Will Video Surfing Become Reality?

alinv writes "Australia's CSIRO has developed a multi-media browsing tool callled CMWeb, which makes surfing audio and video content as esy as text (view a screenshot here). The tool, called Continuous Media Web (CMWeb), enables user to activate a link within a video or audio file,and be taken to a related clip in another file, and then return to the original or follow further links into other subject areas, in much the same way they currently do with Web pages."

Comments

No....

[benito27uk]

Surely the video isn't big enough to stand on!

Re:No....

[Talez]

Considering the draconian download limits placed on high speed connections in Australia, it'll probably be as big as a postage stamp.

hang-10

[Anonymous Coward]

Will Video Surfing Become Reality?

It already is, I call it "changing the channel."

Not going to kick off fast.

[mmol_6453]

It's not going to really take off until it's much, much easier for the average joe to make the content than it is now.

Re:Not going to kick off fast.

[thelandp]

I think the most important limiting factor for this will be bandwidth - right now the vast majority of surfers are using dialup.

Otherwise I would say this is a great idea.

Re:Not going to kick off fast.

[Zork the Almighty]

you seem to imply that i am some sort of idiot.
yet here i am, posting on slashdot.

Welcome to the giant idiot crapfest.

Why?

[Arioch of Chaos]

Not that I want to be seen as too negative or anti progress but, why would I want to do that? The web is bloated as it is. All the animations and stuff that disturb you when you read a text :-/

Joke bait

[fruey]

This is rather like flash, but for video content rather than animated vector graphics. Maybe not even that. More like a video file + markup much like something which could be played in a specialised player, but superimposing links? Doesn't seem that revolutionary to me, the DVD format already allows for something like this - albeit in a more rigid form.

However, the reason this is particularly interesting to the Slashdot crowd is that

• Provides loads of possibilities for pr0n jokes
• Screenshot will probably be more exciting for MacOS fans than pr0n itself, look at that lovely Aqua...

Re:Joke bait

[nalfeshnee]

um, the latest flash (well, it's only been out for over a year) can embed video, and from external sources.

so, um, i see no real benefit to this tool.

nalfy

I can see it already

[TCM]

*listens to some ambient*

*totally chilled*

yelling voice: OH AND BTW, IF YOU LIKE THIS TRACK, CLICK HERE FOR MORE!

*gaaah*

Re:Why?

[mmol_6453]

From the screenshot, it looks like it might be possible to forgo the audio and video, and just read the texts and click on the link. It looks like the web, repackaged to include visual aides.

I expect it'd be great for online tutorials, though.

video surfing

[YomikoReadman]

well, from what I gather, this is not so much a way of surfing the net with video as it is a way to find related audio/video content. It kinda strikes me as a relational database, but all the objects are audio and video.

MPEG-4

[mericet]

I don't see anything here I didn't already saw in the MPEG-4 specifications years ago.

Is this like video A HREF hyperlink?

[AtariAmarok]

Is this something like a video hyperlink?

Watch Seinfeld, move that little mouse-knob now on your TV remote, click on the box of Junior Mints, and see a full Junior Mints commercial?

User-Interface?

[Advocadus Diaboli]

enables user to activate a link within a video or audio file

How do I activate a link in an audio file?
On a visible interface (video or GUI) I can think about something that I can activate by a sort of "point & click" interface. But on an audio stream?
Especially since audio is depending on time. Just think that you want to follow a link on the "bottom" of an audio file... should I wait until the link somehow passes by?

Or do I have to think of something interactive with sppech input like
Computer: "This article was first posted on Slashdot..."
Me: "Stop here and tell me more about that slashdot thing"

Sounds a little bit like "Star Trek" to me.

Re:User-Interface?

[popeyethesailor]

Remember "Punch the monkey and get a free penis!".

This will only be harder ;)

Not useful..

[chendo]

I don't think this would be useful to anyone except people who make online encyclopedias. Many online encyclopedias use a video-text format for conveying multimedia information to the user, but this wouldn't be feasible to the average user.

wanna bet?.

