As AWS S3 uses object storage instead of block storage, it can transfer bundled data with unique identifiers and customizable metadata tags to form complete objects. Object storage infrastructure also has reduced latency when storage is remote. This leads to faster delivery or performance of the overall application, dependent on storage.

What is Amazon S3 Video Hosting?

Amazon S3 or AWS S3 or Amazon Simple Storage Service is a service offered by AWS or Amazon Web Services. It provides object storage through Amazon S3 REST API and web service interface. AWS S3 uses the scalable storage infrastructure used by large networks like Netflix and eCommerce giants like Amazon.

AWS S3 object storage can store any object like file storage for Internet applications, Videos, data backups, recovery, archives, data analytics, and even hybrid cloud storage. However, there are some limits to the uploaded object file size. An AWS S3 object can have a file size between 1 byte and 5TB. If an object exceeds 5TB, it must be divided into maximum chunks of 5TB before uploading. Also, during the upload, a maximum stream of 5GB can be uploaded in a single upload operation. For uploading objects larger than 5GB, a user must use the S3 multipart upload API.

AWS S3 History and Infrastructure Design

Amazon Web Services started offering S3 services to businesses as web services in the United States on March 14, 2006. It further spread to Europe in November 2007 and is now present in 190 countries worldwide. AWS started with 10 billion objects in October 2007 and grew by 10 times to 102 billion objects in March 2010. Amazon reported that it stores more than 100 trillion objects in S3 servers as of March 2021.

It proved to be a success as it provided small, medium, and large-scale businesses an opportunity to replace the upfront capital investment. Earlier, with limited options, they had to bear the large capital cost of setting up servers, and it was still cumbersome to maintain them in multiple locations. Now, users can create hundreds or thousands of S3 servers in minutes and deliver globally via Video CDN distribution.

Infrastructure Design

Objects are the basic storage units of AWS S3, and they are organized into containers called buckets. Each object is identified by a unique user-assigned key in relation to the bucket. Buckets and objects within them can be managed manually using the web interface through the console and programmatically with the Amazon S3 REST API, AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), or AWS SDK.

Every request for an object gets authorized using an access control list (ACL) associated with each object or bucket. Object and Bucket ACLs are independent, meaning that an object does not necessarily inherit the permissions from its bucket. Permission to other AWS account users can also be granted for object access. A bucket can also be configured to log HTTP information to a sibling bucket for data mining operations.

Can Amazon S3 handle HTML5 Video Streaming?

AWS S3 easily handles HTML5 video streaming through basic upload and HTML embed code. You can use any HTML5 open-source video player or browser’s default video playback capabilities with videos hosted on S3. Your HTML code looks like this,

<video controls preload=”auto”
poster=”http://mys3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/videoImage.jpg”>
<source src=”http://mys3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/myvideofile.mp4″ type=’video/mp4′ />
</video>

The poster attribute here defines a thumbnail image before the playback.

Customizations during playback or to the player are made via the player frontend, not via AWS. Customizations to the player can be made using a secure video player like that of VdoCipher or java scripts and styling elements for your open-source player.

In the later part, we will also discuss How you can configure an S3 bucket to host your videos. We will do this via uploading video to the bucket, applying global distribution through CloudFront CDN, security, and playback. Using Amazon S3 video hosting with AWS CloudFront to host videos for OTT, on-demand viewing is highly scalable and a faster delivery approach.

Live Video Streaming with AWS S3

Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) offers the necessary scalability, data availability, security, and performance required for live video streaming workflows. This service can act as a low-cost origin for live streams, replacing AWS Elemental MediaStore for basic live video origination. Implementing a redundant architecture with AWS Elemental Live and MediaLive ensures a resilient streaming setup. Using a MediaLive standard channel, HLS outputs are generated and directed to two separate Amazon S3 bucket locations, ensuring redundancy. In case of an encoder failure, this setup allows for seamless failover by managing stale manifests and forcing 404 HTTP error codes to trigger redundancy failover as per HLS specifications.

For optimal performance, use adaptive bitrate (ABR) media streaming, organizing media using slash (/) delimiters for each live channel format. Amazon S3 can handle high request rates, achieving up to 3,500 PUT/COPY/POST/DELETE or 5,500 GET/HEAD requests per second per partitioned prefix. Strong read-after-write consistency across all AWS regions ensures that subsequent read requests immediately receive the latest version of an object, maintaining smooth live streaming.

