Following the 2015 edition of the Multimedia Synchronization Workshop (MediaSync 2015), which was included in the ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for TV and Online Video (TVX’15), the prestigious publishing house Springer contacted the organizers of the event. It had occurred to two of the organizers of the workshop – Campus Gandia doctoral graduate, Mario Montagud, and myself, Fernando Boronat, full professor at the Campus – to edit a reference book on this subject. After several editions of the workshop, we thought that the time was right and we got down to work.
After several years of work, reviews, email exchanges, etc., our efforts were finally rewarded with the publication of the book MediaSync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization. It is a unique reference book on the fascinating field of research known as Multimedia Synchronization.This field is sparking a great deal of interest as of late, given the next-generation multimedia services that are offering different types of contents to users using different technologies and devices designed to stimulate as many senses as possible (multi-sensory experience).
WORLD-RENOWNED EXPERTS TAKING PART IN THE BOOK
The book contains 23 chapters written by close to 60 authors (including the most representative and influential world-renowned experts in the field), 679 pages and 241 illustrations (193 in color). The prologue and the epilogue were written by the renowned research professors Ralf Steinmetz and Dick Bulterman, respectively.
The book offers an overview of the field from different and complementary angles, such as the foundations and theoretical frameworks, available solutions and technologies, standardization efforts, typical use cases, perception of synchronization by users (Quality of experience, or QoE), and related experimental studies (such as multi-sensory and virtual experiences).
Presentation of the Immersive and Interactive Media Group
This constitutes a new reference book that lays the foundations necessary to undertake the new challenges that may arise in the development of future next-generation multimedia systems. We hope that it will be of great use to both researchers and professionals in the field who wish to acquire knowledge that will enable them to tackle the new challenges that may arise in the development of new multimedia experiences for users, especially to provide adequate synchronization among all the multimedia elements involved in these experiences.
Research Professor in charge of the Immersive Interactive Media (IIM) R&D Group at Campus Gandia of the UPV.
