News Round-Up (IV): Hauppauge, i-Trailers ("Scott Pilgrim vs. the World"), Jivox

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been on the road the past few weeks, we are covering recent news stories in summary/round-up form. We anticipate that it will take a few days for us to catch up with all the recent news: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't yet see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us. We apologize for any inconvenience to our readers.

• Hauppauge Digital, a developer of digital TV receivers for PC's, has announced that its HD PVR product now supports Windows Media Center. "With a free software update from Hauppauge, Windows Media Center can now use the HD PVR to record high-definition TV programs from a cable TV or satellite set-top box," the company states in its press materials. "HD PVR can record HDTV from any cable TV or satellite set-top box which has a component video output. In addition to high-definition video, HD PVR can record 5.1 channel audio through its optical audio connections."
• i-Trailers, a company that has been set up by motion picture advertising specialist, Mark Woollen & Associates, specifically to develop interactive movie trailers, has been tapped by Universal to create an interactive trailer for the movie, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World." The trailer--which can be seen here--allows viewers to click to access a range of background materials on the movie and its making, including commentary from its director, Edgar Wright, behind-the-scenes footage, bonus footage, and more.
• Interactive broadband video advertising technology provider, Jivox (note: for an overview of the interactive advertising formats offered by the company, including formats that integrate social media, see the article published on itvt.com, January 20th), has announced that it now supports HTML5, enabling delivery of interactive video advertising campaigns to such devices as the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. "The Jivox Interactive Video Ad player automatically detects the device the user is on and will switch to HTML5 and the appropriately encoded video required by that device," the company states in its press materials. "This ensures that video ads can be served across devices with no changes required to ad tags or code on the Web site to accommodate devices that don't support Adobe Flash. The HTML5 video ads support all of the rich interactive features that have been available from Jivox. The interactive features support the touch interfaces that users are increasingly accustomed to on mobile devices." Said Jivox CEO, Diaz Nesamoney: "With the explosive growth in mobile Web browsing and high-quality video-capable devices such as the iPad, it is critical that advertisers use an ad platform that can deliver the ad regardless of the device the user is using. Most providers of interactive video ads are based on Adobe Flash, which means the ads cannot be viewed on most mobile devices. Jivox takes technology integration out of the equation to let advertisers run interactive video ad campaigns across a variety of devices without worrying about formats or technology integration issues."