Security features include encryption and access management, with compliance to PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and other regulatory standards. Additionally, content security can be enhanced with access tokenization and Secure Media Delivery at the Edge, while full Digital Rights Management (DRM) can be achieved using DRM + AWS Infrastructure providers like VdoCipher.

Planning an AWS-based Video Infrastructure

The basic objective for planning an AWS S3 Video Streaming Infrastructure is to provide scalable, secure, and faster video delivery for authorized playback or download. AWS S3 provides a scalable infrastructure for video object storage, but further additions are required to enhance the delivery. These additional features include global distribution via AWS CloudFront CDN, transcoding, and encryption. To list down, here are the following necessary components needed to be set up.

• Setting up an S3 bucket
• Upload a video to the S3 bucket
• Transcoding to support Adaptive Bitrate Streaming
• Encrypting the Files before storage
• Create a CloudFront origin access identity and CloudFront distribution
• Configure your CloudFront distribution for your custom domain name
• Dynamic key exchange playback for Encrypted video chunks

All these components are required as basic features to handle different devices and across globe secure delivery. If adaptive bitrate streaming is not set up, it will lead to playback disruption for low-bandwidth network users. Similarly, CDN provides faster delivery across the globe. Finally, setting up a DRM layer of security will protect your videos from illegal downloads and screen capture. Also, setting up all these components requires your familiarity with coding. Using a secure video hosting solution provider with AWS infrastructure is better if that is your weak or capital-intensive area.

S3 bucket creation and upload process for streaming video

Obviously, there are different methods using the web interface through the console and programmatically with the Amazon S3 REST API, AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), or AWS SDK. For simplicity, we will be discussing the steps via AWS Management Console.

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console & select the Amazon S3 console by searching S3.
2. In the left navigation pane, choose Buckets.
3. Click on Create bucket.
4. Enter a bucket name in the next create bucket page.
5. Choose a preferred region. Keep it closest to your application server, but if only for playback, then closest to the majority audience. When having global viewership, implement CDN.
6. For Unrestricted Public Access, Disable the “Block all public access,” which is by default. The default setting of “Block all public access” is good if you use Cloudfront CDN with S3. This setting doesn’t block viewers from accessing via Cloudfront CDN.
7. You can keep other settings as default and click on Create bucket. This will create your bucket and will be ready to host your videos.
8. In the Objects tab of your new bucket, choose Upload.
9. On the Upload page, choose Add files under Files and folders.
10. Choose a video file to upload from your local system and then choose Open.

Finally, Choose Upload, and the console will start showing a progress bar to display the uploading.

Note: If you’re uploading large video files to S3, file size restriction can disrupt your upload. For such use cases, use Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration or batch processing. Transfer Acceleration can upload a video over long distances at a faster rate.

Why Avoid Using S3 Buckets alone for Serving Video?

Using Amazon S3 alone for serving video can present several challenges, particularly concerning cost and performance. S3 is designed for storage, not for high-performance media delivery. High traffic can overwhelm S3, as it has a limit of 5000 GET requests per second per partition. This can be problematic for high-demand video services. Additionally, egress data costs from S3 can be high.

For a better experience, using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Amazon CloudFront is recommended. CloudFront caches content at edge locations, reducing load times and bandwidth costs. It also supports high request rates better than S3 alone. By integrating CloudFront with S3, you get the benefits of distributed content delivery, optimized performance, and reduced costs. For small videos (like 50MB), this setup can significantly enhance delivery speed and reliability.

To implement this, upload your videos to an S3 bucket and configure CloudFront to use this bucket as the origin. Ensure proper cache control headers for efficient caching. While S3 handles storage, CloudFront manages delivery, providing a seamless and efficient video streaming experience.

Create AWS CloudFront Distribution for CDN support

For optimal video streaming, integrating Amazon S3 with a CDN such as CloudFront is advisable. CloudFront improves performance by caching video content at edge locations closer to users, reducing latency and load times. This setup leverages S3 for storage while utilizing CloudFront’s caching capabilities for delivery, mitigating the limitations of S3 alone. CloudFront also offers cost benefits, with cheaper egress rates compared to direct S3 delivery.

Creating an AWS CloudFront distribution is fairly simple, but it may require additional steps like securing your S3 access by providing access to a special CloudFront user only. We have listed the basic steps of creating a CDN distribution and accessing S3 videos via the distribution URL. Setting up a custom domain for your CloudFront distribution requires further steps and AWS Route 53 service usage.

1. Sign in to the Console and open the CloudFront console by searching for CloudFront and selecting it.
2. Choose Distributions in the left navigation pane.
3. Choose to Create distribution.
4. In the Origin section, choose the domain name of your S3 origin named after the bucket name you created in S3.
5. In the Default cache behavior, choose Redirect HTTP to HTTPS.
6. Keep the default values for other features unless explicitly required and click on Create distribution.

