YouTube Launches Multi-Angle Video Experiment

jones_supa writes YouTube is experimenting with a fun feature already known from DVDs: videos that let you switch between different camera angles while the video is playing. These multi-angle videos are only an experiment right now and there's only one demo video that actually showcases this feature so far. Provided that the user can supply multiple camera streams, YouTube tells that the multiplexing will be automatic, but that the technology is not ready to scale to everyone yet. If you want to give this a try, head over to Madilyn Bailey's channel. The YouTube team took her performance at the most recent YouTube Music Night and set it up as a multi-angle video.

Comments

Basic DVD feature

[xpax666]

Wasn't this one of the hyped features of DVDs back in the day? Didn't make a splash then...

Re:Basic DVD feature

[Chess_the_cat]

Sure was. My DVD remote still has the Angle button. I can't recall a single title that used it.

Re:Basic DVD feature

[rmdingler]

I believe there are advanced lifeforms hovering on just the blind edge of our ability to detect them

who may reveal themselves tomorrow now that we've passed this incredible technological threshold.

Re:Basic DVD feature

[rudy_wayne]

Sure was. My DVD remote still has the Angle button. I can't recall a single title that used it.

That's because it's a useless gimmick. And it requires lot of extra work to produce, with little or no real benefit.

Re:Basic DVD feature

[ArmoredDragon]

I found in a DVD drive in a computer lab machine that I was fixing

Why must you turn this website into a house of lies?

Re:Basic DVD feature

[Theaetetus]

Sure was. My DVD remote still has the Angle button. I can't recall a single title that used it.

That's because it's a useless gimmick. And it requires lot of extra work to produce, with little or no real benefit.

On a DVD, sure. On live TV? Particularly sports? It's awesome. One of the stations - NBC or CBS, I think - streamed an NFL game on their website last year and let you select either the broadcast stream or any of the individual cameras, including sideline, overhead, QB close up, etc. That was really fun. I could see the same benefit for anything where different viewers may be interested in different things happening simultaneously - sports or concerts, primarily.

Re: Basic DVD feature

[beav007]

It will be very useful to those who do music tutorials. The user can choose which hand/foot to watch.

Re:Basic DVD feature

[Zaatxe]

Sometimes it was used and you didn't even notice. One notable example is Toy Story's DVD from region 4. It had dubbing and subtitles for english, spanish and portuguese, and since Pixar had the trouble to translate some in-scene texts (like the text in Buzz's box/spaceship), the DVD changed the "angle" for the right language and match the language you picked at the start of the movie.

Re:It's garbage

[monkeyzoo]

Yep, it's not really ready for primetime. I'm surprised they released it like this!
In a couple moments, I quickly spotted two issues:
1) The majority of the time that I switch camera angles, I get a little repeat/skip backwards in the audio.
2) When changing between cameras, it seems you get a real quick shot of the last frame you were on with that camera. So as the scene progresses and you change cameras, this causes some subliminal-style image flashes.

Worked really well for concert DVDs

[SuperKendall]

The U2 Elevation DVD used multi-angle really well - you could switch between different views of the concert, from the control room to BonoCam (yes really, even before Google Glass there were cameras in glasses) and general wide angle views. The control room view was especially fun.

I have to admit it never caught on generally but there are some select subjects where it can be really great - personally I think it could really flourish on a place like YouTube with and endless array of specialized subjects and millions of people to think up some creative use. I'm interested to see what comes of it.

Re:It's garbage

[dj245]

Not only that, many don't have the equipment to run a multicam setup. Cameras and a time code generator cost money.

I've done multicam with 2 smartphones. You don't need a time code generator. Start the recording on both cameras at approximately the same time, and make a loud, sharp, noise (like a single hand clap or banging a table) to emulate the clapperboard that you are too poor to buy. Don't stop the recording until the scene is done. Use the loud sharp noise at the beginning of the clips to sync up the videos. Make your video PIP and throw away one of the audio tracks, or do proper cuts if you want to be fancy. Done.