[ConsoleDeamon]

You and me, and a vcr pulled by a powerboat.

Audio games!

[AtariAmarok]

This reminds me of a friend years ago who came up to me and said "I've got a great idea. We know about video games. How about audio games? We should invent those".

I've not heard from him since, but I am pretty safe to assume he is not a multi-billion dollar audiogame magnate at this time: no-one is.

Re:Audio games!

[twifkak]

Sorry to reply to a Funny with a serious comment, but just FYI, places do make videogames for the blind. Not like you should be expected to know that.. except gamegirladvance is required reading for any videogame enthusiast.

Re:Audio games!

[jandrese]

I remember those "Audiogames". The ones that come out around Halloween time and have ads on TV. Call mumble-mumble and play a game, only $2.99 a minute, get your parent's permission, etc... There is a picture of what looks like an 8 bit NES game in the background with a character going between levels of some side scroller and a voice over about fighting ghosts and stuff. I don't know if they're still around or not, it sounded pretty lame to me (and I was 8 at the time).

Re:Audio games!

[bickerdyke]

Had that idea a few years ago too. Never tried it, even though it would have been quite simple: Cram together a Text-to-Speech engine, Dragon Dictate and an old infocom adventure. Next step: Replace the TTS with prerecorded text from a professional actor.

Parallel surfing

[heikkile]

I don't know about Joe Sixpack, but when I surf the net, I have a couple of browsers open, each with multiple tabs. Interesting links are opened in another tab, which may (or may not) get quickly closed again, when I get around to looking at it. No website can expect to get my full undivided attention!

This would really suck with video, where you have to notice the links at the right time. And what about audio? Will the other pages continue making noises quietly in the background? Wait for their turn? overpower anything else I may be listening?

Re:Parallel surfing

[Jasin Natael]

Which is why it'll probably never become common on the web. It doesn't really seem to be a replacement for static content, but it could provide some added value to applications where video is already used. Having said that, I still don't think it'll become common on the internet.

It *would* be a really great way to handle keynote speeches from conferences, etc. Like, if Lessig is lecturing, and mentions an historic copyright incident you hadn't heard of, you could click a link and it would pause the video while you read up on it.

A technology like this, however, could be a boon for info-kiosks in places like malls, theme parks, universities, etc. As long as you're storing video locally or transmitting it over a fast intranet, you're in business. Production costs shouldn't be any higher than for other ways of integrating video into a presentation. Plus, you're no longer limited by the embed tag.

--Jasin Natael

Starship Troopers..

[adamofgreyskull]

"Would you like to know more?"

Connection speed

[Lokist]

The majority of the world (hey its changing)is still on dial-up... Im out here in the middle of the country so I doubt video surfing will happen over here any time soon.

human brain's capacity?

[stonebeat.org]

i am sure we will have enough advance technology to making video surfing a reality, but what about human brain's capacity to process and digest the information given to us in this mode. we are already facing a Information Overload as it is. Moreover the brain's capacity is becomming smaller, due to in-digestion of information (your brain and stomach work in a similar fashion,to process and retain information), and less time for thinking and comptemplation.
A good book to read about mind and information processing is Steven Pinker's "How Mind Works"
And I for one do not wanna see any pop-up banners in video surfing. :)

How about XML?

[randomErr]

Here my GPL'ed non-LPR 2Â thoughts.

Why not create a simple XML language that could be associed with the embedded video on a webpage? Example:

<embed src="myvideo.mpg" width=740 height=480>
<hotspot timecode="00:00,07:12" cordinates="10,25,180,360" href="http://slashdot.org">
<hotspot timecode="05:01,09:12" cordinates="80,1,90,85" href="http://www.everything2.com">
</embed>

Re:How about XML?

[rogue_gambit]

You probably want SMIL by w3c.

And it has been a w3c standard since 1998, so nothing new there...

