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A review of collocated multi-user TV

Examining the changing role of the TV in the multi-viewer, multi-screen home

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Abstract

The TV plays a central role in our homes, bringing friends and family together by providing a common reference point for live, on-demand and interactive media. However, the capabilities of the modern day TV poorly reflect this social, multi-user context. The TV is in the process of being supplemented, and in some cases replaced, by other devices and displays (e.g. phones, tablets) in what is termed “multi-screening”. This allows users to engage in separate and private activities alongside TV usage. The result of this is that users are “together alone” inhabiting private digital bubbles, their activity and interactions cut off from those around them. This paper outlines why facilitating multi-user use of the TV is important within the context of existing multi-screen usage, and reviews how we might go about designing TVs that better support the social contexts in which they reside. Firstly, we discuss how we interact with and share use of the TV, before examining how our TV usage has been augmented by multi-screening. We then review designs for multi-user TV: from shared-use TV interfaces, to using the TV as a medium by which multi-screen activity can be shared, to TVs capable of providing multiple independent physical views, allowing for both private and collaborative activities on a single shared display. Finally, we discuss new technologies that might have a part to play in determining the future role of the TV. This paper demonstrates that, contrary to existing usage, the TV can be of increasing relevance in the multi-user, multi-screen era.

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Notes

  1. http://www.barb.co.uk/resources/barb-facts/faq.

  2. www.samsung.com/us/2013-smart-tv/.

  3. www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/entertainment.

  4. www.amazon.co.uk/Amazon-CL1130-Fire-TV/.

  5. www.play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.tv.remote.

  6. www.samsung.com/global/microsite/tv/uhdtv/mobile/multi_link_screen.html.

  7. http://www.oztam.com.au/AboutOzTAM.aspx.

  8. www.apple.com/airplay/.

  9. www.wi-fi.org/wi-fi-certified-miracast.

  10. Victims of the Chromecast “RickMote” controller might suggest not www.wired.com/2014/07/rickroll-innocent-televisions-with-this-google-chromecast-hack.

  11. Pixel persistence: the time it takes a pixel to transition from its previous state to its current state.

  12. Crosstalk: the extent to which one image is retained into the subsequent image. For example, given a two-view multi-view display, where one view is a car and the other a boat, crosstalk would be manifested as the boat being visible (ranging from a faint outline to wholly superimposed) in the car view, and vice-versa.

  13. www.lg.com/us/tv-audio-video/discoverlgtvs/dualplay.

  14. www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/KN55S9CAFXZA.

  15. www.sony.co.uk/electronics/televisions/x9000b-series/specifications.

  16. For example: http://www.techradar.com/news/television/hdtv/first-look-sharp-85-inch-8k-glasses-free-3d-1214341 and http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnarcher/2015/01/13/hands-on-with-samsungs-110-inch-8k-glasses-free-3d-tv-aka-my-head-hurts/.

  17. http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/16/7401011/netflix-now-supports-android-wear-but-its-not-the-remote-control.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by Bang and Olufsen and the EPSRC. This publication only reflects the authors’ views.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Glasgow Interactive Systems Group, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

    Mark McGill & Stephen A. Brewster

  2. Inference, Dynamics, and Interaction, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

    John H. Williamson

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  1. Mark McGill
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  2. John H. Williamson
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  3. Stephen A. Brewster
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Correspondence to Mark McGill.

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McGill, M., Williamson, J.H. & Brewster, S.A. A review of collocated multi-user TV. Pers Ubiquit Comput 19, 743–759 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-015-0860-1

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