SyFy Sync, interesting from a tech standpoint

[johnpaul215]

So TV shows have had the "follow along on a tablet for additional content" for years. I was never super impressed when it said "select episode and click start when you start watching" etc. 

 

SyFy is using an app and your phone's mic to achieve sync. you tell it what series, but it figures out episode and where you are in the show. I tried it half way through an episode of 12 Monkeys and it worked immediately. 

The real reason I played with it is that for 12 Monkeys, it can control your Phillips Hue LED lights and change the color of the room. There was a campfire scene and it made the room orange and throbbing a bit, then near the time machine it made the lights blue/purple. outside was more of a daylight temp. 

 

I don't know if it works sort of like Plural Eyes or if they have some ultrasonic code hidden in the audio. It's using Gracenote Entourage: "At its core, Gracenote Entourage uses advanced audio fingerprinting technology to let smart phones and tablets identify movies and TV programs by simply “listening” to a few seconds of the program dialogue and soundtrack." 

 

 

[Richard Ragon]

Well.. This is dam interesting.

[johnpaul215]

I could see it being great for certain shows. Game of Thrones comes to mind because they drastically change locations so much and the lighting changes a lot.

A friend of mine had a TV with back lights that were supposed to do something similar, but the processing was done by the television for anything you watched. Only really worked with a white wall (his was wood paneling). He had to stop using it anyway because apparently the back lights were a fire hazard. Ha!

[Henchman]

How are you liking 12 Monkeys?

[Marc Wielage]

 The real reason I played with it is that for 12 Monkeys, it can control your Phillips Hue LED lights and change the color of the room. There was a campfire scene and it made the room orange and throbbing a bit, then near the time machine it made the lights blue/purple. outside was more of a daylight temp. 

 

Representing the post department for the moment: I personally dislike the gimmick of having any colored lighting in the viewer's home. The shows were designed to be seen in subdued lighting under reasonable circumstances, not some hokey bulb in back of a TV set on the wall. Nothing should happen to distract you from the film or TV show.

[hobbiesodd]

... not some hokey bulb in back of a TV set on the wall. 

 

I think there is more to the Philips Hue Lighting than this. You should check out the link posted above. 

 

I see it as an added feature - not unlike surround sound - to enhance the personal experience, and personally I would love to experience "being in the 12 Monkeys time machine".

 

Cheers,

Evan

[johnpaul215]

How are you liking 12 Monkeys?

 

I like it more than I thought I would, and that's a good thing. Being from Philly, and a Terry Gilliam fan, I love the film. I love what he visually did with my city to get the post-outbreak looks. I like the cast of the original. 

 

All that said, I got sucked into the series. There's something interesting about taking a story that was 90-120 minutes and reworking it into a TV series. I don't hate the idea of movie remakes as much as some people do. It's been done in theater (and music) for hundreds of years. People have their own variations on the theme and it's interesting to see what stays and what gets added and what is ignored. 

The pieces that are actually shot in Philadelphia are curious to me. In terms of what is and what isn't. I think that's a game a lot of people play though. 

[johnpaul215]

Even the Hue Light interface aside, the Gracenote sync is interesting. Like I said, I never use that "second screen" thing, but I know something similar exists for Game of Thrones and it will pop up a character's back story. I'm sure that can be helpful if you haven't seen them in a while. Very different than watching an encapsulated 90 minute film, but when it's a TV series spanning years, with months of down time between seasons, I am sure some people like the digital Cliff's Notes. 

 

The Hue stuff is interesting. Completely off topic, there's a lot of 3rd party interfaces to control them. Somebody told me there are disney books on iPad that when you read them to your kid, they change the lights to match the story. You can make a light blink when you get an email to a specific account, or if a baseball team scores or something. 

Offhand I don't know of another show that is using this mood lighting setting. Maybe they are working with SyFy to test it out and do a proof of concept. It's not something I want on the evening news, but it's an interesting concept. It's also in the unusual position of being something for the home viewer that doesn't exist in a theater. I already had the lights, so it was worth trying it out. 

[Henchman]

I like it more than I thought I would, and that's a good thing. Being from Philly, and a Terry Gilliam fan, I love the film. I love what he visually did with my city to get the post-outbreak looks. I like the cast of the original. 

 

All that said, I got sucked into the series. There's something interesting about taking a story that was 90-120 minutes and reworking it into a TV series. I don't hate the idea of movie remakes as much as some people do. It's been done in theater (and music) for hundreds of years. People have their own variations on the theme and it's interesting to see what stays and what gets added and what is ignored. 

The pieces that are actually shot in Philadelphia are curious to me. In terms of what is and what isn't. I think that's a game a lot of people play though.

I was worried as well, as I loved the original.

But they've done a great job of not copying the movie, but using it as a starting point for the characters and story.

[Karri]

I also have a Philips TV with LED backlights, it chooses the hue based on whatever color is present near the edges of the actual screen. It's actually not unpleasant at all, when watching, say, a Blu-Ray release of a rock concert.

As for Marc's comment, I hear what you're saying, yet as you know it's the same as with sound - it's being watched on all kinds of different equipment. As well as with not only wildly different adjustments but wildly different lighting as well.

If you ask me, Philips' worst crime is certainly not the lights but at least one model of TV's I know (my sister has on) that has the interpolating TruMotion (or whatever they call it at Philips) feature not only on by default, but to add, should I say, injury to insult, you can't turn it off!