Now, AWS will create a subdomain for your CloudFront distribution, and the S3 video files can be accessed by suffixing the object name at the end of this subdomain. As soon as a request is made via distribution, it will start creating copies of the video file as per the price class of locations chosen.

Batch Transcoding for Adaptive bitrate streaming

Consumers of any small, medium, or large-scale video providers use devices of all sizes and shapes for video playback. Such a large list of screen sizes and network capacity poses a challenge to cater to them more effectively and enhance their user experience. That is why no single object can cater to all of them instead of a range of video objects. These objects are actually copies in different formats, sizes and bitrates. AWS provides a scalable feature to accomplish this task which is called transcoding. There are following major steps included in the process.

1. Upload input videos
2. Start processing the video file for different playback options
3. Storing the transcoded video files within folders under the S3 bucket
4. Delivering the output video files as per users compatibility

You need to set up S3 Batch Operations, invoke a Lambda function, and call MediaConvert to batch-transcode media objects in an S3 bucket. The outputs are finally moved into the S3 source bucket as separate objects, like,

• An HLS adaptive bitrate stream for multi-size and bandwidth playback
• A .mp4 video file
• Thumbnail images from regular intervals during playback

We will now highlight the categories of steps you need to take to set up batch transcoding for adaptive bitrate streaming. Please refer to the AWS documentation of the steps mentioned below for detailed singular steps.

1. Create an IAM role for MediaConvert, S3 Batch Operations, and Lambda function
2. Start a Lambda function for video transcoding
3. Configure Amazon S3 Inventory as a source bucket
4. Run an S3 Batch Operations job to process the output media files from and to the S3 bucket

Applying Encryption for security from illegal downloads

AWS itself provides a security mechanism under three server-side encryption mechanisms. They are mutually exclusive options and depend upon how you decide to manage the encryption keys.

1. Amazon S3-Managed Keys (SSE-S3)
2. KMS keys Stored in AWS Key Management Service (SSE-KMS)
3. Customer-Provided Keys (SSE-C)

But many tools can break these key management systems and require some strong protection technology like DRM. It becomes secure majorly due to two reasons, control over devices and browsers by license providers and secondly due to dynamic and updated key exchange system. Again, setting up DRM is fairly technical, and thus, we are listing the basic steps required on your side to be processed technically.

1. You must acquire a DRM license through providers like Google Widevine and Apple Fairplay. They let you use their system to generate and store your DRM content keys and authenticate the media request during storage and playback.
2. Set up an AWS server to batch-process the media files for encryption and store your encrypted video files in an S3 bucket.
3. You will also have to create a live application that authenticates and authorizes your playback users using the licensee dynamic key management system.

Finally, you will need an online media player capable of handling DRM-protected video file playback. This mechanism protects your videos from being illegally downloaded using any tools. On Android and Apple devices, it also protects screen capture, but obviously, it can be video recorded, and it is thus advised to enable a dynamic watermark.

How to playback AWS S3-hosted videos

Playback of AWS S3-hosted video files is fairly simple. You need an open-source video player that supports HTML5 playback. You also get additional features if you use any secure AWS hosting provider like VdoCipher with DRM protection. Otherwise, the playback on any HTML page is similar to what was explained for the HTML5 video earlier.

The video from AWS S3 will play automatically through the browser player configuration.
The code required is simple and can be integrated manually as an iframe or via plugins, API, etc.

<video controls>
<source src=”http://mys3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/myvideofile.mp4″>
</video>

Challenges in setting up AWS S3 Video Streaming

Even for a DevOps engineer, all the setup tasks mentioned above are moderately cumbersome. Even if we ignore the bug fixes and exception handling, there is a lot to do from starting the upload to storage and final playback. Also, if you plan to integrate security into your video infrastructure, it requires getting licenses and their integrations. To summarize the challenges, let us list down four major stages required in setting up AWS S3 Video Streaming and their difficulty levels.

1. S3 bucket creation and upload – Easy
2. AWS CloudFront set up – Easy
3. Batch Transcoding for adaptive playback – Moderate
4. Applying DRM Encryption – Difficult

Small, medium and large-scale video streaming providers mainly use a solution provider with a history of providing the best in class service and features. They can help you evade the challenges in the implementation part and the challenges in creating dashboards, APIs, etc., for easy integration.

