Now You See Me 2013 720p ((FULL))

Good morning! Regulars here will know that I've been bullish on Portmeirion (LON:PMP) for a while now, having first flagged them up after their January trading statement in 2013, and then taking the plunge and buying some shares myself on 21 Mar 2013, explaining in that day's report how they looked good value on a PER of 11.1 and a dividend yield of 4.1%, with net cash of 7.5m. Although I bemoaned the 25p quoted spread between the 525p Bid price, and 550p Offer spread.

Now you see me 2013 720p

The shares have since risen about 31% to 700p Bid, 720p Offer, which is only really in line with the general market re-rating of smaller caps, as you can see from the chart below, where (as usual) the beige line is the FTSE Small Caps Index (excl. Inv. Trusts). In fact Portmeirion has lagged since Sept 2013, and would have risen to 800p per share if it had kept up with the Index.

So we have a positive trading update today, indicating that profit before tax for the year ended 31 Dec 2013 will be in line with expectations, which is for 50.8p EPS. So at 720p Offer price, these shares are priced at a PER of 14.2 times 2013 earnings. Given the much more favourable economic outlook in its main markets (the UK, USA, and S.Korea), I think this is a reasonable price.

Promotional products group 4imprint (LON:FOUR) has issued a trading update, ahead of its results for the year ended 28 Dec 2013. Turnover rose 16% against 2012, to 211.7m. By far the bulk of turnover is generated by their North American operation - so they are up against the pressure of stronger sterling, which means US profits will translate into a lower sterling reported amount this year, if the pound remains strong.

So I reckon that EPS is likely to come in around 35p for 2013, so at 690p the rating is a fairly lofty 19.7 times. That strikes me as a bit rich, as the share price has already priced-in further considerable growth in earnings. That may happen, but personally I don't like paying up-front for future profit growth, as it leaves me too vulnerable to a heavy loss on any setbacks in trading. This is a good company, but it's operating in a competitive sector, on a not particularly strong operating profit margin, and the share price already factors in another big increase in EPS.

More evidence of the rude health of the UK car market has emerged with a trading update today from H.R. Owen (LON:HRO). In it they say that a robust close to the year will lead to results for 2013 being ahead of management expectations. Used car sales volumes are up by almost a third, which I find astonishing. That must reflect pent-up demand from the last few years of depressed conditions, and perhaps people deciding to buy a new car on credit whilst interest rates are still low?

For the half year to 31 Oct 2013 they say that profit before tax was up 13.6% to 2.2m. It seems to be a heavily H2 weighted trading year, judging by the 2012/13 figures. Also, I take back my rude comments about Private Equity, as it reports being debt-free, and having net cash of 11.9m.

Now, beauty is in the eye of the beholder - for example I've been replaying Super Mario 3D World recently, and at some points I think it looks gorgeous. This despite the fact it's upscaling from 720p, but the fluidity of movement at 60fps combined with some smart visual design and a colourful aesthetic is terrific. This is something Nintendo did well on Wii U, with examples including Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the latter of which was even native 1080p.

Of course, technology moves on apace. Due to some crafty bargain hunting following the early death of my old TV I got a solid 4K TV a while ago, before clocking the fact that my options of utilising Ultra HD were limited to streaming TV shows (or paying over the odds to rent 4K movies). Rather like going back to playing a Wii game a few years ago, going back to early-ish Wii U games shows how our eyes reflect expectations - what wowed me in 2012 / 2013 may not wow me any more.

@abbyhitter I'd agree in that case. The issue with the Wii is that it was outputting a max of 480p when HD (720p and up) was becoming standard. However, we're never going to see such a large jump in resolution again. On the other hand, many console games of this generation are having frame rate issues.

