February 19, 2010

The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute launches the HHI TiME Lab – Tomorrow’s immersive Media Experience Lab – a platform for new presentation formats and novel forms of content

In the Thick of the Action –
Fully Immersed in Tomorrow’s World of Multimedia

On 19 February 2010 a symposium of leading international experts discussing ‘The Future of Content’ followed by a grand opening ceremony mark the inauguration of the HHI TiME Lab – Tomorrow’s immersive Media Experience Lab – at the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute. The Lab uses high-resolution projection technology to create a 180 degree panorama in a high-end presentation room, while 128 loudspeakers and patented IOSONO technology by Fraunhofer IDMT provide a stunningly lifelike multimedia environment. The Lab’s foundation partners – the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Film and Television Academy (HFF) ‘Konrad Wolf’ – will use the HHI TiME LAB to try out new presentation formats for content and develop new forms of content for this special presentation environment. Further partners from creative media and technology are cordially invited to use the window of opportunity this platform represents for the development of new dimensions of multimedia experience.

The Berliner Philharmoniker were the first to recognize and take up the opportunities the HHI TiME Lab offers for testing new formats of live concert broadcasting. For its part, the Film and Television Academy (HFF) ‘Konrad Wolf’ has produced the first fiction film specially tailored to this new format. Other new types of application lie in the fields of 3D and interactive TV, new advertising formats, interactive game environments, and teaching / learning formats.

“‘Immersion’, or ‘full surround’ and ‘experience’ are the master concepts for this revolutionary new kind of environment,” says Prof. Hans-Joachim Grallert, director of the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute talking about the HHI TiME LAB. “No matter where you are in the room, you’ll always be “right in the thick” of the action!”

This kind of full immersion in virtual surroundings is produced by a unique technical set-up unparalleled anywhere in the wo

• Seven HD projectors with a resolution of 7,000 x 2,000 pixels project on a 180 degree curved screen.
• A dedicated blending technology blends single frames into high-resolution images.
• 128 loudspeakers arranged in a ring create a wave field based on patented IOSONO technology.
• Panoramic images are shot with a special camera purpose-built by the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute.

“The cutting-edge technologies which the Lab now integrates for the first time are essential for the full impact of the environment,” comments Prof. Grallert. “Yet equally important, if not more so, are proper forms of content tailored to the new format and the possibilities it offers. Such types of content, and perhaps even completely new ones of types we haven’t yet dreamed of, need to be developed. We invite everyone to use this new platform offered by the HHI TiME LAB to develop the content of tomorrow’s world!”

‘Orlac reloaded’ produced by the Film and Television (HFF) ‘Konrad Wolf’ is the first pioneering attempt to adapt a film’s storyline, visual language, direction and soundtrack to the exciting new possibilities.

For more information on the event, go to:

 www.hhi.fraunhofer.de/time-lab