Press Releases | Blackfire Research

Blackfire Research Introduces the Blackfire Red Framework

Blackfire Research Introduces Blackfire RED, a New Wireless Real-time Entertainment Distribution Framework, Rescuing Consumers from “Entertainment Islands” in the Home

Blackfire RED Provides a Common Wi-Fi Framework for Entertainment Consumption in the Home, Enabling New Capabilities and Disrupting the $50B Smart Home Entertainment Product Landscape

SAN FRANCISCO – June 12, 2017 – Blackfire Research Corp, the wireless Smart Home Entertainment company, today announced the availability of Blackfire RED, a Real-time Entertainment Distribution framework. Blackfire RED is the industry’s only wireless and entertainment-centric infrastructure software framework built from the ground up to both overcome the limitations of Wi-Fi when used for media applications, and meet the needs of wireless entertainment-related consumer applications and products. It is not enough to just have Wi-Fi connectivity between consumer products. Real-time exchanges of entertainment content require a common framework that can work reliably over Wi-Fi and has a rich set of features for a broad spectrum of entertainment products. This is what Blackfire RED offers, making it an essential component to truly enable smarter Home Entertainment. Blackfire RED rescues consumers from “islands” of incompatible media devices, and finally allows Smart Home owners to enjoy all of their digital content wirelessly, synchronously and seamlessly throughout the home, including high-quality 5.1 audio and 4K video on multiple devices over standard Wi-Fi.

“The Smart Home industry is due for a shake-up,” said Adam Wright, Senior Research Analyst, Consumer IoT, IDC. “While the initial IoT concept has evolved into the Connected Home, we still see that Home Entertainment is lagging behind due to unreliable connectivity and lack of interoperability, among other issues. The Smart Home industry has been in need of a solution that has the ability to link all of these excellent, yet disparate, smart devices. Reliable, real-time connectivity between devices and the ability to work together seamlessly is essential for the Smart Home ecosystem to move past this innovation plateau.”

Top global audio brands, including Harman Kardon, Onkyo, Pioneer, and Integra have already licensed the Blackfire RED framework and are currently shipping products that leverage its capabilities. The Blackfire RED framework is comprised of:

A Software Engine; a small lightweight piece of software, embedded in consumer electronic products, and is network, chipset and operating system agnostic, making integration easy.
A Communication Protocol, that allows Blackfire RED enabled products to talk to each other, over a standard network stack. This was designed and tailored specifically to overcome the limitations of traditional Wi-Fi by working around the effects of interference and ensuring a reliable, high-speed connection.
A Programming Interface that allows easy real time distribution and handling of entertainment content from and to the products.

“Today’s Smart Homes, while certainly more intelligent than a decade ago, have left consumers stranded,” said Ravi Rajapakse, founder and CEO, Blackfire Research Corp. “Smart technology has created entertainment islands, but I wanted my entertainment to be accessible anywhere in my home without compromising on performance or quality, which is what led me to create Blackfire RED. I wanted to see the Smart Home Entertainment promise through to fruition and for people to finally have the wireless entertainment experience for both audio and video that they have long deserved.”

Blackfire RED features and capabilities include:

Reliable multi-room, multi-channel, low latency wireless audio and video over Wi-Fi;
Advanced multi-source media pipeline handling for services such as Google Chromecast Audio and Spotify Connect;
Native integration into Smart TVs, enabling the TV itself to decode and send multi-channel audio to wireless speakers;
Wireless 4K video for transmitting audio and video from a Smart Set Top Box simultaneously to multiple TVs and speakers throughout the home;
Voice AI integration into multi-room, enabling a whole-home voice-control system.
Easy integration into all smart devices.

Blackfire Research

Blackfire Research is making the Smart Home smarter, bridging the islands of entertainment in the home and disrupting the $50B Smart Home Entertainment market with its Blackfire RED, wireless real-time entertainment distribution framework. Based in in San Francisco, California, Blackfire has perfected the industry’s only high-performance wireless software framework that is reliable, fast, and flexible, enabling Smart Homeowners to play all of their audio and video content synchronously and seamlessly throughout the home. Today, leading global audio brands rely on the company’s solutions for real-time wireless media distribution and consumers have now come to recognize the Blackfire logo as a symbol of quality. For more information, please visit: www.bfrx.com.

Media Contact

Allyson Scott

McGrath/Power Public Relations and Communications

+1 (408) 727-0351

AllysonScott@mcgrathpower.com

Blackfire Research Announces Industry’s First WiFi Surround Sound Solution for Smart TVs and Set Top Boxes

Blackfire ImmersionXD delivers a low-latency, multi-channel audio solution for TV and set top box manufacturers

SAN FRANCISCO – December 27, 2016 – Blackfire Research, the leading developer of wireless solutions for home entertainment, today announced the availability of Blackfire ImmersionXD – the industry’s first low-latency WiFi surround sound software solution for television and set top box (STB) manufacturers. Blackfire ImmersionXD (IXD) enables smart TVs and set top boxes to deliver the ultimate home theater experience.

