Smarter Live Video Controls
Watching live video via the internet is becoming more and more prevalent, and it's no longer confined to geeky technology webcasts or Apple Computer product launches.
We watched the inauguration of Barack Obama via live video feed. You can watch space shuttles being launched in real time. And most importantly (well, in my house anyway) we pick up coverage of live sports events via broadband before we bother with the advert-heavy and often incomplete coverage that we get via cable in New Zealand.
But at the same time, we're also frustrated at the way traditional video controls apply to live content. We're using interfaces that seem, to me at least, largely unchanged since streaming video first became available on the internet.
I think controls for live video could be smarter and more interactive. Shouldn't you be able to pause, rewind, and skip back to live, just like TiVO and the like? If set-top media centres can do it, why not the web?
I recently read these ideas for a new breed of live video controls at boriss' blog, and I think they're a step in the right direction. Now to find time to knock up a prototype...