This year the EBU BroadThinking Conference was sounding like a holistic swirl, a milestone in the trend of technology to define sets that are greater than the sum of their parts, through creative evolution. « Where Broadcast Meets BroadBand », you get some interesting fusion effect occurring and diluting the traditional boundaries of the screens, with the handheld devices being part of the big screen experience or extending it rather than trying to scalp it, in an environment where all the devices converge towards a restricted set of standards rather than tracing their own line.
While we by default think that standardization kills creativity, events like BroadThinking show that it’s the opposite: if we gather energies to solve common problems together, we can both come up with a more evolved solution and concentrate on what’s important past the pixel grid: the user experience, so consistent across screens that you forget there’s more than one screen involved.
Adobe, NBCU, Elemental, Deltatre, LiveU, and more are readying streaming platforms that will deliver coverage to desktops and mobile devices around the globe.
Four years ago according to the IOC there was a defining moment in Olympic broadcasting history. Vancouver was the first Winter Games to be fully embraced on digital media platforms where digital coverage accounted for around half of the overall broadcast output.
Globally, on official rights-holding broadcasters’ internet and mobile platforms, there were more than 265 million video views and in excess of 1.2 billion page views during the games. There were also approximately 6,000 hours of 2010 coverage on mobile phone platforms.
Digital coverage from Sochi will surpass this, with many more broadcasters drawing on the clear consumer demand from London 2012 for any time, any device viewing.
The IOC places such draconian restraints on rights holders and anyone working for them to report involvement in the Olympics, which extends to technology contractors, that it's tricky to unearth details on this story. With that caveat, here are some of the large-scale video streaming activities set to go live from Sochi at the end of this week.
The BBC has called for technology standardisation for second screen services in order to help move the the broadcast sector forwards.
Speaking at TV Connect yesterday, BBC senior technologist for mobile and dual screen, Jeremy Kramskoy, said that common standards were important in terms of bringing down development and technology licensing costs.
He also said that in the future connected home, when synchronisation will increasingly result in different web-powered devices talking to each other, “standardisation has to happen, otherwise it’s going to be a complete nightmare.”
Nicolas Weil's insight:
Will the industry hear this call ? Nothing is less sure right now as technology providers need to differentiate in order to pass the first 2nd-screen startups death wave, and CE vendors are not playing too well together.
HbbTV 2.0 will bring interesting answers in this 2nd-screen standardization trend, let's wait a bit more...
Netflix and YouTube have led the development of a simple protocol known as DIAL to allow second screen apps to talk to server applications on network-connected devices and displays. Consumer electronics companies including Samsung and Sony have contributed to the development. YouTube, Dailymotion, Hulu, Disney and the BBC are among those interested in developing applications. It offers a simple open alternative to Apple AirPlay or other solutions such as Miracast and could change the way apps work with network connected televisions.
Netflix and YouTube have teamed up to launch DIAL, a protocol that helps developers of second-screen apps to discover and launch applications on smart TVs and connected devices. The effort is already getting support from a number of notable players, including Samsung, Sony, Hulu and the BBC. DIAL could become a key piece in efforts to establish an open alternative to Apple’s AirPlay.
YouTube and Netflix have been collaborating quietly on these efforts for months. Word first got out when some inquisitive users discovered traces of DIAL back in December. The DIAL website publicly launched with little fanfare and a brief mention on Engadget earlier this month, and now, Netflix is for the first time sharing some key details of the project with GigaOM.
DIAL stands for “discovery and launch,” which pretty much sums up what the protocol is meant to do. DIAL-enabled second screen apps will be able to discover DIAL-ready first-screen devices in the same network and launch apps on them. That may sound trivial, but it’s actually solving a big problem for second screen app developers.
Un seul écran ne suffit plus à notre nouvelle consommation télévisuelle. Et les deux phénomènes à la mode du moment, TV connectée et Social TV, ont au moins un grand point en commun : leur dépendance croissante vis-à-vis d'un écran compagnon, appelé "le second écran", qui --dans les faits-- devient de plus en plus le premier !