Built on patented technology, Blackfire IXD streams stereo, multichannel 5.1 or 7.1 audio from the TV or STB – including OTT streaming services and connected devices such as BluRay disc players. Blackfire IXD also supports multiroom media streaming, transforming the smart TV or set top box into a whole home media center.

“Instead of creating yet another proprietary wireless network in your living room, we use a standard WiFi network”, said Ravi Rajapakse, Founder and CEO of Blackfire Research. “By utilizing standard WiFi together with our patented technology, Blackfire IXD mitigates network interference and delivers exceptional performance and improved reliability.”

The Blackfire IXD solution includes software integrated into the Smart TV or set top box motherboard and Blackfire IXD enabled speakers. Blackfire IXD reference modules and speakers are available.

Blackfire IXD will be available for demonstration from January 5-8, 2017 during the CES Show in Las Vegas. Contact Blackfire Research for more information at info@bfrx.com

About Blackfire Research

Blackfire Research (www.bfrx.com) develops wireless software and hardware solutions for high-performance, wireless home entertainment systems. Blackfire Research is built on patented Internet Protocol technologies designed to wirelessly stream media to multiple devices simultaneously over standard Wi-Fi. Through partnerships with global, industry leaders, Blackfire creates products that allow movie, TV, and music lovers to wirelessly build the home entertainment experience they desire.

Media Contact:
Stephen Lambright
slambright@brfx.com

Consumer Electronics Veteran Joins Blackfire Research Leadership Team

FORMER RAZER EXECUTIVE, RUBEN MOOKERJEE, NAMED VP OF GLOBAL SALES AND DISTRIBUTION

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – December 7, 2016 – Blackfire Research, the leading developer of wireless technology for home entertainment, today announced that Ruben Mookerjee has joined the executive team as VP of Global Sales and Distribution.

Mookerjee joins Blackfire Research with more than 30 years of Consumer Electronics experience, most recently serving as the Vice President and General Manager at Razer, the dominant brand and global leader in PC gaming.

“We are thrilled to have Ruben head up our Sales and Distribution,” says Blackfire Research founder and CEO, Ravi Rajapakse. “He brings a unique background in consumer products that combines technology with business development and sales distribution. I have known Ruben for several years, and am delighted to have his leadership and expertise on the Blackfire team.”

Prior to Razer, Mookerjee headed up the PC Components business at Corsair, where he also led the acquisition of Simple Audio, a networked audio player. Mookerjee held executive positions at Logitech (NASDAQ: LOGI), Labtec and Hewlett Packard. Mookerjee holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Kingston University, London.

“I first met Ravi several years ago, and was instantly intrigued by his vision and the robust technology developed by the Blackfire Research team”, said Mookerjee. “There is a lot of wireless technology out there, but they all trade off performance for convenience. Blackfire Research has opened up the possibility of a wireless future, from 4K video to 5.1 audio, that can be screened around the home without compromising the integrity of the product or the user’s experience.”

About Blackfire Research

Founded in 2006, Blackfire Research (www.bfrx.com) develops wireless software technology and hardware solutions for high-performance, wireless home entertainment systems. Blackfire Research is built on patented Internet Protocol technologies designed to wirelessly stream media to multiple devices simultaneously over standard Wi-Fi. Through partnerships with global, industry leaders, Blackfire creates products that allow movie, TV, and music lovers to wirelessly create the home entertainment experience they desire.

Blackfire Research Founder, Ravi Rajapakse, Talks at Web Summit

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – November 7, 2016 – Blackfire Research, the leading developer of wireless technology for media entertainment consumer products, is partnering with Arabian Prince, founding member of the legendary rap group NWA and veteran technology entrepreneur, to discuss innovations in entertainment technology at Web Summit 2016.

Taking place in Lisbon, Portugal from November 7-10, 2016, Web Summit 2016 is the largest technology conference in Europe with 50,000 attendees and more than 7,000 international CEOs. During the conference, a music panel session entitled “Innovate or Die featuring Ravi Rajapakse and Arabian Prince” will take place on November 10, 2016, 14:40-15:00pm GMT, and will stream live worldwide on social media at www.facebook.com/WebSummitHQ.

Ravi Rajapakse, the founder and CEO of Blackfire Research, has has been a Silicon Valley entrepreneur for over 20 years at a series of successful companies specializing in wireless technologies. He has a background in engineering and over 30 Patents. He has also been building music systems from a young age and is an avid music enthusiast. Since NWA, Arabian Prince has been entrenched in technology ventures from developing a successful 3D animation and special effects studio, to most recently launching a technology incubator and innovation center in Silicon Beach called Inov8 Next.

