ITV

Tag: interactive TV

  • Syfy and LG team up to deliver interactive TV experience

    Syfy and LG team up to deliver interactive TV experience

    MUMBAI: Syfy and LG Electronics USA have launched a new interactive TV consumer experience. The new Syfy Sync for LG Smart TV app allows viewers to go inside their favorite Syfy shows in a whole new way by recognizing the episode viewers are watching and delivering contextual content to their LG Smart TV in real time.

     

    Syfy Sync for LG Smart TV launched with the Season 3 premiere of Defiance on 12 June on Syfy. Viewers with LG Smart TVs can get behind-the-scenes trivia, participate in interactive polls and learn more about the backstory of the series. The Syfy Sync app responds to what viewers are watching and delivers a whole new level of interaction while they are actively watching their favorite Syfy shows on their LG Smart TV.

     

    The Syfy Sync app for Defiance is available exclusively on LG Smart TVs, delivering an engaging new dimension to home entertainment with fun, interactive features paired with leading LG TV display technology.

     

    The interactive feature will be available on Automatic Content Recognition (ACR)-enabled LG TVs with Netcast since 2012, and will be available soon on LG Smart TVs featuring LG’s award-winning webOS Smart TV platform. LG webOS makes the Smart TV experience fast and simple with an intuitive interface that enables users to spend more time enjoying their home entertainment experience, and less time finding and switching between content options.

     

    “From its inception, Syfy Sync has always been seen as a multiplatform play and we’re thrilled to be partnering with LG to bring the experience it to a new platform with season 3 of Defiance. The LG Smart TV platform provides an incredible user experience along with an incredible TV picture quality for Syfy’s devoted fans to go even deeper into our programming,” said Syfy vice president of digital media and strategy Matthew Chiavelli.

     

    LG Electronics USA vice president of marketing David VanderWaal added, “Interactive TV with Syfy’s Defiance delivers a new, engaging TV experience, leveraging the power and simplicity of LG’s webOS Smart TV platform along with our incredible picture quality. Syfy and NBC Universal have been pioneers in real-time interactive TV for second-screen viewing, and LG is enthusiastic to work with them to bring this integrated experience to the big screen.”

     

    Syfy engaged Watchwith to power the in-program interactive engagement that appears as a subtle broadcast graphic-style overlay in the upper left portion of the screen. Watchwith’s unique in-program interactive audience engagement platform delivers an award-winning Syfy Sync experience right to the living room screen.

     

    LG’s recognition and interactive platform is powered by Cognitive Networks, the leading provider of ACR services on Smart TVs. Cognitive’s system allows Smart TVs to become contextually aware, enabling the launch of intelligently synchronized HTML5 web applications and the real-time seamless connection of live or time-shifted over-the-air programming with services delivered via broadband. 

  • Digitisation to offer great opportunity for advanced services, says CDAC

    Digitisation to offer great opportunity for advanced services, says CDAC

     

    MUMBAI: With the new government focusing on connecting every village with broadband and digitisation of analog cable TV, Centre for Development and Advanced Computing (CDAC) has come up with a number of opportunities for advanced interactive services.

    Set up in 1988, CDAC already provides a number of products and services catering to a large market ranging from health care systems, datawarehousing, multimedia and multilingual technologies, networking solutions to technical consultancy, training and e-governance solutions.

    The company set up a Graphics and Intelligence based Script Technology (GIST) group soon after its origin which built the Indian Language Computing Solutions. Porting of Indian languages onto the video medium with subtitles, this technology is being used by tickers and banners on TV stations, news channels, cable operators, etc.

    Now with the onset of digitisation in India, CDAC-GIST is coming up with new services to broaden the reach of channels by supplementing content in local languages.

    Speaking at Broadcast India conference, CDAC- GIST technical officer Shubhanshu Gupta said, “Digitisation has offered us a great opportunity for advanced services that will offer the viewers day to day information as and when it comes. Our main aim is to enrich the experience of Indian viewers in the grassroot level.”

