 copies in the UK and went on to become a substantial hit in India, selling over two million copies there. He made a brief appearance in the 2005 Bollywood film Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, providing the song "Dil Mera (My Heart)" to the soundtrack, based on "One Night" from his own debut album. Beyond India, the album sold over 300,000 copies across other parts of the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, His performance of tracks from Me Against Myself on MTV Asia (alongside the Rishi Rich Project) had a television audience as large as 165 million viewers. It helped establish Sean as a major recognized artist across Asia and among the worldwide Desi diaspora, and remains his most successful album to date. With his debut album, Sean was influential in popularizing Indian-R&B; fusion sounds in Asian underground and Indian pop music. In February 2006, after several delays of his second album, he left Virgin Records.
Jay Sean returned in late 2007 with the new single "Ride It", which was the first single from his second album My Own Way. It was to be the first album released as a joint-venture between his own label Jayded and 2Point9 Records. The video for "Ride It", released in early 2008, featured Jay Sean with a new style after being out of the limelight for nearly three and a half years. My Own Way debuted at #6 in the official UK Albums Chart and generated two more UK top 20 singles, "Ride It" and "Maybe". On the back of this Jay received two MOBO Award nominations, for Best UK Male (alongside Dizzee Rascal, Taio Cruz, Wiley and Sway) and Best R'n'B/Soul (alongside Usher, Estelle, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown). "Ride It" was successful in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia, Turkey and Romania, where it became one of the three best-selling singles of the year. "Maybe" was his most successful single in Japan, where it reached #7 on the Japan Hot 100 Singles.
Touch Magazine in the U.K. described him as "the U.K.'s answer to Ne-Yo," while The Independent called him "...an urban legend in the making." In August 2008, Jay Sean co-hosted London radio station Choice FM's Breakfast show a week in which he only performed previously unheard tracks, including a song whose title was left to the listeners to decide. The unknown track was later confirmed to be called "Tonight" and is included in My Own Way: Deluxe Edition. Jay Sean was confirmed for the third series of Celebrity Scissorhands in October 2008 but he withdrew before the show was aired for unclear reasons.
On 15 October 2008 during the MOBO Awards, Jay Sean announced that he had signed with the American hip-hop oriented record label Cash Money Records distributed via Universal Republic Records making him the first male British Asian singer to sign with an American label. His American-debut single was "Down" featuring American rapper and label mate Lil Wayne. It topped the Billboard Hot 100, replacing Black Eyed Peas. This makes him the first British artist to top the Hot 100 since Freddie Mercury of Queen in 1980, and the first solo artist of Asian descent to do so. "Down" has sold more than six million copies worldwide, and three million digital copies in the US, In addition, "Down" has received a large airplay of two billion listener impressions on radio worldwide. In November 2009, Sean's next single from his album, "Do You Remember", was released and featured Jamaican dancehall superstar Sean Paul plus US Southern crunk rapper Lil Jon. It entered the Hot 100 top ten on the week of 9 January 2009, After the award, he was in America for the first time since signing with Cash Money, he announced through a interview with MTV IGGY that he was recording five new songs for his album, then titled My Own Way (U.S. edition), one of which was his American-debut single with Lil Wayne, later titled "Down". Sean discussed a collaboration with Akon at the 2009 Grammy Awards, in addition to recording a song with Nadine Coyle and told viewers that the album will be released in third quarter of 2009. The album title was later changed to All or Nothing, and featured brand new songs and some of the songs from My Own Way. Despite success with two singles from the album, the album itself only debuted at #37 on the US Billboard 200. It was his lowest-charting entry on the UK Albums Chart, debuting there at #62. Despite this, it has become his highest-charting album in Japan, reaching #11 on the Oricon Albums Chart.
Sean was featured on a song called "Written on Her" alongside Birdman for the CEO’s project, released on 23 June 2009 on iTunes. This song was played during an interview on Westwood Radio 1 with Birdman and Jay Sean. Jay Sean has featured on Skepta's single "Lush" released on 10 June 2009 on iTunes. On 2 February 2010, Kevin Rudolf's single "I Made It (Cash Money Heroes)", featured Jay Sean alongside Birdman and Lil Wayne, was released. In early December 2009, it was confirmed that he has collaborated with Justin Timberlake and Esmée Denters on a song, "Love Dealer". There have been talks of collaborations with other American artists such as Ashley Tisdale, Taylor Swift, Nicole Scherzinger, Rihanna, Usher, and Jay-Z & Beyoncé.
Jay Sean was in early September 2009 nominated for the 30 Under 30 award. At the 2009 UK Urban Music Awards, he won the Best Collaboration award for "Down" alongside Lil Wayne. In early December 2009, he was ranked #35 in Billboard's Hot 100 Artists of the year. Sean's performance "had the entire crowd – parents and children, teens and twenty-somethings – dancing."
Jay Sean has confirmed he is working on a new album, with a tentative release date of 2 November 2010. He has stated that he has completed roughly 75 percent of the album and that guests so far include Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Nicki Minaj and Mary J. Blige. Other possible collaboration for the album include Akon, Rihanna and Drake. "2012 (It Ain't the End)" was released to U.S. radio stations and as a digital download to iTunes on 3 August 2010, as the lead single of the album. The video leaked on 14 August 2010, but Jay Sean confirmed that the leaked version of the video wasn't the final version. The final version of the video premiered on 24 August 2010. In October 2010, it was announced that the album got pushed back to 22 February 2011.
Sean will be part of the Summerbeatz tour held in Australia alongside, Flo Rida, Soulja Boy and Travie McCoy in November 2010.
In 2009, Sean performed in Justin Timberlake's charity concert to raise funds for the Shriners Hospital for Children, alongside artists such as MC Zani, Taylor Swift and Alicia Keys. It became one of the highest-earning charity events of the year, raising more than $9 million.
Category:Cash Money Records artists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Old Latymerians Category:English male singers Category:English pop singers Category:English rhythm and blues singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English rappers Category:English record producers Category:Beatboxers Category:Musicians from London Category:English Sikhs Category:Bhangra Category:People from Hounslow Category:People from Southall Category:Punjabi people Category:Punjabi-language singers
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
