Project Canvas (1 Viewer)

[icerg]

Don't know whether this has been mentioned before - Just doing some reading up on Project Canvas:

Homepage - projectcanvas.info

"Project Canvas is a proposed partnership between the BBC, ITV, C4, Five, BT and Talk Talk to build an open internet-connected TV platform, subject to BBC Trust approval."

I think MediaPortal would be the perfect Interface for the system they seem to be planning.

 

[iancalderban]

I completely agree. But it needs the standard to be open enough, that someone can write MP code to talk to it. I wonder if they are open to that? got any contacts?

I'd love to be able to browse to an "canvas" link inside MP, to get catchup-tv from beeb/itv that I didn't record using MP, instead of having to shutdown MP client and fire up the nasty iplayer interface on my htpc ........

 

[Baboonanza]

Project Canvas has now been approved by the BBC Trust so it should be going ahead. The spec (core or full isn't specified, but I assume it's core) has only been released through the Digital TV Group so far though, and I can't get into their members zone. I don't suppose anyone here works for one of the DTG member companies and could get me a copy on the sly could they?

Obviously we aren't interested in the UI aspect of it, but hopefully it will provide an nice open interface for finding video without having to scrape websites. I'll be up for helping with a plugin as soon as a working spec is released.

One article I read had this fine quote from the BBC Trust in it:

[Concerns about]Increased bandwidth load on ISPs: “The Trust is surprised that any ISP would argue that there is a fundamental issue with supporting devices that grow demand for their product.”

Is that sarcasm I detect? Given the BBCs previous arguments with ISPs about iPlayer I think it must be

 

[funkstar]

One article I read had this fine quote from the BBC Trust in it:

[Concerns about]Increased bandwidth load on ISPs: “The Trust is surprised that any ISP would argue that there is a fundamental issue with supporting devices that grow demand for their product.”

Is that sarcasm I detect? Given the BBCs previous arguments with ISPs about iPlayer I think it must be

I haven't read a lot on the specifics of Canvas, but I had always assumed there would be a part of the specs that would enable ISPs to cache content to alleviate this concern. This would be beneficial to ISPs because the likelihood would be that is someone is watching something cached from Canvas, they aren't chewing up bandwidth watching something else. ISPs could also exclude this data from any monthly download limits they have in place.

Perhaps I'm just being too idealistic here

 

[Baboonanza]

I think there is yes. Part of the problem is that given the wide range of services it's going to cover it may not work out that well in practice, and I'd be very suprised if a user of Canvas didn't use a LOT more bandwidth than a non-user. I'm sure it would work well with iPlayer, but what about LoveFilm for instance? Do they even have a license that allows the ISPs to cache copyrighted material?

Really the issue is ISPs having over-sold and underpriced bandwidth on the assumption that people wouldn't use it all (while at the same time advertising about internet video of course) and now have issues because now even normal users are using their full allocation. The dispute with the BBC about iPlayer was the ISPs trying to double charge for the same bandwidth and they understandably lost. Now that this is pushing ahead they will be really, really worried.

Back to Canvas, it seems to have some sort of JVM (or other virtual machine?) built-in to allow content providers to create their own portals. It's a cool feature, but I bet it's going to be bitch to implement in MP!

 

[Baboonanza]

As a UK resident I've been keeping my eye on this project. Some time last year it was re-branded as YouView and has just been delayed to (maybe) the end of this year. I can now access some general device guidelines:
http://www.youview.com/wp-content/themes/youview/_site_media/resources/Consumer_Device_Platform_Draft_A.pdf
It certainly seems like they know what they're doing, build an HD DVR that follows those guidlines and you'd cover about 95% of the spec that most people would want. The devil is of course in the detail, but if they get it right (and it seems a lot is up to individual manufacterers here) and I would expect this to become the dominant UK TV platform.

The bad news: Each device (manufacturer) has a unique key and content comes in encrypted and is stored encrypted So no open API to use in a software platform. Bastards.