Secure Video hosting solution on AWS Infrastructure – VdoCipher

As a secure video hosting solution provider on AWS Infrastructure, the best one based on global reviews is likely VdoCipher. It not only provides AWS S3-hosted videos but provides a ton of other features, like,

Google and Apple FairPlay DRM Encryption – protect videos from unauthorized access and downloads via Widevine and FairPlay DRM.

Dynamic watermarking – to discourage screen capture, details like user ID, email, etc., can be dynamically watermarked over the video.

Secure offline downloads in apps – VdoCipher iOS native SDK securely enables video download on the device.

Google SafetyNet for app-based security – SafetyNet to block playback on duplicate apps.

Plugins – The video plugin by VdoCipher supports WordPress, Moodle, and other CMSs and LMSs.

Geo-Restrictions – For blacklisting or whitelisting specific countries

Smart HTML5 Video Player – dynamic controls with multi-lingual subtitle support, change playback speed, theme options, and API to add overlay buttons for tracking viewer interactions with video.

Adaptive Video Quality with CloudFront CDN – VdoCipher uses Global AWS Cloud Infrastructure. Storage on AWS S3, batch Transcoding via VdoCipher algorithms on AWS EC2, Streaming of content via Cloudfront CDN, and Encryption by integrating Google and Apple DRM. If you want to know more about, what is transcoding, you can visit the blog linked.

FAQs

Does AWS provide DRM protection for video streaming?

AWS has no DRM protection service of its own, which is why it needed to be integrated with Google Widevine and Apple Fairplay DRM for illegal download protection.

Can we load an AWS S3 hosted into an Iframe?

Yes, it requires just placing your video tags under iframe tags in HTML and has compatibility support in every browser.

Is AWS S3 storage expensive for video streaming?

AWS S3 storage is the most affordable storage if you are looking forward to scaling and adding additional features like adaptive bitrate streaming, CDN, and encryption. Also, due to AWS’s affordable pricing, DRM technology integration still makes it highly affordable.

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post AWS S3 Video Streaming & Video Hosting with Amazon CDN and Multi-DRM appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Why Live Streaming Church Services?

In an era where digital connectivity is highly important, live streaming has become an essential tool for churches aiming to spread their message far and wide. This modern approach allows religious organizations to transcend geographical barriers, reaching congregants who may be unable to attend in person due to health reasons, travel, or other commitments. By embracing live streaming, churches can foster a sense of global community, extending their reach to followers across the world. The main benefits include,

1. Spread the Word

• Evangelism: Live streaming provides a platform to spread the word of God, ensuring the church remains relevant and accessible.
• Reach Global Congregants: Extend your church’s reach beyond geographical limits, engaging followers worldwide.

2. Maintain Modern Relevance

• Adapt to Digital Expectations: Meet the expectations of a tech-savvy audience that values real-time, high-quality digital interactions.
• Engage Younger Generations: Attract and retain younger members who are more accustomed to digital media.

3. Monetize

• Additional Revenue Streams: Attract donations from a broader audience, offer virtual access to special events, and provide exclusive content to paying members.
• Support Church Activities: Use the additional funds to support various church initiatives and ensure the sustainability of your mission.

Basic elements to consider while developing a Church Live Streaming Strategy

To effectively implement live streaming, churches need to develop a clear strategy. Consider the following:

1. Objectives

• What to Stream: Decide whether to broadcast sermons, entire services, or specific events.
• Purpose: Understand the primary goal of your live streaming efforts, whether it’s to engage existing members or attract new ones.

2. Cost

• Budgeting: Determine the costs involved, including necessary equipment (cameras, microphones, computers) and software for live streaming and video editing.
• Investment Levels: Live streaming can be relatively inexpensive or involve significant investment depending on the desired production quality.

3. Time and Resources

• Implementation Timeline: Assess when you need your live stream up and running, whether immediately or over a longer period.
• Staff and Volunteers: Evaluate your available resources, including staff and volunteers, to manage and operate the live streaming setup effectively.

Church Live Streaming Data Showing Changing Landscape

Here are some key statistics and trends that highlight the importance of live streaming in the context of church services:

Shifts in Religious Landscapes

• Decline in Catholic Population in Latin America: Historical data indicate that until the 1960s, at least 90% of Latin America’s population was Catholic. Today, only 69% of adults (425 million) identify as Catholic, with many joining Charismatic Catholic movements. Additionally, about 75 million Catholics have converted to the Charismatic Pentecostal movement.
• Technological Impact: These changes are largely attributed to advancements in communication technology over the past 50 years. The use of TV, the internet, and live streaming has been fundamental to the operations of Charismatic movements, enabling extensive outreach and engagement.

