[media-and-entertainment] Channels 2.0 (#107)

AdamSobieski has just created a new issue for https://github.com/w3c/media-and-entertainment:

== Channels 2.0 ==
## Introduction

Channels, in particular digital channels, can be much more than just video streams. In these regards, I am pleased to share some preliminary ideas and brainstorming towards **_channels 2.0_**.

Channels could provide _channel descriptions_ utilizing an extensible standard format (e.g., XML or JSON) to describe their features and capabilities to smart televisions and other devices, these resources referring to one or more real-time video streams.

## Homepages

Channels could each have a homepage.

In theory, from a channel's homepage, customers could navigate to subpages about the content that they are watching.

## Menus

Channels could each have a main menu.

This menu could be available on a channel's homepage.

In theory, while watching a channel, pressing the up arrow could open an overlayed menu, the channel's main menu, on a smart television.

## Settings and Configurations

Channels could each provide settings and configuration for customers.

## Sub-channels

Channels could have multiple sub-channels inside of them. There could be different types of sub-channels. Sub-channels could have attributes. Some sub-channels could be statically available while others might be dynamically available, or available only for a time.

For each channel, one sub-channel could have an attribute indicating it to be the main, selected, or default sub-channel of a channel. These would be the content displays when customers utilized the traditional channel browsing technique with the channel-up and channel-down buttons.

## Grid-based Navigational Guides

Some subchannels would have attributes indicating them as being visible and as having scheduled content. Channels with one or more of these sub-channels could provide grid-based navigational guides for browsing them.

This guide could be navigated to from a channel's homepage. This guide could be accessed via a channel's main menu.

Smart televisions' grid-based navigational guides for viewing the content scheduled on multiple channels could version to be tree-based, each channel having a main, selected, or default sub-channel of content while also being expandable to reveal sub-channels, each of these similarly having a description and, perhaps, scheduled content.

## User Feedback

Channels could provide elegant user experiences for customers to provide feedback pertaining to content.

## Personalization

Channels could offer semi-personalized content, possibly via a special sub-channel. In this way, customers could receive recommended, personalized contents.

Content providers could interrupt personalized content to provide other content, e.g., breaking news content, intended for entire audiences.

## Interactive Video

Channels could provide customers with interactivity with respect to their content and advertisements.

Interactive video content could provide hyperlinks or hotspots with which to navigate between sub-channels.

Surveys and opinion polls could also be conducted using interactive video.

In theory, a sub-channel of streaming video content could route to another sub-channel based on the value of a customer's configuration or setting.

See also: https://github.com/WICG/proposals/issues/33 .

## Multi-device Interoperability

Channels could support multi-device interoperability.

Today, customers can use their mobile devices to scan on-screen QR codes. In the near-future, customers might be able to use a remote control to click on a hyperlink or hotspot to send content to or otherwise navigate to content on their mobile device.

## Legacy Channels

As considered, legacy channels would need to be described, specified, in terms of their behaviors with respect to new features and capabilities such as homepages, menus, and settings and configuration. In theory, channel descriptions (e.g., XML or JSON resources) could be automatically generated for legacy channels.

## Use Cases and Scenarios

### News

Via channel-specific homepages and/or main menus, or via browsing sub-channels’ contents via grid-based navigational guides, customers would be able to check their local weather forecasts at any point in time while remaining on a news "channel".

A channel’s sub-channels could be differing kinds of news content, e.g., weather, national, world, local, business, technology, entertainment, sports, science, health. There could also be a default "combination" sub-channel which would be understood as dynamically selecting and blending together segments of content from other specialized sub-channels.

### Music

With respect to music video scenarios, different kinds of music could be each be streamed simultaneously via sub-channels. Presently, a separate channel is required for each kind of music from a content provider.

## Conclusion

I look forward to discussing these and other ideas towards advancing the concept of channels. Thank you.

Please view or discuss this issue at https://github.com/w3c/media-and-entertainment/issues/107 using your GitHub account


-- 
Sent via github-notify-ml as configured in https://github.com/w3c/github-notify-ml-config

Received on Monday, 15 April 2024 04:11:39 UTC