# ECP-0120: Material Watch Surface

Status: Draft

## Problem statement

The web watch page should feel like a real television/player surface, not a protocol console,
marketing page, or dark decorative shell. It also needs room for modern watch behaviors: channel
switching, multiview, scrubbing, clipping, direct tuning, and DVR mode.

## Constraints

- Preserve existing live WebTransport playback, DVR replay, public station scanning, share links,
  and manual signal tuning.
- Keep the first screen content/player-first and operable with obvious controls.
- Use YouTube as interaction grammar, not as visual branding.
- Keep the palette bright enough for daytime/living-room use.
- Do not rely on browser-specific copy.

## Alternatives considered

- Continue the dark broadcast-console skin from ECP-0118. Rejected because it reads too much like
  a control-room hero image and too little like a daily-use player.
- Copy YouTube visually. Rejected because every.channel should inherit watch-page mechanics without
  borrowing YouTube brand language.
- Use pure flat CSS. Rejected because the desired direction is a tactile television object with
  material depth.

## Decision

Rebuild the static web watch surface around a large video player, right-side channel rail, lower
scrubber, clip controls, and multiview tray. Use generated bitmap material assets for live-preview
tiles and subtle hardware texture, then layer a lighter skeuomorphic system in CSS: warm wood,
brushed metal, smoked acrylic, cream buttons, and broadcast-monitor geometry.

The design lineage is intentionally loose: Braun/Ulm clarity for simple control layout, Sony-style
broadcast monitor seriousness for the player frame, and Bang & Olufsen-style furniture warmth for
the room/object feel. These references are constraints, not objects to copy.

## Rollout / teardown plan

Ship as a static web UI change and validate with desktop/mobile screenshots plus the web build.
Teardown is reverting the HTML/CSS shell to the previous watch page while leaving playback,
directory, and share-link code paths intact.