Online Engagement and Satisfaction

• Search for Religious Information: 30% of U.S. adults go online to search for information about religion, indicating a strong interest in digital religious content.
• Post-Pandemic Viewing Habits: After the pandemic, 27% of Americans continue to watch religious services on screens.
• Satisfaction with Online Services: Among U.S. adults who regularly watch religious services online or on TV, 67% report being extremely or very satisfied with those services.
• Increased Online Viewing: 22% of Christians now watch online church services more often than before COVID-19.

Adoption of OTT Live-Streaming Technology

• Building Online Communities: Many churches are building online communities that can transition into in-person attendance. In fact, 33% of churchgoers found their current churches online, underscoring the importance of live streaming.
• Preference for Online Services: About 20% of people have opted to view services online rather than in person one or two times. Furthermore, 16% have done so three to five times, and about 14% have chosen online services six or more times.
• Convenience and Comfort: Live streaming allows worshipers to join services on their phones, with 44% of people preferring to be alone while they pray and worship. This flexibility enables users to engage in religious services from the comfort of their own space.

Financial Contributions

• Ease of Online Donations: Online platforms for live streaming can also facilitate donations. Reports show that over $2.2 billion worth of donations to nonprofits were made online in 2015, demonstrating the potential for churches to receive financial support through digital channels.

How to Live Stream a Church Service

Live streaming your church service can be done with a simple setup using platforms like YouTube and Facebook or with a more advanced setup using professional equipment and software. Here’s how you can do both:

Simple Setup

If you need to start streaming quickly and with minimal equipment, follow these steps:

1. Facebook Live

• Setup: Stream live from your mobile device or computer.
• Steps: Go to your church’s Facebook page, click on the live video option, and follow the instructions.

2. YouTube Live

• Requirements: You need at least 1,000 subscribers to stream from a mobile device.
• Steps: Access YouTube Studio, select “Go Live,” and follow the prompts to start your live stream.

3. Tripod Mounts

• Importance: A tripod ensures your video is steady and consistent.
• Options: Use smartphone or tablet tripods to hold your device during the service.

4. Additional Gear

• Microphones: Enhance audio quality with external microphones.
• Lighting: Improve video quality with proper lighting.

Note: This simple setup is ideal for getting started quickly but consider upgrading to a more stable and professional setup for long-term use.

Professional Setup

For a more professional and stable live streaming setup, you will need additional hardware and software. Here’s how to do it:

1. Hardware Setup

• Cameras: Use webcams, DSLRs, or video cameras.
• Audio Equipment: Connect your sound system to an audio interface for better sound quality.

2. Streaming Software

• OBS Studio: A free and popular option for live streaming.
• VMix: Offers various pricing options based on features.
• Wirecast: Highly flexible but more expensive.
• Zoom: Many to Many options that can later be embedded and streamed to thousands.

3. Steps to Set Up

• Connect Your Camera: Use USB or HDMI cables to connect your cameras to your computer.
• Connect Your Audio System: Use XLR cables to connect your soundboard to an audio interface, then to your computer.
• Configure Streaming Software: Add your video and audio sources to the software and set up your streaming destinations like YouTube or for a more robust streaming solution, consider using a service like VdoCipher, which offers high-quality and scalable live streaming.

4. Additional Enhancements

• Multiple Cameras: Use more than one camera for different angles.
• Testing: Do a test run to ensure everything works correctly before the actual service.

5. Go Live

• Start Streaming: Once everything is set up and tested, start your live stream and monitor it to ensure quality.

By following these steps, you can set up a live stream for your church service, starting with a simple and quick method and moving towards a more professional and stable setup as you grow more comfortable with the process. This will help you reach a wider audience and provide a high-quality worship experience.

Church Live Streaming Equipment Setup

Setting up live streaming for church services involves selecting the right equipment and ensuring it all works together seamlessly. Here’s a straightforward guide to help you get started.

Key Components of Church live streaming

• Audio/Video
• Encoding
• Internet

Camera

• HDMI Cameras
• Webcams
• SDI, Professional & PTZ Cameras

Microphone

• USB & XLR Microphones
• Wireless Lapel Mic: Ideal for Mobile pastors.

Capture Device

• Internal Capture Devices: Installed in the computer’s PCI slot.
• External Capture Devices: Connect via HDMI, Thunderbolt, or USB.

Hardware

• PC
• Mac
• Laptop

Audio

• Microphones and Mixers: Use your existing sound system.
• Digital Audio Mixer: Choose one with enough inputs and AUX outputs for streaming.