     “Multilingual subtitle and caption will address the viewers with diverse linguistic background. We plan to transfer television into a multi-lingual university and provide a solution to educate the country in the most cost-effective way. The device will do sub-titling for national as well as some private channels.” he added.

    The company is also planning to facilitate distance learning, public information and alerts, health education on television.

    With a lot of education content already online on various platforms available for e-learning, CDAC will provide a way to re-use the content and disseminate it through television.

    “Our technology will provide the already available content on television through set top boxes. It would also include test whose results could be given to UGC for evaluation and analysis,” revealed Gupta.

    “We also propose getting information regarding the diseases, new medicine, and latest news in the health sector on television with the press of a button to improve the quality of healthcare in the country and keep the citizens more informed,” he added.

    Recently, Doordarshan launched a new channel, DD Kisan, dedicated to farmers, as an extension to their daily programme, Krishi Darshan. It provides full time updates on the latest news on farming. Gupta reckoned that CDAC-GIST will enable interactivity on the programmes.

    “Our technology will give the farmer all relevant information like local market prices, weather information etc in their local languages to help enhance the reach and to incentivize them to use the channel more,” he opined.
    “We are also doing pilot of our Language Independent Programme Subtitles (LIPS) on air digital at four Doordarshan metro DD centres to proliferate Indian language through broadcast media,” he adds.

    LIPS Live technology has made it possible to subtitle movies and programs in Indian languages. Several products like MOVE CG 2001 simplify the titling of video programs with high resolution aesthetic fonts.  

    Another CDAC product MultiPrompter is a solution for teleprompting in Indian languages for TV channels that are mushrooming in the Indian subcontinent.

    CDAC also helped government in launching the bharat domain name in devanagri script covering several languages including Hindi, Bodo, Dogri, Mailthali, Marathi, Konkani, Nepali and Sindhi.

    If a person from Maharashtra opens the website, the home page will automatically open in Marathi while if a person from Tamil Nadu tries, it will open in Tamil, he reveals.

    C-DAC has also helped in establishing standards such as ISCII, Unicode, ISFOC, etc. for Indian language applications on computers and electronic media. It is also working for standardization of W3C (Languages on Web), Internationalized Domain names, Governance, linguistics formats, storage, input, display fonts, etc.

    C-DAC was set up to built Supercomputers in context of denial of import of Supercomputers by USA. Since then C-DAC has been undertaking building of multiple generations of Supercomputer starting from PARAM with 1 GF in 1988.

    It set up National Centre for Software Technology (NCST) in 1985 that initiated work in Indian Language Computing around the same period.

    Similarly C-DAC started its education & training activities in 1994 as a spin-off with the passage of time and it grew to large efforts to meet the growing needs of Indian Industry for finishing schools.

     

  • Visiware makes interactive TV game from ‘Fast and The Furious’ film

    Visiware makes interactive TV game from ‘Fast and The Furious’ film

    MUMBAI: Further to the license agreement between Visiware and Universal Studios Consumer Products Group to bring Universal Pictures properties to interactive TV gaming, Visiware has driven its latest game, The Fast and the Furious to the starting line.

    Inspired by the action film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, this sporting arcade game challenges players to experience the atmosphere of the underground Tokyo drift. For the uninitiated, this is a form of racing that replaces simple drag racing with a rubber-burning, automotive art form that consists of an exhilarating balance of speeding and gliding through a course of hairpin turns and switchbacks racing world. Viewers can do this all on their television screens.

    The game features three different modes in which the goal is to become the new Drift King. In Drift King mode, players race head-to-head against one to three opponents. In Pursuit mode, players must prevent their opponents from catching their car, while in Time Attack mode, players strive to set the fastest lap time. Authentic sound effects and images from the film are featured in the game.

