The Virtual TV Couch

......................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction...................................................................................................................4 The Problem...................................................................................................................6 Foundations and Background .......................................................................................8 Interactive Television and Social Aspects of Television.......................................................8 The Platform: Digital Video Recorder .................................................................................. 9 Computer Mediated Sociability and Communication.......................................................... 9 Watching and Playing.......................................................................................................... 10 Studying the user and its context......................................................................................... 11 Relevant previous research and projects ............................................................................ 12 Vision Television, iCom, Reflexion, Breakout for Two ................................................................12 Tryst (2004) ......................................................................................................................................12 Social TV (2004-2006) ....................................................................................................................12 AmigoTV (2004-2006) ....................................................................................................................13 My Own TV (2004-2006)................................................................................................................14 Plasticbag.org Social Software for set-top-boxes (2005) ............................................................14 Telebuddies (2006) ..........................................................................................................................14 Communications Services on TV (COSE) (2006) ........................................................................15 Google’s Real-Time Ambient-Audio Identification (2006) ........................................................15 Lycos Cinema (2006) .......................................................................................................................15 Joost (2007) ......................................................................................................................................15 You Tube Streams and Stickcam (2006-2007) ............................................................................16 Proposed Solution: Designing the ITV Application .....................................................17 General characteristics .........................................................................................................17 Model Scenario .................................................................................................................................17 Technological Platform ....................................................................................................................17 Television Generes ...........................................................................................................................18 The Proposed Designed Application................................................................................... 18 Communication Channels ...............................................................................................................18 Impulsive Interactions .....................................................................................................................19 Shared Play Event: Sync with the audience, not the broadcaster ..............................................20 Remote DVR control ........................................................................................................................21 DVR database for recomendations.................................................................................................21 Scheduling systems ..........................................................................................................................22 Sending an invitation .......................................................................................................................22 Web and mobile companion ...........................................................................................................22 Micro-communities ..........................................................................................................................22 Simple, transparent and ubiquitous ..............................................................................................23 Aspect ratio and resolution .............................................................................................................23 Shared assets .....................................................................................................................................23 Privacy Issues ....................................................................................................................................23 Diagram of the Designed Application................................................................................. 24 The Virtual TV Couch Design Document Sergio Goldenberg 2 Prototype......................................................................................................................25 Technologies used ............................................................................................................... 25 Flash 8, Flash Video 8, and Actionscript 2....................................................................................25 HTML and Javascript ......................................................................................................................25 Flash Remoting and PHP ................................................................................................................25 MySQL ...............................................................................................................................................26 Skype API...........................................................................................................................................26 Diagram of implemented technologies............................................................................... 26 Features included in the Prototype..................................................................................... 27 Audio communication channel .......................................................................................................27 User generated interactions events (impulsive interaction): voting .........................................27 Shared Play Events: Creation and invitations ..............................................................................28 Shared Play Events: Play Mode ......................................................................................................28 Remote DVR controls ......................................................................................................................28 Micro-community creation, administration and display ............................................................28 User Interface Design..........................................................................................................29 Navigation Structure ........................................................................................................................30 User Interaction Design ......................................................................................................30 Remote control..................................................................................................................................30 Future Work................................................................................................................. 31 Conclusions..................................................................................................................32 Timeline .......................................................................................................................33 References....................................................................................................................34 Appendix: Screenshots ................................................................................................ 37 Welcome screens ..............................................................................................................................37 Shared Play Screens .........................................................................................................................38 Shared Play Audio Communication Screens.................................................................................40 The Virtual TV Couch Design Document Sergio Goldenberg 3