TVX in Industry

7th June, 10:30-11:00

• Andrew Gower BT Applied Research, Ipswich, United Kingdom
• Mr Roland Craigie BT Applied Research, Ipswich, United Kingdom
• Luke Pilgrim BT Applied Research, Ipswich, United Kingdom
• Gary Simpson BT Applied Research, Ipswich, United Kingdom

BT Sport is driven to ‘bring fans closer to the heart of sport’ and now sees an opportunity to deliver a step change in the quality of live immersive audience experiences by addressing a number of key challenges across the end to end production delivery chain. These challenges focus on improving the level of immersion and engagement through higher resolution 360 degree video, spatialised audio, object-based graphics and synchronisation of immersive video with the live TV feed. This presentation offers insights gained through recent technical tests and user trials undertaken by BT Applied Research to explore the production challenges associated with delivering 8K 360 degree video and the impact on audiences engaged with live immersive sport experiences.

7th June, 11:00-11:30

• Mr Alexandre Gabriel – TNO, Den Haag, Netherlands
• Emmanuel Thomas – TNO, Den Haag, Netherlands
• Dr. Omar Niamut – TNO, The Hague, Netherlands
• Teun van der Veen – TNO, Den Haag, Netherlands
• Bas van den Heuvel – TNO, Den Haag, Netherlands

While most IPTV operators rely on Set-Top Boxes (STBs) to deliver linear interactive TV services to consumers, several operators are moving towards app-based delivery. For Over-The-Top (OTT) service providers that offer video on demand or other non-linear TV services, delivery via TV apps is already an important method. There are some advantages in delivering TV services via an app, also for IPTV operators offering linear TV. For example, via apps operators and consumers are no longer forced to install a separate box per TV set. However, exploiting this opportunity comes with several challenges that we will highlight, such as OS fragmentation, API limitation and rigid streaming client configurations. Further we will present best practices on how to address these challenges, based on measurements in our lab. Particularly, we will highlight where standards such as HbbTV Operator Applications, CTA Wave, DASH-IF IOP guidelines can help and ultimately improve the user experience.

7th June, 11:30-12:00

• Deborah Z Torres – Roku, Los Gatos, California, United States

One of the most important elements throughout the design process is capturing direct user feedback in a timely manner; however, conducting user surveys can often be problematic and flawed. Requesting feedback on a user’s action or experience with too much time in between will not yield the most accurate results. A better approach are trigger-based surveys sent immediately following a specific user action to capture real-time comments and yield more timely and accurate responses. This can lead to improvements and features that will be better received by users. At Roku, we focus our user experience on simplicity and ease-of-use. Our UX team regularly evaluates new features and experiences to meet the evolving needs of our highly engaged users. Roku implements trigger-based surveys based on a particular user experience or action to evaluate potential changes, collecting real-time user data and creating improvements where users want them most.

7th June, 12:00-12:30

• Rebecca Saw – Pilot Theatre, York, United Kingdom
• Lucy Hammond – Pilot Theatre, York, United Kingdom

What is the best way to seamlessly integrate immersive theatre with Virtual Reality? Traitor VR is a two player mixed reality piece which combines live theatre with Virtual Reality. While one player wears a VR headset, the other changes what their partner sees with a real world control desk. Adapted from an immersive theatre show performed in 2017, it explores themes of citizenship, ethics and surveillance. We discuss the challenges of designing an immersive thriller, integrating live actors with new technology and creating asymmetrical gameplay puzzles that build high stakes tension for young audiences. Traitor had its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in 2019.

7th June, 12:30-13:00

• Richard Ramchurn – AlbinoMosquito & Mixed Reality Lab, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom

Director and HCI researcher Richard Ramchurn will be presenting his latest film, The MOMENT. The film has been designed to act as a cinematic experience that reflects the controlling viewer’s own physiology and create an engaging narrative for both non-controlling and repeat viewers. Using live data from a commercial grade BCI device the system creates a new version of the movie on each viewing. The algorithm has been designed to preserve narrative continuity and present variability at timely moments. Consequently The MOMENT has over 17 billion possible combinations. The production and design of The MOMENT addresses problems inherent in interactive films, of creating extensive content, and of conscious interaction interrupting narrative flow. Controlling viewers liken the experience to subconsciously editing the film rather than watching it, which moves the power from the director to the audience.

7th June, 13:30-14:00

• Mr Thomas Willomitzer – Snapscreen, Vienna, Austria

This showcases Snapscreen Clip Share: a second-screen technology for seamless identification and social sharing of live or recorded TV content. With Clip Share, app users take a snapshot of their viewing screen to generate a broadcast-quality clip of the current program instantly on their mobile device; then, users rewind through the retrieved segment, trim the beginning and end of their clip, add a personal message to kick-off discussion, and share the clip through a range of messaging apps and social media platforms. Where existing clip solutions allow broadcasters and rights-holders to produce clips from broadcast content, Clip Share facilitates fast and easy clipping for app users in order to drive content distribution and recirculation by viewers themselves. Leveraging computer vision to streamline clip creation and sharing provides an intuitive bridge between TV content and social media interactions.

7th June, 14:00-14:30

• James Dean – Turtle Entertainment UK LTD, Leicester, United Kingdom
• Florian Block – University of York, York, United Kingdom

“For the first time in generations, we’re witnessing the birth of a new major sport, and it’s happening with unprecedented speed.”

Esports by their very nature are data rich environments and have a young, tech savvy, early adopting audience who look to consume, engage and connect with content in ever increasing ways; the Weavr consortium plans to capitalise on this by developing a new broadcast framework that will not only change the way esports fans consume content but will also look to radically change how traditional sports content will be consumed. The Weavr consortium, comprising of ESL, York University, dock10, Rewind, Cybula, and FocalPointVR with backing from the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, will over the next two years develop and deliver a ground-breaking project creating a cross-reality viewing experience that allows fans to immerse themselves in high fidelity statistics, visualisations and data-driven stories, give them hyper-personalised insights into the live matches and allow them to switch seamlessly between virtual and physical viewing platforms as well as utilise second screens to watch immersive esports content on the go.

7th June, 14:30-15:00

• Mike Darnell – NASBO Research, Samsung Electronics America, Mountain View, California, United States
• Auriana Shokrhpour – NASBO Research, Samsung Electronics America, Mountain View, California, United States
• Krisela Rivera – NASBO Research, Samsung Electronics America, Mountain View, California, United States
• Alex Lim – Dept. of Psycholoty, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, United States

The aim of the research was to understand electronic devices usage in the home. How much usage? During what activities? In which rooms? With whom? When? An innovative method was used: participants wore small life-logging cameras that automatically took photos every 15 seconds. After each day of life-logging, the participant reviewed the photos with the experimenter, providing additional context and details. Ten participants, spent an average of 171.5 minutes per day for 4 days, life-logging their awake time at home. In total, more than 20,000 photos covering more than 80 hours were logged. The pattern of activities participants engaged in was similar to the authoritative American Time Use Survey. But in addition, we discovered many interesting facts about how people spend their awake-time at home: People multitasked 66% of the time; they spent 86% of their time using electronic devices; TV was the most-used device; watching TV was, uniquely, a background activity for twice as much time as it was a primary activity.