We all know HDTV is the wave of the future. Sets are becoming more affordable, Programming is widely available, and two formats are feuding for the HD home movie market. Life is 1080 bliss. Even with all the excitement surrounding the move to HD, I still can't help but wonder what's next for television. I bet the folks over at iCinema have a pretty good idea.
The Centre for Interactive Cinema Research specializes in immersive media viewing experiences. One of their latest products, the T_Visionarium II uses a 360 degree screen and 3-D technology, which allows the viewer to spatially navigate through thousands of video feeds. The system also uses a database and tagging system, allowing similar programs to be grouped together. It goes a little something like this.
Basically you step into a Circle-Vision style theater, slip on some glasses, grab your remote, and start clicking. Thousands of programs are instantly available. At first, it overwhelms you. Then you spot a video of African Safari. You click it, and it zooms (in 3-D) to the forefront. As the clip settles in place, several others line up around it. African folk dancing, Animal Planet, White Rhino conservation, hunting, Egyptology, and many other feeds related in some way to your initial choice become available. You go on clicking and clicking; linking to choice after choice. Just like that, channel surfing has become interactive media browsing.
I have to tell you this concept really appeals to me. This is exactly what I wind up doing whenever I go to Wikipedia, or Youtube. I will look something up, and an hour later, I find myself 15 links in, and on a topic far removed from where I started.
Let's be honest. Nobody is going to be installing one of these in their living room any time soon. It's more the concept I'm excited about. I could see a toned down version working really well for a video on demand service. Still, I would love a chance to step in to the real thing, and give it a spin.
Click READ below for a description and several pics of the Visionarium II
1. While the current embodiment of T_Visionarium II uses a database of televisual materials, the concept and implementation is applicable to any kind of cinematic content. It prefigures a future where powerful home computing resources and large screen displays will permit everyone to recycle and repurpose broadcast television, as well as any other source of recorded audio-visual material.
Posted at 10:07AM on Oct 10th 2006 by Stuart