Réunis en marge du CES à Las Vegas, les professionnels du secteur, qui continuent de tâtonner, ont fait le point hier sur un nouveau format et un écosystème naissant et prometteur, à l'occasion d'un "Sommet du 2nd écran" qui a fait salle comble. Compte-rendu.
It seems that technology triggers are often accompanied by the hype of future potential benefits, while the real value is elusive and slower to appear than industry journalists, analysts, or pundits would like, but I am going to lay out 10 scenarios that will develop in this still nascent industry during 2013 :
1. The "digital land grab" continues, marked by consolidation, failure, and improved user experiences.
2. Social feeds will be a feature, not the experience.
3. "Discovery" will become a household word.
4. Tablet and smartphone usage reports will become about activities related to the TV.
5. Studios and networks save money, apps grow in 2 directions.
6. Gamification will begin to lose favor with the press and consumers, only to begin to add value again towards the end of 2013.
7. Amazon and Ebay will engage in a battle for the Second Screener's M-Commerce.
8. Cloud-based digital lockers will finally be taken seriously by consumers and the rest of the ecosystem.
9. Device makers will jump into second screen with both feet.
10. ACR and the battle of the digital video ecosystems.
Ensequence signed a deal with Sony Electronics that could help ESPN, Turner Broadcasting, AMC and other networks deliver interactive advertising and programming to connected TVs.
Sony said it will embed Ensequence's interactive TV platform in all new TVs, beginning in the first quarter. Viewers that have purchased a 2011 or 2012 model from Sony can receive the platform through a software update, the companies said.
Ensequence and Sony will rely on automatic content recognition (ACR) technology to trigger interactive overlays in programming and advertising.
Originally presented in London at Screen Digest’s “The Future of Digital Media” event, this is Alan Wolk’s latest salvo in his attempt to bring common sense to the discussion around second screen.
If you want some additional information on a product you’ve seen on an advertisement or in-store, you’re increasingly likely to obtain it a QR code, that ubiquitous two-dimensional rectangle. Some brands are even trying out QR codes in TV advertising. Insurance giant Axa is one such company. If you’re watching Axa’s advertisement and want to see how the story unfolds, you can scan the QR code on the door of the house that you see on your TV screen. With this approach, making the QR code visible to the audience is part and parcel of the communication and engagement process. However, if it’s just a matter of rounding out the information given in the advertisement – providing additional details or enabling the user to make a purchase – then there’s no need to show the little black-and-white chequered rectangle. Fujitsu Laboratories has developed technology to replace the QR code with a code system that’s imperceptibleto the human eye, and which works on the basis of changes in brightness of points of light so that it can be discreetly embedded in a TV advertisement.
Taking their cue from the world of television and the likes of Zeebox, a Dutch film company called 2CFILM has developed what it claims to be the world’s first synchronised second-screen application for use in the cinema.
App – the first film in a series of titles on 2CFILM’s development slate – will be supported by content available through an application for iPhone and Android devices, which delivers a parallel storyline via the app content, bringing the big screen and the mobile device together throughout the film.
The project uses technology based on SyncNow digital watermarking by Dutch firm Civolution and the cross-app development capabilities of another Dutch firm called Service2Media.
LG likes Chromecast’s way of casting media to the TV. So instead of copying it for webOS, the company decided to integrate casting into an open SDK capable of playing nice with multiple devices.
Mobile app developers just got a bit of a break when it comes to bringing their content to the TV screen, courtesy of LG: The consumer electronics maker released an open source Connect SDK Thursday that helps developers cast media to a wide variety of connected devices, ranging from LG’s own TV sets to Google’s Chromecast adapter to Roku’s streaming boxes. Think of it as Chromecast, but for a wide variety of devices.
Neotion has launched what it calls an HBB (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband) tablet solution to expand the enjoyment of HbbTV-compatible TV services. This solution means consumers using HbbTV compatible TVs and set-top boxes can use the tablet as a companion device for TV programming and HbbTV interactive services on the main screen, but it also enables people without HbbTV compatible televisions or STBs to enjoy the interactive HbbTV services on the tablet, including in synchronization with the TV live programme.
The Neotion Blue Bridge platform makes this possible. This provides secure wireless communication (e.g. Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) between television sets and companion devices, which enables synchronization of the screens if required for applications like real-time voting. Blue Bridge also supports an innovative digital couponing model where coupons (like for product promotions) can be delivered within the digital TV signal, then transferred to the companion and subsequently redeemed at shops, which has obvious potential for advertisers.
