OTT video delivery leverages technology created for the web to securely stream video files stored on a server over an unreliable network where the bandwidth available may vary.
Pre-recorded content is stored on Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) distributed throughout the Internet.
When a consumer selects a video to stream through an App, requests are made to the local CDN to get a manifest file of the video chunks, as well as a request to the relevant Digital Rights Management (DRM) server for the media key to decrypt video chunks.
As apps and OS get increasingly demanding, they can outpace the memory and processing capabilities of the hardware – especially where replacement cycles of a set-top or TV are much slower than say a mobile device. That means viewers can no longer access apps unless they upgrade hardware. This limits reach for OTT content providers and presents persistent problems for operators.
Solutions such as ActiveVideo AppCloud go a long way to address these issues by supporting the operation of existing Android Package Kits (APKs), running in the cloud, within a virtualized platform while maintaining media streaming directly to the client device.
This means development is for a single platform and with the infinitely scalable processing power placed in the cloud instead of the device, the latest version of the app can always be delivered, irrespective of device and OS.