HbbTV and animators

[Klaus Hoefs]

One from the future:
HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) is now new standard for TV, specified by an European consortium (3 weeks ago).
It combines traditional TV with the (interactive) Internet, and at first glance it looks like the GUI of an iPad (and suchlikes).
For Germany most of the broadcasting companies are working on their contents for it, in their backhand they have established huge media libraries already.
Also first TVs with the new standard are available, priced around 1000 € by now (which will be dropped soon).
What is new, beside video on demand, doing mail and internet, running apps ? = eg: If the user is watching Johnny Depp he is can click on his fancy hat and order one via online shopping.

This all will bring new kind of films and of (interactive) storytelling, as Paul has mentioned here before, independent filmmaker may take profit of it.

[BenEcosse]

interesting, thanks for posting.

[Paul Fierlinger]

I described my business plan of distributing my current project (Slocum) over similar devices to Jehoshua Eliashberg, a prominent professor of economy who specializes in digital marketing at the Wharton school of business, University of Pennsylvania, and he pronounced it a perfectly sound and viable strategy. Of course, we were discussing e-books and the i-Pad and such devices, but also taking into consideration that other related innovations are going to be popping up all over the world within the next few years .... so this European Consortium's concept seems to be just one of those expected steps, liberating independent animators from the curse of an endless chain of middlemen .

As I've said here before, I never expected to see in my lifetime both the fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism in Europe, and the emergence of computer technology as a replacement of film production -- and now I can add a third giant step which I had never expected to see in my lifetime; the replacement of all traditional entertainment venues by a single, universal device affordable and ready to replace every home TV set, with the exception of Africa of course, as I have just recently been told (??? ).