Sports apps to use whilst watching tv

Baseball

The MLB app provides detailed statistics of every live baseball game, it provides the fan with more statistics than one would get watching the tv broadcast.

Features

• “Enhanced, re-designed Gameday pitch-by-pitch features, including realistic ballpark renderings
• Home and away radio broadcasts
• In-progress video highlights
• Condensed Games and video library archive
• Breaking news, standings, schedules, rosters and stats”

Customer Reviews from iTunes
“Love it. by Lord Bellingham of Sidcup
I love this app, i love being able to dive into each game in progress to see what’s happening live. I wish there was a similair app for cricket.

 Love it!!! by Andrew Donnelly
Fantastic for every baseball fan, especially if, like me, you lie in the UK, where the coverage is not widespread on TV as it is in the States.”

Looking at its features and the video demo, this is a very useful app. Baseball is a statistics ordinated game and this app exposes even more statistic, it is a must for a baseball fan. There are regular breaks within a baseball game, so there is plenty of opportunity for the tv watcher/user to look up something in the app without missing any play.

Reference – iTunes. (2011)  MLB.com At Bat 11 for iPad [ONLINE]. Available from: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mlb-com-at-bat-11-for-ipad/id420035457?mt=8#[Accessed 29 May 2011].

Reference: MLB At Bat 11: iPad App of the Week. (2011). [ONLINE VIDEO]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIqv3OH9XIU [Accessed 29 May 2011].

Basketball

This NBA Game time app provides scores, videos and statistics, whilst watching live games. The game screen is key to what is going on during a live game.

Features

• “Performance Info – This is the first product to give fans easy access to team performance during a game. See real-time shooting percentages and performance by zones on the court, know each team’s stat leaders, box scores, and quarterly play-by-play action.

• Live Court View – Know who’s on court at every moment and see substitutions happen live. Plus, see individual shooting with the live shot chart.

• Standings – Keep up to date on league standings for conference, division and the whole NBA.

• Player Cards: See player’s season and career stats.
• Live Ticker: the latest news from NBA.com.”

Customer Reviews from iTunes
Perfection by Sumshy
Wow, this app is a revelation. At first glance it looks like every other app. But the detail that developers put into this app is what elevates it. I find myself looking at every app and thinking ‘I wish it did this or that’, but this app actually does those things and more.

Incredible  by Jcvdfdytr
Best app for an NBA fan. Gives you every freakin video, just amazing

WOW by T Baller 2.0
Absolute must have for any NBA fan.

From the video app review this app has plenty of features that the basketball fan would want, there are natural breaks in the game for the user to access the content in this app.

Reference: NBA Game Time Courtside App Review for iPad. (2011). [ONLINE VIDEO]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bANdNzsuFo [Accessed 29 May 2011].

Reference – iTunes. (2011) NBA Game Time for iPad. [ONLINE]. Available from:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nba-game-time-courtside/id364284970?mt=8  [Accessed 29 May 2011].

Motor racing

This F1 app maps the positions of the cars on to the race circuit (real time). This allows the user to see what is happening across the race. One can follow a specific driver, with their position being shown on the circuit map.

Features Include:

“★ REAL-TIME TRACK POSITIONING ★

Displayed on our dynamic and fully interactive 3D map. You can see the position of every F1 driver on the track at the same time. Pan, zoom and spin the track maps to focus on a specific driver or pull back to see the whole field. See the gaps and pit stops as never before!

★ CORNER CAMERAS ★

Selectable corner numbers change the camera view to that corner so you control the action!

★ FOLLOW YOUR FAVOURITE F1 DRIVER ★

Selecting a driver switches the camera to follow that selected driver around the race track. Watch as they battle for position!

★ LIVE TIMING DATA ★

Timing data is streamed direct from Formula One Management’s technical centre at the race track to the palm of your hand. With multiple timing screens including sectors, gaps and speeds. Watch the sessions like the engineers on the pitwall!

★ LIVE LEADERBOARDS ★

Combined with live timing data, scrollable leaderboards display a wealth of data, combining visual images of the cars and driver flags with split second data.”

Customer Reviews from iTunes
“Expensive but spectacularly good by Chris Clague

Worth the money if you get it for the season

Turkish delight 😉 by F1 Chump
I’ve had this App from the start of the season and so far it’s been a pleasure to use.

The “ZX Spectrum colours” are in keeping with the official timing screens so any other colouring for these would be confusing. Besides, I can’t see anything wrong with them.”

