DIS Group Releases Open Source Software Platform for Object-based Broadcasting Production

Publication date: 2019-04-15

H2020 EU-funded project 2-IMMERSE, of which CWI’s Distributed and Interactive Systems (DIS) group is a member had, a successful final review meeting with the reviewers from the EU commission. The goal of the 2-IMMERSE project was to allow TV service providers to break free from the constraints of rendering a broadcast stream onto a single 16x9 frame. The final objective was to enable professionals to develop and deploy customizable interactive and multi-screen experiences that can adapt to the context of use. The results have been successfully demonstrated across multiple number of screens, multiple content genres (sports and drama), and multiple situations (home, schools and in public venues).

In order to create new opportunities and sustain the project results, the core 2-IMMERSE platform and components are recently released under an open source license. In particular, the DIS group at CWI has contributed with several core platform components related to media synchronization and with a set of production tools for professionals that enable them to create new multi-screen and customizable experiences.

The 2-IMMERSE project had strong industrial impact, as it broke the boundaries of lab research, and successfully demonstrated the results in real-life trials. During the project the DIS group has closely collaborated with the creative and education industries, including BT sports, BBC, Dorna Sports and Donmar Warehouse. We conducted ethnographical studies at Silverstone during MotoGP2017 and at the Wembley stadium during the FA Final Cup 2018. The 2-IMMERSE platform was demonstrated at the Future Zone of the 2018 International Broadcast Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam, the world’s most influential media technology show. The stand attracted a lot of visitors and was busy all the time during the five-day show.

The project had relevant scientific impact as well, with a number of publications and pilot applications awarded with prestigious prizes by international expert juries from academia and industry. These successes have significantly enhanced the visibility and ultimately the influence of the work of the DIS group. The prizes include:

• Best Paper Award at ACM TVX 2018
• Best Paper Award Nominee at ACM DocEng 2018
• Best Paper Award at ACM TVX 2017
• HbbTV Award 2018 for the “Best multiscreen HbbTV service”
• Judge’s Grand Prix Runner-up at HbbTV Awards 2018

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sueyA-D3MOo

More Information: https://2immerse.eu

Open source package: http://www.dis.cwi.nl/2immerse

Relevant Publications

• “From the Lab to the OB Truck: Object-Based Broadcasting at the FA Cup in Wembley Stadium,” Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM CHI 2018. _ [Best Paper Award] “A New Production Platform for Authoring Object-based Multiscreen TV Viewing Experiences,” Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for TV and Online Video, ACM TVX 2018. https://doi.org/10.1145/3210825.3210834
• “2IMMERSE Production Suite: A Platform for Creating Interactive Multi-Screen Experiences,” Adjunct Proceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for Television and Online Video, ACM TVX 2018. https://figshare.com/articles/Demo_2-IMMERSE_MotoGP_multiscreen_experience_with_HbbTV_2_retail_devices/6526550
• [Best Paper Candidate] “Workflow Support for Live Object-Based Broadcasting,” Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Document Engineering, ACM DocEng 2018. https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3209280.3209528
• “Designing an Object-based Preproduction Tool for Multiscreen TV Viewing,” Adjunct Proceedings of CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM CHI 2018. https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188658