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Scientists are within
three years of launching technology that will enable television viewers to
edit programmes to their own tastes.
The New Media for New Millennium (NM2) project is designed to
enable a viewer to watch Star Wars as a romantic comedy, for
example, or compress Death in Venice into a 20-minute romp.
Doug Williams, the British Telecom scientist managing the technical
side of the project, said the plan was to give viewers the freedom to
consume media in a new way. "They will have a set of choices, or perhaps
the systems will infer their choices from their previous viewing
experiences," he said.
The multimillion-euro NM2 project has been funded partly by the
European Commission under the community's Framework science and technology
programme. It involves participants from nine European countries,
including academic institutions, science laboratories and content
producers.
"Media users will no longer be passive viewers but become active
engagers," said Peter Stollenmayer from Eurescom, an NM2 co-ordinator.
Viewers would need a broadband connection and a digital set-top
box.
The technology identifies specific parts of a TV programme or film
so they can be assembled in various ways without viewers being able to
detect the joins.
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