“As the entertainment spectrum continues to evolve, from content and platforms, to delivery and consumption, seamless user experiences have become essential,” says Ravi Rajapakse. “Over the past decade, Blackfire Research has played a key role in helping to radically improve the quality, reliability and performance of wireless technologies so they can deliver that seamless, whole home entertainment experience users will expect. It is exciting to look ahead to what innovations this will enable over the next decade.”

“Just in the past few years, we’ve seen an accelerated growth in entertainment technology on both the audio and video front,” says Arabian Prince, founder of Inov8 Next. “Between music, television, film, gaming, virtual reality and so on, the opportunities are endless when it comes to advancements in technology for the broad media entertainment landscape.”

For more information about Blackfire Research or Inov8 Next, please visit www.bfrx.com and www.inov8next.com respectively; Web Summit 2016, please visit www.websummit.net

About Blackfire Research

About Inov8 Next

Inov8 Next (www.inov8next.com) is a product innovation incubator and technology center based in Los Angeles, California. The brainchild of founder Arabian Prince, Inov8 Next empowers the brightest inventors by leveraging the power of industry experience, strategic resources and advanced mentorship. Inov8 Next is on a mission to build the next generation of technology inventors, innovations and products, transforming ideas and concepts into tangible solutions. Underwritten by the world’s largest technology products distributor Ingram Micro, Inov8 Next is supported and aligned with a broad network of industry partners including Blackfire Research.

Pioneer AV Receiver with FireConnect by Blackfire

Pioneers next generation Network AV receiver has FireConnect by Blackfire built in enabling playback to and from any Blackfire enabled product.

Click here to see Press Release by Pioneer

VSX-1131 – brand new top level AV receiver incorporating Dolby Atmos and DTS:X

Pioneer & Onkyo Europe GmbH are delighted to announce the introduction of a brand new Pioneer AV receiver, the VSX-1131. Incorporating Dolby Atmos and DTS:X object based audio formats*1 plus many other new and innovative features including MCACC*2 Pioneer’s unique automatic sound adjustment technology, now with enhanced support for Dolby Atmos ‘enabled’ speakers, support for the latest network functions including GoogleCast*3, TuneIn, Deezer*3 and TIDAL*3, a new dual band Wi-Fi connection, a new 384kHz/32 bit DAC and support for a new Multi-room Audio*4 capability that allows sources connected to the AV receiver to be played back on additional speakers*5 in different rooms. There is a brand new GUI and support for HDCP 2.2, HDR*6/BT.2020*7.

Powerful Sound

– A 7.1-channel receiver with 160 W/ch (6 ohms, 1 kHz, THD 1.0 %, 1ch Driven)

New DAC

– Incorporates a high grade 384kHz/32bit DAC (AK4458) produced by AMK which offers clear, delicate audio reproduction thanks to a unique digital filter which achieves extremely low distortion.

MCACC – Create the ideal acoustic environment for surround sound

– Pioneer’s MCACC (Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration System), developed with the expertise of professional recording studios creates the ideal acoustic environment. With a custom microphone, the system automatically compensates for differences in speaker size, level and distance, and equalizes response. A professionally EQ’d audio environment is then created enabling faithful reproduction of the original master sound.

– A brand new feature ‘Reflex Optimizer’ enhances object-based audio reproduction specifically aimed at users of upward firing Dolby Atmos ‘Enabled’ Speakers.

Phase Control

– As an innovative solution for phase lag between the subwoofer and main L+R speakers, Phase Control compensates the delayed bass to improve sound synchronization. Consequently, it makes LFE more dynamic and achieves clear reproduction of sound in the mid and high frequency bands.

Dolby Atmos & DTS:X support*8

– The latest object-based audio formats, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are both supported. This technology utilizes object based data as opposed to traditional channel based data and creates a three dimensional soundscape in the room utilizing height based audio information in addition to the traditional horizontal based audio that is offered by channel based solutions. DTS:X will be supported through a free to download firmware update.

UltraHD (4K) and HDR compatibility

– VSX-1131 supports 4K/60p/4:4:4 24-bit video signal transmission with HDCP 2.2 technology, ensuring compatibility with the many upcoming UltraHD(4K)sources and televisions.

– In addition, VSX-1131 is also ready for the next generation HDR (High Dynamic Range) and BT.2020*6 video standards.

– ‘Super Resolution’ Ultra-high-resolution 4K upscaling technologies have been incorporated to upscale ‘standard’ HD-quality content to the quality of a 4K video signal.