This mapping of race data on to a map, makes the visualisation of the race very useful for any fan. Lap times and live leader boards means that one can see the data when one wants it and not have to wait for the broadcasters.

Reference – iTunes. (2011) F1™ 2011 Timing App CP. [ONLINE]. Available from: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/f1-2011-timing-app-cp/id401619387?mt=8# [Accessed 29 May 2011].

Reference: F1 2011 Live Timing App Review. (2011). [ONLINE VIDEO]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXmFmeYkoAo [Accessed 29 May 2011].

Reference: F1™ 2010 for the Apple iPad. (2010). [ONLINE VIDEO]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqRySs0Uo2U [Accessed 29 May 2011].

Football

It was hard to find a good football app to support the tv viewing experience, Sky Sports and espn have app which gives one some extra information, team line-ups, statistics and latest scores.

The Total Football – Champions League app provides great visualisation of the match statics with live match updates. For the fan this is an interesting way to see how well your team is playing.

Features

• “LIVE MATCH UPDATES, including goalscorers, yellow & red cards and substitutions plus every pass, shot, tackle, interception, clearance, save, foul and many more events displayed on the pitch!
• View which players are having the biggest impact in the game with the ‘Player Influence’ feature
• Tap, double tap, triple tap and drag the selection on the match timeline to focus on the particular period of the game you’re interested in
• Compare player v player, team v team or player v team across any of the events and any games
• Match stats including number of shots on target per team, passes and tackles
• View player stats such as who completed the most passes or made the most shots”

Reference – iTunes. (2011) Total Football – Champions League. [ONLINE]. Available from: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/total-football-champions-league/id395137510?mt=8## [Accessed 29 May 2011].

Reference – Zax, Robert. (2011) 5 Best Football Apps for iPhone. [ONLINE]. Available from: http://iphoneappcafe.com/5-best-football-apps-for-iphone/ [Accessed 29 May 2011].

Conclusion

Sporting organisations have official and unofficial apps that provide real time statistics when the live sports games are happening. All these apps give the user more information than what they are getting through the live tv broadcast. The user also can access information when they want it and not have to wait for the broadcasters to update their on screen graphics or commentary.

Real time stats is key for all these apps, as it gives the user extra linked content to the live event being broadcast.

Looking a customer reviews on iTunes, most users think these type of apps are brilliant for the fan.

Looking at videos and functionality of these app there seems to be a potential for extra information related to the event to give the sporting/tv viewer an enhanced experience that they can control.

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Social media apps for tv

There are may social media apps available that allow you to share what you are watching, I am only going to look at 2 of them, IntoNow and getGlue

IntoNow
IntoNow is an iphone app that identifies the show from it sound. Once it has found the show one can then check-in/share what they are watching on twitter and facebook.

This app is a great way to see what your friends and other people are watching and to discover new shows.

Features:

• “Identify live TV, or anything that’s run on TV in the last five years, from your television, computer or mobile device.
• Get full episode and cast information, as well as info on future airings.
• Receive notifications when your friends are watching the same episode or show.
• Comment on what your friends are watching in the app, or on Facebook and Twitter.
• One-click access to IMDb, Netflix, and iTunes so you can learn more or start watching right away.
• Add new friends using Facebook, Twitter, your address book, or “search by name.””

This is like shazam for tv, the data base behind this must be extremely large. Their” catalog represents more than 2.6 million airings, indexed during the past five years, and it’s growing by the second.”

Shame it is only available in the USA.

Reference – (2011). IntoNow [ONLINE]. Available from: http://www.intonow.com/ci/soundprint [Accessed 29 May 2011].

Reference – (2011). IntoNow [ONLINE]. Available from: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/intonow/id406436404# [Accessed 29 May 2011].

Reference: IntoNow: iPhone App listens to TV. (2011). [ONLINE VIDEO]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O5CmgrutH0 [Accessed 29 May 2011].

GetGlue
The app allows one to check-in whilst doing a certain activity for example watching tv shows, movies and sports, listening to music, reading books, playing games, thinking about a celebrity, thinking about a topic.
One earns stickers the more one checks-in, one can see who else watches the same show, share what they are watching to facebook and twitter. It allows one to discover new tv shows, books etc

Features:

• “Check-in to your favorite TV shows, movies, music, and more
• Earn rewards from over 40 major media companies
• See what your friends are currently watching, reading, or listening to
• Rate things to get awesome recommendations based on things you like
• Get filtered new releases and old favorites picked just for you
• Share the TV shows, movies, and music you like”

I have been using this app for about 2 weeks, it is interesting to see what other people are watching and is a great way to discuss tv shows with friends.
The one thing is I forget to check-in whilst actually watch the show, but then tend to check-in the next day, so far I have 5 stickers. This is a fun app and I wish more of my friends used it.

