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Case logo Live streaming app for iOS and Android Daystar

  • Client:
    Daystar Television Network, USA
  • Request:
    Develop a live TV streaming app (Android and iOS) for broadcasting of on-demand videos and live streams.
  • Result:
    Significant growth in the number of unique users per month and new experience of TV content consumption for users.
  • Technologies:
    • MPMoviePlayer
    • AVPlayerViewController
    • Verimatrix
    • Server-sent events

Challenge

Daystar Television Network is a Christian television network in the U.S. Today it is the fastest-growing religion-based network in the world.

Our team was assigned to develop a mobile app for Android and iOS platforms. The main goal of the Daystar app was to broadcast on-demand videos and live streams 24 hours a day.

Solution

Project development took 2 months for realization. Our mobile developers created a comprehensive app with video streaming and on-demand video broadcasting features.

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  • Image quality
    The quality of the image was one of the priorities for our team. Using video encoding algorithms our engineers ensured satisfactory quality even in instances of inferior internet bandwidth. 
  • Video-on-demand
    In order to broadcast on-demand videos in our app we used standard components - MPMoviePlayer and AVPlayerViewControl. MP4 files are played via the indicated URL.
  • Video on demand
    Daystar provides the possibility to watch videos on  demand. It adds more value to the content for viewers.
  • Stable operation
    The app ensures access to videos without any interruptions regardless of where the user is. In order to avoid issues with broadcasting in case of unstable internet the app buffers the content.
  • Signal delivery
    One of the main criteria of the video signal quality was its fast delivery to users without any lags and delays. We used a network of specialized Content Delivery Network (CDN) servers.
Delivery of content to users

One of the key factors that distinguishes Daystar from other internet television apps is the way content is delivered to the user. In the app, the signal is shaped at the place where the event is taking place. And this is quite a complicated technical procedure.

The process of content delivery includes several steps:
1. The video streams are delivered via special communication channels (they are VPN-channels with strict SLA requirements) to a distribution unit.
2. Broadcast content is transmitted to the Daystar app.
3. The video streams are delivered via special communication channels (as a rule, they are VPN-channels with strict SLA requirements) to a distribution unit.
4. From this unit, the signal is transmitted to the Daystar app.
5. Users can watch and save their favorite shows.
Security

We integrated a system of copyright protection into the app. This system doesn’t allow illegal rebroadcasting of the content.

In order to encrypt the content and verify legal users our engineers used the Verimatrix solution which is a world leader in the sphere of content security. The use of Verimatrix ensures a quick audit of the platform’s security by the majority of right holders.
Data storage

Daystar retains the local copy of the database that is updated when a user opens the app or when the solution is run in the background. When the app is active each copy receives the updates with minimal delay. If the internet connection is good the ping between the user and the server is low meaning no lags in the broadcasting. This mechanism also allows using some parts of the app functionality if the connection is broken.

The server-sent events mechanism provides the app with the possibility to receive all the elements of the news feeds (videos, votings, news, etc.) as they appear or go live.

The statistics for internal use are gathered via a request to the server. This is not stored locally in order to avoid any increase in the size of the local database.
Additional functionality
•   Saving a list of favorite shows

•   Access to the weekly schedule of live streaming

•   Sending prayer requests

•   Sending video snapshots and images

•   Closed captioning of live streaming and selected shows  

Result

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    Significant growth in Daystar’s unique users per month.
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    The Daystar app and its support infrastructure are being maintained and continuously improved.
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    The Cogniteq team ensured the highest quality of the app which functions without interruptions.