In the case of the Hbb Tablet, the Blue Bridge application extracts HbbTV data from the DVB stream and transfers this to the second screen. One of the target markets is legacy CI Plus televisions that are not compatible with HbbTV.
Nicolas Weil's insight:
Interesting technology idea of extracting the Hbb data from the DVB streams to play it on the tablet - I'd like to see the solution work without CAM module, in pure cloud configuration, though, as the CAM requirement is quite a restrictive requirement.
Akamai Technologies showed a second screen proof of concept that syncs up complimentary smartphone and tablet content with what's happening on the main television screen.
It’s rare that moviegoers are encouraged to fiddle with their smartphones during a film, but that’s the case with App, the new Dutch movie directed by Bobby Boermans.
Before going to see the film, moviegoers are asked to download a free app (available for Android and iPhone) to enhance the plot, which involves a 21-year-old psychology student who becomes addicted to her smartphone following a tragic accident.
The App app uses SyncNow, a digital audio watermarking technology originally developed by Civolution to prevent illegal downloads.
London-based Monterosa Productions has announced the commercial launch of its LViS tools for creating second-screen applications for television. Having supported over a thousand hours of primetime programming with second-screen services, Monterosa has already used its framework to deliver a range of sports, entertainment and advertising applications.
The LVis platform includes a suite of re-usable elements to power interactive experiences, such as play-along gaming, prediction gaming, secure and compliant voting and competitions, opinion polling, advertising and coupons.
It allows broadcasters, producers or brands to customise template apps, or make their own from scratch, and deploy the resulting HTML5 experience across multiple platforms. It also integrates with industry standard systems to drive on-screen graphics.
The aim, the company says, is to take today’s fast-growing but chaotic landscape of TV “companion” apps – such as ones delivering athlete stats to people watching the Olympics, or crime-fighting details to CSI junkies—and make it easier to create and see such additional content.
The Akamai proof of concept—shown for the first time to MIT Technology Review last week—consists of a few parts. The first is a piece of software that would reside on whatever device you use, whether it’s a television set fed by a cable or satellite service, a set-top box delivering content over the Internet, or even a DVR playing a recorded show. A one-time authentication process links your tablet or smartphone to the device.
Real-time information on what show you’re watching—even as you change the channel—gets sent to Akamai’s servers. Relevant secondary information then gets streamed directly back to your smartphone or tablet in near real-time.
In January 2012, I started the year with a post on multi-screen applications developed with PhoneGap. In that post, I describe an approach for creating mobile applications that extend the app experience onto a second screen – where the mobile device drives the content on that second screen… essentially having an “external monitor” capability on a mobile device.
Now, I’m going to turn things around… I’ve been experimenting with a few ideas of connected secondary-experience applications, and I figured this would be a great way to come full circle and end 2012.
Coincident Create and ITVML make it possible to build interactive video experiences for the web, HTML5, and mobile apps with unparalleled ease and efficiency.
Coincident Create is also capable of building ITVML for 2nd screen apps on mobile devices. For 2nd screen apps, the tool is used to build an interactive interface and logic that goes along with a television program. ITVML is then built into an application framework that handles the synchronization with broadcast.
As a teaser for my upcoming blog post (“OTT distribution optimization technologies”), here is a bonus study for you, dear readers…
It aims at isolating the main OTT Video Services trends (End-user driven & Production driven) and at pointing out relevant technologies with their maturity estimation and corresponding Vendor + Technology offer tuples.
Enjoy and share your thoughts/technology suggestions in comments either here or on the blog !
Second-screen application developers generally write to the device. With SmartGlass, Microsoft is asking app developers to do something slightly different, namely: write to a platform. But Microsoft is not asking just anyone to write this way; only those partners to its game developer network who have permission to do so.
The larger point may be that SmartGlass, which the Seattle software giant made generally available three weeks ago, at about the same time it released Windows 8, is itself both an app and a platform. That is one of several complicated aspects of this Xbox-related software. Another is its genesis as an app on the Windows Phone.
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