Reference – (2011). GetGlue [ONLINE]. Available from: http://getglue.com/ [Accessed 29 May 2011].

Reference – (2010). GetGlue [ONLINE]. Available from: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/getglue/id377615302?mt=8
[Accessed 29 May 2011].

Reference: GetGlue for iPhone – App Review. (2011). [ONLINE VIDEO]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiwTAjJS-PE [Accessed 29 May 2011].

70% tablet owners are using their device & 50% of people are regularly online whilst watching tv

Since the advent of tablets screens more and more people are using their tablets whilst watching tv, they use them to access more information about the show/actor they area watching, tweet about the tv show, consume social media and play games. [from personal observation]

Some of these activities are very relevant to the content they are watching some are because there traditional tv broadcast is not immersive enough.

The 2011 mobile connected devices report by Nielsen finds that “Seventy percent of tablet owners and 68 percent of smartphone owners said they use their devices while watching television”

Of those 70% using there tablets whilst watching tv, this made up 30% of their time using the tablet (they also used their tablet 21% of their time lying in bed).

According to Nick Thomas, Senior Analyst, Consumer Product Strategy, Forrester Research, 50% of people are regularly online whilst watching tv. Younger users 16-24 year olds are interacting/talking to their friends around the content they are watching, this is not the same for older users who tend to be doing email’s whilst watching tv.

These are 2 interesting but different statistics; the Nielsen report looks at the percentage of people with tablets using their device whilst watching tv and the Forrester research looks at the percentage of people watching TV who are online whilst watching tv.

Reference – Nielsen. (2011). In the U.S., Tablets are TV Buddies while eReaders Make Great Bedfellows. [ONLINE]. Available from: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/in-the-u-s-tablets-are-tv-buddies-while-ereaders-make-great-bedfellows/ [Accessed 26 May 2011].

Reference – Montejo,Elmer. (2011). Nielsen Q1 2011 Report: Americans Use Tablets, Smartphones as TV Buddies. [ONLINE]. Available from:http://www.androidauthority.com/nielsen-report-americans-use-tablets-smartphones-as-tv-buddies-14564/%5BAccessed 26 May 2011].

Reference – Dredge, Stuart. (2011). Liveblog: Consumer and connected media trends in 2011. [ONLINE]. Available from: http://blog.mipworld.com/2011/04/liveblog-consumer-and-connected-media-trends-in-2011/ [Accessed 26 May 2011].

Reference: Top Consumer (Media) Trends 2011 | Connected Creativity 2011. (2011). [ONLINE VIDEO]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/user/mipmarkets?feature=mhee#p/c/2/rZJD3yhpwJ. [Accessed 25 May 2011].

TV show apps

TV show apps to use whilst watch the show
Some apps enhance and complement the viewing experience they allow viewers to find out more information about the show, whilst watching, My Generation “ a first-of-its-kind app that enhances the experience of watching “My Generation” on TV by providing synchronized interactive content and social media functionality on the iPad”

Reference –  Unknown. (2010). Disney/ABC Television Group and Nielsen Team to Create Innovative iPad Application for Upcoming Primetime Drama “My Generation”. [ONLINE]. Available from: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/press-room/2010/disney_abc_televisiongroupandnielsenteamtocreateinnovativeipadap.html [Accessed 20 May 2011].

ABC have taken this idea and created a Grey’s Anatomy app which has the following functionality.

• The app’s Sync technology connects your iPad to your TV allowing you to participate in real time with the show
• “Take polls and quizzes, get behind the scenes info and even unlock bonus content by interacting with the app.
• Connect with other Grey’s Anatomy fans and chat about the episode while watching the show.
• Virtually check-in and earn badges at locations and events in the show such as Joe’s Pub or Meredith’s birthday party.
• You can also use the Grey’s Anatomy Sync app while watching digitally recorded episodes of Grey’s Anatomy. Not all functions will be available.
• How it Works: No additional equipment is required as the app works by picking up the audio from the TV. All you need to do is turn on your TV, launch the app and hit the sync button to get started.”

Reference – iTunes. (2011). ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy Sync. [ONLINE]. Available from: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abcs-greys-anatomy-sync/id414921320?mt=8 [Accessed 20 May 2011].

Video

This allows the viewer to interact with the tv show and provides the viewer another level of involvement in the programme.

