Internet and the TV are entering a complicated relationship. They love each other, they need each other and they are quarreling all the time. Sort of matrimonio all'italiana, perhaps. What a pity not to look deeply inside! New big things and new businesses are used to form just in such situations.
TVCON 2014 maps the space where TV meets Internet video, mobile content and games. It deals with topics from streaming video to applications development, from interactive TV to mobile, from SmartTV to Chromecast. We'll examine the future of connected TV in the terms of content, business and technology. The conference is essential for anybody who wants to keep the pace with the current and future media.
The TVCON 2013 conference mainly covered the possible commercial use of applications for smart TV (SmartTV), application development and linking them with mobile phones, HbbTV, GoogleTV, OTT and other topics in the area of access to multimedia content consumers of television entertainment.
The conference was organized by Internet Info in cooperation with Mautilus.
The program was devided in two halls.
In the main hall was the first speaker from Mautilus, PETR MAZANEC, he spoke about the application of television equipment, for whom it applies and why it's interesting. During his lecture Petr Mazanec likened smart television to the smart phone and compared the television and mobile applications. The next speaker was PAVEL MIZERA a content specialist from Czech and Slovak Samsung Electronics. He spoke about trends in Smart TV. He mentioned several possible options that may be used in the future for how to control smart TV – voice, gestures, facial identification, etc.
Another presentation was led by PAVLÍNA KVAPILOVÁ from the new media of Czech Television. She spoke about the real experience of running HbbTV. The first block was closed by a specialist responsible for local content – TOMÁŠ VILÍMEK from LG Electronics CZ, who spoke about the entertainment value of smart TVs. This was followed by a panel discussion convey these topics: How to use Smart TV, what Smart TV can bring to our business.
The second part of the conference was called “From the Server to the Client”. First spear was RADEK PŘIKRYL (Topfun Media). His presentation was mostly about Video evolution. He opened with questions like How many purposes we can use television for? How does video get into homes? How many households can it reach? The next speaker was the CEO of Visual Unity JAKUB KABOUREK. He spoke about trends in IPTV, OTT and multiscreen and his experiences in these areas. The systems Engineer for service providers, MARTIN SLINTÁK from Cisco Systems talked about trends and technical solutions horizons access to television services from the perspective of broadcasters and viewers, and also Internet service providers.
The third block called “Fight for the End User” was opened by FILIP ROŽÁNEK, Strategic Analyst from Czech Radio. Czech Radio has a special YouTube channel, which carries the most interesting debates such as the presidential debate. Czech Radio also boasts several applications for smart devices, complete with phones, tablets, and now smart TV. MARTIN KUNČICKÝ from the company Seznam.cz spoke about his experiences with Mixer.cz, one of the most popular new services by Seznam.cz. PETR HORÁČEK from CET 21 gave a lecture called “Two Years of experience with the Operation of Voyo Platform”.
The last part of the conference was dedicated to a panel discussion led by JAN POTUČEK, chief editor of Digizone.cz. The discussion focused on trends in Social TV. The primary question addressed was “Will be the Social TV evolution result of traditional TV?”
Pawel Buczynski from Samsung Electronics opened Workshops in the small hall. He spoke about an interactive application on Samsung Smart TV. He was followed by DANIEL REGÉC from Mautilus, who spoke on the topic of “Two years of Experience in the development of TV Applications”. He focused on the development of cross-platform applications on webkit – How to write an application that runs on (almost) all TVs, development tools – their possibilities, advantages / disadvantages and differences. The workshops concluded with a Practical Demonstration of Microsoft's Xbox 360 console control via Smart Glass of mobile phones with a different OS and tablets by ŠŤEPÁN BECHYNSKÝ. He pointed to the integration of Xbox 360 to the Internet – Web Browser, Twitter, Skydrive, Facebook.