    Visiware chairman Laurant Weill says, “We are happy to be partners with a group that has really made efforts to understand the interactive TV gaming market. It is a pleasure to work with Universal’s creative and professional team, especially on such an exciting project as The Fast and the Furious. We believe this is the best racing game available to date on interactive TV.”

    Universal Studios Consumer Products Group VP interactive Bill Kispert says, “The new film is an adrenaline ride, and Visiware embraced the challenge of creating an innovative racing game for iTV.

    “Whether racing against the clock, or fender to fender with an opponent, it’s fantastic that players can become armchair racers — and experience The Fast and the Furious brand — all with a click of their TV remote controls.”

    NBC Universal director of interactive TV, Jon Dakss says, “Visiware continues to push the boundaries of gameplay on the iTV platform. This game has wonderful balance and will appeal to racing fans and casual gamers alike.”

    The Fast and the Furious is the third game released by Visiware in collaboration with Universal. The first two games developed under the partnership were based on the blockbuster King Kong — included a quiz game and an arcade game.

  • Interactive TV portal solution for Dutch channel launched this football season

    Interactive TV portal solution for Dutch channel launched this football season

    MUMBAI: chellomedia Interactive Services has launched a new interactive TV portal in the Netherlands on Sport1, this soccer season.

    Digital premium channel Sport1 now offers its subscribers on the UPC cable platform (UPC Digital TV) the option to switch between four Sport1 channels presented on one TV screen.

    The launch of the interactive portal fits in with chellomedia’s strategy to offer new digital services to cable network operators in Europe as well as to broadcasters and other platform owners.

    While watching a match, viewers are able to call up for extra information such as match results, current scores, player statistics, an interactive quiz and a dedicated World Cup section.

    chellomedia Interactive Services exwecutive VP Noel Leslie says, “We are developing these kind of interactive solutions for operators and broadcasters in order to help them increase and retain channel audiences and to create opportunities for new revenue streams. These converged TV and internet solutions give viewers more and more control: they have more to choose from, can access content on-demand and even participate in programmes.”

    Sport1 GM Jeroen Oerlemans says, “The launch of our Sport1 TV portal will provide great added value to our premium sports channel in the Netherlands. With this easily accessible interactivity and the possibility to view a mosaic with multiple live channels, the viewer becomes more powerful and gets more choices. We think this portal will fulfil a great need.”

    chellomedia develops and facilitates these services using its authoring and deployment solution chello mistral. This solution enables quick and simple development by members of a creative team across multiple platforms and middlewares. It is also accredited by BSkyB to deliver interactive advertising, for which chellomedia has partnerships with leading UK broadcasters and ad agencies.

    chellomedia interactive services delivers entertainment-focused, interactive applications and content which strengthen digital TV and PC-based, broadband Internet offerings.

  • NDS to deploy full end to end system to Romania’s DTH platform Boom TV

    MUMBAI: News Corporation‘s NDS Group has announced that a leading digital satellite pay-TV broadcaster in Romania, DTH Television Group has contracted NDS to deploy a full end-to-end system including NDS VideoGuard conditional access, MediaHighway middleware and EPG on their newly launched digital pay-TV platform, Boom TV. NDS is the provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV.

    The platform had launched in May to homes in Romania. The NDS VideoGuard will protect all content delivered to new digital subscribers.

     

    DTH Television Group chose the full end-to-end system to secure their premium subscription content and will also take advantage of new services offered by NDS, including interactive TV applications, informs an official release.

    NDS Group chairman and CEO Dr Abe Peled said, “We‘re delighted that DTH Television Group has selected our proven solutions for their new service, Boom TV. This is an important contract for NDS as Romania, which has a population of over 40 million, is a significant TV market with the highest TV viewing figures in Europe by a wide margin. It also signals our expansion into the high-growth Eastern European broadcasting market, which we will continue to develop over the coming months and years.”

     

    Boom TV CEO Isaac Waldman said, “NDS is an important partner in being able to offer our subscribers enhanced TV services to make their viewing experience more entertaining.”