STUTTGART, Germany & CULVER CITY, Calif.—As CES opens in Las Vegas, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), IMAX , Mercedes-Benz and Xperi’s DTS subsidiary have announced that SPE’s in-car entertainment service, RIDEVU, will make IMAX Enhanced content from the studio’s library readily available in vehicles, starting this summer in Mercedes-Benz models with the latest generation of the car maker’s MBUX media entertainment system.
The launch promises to offer a major boost to the visual and audio quality of in-auto viewing of feature films.
IMAX Enhanced is designed to deliver IMAX’s signature picture and sound outside of a theatre. With this agreement, RIDEVU will deliver select IMAX Enhanced films featuring IMAX’s expanded aspect ratio (EAR), its proprietary DMR process and DTS:X sound, available in multiple dubbed languages.
[Also Read: More TV Tech Coverage of News From CES]
The IMAX Enhanced movies from Sony Pictures’ library include such features as “Venom: The Last Dance,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Uncharted.”
SPE’s RIDEVU service is available in the U.S., Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany. The service is fully integrated with select original equipment manufacturers, including Mercedes-Benz as the first global automotive OEM. It offers access to thousands of movies to buy, rent or stream.
Designed for the car, RIDEVU connects Sony Pictures films with its advanced streaming technology, allowing consumers to enjoy hours of entertainment on built-in screens or on iOS and Android devices being used in the car.
Using Screen Manager, users can easily control playback across all screens from the center screen and entertain passengers with individual or shared viewing experiences on up to six screens. Content can be accessed by the driver (while parked) and front- and rear-seat passengers.
“By deepening our collaboration with IMAX, we’re demonstrating our unwavering commitment to providing discerning consumers with immersive experiences that transform every journey,” Pete Wood, senior vice president of digital sales, distribution, SPE, said. “By delivering IMAX Enhanced content through RIDEVU, we are showcasing what is possible as we push the boundaries of content and audio delivery in the car starting in Mercedes-Benz models later this year.”
Vikram Arumilli, senior vice president and GM, streaming and consumer technology at IMAX added that “we are bringing our most immersive sound experience directly to the vehicle in a way that hasn’t happened before. With this collaboration, we’re not just providing a quality audio experience, we’re helping bridge the gap between home and vehicle, delivering personalised entertainment where consumers want it.”
The service is being demoed in a Mercedes-Benz E-Class vehicle at CES from Jan. 7-10 at Xperi’s booth 5840 in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25822296/2192215278.jpg "Can Nvidia’s RTX 5070 really deliver RTX 4090 performance for 9?")