This app uses – Media-Sync Technology, this technology has been “built on Nielsen’s new Media-Sync Platform, which allows mobile applications to automatically detect and synchronize with TV programming using Nielsen’s proprietary audio watermarks. ”Media –Sync was developed in the US in order to get TV audience figures. Viewers can’t detect the audio watermarks by electronic devices can.

Reference – unknown. (2010). Disney/ABC Television Group and Nielsen Team to Create Innovative iPad Application for Upcoming Primetime Drama “My Generation”. [ONLINE]. Available from: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/press-room/2010/disney_abc_televisiongroupandnielsenteamtocreateinnovativeipadap.html [Accessed 20 May 2011].

Reference – Gorham, Sid. (2010). Nielsen and ABC’s Innovative iPad App Connects New “Generation” of Viewers. [ONLINE].  Available from: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/nielsen-and-abcs-innovative-ipad-app-connects-new-generation-of-viewers/ [Accessed 20 May 2011].

A great thing about this app is that it still works if you have time-shifted your viewing.

The Bones tv show app “Follow along with BONES episodes LIVE on FOX! Thursdays at 9/8c Get additional information with key scenes and events in the episode as they happen on TV.
Keep your iPad on your lap while you watch Bones and participate with the live show helping to solve cases, decipher forensic speak, listen to and purchase the songs played on the show, comment with fellow BONES fans, and more. The Bones Companion is Live with the show and new every week for the rest of the season”. I don’t think this works with time shifted or recorded tv, to use this app you have to watch the channel’s live broadcast. This app has been poorly rated by users who say the Grey’s Anatomy app is much better.

Reference – iTunes. (2011). Bones. [ONLINE]. Available from:   http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bones/id418050849?mt=8#.  %5BAccessed 20 May 2011].

Broadcasters TV apps

Tv apps allow the viewer to watch tv on there tablet device. iPlayer, TV.com (CBS),ABC player, HULU,  HBO go, Crackle, are examples of these.

BBC iPlayer

Hulu

ABC Player

tv.com

HBO GO

Crackle

Time warner

My review

I was unable to test most of the apps as they were only available in the USA.

The most interactive app is HBO GO seems with a lot extra content.

BBC iPlayer is the only app that allows viewers to watch some tv programmes live.

All of the apps let you watch episodes of current tv shows that have already been aired.

Some of these apps allow one to share the content on social media sites like facebook.

The time warner app allows one to watch live tv, it is an IPTV service for your iPad, that one can switch between broadcast channels, like on a tv set.

TV.com and Crackle seem to be have poor quality video, also there wasn’t that much interesting content to choose from on the UK version of the Crackle.

BBC – Orchestrated Media + Autumnwatch

Orchestrated Media is referred to as a “experience of interaction, synchronisation, and collaboration of programme and companion content across devices.”

 

It can

• “Enable interactivity around the content (voting, games) and synchronisation thereof, based on time and/or events (such as a producer-console triggered “button push”)
• Enable richer exploration of programme
• Enable social network interactions through sync-related information and content identifiers for replay purposes
• Migrate content between the TV and mobile devices (such as a load-and-go service that runs overnight to load the mobile with video corresponding to the unwatched portion of a program, or a resume-for-home service that picks up viewing on the TV from where it left off on mobile)”

 

Orchestrated media provides an opportunity for the broadcaster to enhance the viewers tv viewing experience. It can allow the viewer to interact with the show in real time, but also can work with time-shifted content. (BBC red button live interactive experiences don’t work with time-shifted tv e.g. f1 different audio commentary).

 

To orchestrate content around a show to a second screen would be great, some genres are more suitable than others, in my opinion, sports, news, reality tv documentaries, music, drama, quiz shows would work well. It would be useful to reference actors in films, but you wouldn’t want it do distract one from the movie.

 

The BBC did a second screen Autumnwatch experiment last year, they synchronised extra related content to the broadcast show. This was a manual process. The key findings were

“Participants described a closer connection to the show and found that the content was most useful when it reflected their interests or during less engaging moments in show. 92% of the viewers also reported an increased understanding of the topics covered. Invariably some viewers wanted more detail, whereas 60% felt that it was pitched about right…. From the rating buttons data we saw that the diagrams, location maps, how to guides and photo galleries were the most relevant and enjoyable content, whereas the weather report, presenter biography and habitat information were least rewarding. Interestingly the presenter’s reference to Whooper Swans at the end of the show resulted in the most visited external link after the show, demonstrating the power of on-air cues.”