GoogleCast

– Included for the very first time in a Pioneer AV Receiver.The VSX-1131 has Google Cast, the same technology behind Chromecast built-in, so you can use your mobile device to cast your favorite music, radio, or podcasts to your speaker. You can control the audio from anywhere in the house using Cast-enabled apps running on your personal device—iPhone, iPad, Android phone and tablet, Mac and Windows laptop, and Chromebook. Discover apps at g.co/cast/audioapps.

Multi-room Audio

– Another exciting first for the VSX-1131 is support for FireConnect™ Powered by Blackfire*4 via an upcoming firmware update. FireConnect enables any audio source connected to the receiver—from vinyl to streaming audio—to be sent wirelessly to a compatible speaker placed anywhere in the home. Stable, fast, and easily controlled, it’s the smart way to set audio free.

Internet Radio and Online Music

– A limitless flow of music, sports, talk, and news entertainment from internet radio stations and online music services, including, Spotify® and for the first time TuneIn, TIDAL, and Deezer

Built-in Dual Band Wi-Fi®*9 and Bluetooth® wireless technologies

– high-fidelity high-resolution sound sources can be enjoyed wirelessly through a Wi-Fi connection that supports dual band 5GHz (11a/n) and 2.4GHz (11b/g/n) offering faster transmission with fewer interruptions,

– Music can also be streamed simply and easily via the integration of wireless Bluetooth®

Hi-Res Audio Support

– 192kHz / 24-bit high-resolution FLAC, WAV, AIFF and Apple lossless file formats are supported, along with DSD (2.8/5.6MHz) *10 files.

Uncompressed HD audio

– VSX-1131 supports various high-definition audio formats including Dolby® TrueHD® and DTS-HD®

Other features

– Powered Zone 2

– Zone 2 Line Out

– iControlAV5 compatible

– AirPlay compatible

– Supports HDMI®-based control functions

Notes:

1 Multi-dimensional surround sound acoustics using objects. By mixing independent acoustic elements (objects) that incorporate the intentions of the creator (movement and arrangement of sound) as metadata with the conventional channel-based sound track, adjustable sound placement and movement is achieved.2 MCACC: Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration System (automatic acoustic calibration system). MCACC is a proprietary acoustic compensation technology from Pioneer that can perform sound field adjustment at the same level as monitoring techniques employed in sound studios.3 Supported via a firmware update provided at a later date. The firmware update is planned in this Summer. Details on the firmware update will be posted on our website and through other means at a later date.4 Multi-room Audio is realized by FireConnect technology. The firmware installed in the AV Receiver needs updating. FireConnect i s a technology of Blackfire Research Corp,USA. We do not guarantee that the AV Receiver will support all devices incorporating FireConnect. The firmware update is planned in this Summer. Details on the firmware update will be posted on our website and through other means at a later date5 Speakers that support Multi-Room Audio are scheduled to be released going forward. The details of the speakers will be provided progressively on our website.6 HDR is a technology that expands the maximum brightness of video. HDR technology is used in the next-generation Blu-ray standard to expand the maximum brightness from 100 nit to 10,000 nit.7 BT.2020 is a video format standard that covers a wide color space more than twice that of the BT.709 standard currently used in Blu-ray and other formats.8 Supported via a firmware update provided at a later date. The firmware update is planned in this Autumn. Details on the firmware update will be posted on our website and through other means at a later date.9 Requires a wireless LAN network environment compatible with Wi-Fi standards and a Wi-Fi-based connection.10 Sound is reproduced by conversion to PCM.PIONEER, MCACC, Phase Control, Advanced Sound Retriever, and the logos are registered trademarks of Pioneer Corporation, and are used under license. The terms HDMI and HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface, and the HDMI Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of HDMI Licensing LLC in the United States and other countries. Dolby, Dolby Atmos, and the double-D symbol are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. For DTS patents, see http://patents.dts.com. Manufactured under license from DTS, Inc. DTS, the Symbol, DTS in combination with the Symbol, DTS:X, and the DTS:X logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of DTS, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. © DTS, Inc. All Rights Reserved. AirPlay works with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with iOS 4.3.3 or later, Mac with OS X Mountain Lion, and Mac and PC with iTunes 10.2.2 or later. AirPlay is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.iOS is a trademark on which Cisco holds the trademark right in the US and certain other countries. Wi-Fi® is a registered trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Logo is a certification mark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. •”x.v.Color” is a trademark of Sony Corporation. Spotify and the Spotify logo are trademarks of the Spotify Group, registered in the U.S. and other countries. The product with the Hi-Res Audio logo is conformed to Hi-Res Audio standard defined by Japan Audio Society. The logo is used under license from Japan Audio Society.Android and Google Cast are trademarks of Google inc. •Blu-ray Disc™, Blu-ray™, Ultra HD Blu-ray™ and the logos are trademarks of the Blu-ray Disc Association. .FireConnect is a trademark of Blackfire Research.All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.