Great article. Considering that I have also recently purchased a nice new (non-OLED) LG UHD HDR big screen I was also compelled to buy the new PS4 Pro to replace my old PS4. I've always been and always will be a Nintendo fanboy, the gameplay is unique and fun to revisit. But the thing that makes Nintendo games less appealing over time is outdated graphics compared to their competition. I love the new PS4 Pro and yet I can largely get the same or better result on my PC, so for me the PS4 Pro ends up being for exclusives or games that I'd rather sit back on the couch and play like Skyrim.The Wii U stayed largely relevant among it's fans with great games and consistent frame rates even if they were often only at 720p. To stay relevant in an age where UHD content isn't everywhere most current televisions upscale 720p or higher content fairly well. I think Nintendo should stick to what they are good at. Given the price point of the Switch it will likely be a 900p console for current gen that hits 4K with minimalistic graphics but drops as low as 720p. I think the Switch should target 1080p when possible but go no less than 720p while targeting a smooth 30 or 60fps. While games like Mario Kart Wii don't age that well visually they are still fun to go back to. Personally I think some of Nintendo's efforts like Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon outshine a lot of their competition with artistic flare and innovation where it is needed, in gameplay. I'm very optimistic about Nintendo's future, while at the same time excited for competition from Sony and Microsoft next year. Each brings something unique to the table and as gamers we have benefited.

Personally, I can live with 720p games but framrate means a lot more to me. I can deal with 30fps on handheld and mobile, on console it really ruins it for me. It's way more noticible to me. I can live with it I guess, but somehow I have a feeling big games wont achieve high fps or high resolution on Switch, and that's very disappointing to me, who, as a customer, will likely never take the $300+ system outside my front door.

4k hear we go again .Eeventhou they are quite cheap now there is VAST amount of world's population that don't have one.Even TV providers like Sky and Virgin only offer a small amount of 4k programs although at a hight price, Freest, Freeview ect have none.Most tv ones don't even broadcast in 1080p.It's going to be Quite sone time for mass market has 4k ,let alone HDR ,and even longer for normal channels to have this.720p 60fps on 40 inch tv is absolutely fine.If you've got 50 inch or above 1080p 60fps is needed if fussy.4k home consoles is not important or needed wright now and unless your hardcore tv buff or what very best of best looking picture on your games most people don't care.

The resolution of the games really depends on the screen size... The TVs I play are not bigger than 40" so the 4K and the 1080p doesn't differs that greatly.If you take de portable side of the Switch it would not matter at all if it was 10K or 720p, the screen size pixels would be so tiny on both resolutions that anyone of them would fulfill the need of the "graphic-addicteds". Saddly people just got blinded by specs. In my case, I'm still have to see that many, of nintendo games per console, games from others consoles, that makes me want it because they look fun and not a movie.

Megapixel cameras - Outside of the covert/wearable trend, megapixel camera introductions were fairly minimal. 360/panoramic is probably the other big notable, not so much for it being new but because vendors keep on jumping in (now Axis, Panasonic and D-Link). Minor moves include Bosch and Samsung introducing MP 'value' lines. Possibly the most interesting was Arecont's preview of a 12MP WDR multi-imager panoramic camera - an important improvement to a line that is already attractive and with few direct competitors (note: release is not yet scheduled - expect it sometime in 2013).

Arecont Vision - Of the 3 major products Arecont showed at ASIS, only 1 is scheduled for release in the near term, making it difficult to assess their actual 'real' advances. The MegaBall has improved aesthetics compared to their own dome and box cameras, which should help them but it does not mark a big shift competitively. The other 2 introductions were billed as 'technology demonstrations' and do not have a firm release date (sometime in 2013). The 40MP panoramic may be interesting because of its overall resolution (does it replace 120+ analog cameras :) but we suspect its low light and WDR performance will be dreadful. The future product that has the most potential is the 12MP WDR panoramic that will likely have the best all around imagining of this series and in a notably smaller form factor than previous generation AV panoramics.

Sony - Sony showed their upcoming Generation 6 cameras which are scheduled for release early 2013. Given how modest the improvements are, how long it has been since Generation 5 and with Axis relentless introducing new products, it does not seem to be enough to maintain their ground. Sony obviously is in no risk of going away but it is disappointing not to see more from a company with such a strong track record in IP cameras.

You can think of the Amazon Fire TV screen as an Android device that is locked to landscape orientation, with a constant width of 960dp and with a height of 540dp. The rendering surface is always 1920x1080 with a screen density of 320dpi. Output is automatically scaled for 720p and 480p output resolutions.

In your existing Android app for a phone or tablet, you can assume that touch is always present, and your UI elements reflect that. For example, if I run the existing Android Snake Game from my AWS re:Invent 2013 demo on a Kindle Fire, tapping the menu button with my finger brings up the standard Android options menu. 041b061a72