Linear vs non-linear story telling

[EdmondDantes]

Text does not have to be read from start to finish to provide a satisfactory result to the viewer - that's why it's so good on the web. Video is intended to be viewed from start to finish - I can't imagine clicking the back button to finish watching Austin Powers while I just finished watching the original to get the joke reference. Ok, maybe once or twice but more than that and you'll spend countless hours infront of the TV going from video to video and never really acc.....oh wait.....nevermind.

Easy!

[krumms]

...makes surfing audio and video content as esy as text

Which obviously won't be easy enough for the average /. ed ;)

CSIRO

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't wanna come across all slashdot or anything but thats....

CSIRO (see www.csiro.au)

not CISRO (see www.cisro.com.au)

'Syro', not 'Sisro'...

Patiently waiting to see what happens in 10 years

[del_ctrl_alt]

My initial thoughts were as most (bandwith, content, Feh, etc)

but then I thought well it has to start somewhere, hands up all of you that were on the internet 10 years ago (ok bad audience to ask in!) but you get the picture

I think in 10 or so years time everyone will be wondering how they survived without their inter-thing-a-mabob that does everything and will probably be talking about if going to the local implant shop to get the latest wotsit 'uploaded' is a good idea or will take up too much space.

As Cypher once said...

[billybob2001]

All I see now is blonde, brunette, redhead.

Just like product placement is now only sub-consciously perceived by most viewers.

Take /. back in your time machine to the average person in the seventies or eighties (yeah, and a browser and the h/w to view it on...) and see if they can read it through the distraction of the hyperlinks.

Ok, so maybe the "news" will be up-to date when you show it to them, but that wasn't the point...

Sounds Like VRML

[David_AH]

Remember when VRML was going to change the Internet? No more text just big 3d world with avatars running around everywhere. When was the last time you visited a VRML site? I don't understand why so many people want to augment or replace simple text and graphics. Sure flash and video and audio add to the web and are great for some applications, but text is trhe real killer app on the web. It is easy and cheap to produce, and thanks to services like babelfish it is easy to translate. Not to mention the problems of getting acurate search results just based on descriptions of viedo or audio.

This has existed for years

[James Youngman]

The Microcosm system had this feature (hyperlinks in videos) in 1993, possibly earlier. It even worked with videodisks...

Not by the way that I really rated Microcosm, it was really quite buggy and was overtaken by HTML, which of course turned out to be the category-killer in the hypertext arena.

SMIL

[Anonymous Coward]

It is already on the w3.org (the people who brought you HTML and XML standards) website, and it is called SMIL.

This is a GREAT idea!

[brakk]

So, that TV thing on my desk would be likeâ¦. my TV thing in my entertainment center! And my MOUSE would be likeâ¦â¦ my REMOTE CONTROL! This is a GREAT advancement for our civilization!

IBM had this in OS/2 back in the mid 90's

[Locutus]

I had heard that IBM had this in it's OS/2 media player way back around the Warp 4 days. OS/2 shipped with a bunch of multimedia players and it was said that they had clickable regions in a video stream working.

I never saw it but then again, I never saw OS/2 for the PPC and IT existed. ;)

LoB

Been there done that

[SPeW]

Audio and video surfing is already here. It's called Winamp 2.91. Yeah it's got shoutcast built in and now a new thing called Internet TV which is basically Nullsoft Public Acces TV. It's starting to catch on too, there are a number of shows ranging from someone getting drive thru at taco bell to shows like Cartoon Network's Auqa Team Hunger Force. So who needs cable when you have a broadband connection.

Caps?

[ic3p1ck]

How ironic, this coming from Australia - the land of the internet cap!

quicktime vr,,,

[Vaughn Anderson]

Bah... this is just regurgitated quicktime VR, which is hypercard with nice video...

Is this really any different from a web page with the links on the side instead of in the video?

Bob: Hey, hit stop! Rewind, rewind, click there, click there!

Fred: I'm tryin, I'm tryin dernit!

Bob: No, no, not there, forward forward, No, stop, backup, backup, click now click now before the link disappears in the next scene! AGGGH!

(*Dislaimer: this is a joke, I didn't even read the article*)