DimP: A Direct Manipulation Video Player
Written on 25th May 2008
4 COMMENTS 
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, Serial Internet Entrepreneur
A few years ago someone described the difference between watching video and working with the web and ‘lean forward’ and ‘lean back’ technologies. To me it perfectly described the difference between the two and it also explained very well why standard ‘Tv on the Web’ services don’t seem to work out. I consider Youtube different because there is a large amount of interaction going on around the video itself. The comments, sharing and Related videos combined with the short duration of all videos (Max. 10 minutes) makes it a nice ‘lean back & forward’ service.
But the videos itself are still pretty standard. You click play, sit back and after a while the videos end. The controls at Youtube are very awkward. You can’t seem to fast forward or scroll back through playing video and although the clickable area at the bottom gives you an idea of interactivity it is basically just an indicator how far you are in the movie and not much more.
Fast forward to DimP (Short for ‘Direct Manipulation video Player’) that makes it possible move scenes back and forth. And not by using a standard scrollbar but by grabbing items on screen and moving them back and forth. Technically it appears to be just a fancy way of scrolling through video but look closer and you can see that it actually is a great improvement to move things directly on screen.
Cool Demonstration video:
Technology explained video:
If you use Windows you can even download and play with DimP and your own movies. Let us know if you do and report your own results here in the comments please.
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By Xavier Damman on May 25, 2008
Wow!
How cool is that?! Can’t wait to have that on the iPhone! I’m really thrilled by all these new interfaces. Soon enough, we will start forgetting about that clumsy keyboard and mouse. The iPhone is the first of a long serie of new devices where the interface will be all about intuitive manipulations. And such DimP technology will be part of this change. Nice job!
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By Patrick de Laive on May 25, 2008
Really cool, they should use this during the European Soccer Cup and the Olympics to re watch decisions of the referee.
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By Olaf on May 25, 2008
Excellent match between pattern recognition and ergonomy ! This application clearly represents the future of human-machine interfaces.
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By Bob Boynton on May 26, 2008
I tried it, and it is quite remarkable. Imagine building it into a DVR and the joy that would bring to people who want to flip back and forth. Or imagine giving a demonstration/lecture and being able to back up so easily. Unless people know where to look they often do not see what needs to be seen. With this device you could say — did you see that, and go back to play it over again.
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