Video Mixers

• A/B Switcher which switches between inputs to one output channel.
• Mixer/Effects (M/E) Video Switcher which adds overlays, transitions, and effects.

Cameras High-Quality Options

• Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2
• Panasonic AG-DVX200
• Sony PXW-Z90V
• Canon XA11
• Panasonic HC-V770
• Sony FR7 Cinema Line PTZ Camera Kit
• PTZOptics 20X-SDI
• Sony SRG-300SE

Microphone Options

• Shure SM57
• Shure SM7B
• Telefunken M80
• Sennheiser MD 421-II

Audio Mixers Options

• Behringer X32
• Yamaha MG10XU
• Zoom LiveTrak L-12
• Behringer FLOW 8

Livestreaming Platform Features to Look For

• One to Many Live Broadcast
• Video On-Demand
• Analytics
• HTML5 Adaptive Player
• CDN

Top Church Live Streaming Solutions

Church live streaming has become an essential tool for ministers and pastors to reach a broader audience, engage with their congregation, and deliver their message globally. Here are some top church live streaming solutions, each with unique features to suit different needs.

VdoCipher LiveStream

Overview

VdoCipher enables churches to stream their services live globally with ease. It supports integration with your website or app within minutes and offers robust engagement features like authenticated and anonymous chat.

Features

• Scalable Streams: Support for up to 100,000 viewers in a single session.
• Multiple Streams: Perform up to 5 live streams in parallel with a single account.
• Chat for Viewers: Engage with your congregation through anonymous or authenticated chat.
• API Integration: Automatically start and end streams using VdoCipher’s API.
• Automatic Recording: Streams are automatically recorded and saved, with options to embed DRM-protected videos.
• Compatibility: Integrates with OBS and other broadcasting tools using a streaming URL and key.

Google Meet

Overview

Google Meet is widely used for virtual meetings and can be an effective live-streaming tool for churches, especially for smaller gatherings and interactive sessions.

Features

• Real-Time Captioning: Includes real-time and translated captions.
• Scalability: Suitable for one-on-one calls or large web conferences.
• Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Google services.

Zoom

Overview

Zoom is a versatile platform widely used for online meetings and webinars, with live streaming capabilities suitable for church services.

Features

• Live Streaming: Stream to YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and custom RTMP destinations.
• Engagement Tools: Breakout rooms and virtual backgrounds.
• Limitations: No monetization options and limited branding customization.

Cisco Webex

Overview

Cisco Webex is ideal for professional and enterprise use, providing high-security standards and high-quality video conferencing.

Features

• High Security: Ensures secure live streaming.
• Interactive Tools: Screen sharing, whiteboarding, and integration with business tools.
• Live Streaming Integration: Stream to Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and more.

Ustream (IBM Cloud Video)

Overview

Ustream offers end-to-end streaming solutions, from video hosting to analytics, suitable for churches looking for a comprehensive platform.

Features

• AI-Driven Features: Includes automated speech-to-text and deep video search.
• Mobile Compatibility: Supports mobile streaming.
• Developer APIs: Customize player UI and analyze engagement with APIs.

AWS (Amazon Web Services)

Overview

AWS offers robust live streaming solutions through its Media Services, ideal for churches needing scalable and reliable streaming.

Features

• Scalability: Automatically scales to handle large audiences.
• Reliability: Built on AWS’s global infrastructure for high availability.
• Customization: Extensive options for customization and integration with other AWS services.

GCP (Google Cloud Platform)

Overview

Google Cloud Platform provides comprehensive live streaming solutions with high scalability and integration with Google’s ecosystem.

Features

• Scalability and Performance: Handles large-scale streaming with low latency.
• AI and Analytics: Advanced AI features for real-time analytics and viewer engagement.
• Integration: Seamless integration with other Google services and tools.

Twitch

Overview

Twitch is a leading live streaming platform originally designed for gamers but also supports various other content types like music, art, and talk shows.

Features

• Massive Audience: Over 140 million monthly active users, particularly popular among the 18-34 age demographic.
• Community Building: Strong interactive features for viewer engagement.
• Versatility: Supports multiple content types beyond gaming, such as cooking and creative arts.

YouTube Live

Overview

YouTube Live is part of the broader YouTube ecosystem, making it easy for churches to broadcast live events and integrate with pre-recorded content.

Features

• Diverse Audience: Reaches a global audience across all age groups.
• Versatility: Suitable for various content types including gaming, education, tech reviews, and live events.
• Integration: Seamless integration with YouTube’s vast video library.