 

This experiment shows that access to extra content whilst watching the live broadcast “can add to the viewer’s enjoyment”

 

Also “don’t distract the user when there’s drama on the TV. It’s better all round to wait for the quiet points and natural breaks in the show when the second screen can be used to retain viewers who might need the additional stimulation.”

 

Reference – Kramskoy, Jerry. (2011) Orchestrated Media – Beyond second and third screen. [ONLINE]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/researchanddevelopment/2011/02/orchestrated-media—beyond-se-1.shtml [Accessed 20 May 2011].

Reference – Kramskoy, Jerry. (2011) Orchestrated Media – beyond second and third screen (II) . [ONLINE]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/researchanddevelopment/2011/02/orchestrated-media—beyond-se.shtml [Accessed 20 May 2011].

Reference – Jones, Theo. (2011) Designing for second screens: The Autumnwatch Companion. [ONLINE]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/researchanddevelopment/2011/04/the-autumnwatch-companion—de.shtml [Accessed 20 May 2011].

Reference – Ferne, Tristan. (2010) The Autumnwatch TV Companion experiment. [ONLINE]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/researchanddevelopment/2010/11/the-autumnwatch-tv-companion-e.shtml [Accessed 20 May 2011].

 

National Museum of Photography, Film and Television visit

The visit to the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, started off with a curator lead tour of the museum this took me into areas that are not normally accessible to the public. This tour was given by John Logie Baird’s grandson. It was very informative and interesting, I got to see some very old and valuable photos in the print archive which also had some old 3D photos taken in the early 1900’s.

Next the tour was taken in to the large media archive this contained the first TV ever built and sold by Baird. The picture one could see was only very small the size of an iPhone 4 display, lacking in colour and it flickered a lot. There was also lots of old broadcast equipment, cameras from the second world war, a piano that played sound affects, B format 1″, Sony HD real to real tape machine, the Frost Digital Neeve sound desk. There was also the helicopter camera used for the Charles and Diana Royal Wedding in 1981.

In the small archive room there was a Sega mega drive, BBC micro computer, Nintendo Gameboy and surprisingly these are all object that I had when I was a child (now I feel old).

In the main exhibition I saw a 2” quad machine, VHS player (that my parents had), old OB cameras, BSB squarial, VHS and betamax machines. There was a good example of the transmission process, showing dsat, dcable, dtt and the Internet. There were lots of kids enjoying playing in the green screen studio, production gallery, drama and news studio.

BBC local radio Leeds have a Bradford office where they do some shows and inserts from.

There was a video showing key broadcast media events
• Man landing on the moon
• Charles and Diana wedding
• Live aid
• The Queens Coronation
• Brighton siege
• Hillsborough disaster
• Twin towers coming down
• Princess Diana funeral

One event that wasn’t in there was J F Kennedy’s assassination.

In the TV section there is a small exhibition, on 3D TV, containing a demo of sky 3D using passive glasses. The room has been designed in anaglyph. It explained the difference between passive, active, no glasses and anaglyph viewing technology, plus the 3D achievements by the inventor of television John Logie Baird.

They have an exhibition about 3D cinema showing the history and also the projection room for the 3d IMAX cinema. You could see some old 70mm IMAX film stock (not digital) which is much larger that normal 35mm cinema film because of the IMAX screen size.

The museum is well laid out, interactive and the staff very helpful. I would like to have seen more of the old broadcast equipment (not cameras) like VTR’s (tape machines), film editing and old OB equipment.

Overall I had a lovely day and I got a real sense of broadcast history. it’s a shame I only found out about this museum a few months ago.

Bradford has a reputation for not being nice, but I was surprised, it was clean and tidy. There were nice spring flowers and the city centre old buildings have been cleaned. The people were friendly and helpful, it also helped that it was a pleasant sunny day.

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‘The real world’

At the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television I watched ‘The real world’ – presented by Michael Rood’ about 3D television broadcast in 1982.

The TV show contained some footage that had never been seen before in 3D. The footage was of the Queen the week after her coronation in 1953. It was incredibly poor quality.

The programme explained with practical examples how 3D worked and showed current experiments in 3D and pushed objects (dust, a ladder and hands) at the camera to demonstrate 3D coming out the screen to the viewer at home wearing anaglyph glasses.

The programme explained and demonstrated lenticular, anaglyph, polarised and beamsplitter technology. All these things are now coming into fruition.

The best 3D footage I watched using the anaglyph glasses was under an water dolphin scene. The video also demonstrated how 3D technology could be used for map making, robots in nuclear plants and underwater pipe examination.

Dr Tan says “3D is so close to reality” and 30 years later this is becoming more true.

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