Content Delivery Network BitGravity is testing a new product they’re calling Multiview (at least internally) that delivers up to six different synchronized high definition video streams at once. The viewer sees the normal view but can click on any of the other views at any time, and audio is obviously synchronized. The result is this: the viewer is put in the producer’s chair, and can switch camera angles at any time.
Why would you want this? I’m speculating, but an obvious use is sporting events. Instead of watching whatever is on screen, viewers could watch particular players instead. And if a particularly interesting play happens, users can switch cameras to see it from different angles.
There are other obvious uses for this too. As usual, the pornography industry may be the first to try it out.
This is also a view into the future, where video breaks away from the bonds of broadcast television. The Internet is interactive – so let viewers interact.
To see a Multiview test, go here, which shows a driving trip from six different camera angles (it’s Google street view on steroids). Not sure if they’ll keep this live now that we’re pointing to it.
Note that the BitGravity guys are known for doing random stuff to show off their network. But from what we hear, Multiview is being productized.
Nbc does this online for sunday night football. They have a number of different camera angles and you can switch back and forth between the main screen or any of the other cameras…. it’s the same idea and its absolutely amazing.
Peter
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Given that this is just internal API play… I’m not exactly sure how the NBC synchronizes video scrubber bars to GPS?
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I kind of like my tv sport watching to be a passive experience… except for some food, drinks and friends – and my yelling at my team at times. This looks like work.
agree about liking the initial experience being passive – but would be amazing from a secondary viewing experience. post game replays, key plays of the game. image watching jordan’s shot on byron russell from the crowd, from the scorer’s table, …. !!
You can’t watch team sports like this, it’ll eat off the fun factor. Im sure fantasy players and pundits will love this though, to give them an extra edge!
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Come on Michael. We all know you don’t watch sports. Some men are manly men and some men aren’t… Its ok if your not. We all saw where you stood on Prop 8 and your semi coming out of the closet party.
Open your mind a bit. The syncing of the pictures and the ability to go forwards and backwards on the map, or in the feed is very cool. Amazing possibilities….
As someone who’s produced many multi-camera webcasts, I at one point dreamed of a technology like this; the ability to cram 6 simultaneous HD streams into one player, and allow the viewer to pick which ones they want.
However, there’s a couple reasons why I’m over this concept.
1) Like previously commented, watching things like a concert or sports game on TV has always been a passive experience, you rely on a professional producer to show you what’s good. You expect them to have the eyes and reflexes to capture the best moments, a “live highlight reel” coming from many different angles if you will. For a viewer used to this passive mode of watching, having to click around to different angles may remove some of the fun, and chances are you’ll get pretty frustrated when you miss that amazing interception because you decided to watch the ref pick his nose. By taking on the role of the producer, regular viewing becomes more of a chore, like a security guard watching a wall of CCTV monitors in the back of a mall.
2) In terms of streaming this live over the internet, the upload bandwidth you would need for 6 simultaneous HD quality streams would be tremendous. The state of live video as it is, just getting one high quality stream is challenge enough. Even on the viewer side, It’s going to be tough for a lot of people’s connections to keep up with that much video coming at them.
Provided you have a venue with a 6 HD cam setup, a massive upload pipe, and an event that lends itself to a more “active” viewer experience where there’s incentive (ie. it’s actually fun) to click around a bunch of different camera angles, then this could be pretty cool.
My ideal application: watching 6 live angles of cheese mold.
Show me a LIVE Quicktime 360 degree VR, then I’ll freak out.
In the UK, Sky tried this for various sports including Soccer and I think cricket. This was done via satelite and available to all who subscribed. Its never really taken off and I *think* they’ve scaled it back somewhat.
As some have pointed out, it doesn’t really work because its not a passive experience. By taking control yourself I think you stand a greater chance of missing the best bits. And if you do see the best bits its not always from the best angle. The implementation didn’t help either. Every time you changed angles you were affectively changing channels which meant a drop in sound and vision. I think even ignoring that though it wouldn’t work.
They (along with the BBC) have had slighty better success with the audio streams though. On Sky Sports you can either listen to the commentators, no commentary or two fans (one from each side). That was generally a good laugh.
The BBC on the other hand offered commentary from the TV show or the radio commentary from 5Live (some prefer this).
Move Networks has been doing this for sometime with ESPN 360… interesting development however. Wasn’t Conviva also getting into this game?
Who knows what the setup and budget was like for ESPN 360. This is something that, if product-ized, could be used by much smaller content producers. The footage in this example (alpha / proof-of-concept) was shot with consumer hardware (Canon HV30’s) and the post-processing side can potentially be automated.
how about spend your time finding a cure to some disease instead of products that have no practical use in life.
Note there’s nothing really revolutionary about this having multiple screens. MPEG video allows for multiple video and audio stream in a single transport – in fact usually your broadcast cable is multiple channel feeds on a single frequency.
The real issue is bandwidth – you’re now streaming 6 times the amount of data. For HD video to a TV its cost/bandwidth prohibitive.
Diggnation did this a while back it used to be at http://revision3.com/remix but they redesigned the site recently and i can’t find a good link for it anymore.