Facebook Live

Overview

Facebook Live leverages Facebook’s extensive user base to broadcast live to friends, groups, and followers, making it highly accessible.

Features

• Wide Reach: Over 2.8 billion monthly active users, effective for reaching a diverse audience.
• Engagement Tools: Live chat, Q&A sessions, and integration with Facebook’s business tools.
• Versatility: Ideal for community events, live tutorials, and business promotions.

Instagram Live

Overview

Instagram Live is a feature within the Instagram app that allows real-time broadcasting, particularly popular among influencers and brands.

Features

• Real-Time Engagement: Interactive features like comments and likes.
• Youth Appeal: Significant user base among 18-29-year-olds.
• Niche Focus: Excels in fashion, beauty, fitness, and lifestyle content.

By selecting the right live-streaming solution, churches can effectively reach and engage with their congregation, providing a high-quality and immersive experience for viewers.

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post Top Church Live Streaming Services and Equipment Setup appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

In other words, Digital Rights Management (DRM) refers to the technological protection measures used to prevent unauthorized access, copying, use and distribution of copyrighted digital media and information. Various products and services employ DRM to protect copyright and related rights. It is in the video, audio, E-books, digital software, video games, and digital television applications.

DRM Content Protection and DRM Encryption Meaning

The term DRM Content Protection refers to several different processes used to control the use of digital media, software, or devices designed to prevent unauthorized duplication or use of the protected material. Some of the included processes are:

Digital Rights Management (DRM): Refers to a range of technologies used to enforce the rights of digital media owners, particularly concerning the use of copyrighted material. For example, DRM content protection ensures that the protected material is only played on specific devices or controls the transfer of protected material from one device to another. The way DRM works usually depends on the content type and the distribution platform. Still, even when those things are the same, two content providers can use different methods based on the level of restrictions they want to apply.

DRM Encryption: Process of encoding the protected material in a way that makes it unreadable without the correct key. For example, material encrypted using the Digital Rights Management (DRM) process may require a computer or device to be registered to receive the decryption key. The main reason DRM creation was to protect the copyright holder’s interests.When you purchase a copy-protected file, you aren’t actually purchasing the file itself, you’re purchasing a license to use the file. This license is held in a database on a DRM server, and this database is what DRM Encryption protects.

DRM working in Browsers and Devices

DRM Protection works alongside encryption, the videos are first encrypted and the encryption key is hidden in the CDM(content decryption module) or hardware-backed protection.

Every time a user clicks on the play button, a license request is created and verified by the DRM server and sent back to the player, after the player sends the license key to the DRM module, the DRM content is decrypted and sent to the player in chunks.

In browsers like Chrome and Firefox, Google Widevine CDM is integrated by default, ensuring a seamless user experience on DRM-requiring sites. The Google Widevine CDM operates within a sandbox environment, enhancing security and user privacy. Users are notified of CDM usage and retain the option to disable the CDM, although this may impair functionality on certain websites.

In Android and iOS/Safari, DRM content playback is facilitated by DRM framework which uses hardware-backed protection to secure premium content and user credentials. These frameworks enable Android and Apple devices to support various DRM technologies, ensuring that protected content can be securely streamed and played. The content protection provided by the DRM framework depends on the security and content protection capabilities of the underlying hardware platform. For example, L1 security level provides maximum security in comparison to L3 compatible devices.

Major Providers of DRM Providers

A typical DRM Content Protection consists of multi DRM, these different DRMs caters to different devices and browsers. The major ones are:

• Google Widevine DRM solution: It supports Desktop/Laptop (Windows, Mac, Linux) Chrome, Firefox, Edge. Android Chrome, Edge, Android TV, Android TV, Chromecast.
• Apple Fairplay DRM Solution: It supports Mac Safari, IOS Safari, IOS App
• Microsoft Playready DRM solution: It supports Edge in Windows. Windows Edge is also supported by Google Widevine, so Playready is not an absolute necessity.

What is DRM Protected Video Content and Streaming?

DRM Protected video content is only available to people who have the right to access it. A video file protected by DRM encryption will no longer be accessible by just anyone. DRM protects the video file by ensuring the content is stored and transmitted in an encrypted format so that only authorized users and devices can access it. Multi-DRM schemes encrypt and package the video content before streaming for improved and more excellent device compatibility. When a user attempts a video playback, the video player requests a key from the license server. Before issuing a license response with a decryption key, the server checks for the authorization of the user and device. Finally, the player decrypts and plays the content for the user.

