N3XT.TV

An AI powered streaming platform that features Enhancements that can improve videos/streams or even the platform itself as the users see fit.

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Inspiration

I've had the idea for a better platform for streamed content for awhile now and have been slowly building upon the idea. During this time I found myself realizing more and more use-cases for the feature set the platform could offer, as well as thinking through more ideas I was excited to integrate into the site. With this contest and Bolt.new, I saw the opportunity to bring it to life with a massive head start.

What it does

N3XT.TV is a video and streaming platform that is built around 2 key features, Enhancements and Linked Content.

Enhancements improve a single video, all videos, or the platform itself in any way the user sees fit. This can be incredibly useful. My go-to example is a sound compression system. A lot of videos, especially scary movies, have very loud music and action scenes, but if you turn down the volume for those moments the dialogue becomes too quiet to hear. An enhancement that simply keeps the volume consistent resolves this issue entirely. Enhancements are automatically generated by AI when the user enters a prompt. Once created, the Enhancement becomes available for all users. These are sorted by rating and popularity, such that users are easily able to check out the most well liked Enhancements people have come up with.

Linked Content is when one video or stream is directly connected to another. This can be things like connecting react content to its original video, song parodies, a Director's Cut, and more. Allowing Linked Content is optional for the original creator, and the goal is to create a mutually beneficial setup for everyone. Original creators will now be able to benefit when others react to their video, and those who make the video that links to another also benefit from additional promotion. Linked Content applies to streaming as well. One notable example I've seen where this feature could resolve major issues is with Esports. Costreaming is a somewhat contentious topic, where streamers are allowed to stream on top of the Esport's stream. The issue is that the production crew puts on this expensive show and doesn't see a direct benefit to their stream from the costreamers, but many (myself included) enjoy the costreams more. Linking the content between the costreamers and the broadcast would have immensely positive impact, where the broadcast would be able to point to massively higher, and more accurate, viewing numbers for potential sponsors.

How we built it

I used Bolt.new to build the initial platform, and had it ignore a set of files to allow it to build the foundation even further. I then created a second Bolt.new project to create and demo the Enhancement suite and the Enhancement functionality. I then brought it over to VS Code and have been aggressively iterating on it since. I didn't realize Supabase integration is something easily added with Bolt.new, so I added it after the fact. When I was ready to make the site live, I did so with Netlify.

Challenges we ran into

This platform is a massive undertaking, and when one aspect works that means it's time to move onto the next thing that isn't working. I'm an experienced programmer, but in different areas than this, so I had major learning to do very quickly. The site has and will take a huge amount of effort, but it's progressing quickly despite the ongoing hurdles.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm thrilled that the platform is far enough along to convey the idea and that more and more of it is beginning to work. I've moved away from mock data and changed aspects like the Enhancements to go from a set of premade Enhancements to something truly AI generated. I also really like the aesthetics thus far.

What we learned

I use AI here and there to help me write code, but this was my first introduction to full fledged AI development platforms. It is very impressive and helped get the project a strong foundation quickly.

I've also learned a ton about the specific code and technologies the site has been created with such that I can build it out further and further.

What's next for N3XT.TV

There will be ongoing iterations, long past when all the basics, Enhancements, and Linked Content aspects of the platform work in full.

There will be a full roadmap, but here are a few highlights: Search features and an algorithm that better prioritizes the users interests. Showing some amount of trending and viral content makes sense, but if the goal is to keep people watching, wouldn't it be better to show them the types of things they like?

Very relevantly, people don't like when the downvote button vanishes. N3XT.TV will have the downvote button, but it’ll be more thoughtful. As an example, to each their own on what music you enjoy but country and rap aren't my genres. So if I end up on a country song somehow and I downvote it, that should help the algorithm figure out what I like rather than saying the song isn’t good. But, if I’ve shown historically that I like country, that’s a different story. On the other hand, if I’m looking up how to fix something and downvote a how-to video, that probably means it’s bad quality or not helpful.

Once polished, this will be the ideal platform for studios to make their shows and movies stand out, and has huge potential for movie theaters to try to make a comeback. As is, there’s very little reason to go to a movie theater, when TVs at home continue getting bigger and cheaper. With enhancements, movies can become an experience again.

There is a lot on the horizon, so stay tuned.

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