June 2014, Santa Clara, CA—Deepak Das from VisualOn provided background on the company and their products. They started with software codecs for device manufacturers and ODMs, focusing on H.264 type software. As mobile devices became media platforms, they found that the platforms were becoming highly fragmented across the devices and in the number of protocols for transferring content to those devices.
As a result, they developed a cross-platform media player that helps deliver content across both ends of the consumer supply chain. The biggest issue is the ability for older devices to use the newer formats and protocols. To date, a number of large device and content providers are using the platform for both distribution and for consumption.
The newest problem is that media is now moving to a multi-screen experience in the mobile and wired sectors, and this movement is creating new hardware and protocol issues. The creative process for this new environment changes the workflow from the simpler ingest, produce, and distribute, to ingest, produce, create multiple formats and languages, register rights management issues for locally added content, and distribute.
The point of brand exchange is at the client, so the content provider has to have end-point device information and metrics for smooth content delivery. Ideally, the end-result would be a consistent user experience across all platforms. As a result of the changes in media delivery, they created a media player for streaming that is device and OS independent.
Due to the costs if the legacy equipment, is has become hard to implement this smoothly functioning media player. The media player addresses the problems of differing DRM formats and data by implementing decryption for all DRM formats. The native players in hardware are not capable of the needed flexibility for the growing protocols and types of encryption.
The media player can support analytics, variable data rates, closed captioning, and geographic restrictions for all players. The player handles ad insertion for live and streaming content for pre- and post-roll as well as trick play to prevent ad skipping and disabling. Due to its software base, the player can support all existing and emerging protocols on mobile and wired devices.
The player is built on a modular framework with modules for source, demux, DRM client, audio and video decode and post processing. In addition, the player supports overlays for ads or closed captioning and all common render engines. The software support includes a full SDK and skins for branding the full app. The finished apps can be updated through separate notifications to the user or in the app layer with a warning that the app will be end-of life after some time.
The advent of full HD streams and the upcoming UHD formats will require more compression to work within the available bandwidth. A H.265 codec in software will be able to support HD and UHD in the near future. The HEVC codec will be available when new titles become available in the UHD formats. The ability to move more functions into software allows the player to address new functions quickly and allows the providers to roll out new functions without regard to the underlying hardware and transmission channels.
The company is focusing new development s on the client side and is adding more analytics and security features. The goal is to ensure interoperability while protecting distributor rights by managing fingerprinting and watermarks. For more information, see their website at www.visualon.com