Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) August 2018 Volume 35, Issue 7 | Page 22

22 X-PLATFORM
August 2018

How to build out video capabilities for apps in the age of APIs

BY KIERAN FARR
It is hard to ignore the power of video as the next wave of communication . By 2020 , online video will account for more than 80 % of all consumer Internet traffic . With 51 % of all video plays watched on mobile devices and 100 million hours of content consumed on Netflix daily , product development teams cannot afford to disregard the importance of online video in their strategies . Today , they need to ensure they offer a unified experience anywhere , anytime and on any platform .
Yet , adding video to a softwareas-a-service ( SaaS ) product or offering it alongside other forms of news reporting can be a real challenge because a lot of product teams do not have the video development resources to match those of Facebook or Netflix . In addition ,
developers with deep knowledge in video are still rare . For all other developers , video is a whole new world that they seldom have time to dedicate to . Instead , they need to be able to improve products quickly — a challenge best solved with application programming interfaces ( APIs ) and component solutions .
The benefits of this approach are clear : component solutions allow for quick development and lightning fast proofs-of-concept ( POCs ) because they function like an assembly line with “ plug and play ” capability . Because of this , new technologies such as advanced codecs can be adopted quickly while using the SaaS model to reduce the overheads of maintenance and feature upgrades .
By using a video encoding API with the hands-on developer resources and support that come
with it , developers can successfully achieve their goals at scale while still focusing on their core value proposition .
Out of the plethora of APIs available today , there are five main ones that suit SaaS platforms best : n Stream testing for DASH , HLS and progressive protocols : Video files can be tested simply by pasting the location of a manifest file and selecting the file type . Developers will see first-hand just how good videos look in any browser and on any device with no plug-ins , resulting in a super-fast start-up . n Stream testing for content protection : Developers can try out a protected digital rights management ( DRM ) stream and get immediate insights into which DRM system and codecs are supported by their browser , and will work best for their workflows .
n Native player software development kit ( SDK ): The unified configuration , user interface ( UI ) and API gives developers a single point of control across all platforms , creating a consistent experience for users regardless of device type . n UI styling : A unified UI configuration ensures that a player will look the same , regardless of which device or platform it is rendered on . For instance , simple interactive colour controls can be changed along with code examples to take branding to the next level . n Ad scheduling : By integrating different advertising standards — namely VAST , VPAID , IMA and VMAP — into the player , revenue can be generated quickly through seamless ad insertion within platforms and apps .
API-based video component solutions are market-ready , simple
and robust options for developers who want to power their apps and SaaS products with video , but do not have video development skills . This allows developers to seamlessly implement , test and launch services that consumers really want to use , with the added benefits of improved efficiencies and future-proofing services that deliver content anytime , anywhere .
Kieran Farr is VP marketing , Bitmovin .

Anevia rolls out Flamingo 4.0 for enterprises to run own content

Over-the-top ( OTT ) and IPTV software solutions provider Anevia has launched the latest version of its Flamingo headend solution .
The improved Flamingo offers a new video-on-demand ( VoD ) service that can offer up to 4K / Ultra HD ( UHD ) quality . It can also build extensive VoD libraries , recorded directly on the Flamingo box , by utilising IP connections and capitalising on enhanced storage capacities , with the ability to still carry out Flamingo ’ s existing features such as time shift and pause live TV . This , according to Anevia , makes Flamingo the only multi-screen TV headend to include VoD and time-shift TV directly in the product itself .
Flamingo 4.0 is now able to create virtual channels to enable enterprises to run their own content , from streaming advertisements in hotels to educational videos within a hospital . For the customers themselves , pausing live TV will continue to create a delayed channel to view programmes when it suits them .
Flamingo now also has the ability to receive digital terrestrial television ( DTT ) sources broadcasted in ISDB-T , a standard used in Japan and many countries in South
America . This feature is a strong requirement to expand Anevia ’ s presence in Asia-Pacific and South American markets , and builds on Anevia ’ s recent success with other deployments for Asia-Pacific operators including VTC and Chunghwa Telecom .
Following on Anevia ’ s 15 years of developing TV headends , the Flamingo 4.0 software will now be able to run directly on either a commercial off-the-shelf ( COTS ) server or virtual machine . End-customers can save rack space by running Flamingo software alongside other IT services on a mutualised infrastructure — opening up
new opportunities to reduce costs .
Sylvain Eloy , product manager , Anevia , commented : “ With a team of in-house software experts , we ’ re extremely proud to be the first to launch a software-only version of a multi-screen TV headend .
“ Through extensive research and development , we ’ re able to stay ahead of the technical curve and we know the market is moving towards visualisation — something our customers are increasingly looking to adopt to save on operational costs , so we had to create a solution to address these demands .”