Preventing unauthorized video downloads requires a multifaceted approach. While DRM is effective, it’s not sufficient on its own. Explore why is DRM not enough to protect video piracy and what additional steps you can take.

How to DRM Protect a Video File?

When we upload video content on websites or release premium content on online platforms, a major concern is content security. There are chances that someone may download and misuse the video content if it is not protected or secured. Also, there are various methods available to protect digital content so that no one can copy or download the content unauthorizedly and misuse it. One such way is implementing DRM or Digital Rights Management to protect a video file. Below is a DRM Workflow mechanism.

Source: Input video files upload or transfer to cloud storage such as AWS S3.

Encoding: The input video file is packaged and encoded into Adaptive Bitrate Streaming (ABR) formats like HLS or MPEG-DASH.

Encryption: The video file encrypts with digital keys provided by the DRM License provider during the encryption process.

Storage: The video files transfer to a Content Delivery Network (CDN) such as Amazon CloudFront.

Authentication: The video player makes an authentication request from the DRM server to ensure the license validity.

Playback: Once authenticated, the video player unlocks the video and allows for video playback.

Why need VdoCipher for DRM Content Protection?

Setting up the whole previously described workflow is a tedious task. That is why only a few technology-equipped media houses like VdoCipher provide the complete package to end-users. The package adheres to all your uploading requirements through FTP or even via direct links from Vimeo etc. Well, uploading is easy but what goes parallelly like Encoding, Encryption, Global Distribution and Storage, and Authenticating via License Provider are difficult to implement. For the same, VdoCipher has done all for you, even playback and integration with Google Widevine DRM & Apple FairPlay DRM for the widest support of devices and browsers.

So whether you are an eLearning solution provider or anyone whose videos are precious and piracy cannot be afforded, VdoCipher is the best choice for you. You can go through their pricing to find the affordable plan as per your need. As a rule of thumb, the more you go high in consumption, the lesser the will be per unit charges.

DRM Protected Content Examples

Any online streaming is an excellent example of DRM protected content. Online platforms use DRM to protect their content before releasing it online.

Here are a few examples of DRM protected content

• Online Video Streaming: Users stream content online through a browser or application. Here every view is validated via the license server. Any video streamed through DRM can’t be downloaded and screen recorded in most cases.
• Video games: Whenever you buy a game from a store online, instead of buying that you are basically buying the license to play that game on your device. Whenever you buy a game on Steam, PSN, or Nintendo store, you get a license to download and play that game which is added to your account. This license allows you to download the game anytime you want.
• Audio streaming: DRM in audio streaming’s case works very similar to the ones in video streaming. DRM ensures that any audio streamed through the respective music player can’t be downloaded.

What are the Benefits of DRM Protected Content?

DRM lets content creators decide what should be done with their content, and it offers many advantages, such as:

• Protection from any revenue loss due to piracy
• Restricts any unauthorized access to the content.
• Prevents any piracy of the content
• Provides an extra level of security to the content

There are several major devices and browsers that support DRM. One of the most widely used DRM is Google Widevine and Apple Fairplay.

FAQs

What is a DRM Server?

A DRM server is a database that stores information on the files licensed to you. A DRM server hosts on a server on the Internet or a local database on your computer. The DRM server is encrypted by DRM Encryption.

What is the difference between DRM and copyright enforcement?

Copyright restricts who can distribute media, while DRM software restricts how users access protected media. Copyright provides leverage against illegal distribution. It means the largest distribution platforms must already adhere to the demands of large publishers, studios, and software companies.

How do web browsers support DRM-protected video streaming?

DRM-protected video streaming consumption is by using Smart HTML5 media player. The player uses the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) API to enable the playback of the protected content.

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post DRM Content Protection meaning & How to DRM Protect a Video File appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Subtitle Definition: According to HTML5 documentation, a subtitle is defined as dialogue transcription or translation. It is recommended when the sound is available with the video track but usually not understood due to language barriers.

Caption Definition: HTML5 documentation defines captions as transcription or translation of every part of the soundtrack. A soundtrack basically includes dialogues, sound, musical effects, and sometimes audio that is not completely decipherable or mute. In all these cases, captions provide all the information, like “birds chirping in the background,” and then some dialogue starts.

History of Subtitles and Captions with their use

Technically, filmmaking started in 1896, and it was only possible in 1906 to release a full-feature film. It was a without sound film titled “The Story of the Kelly Gang”. This period is usually called the silent era. Before 1908 is called the early silent period, and it is when “intertitles” started appearing in films. These intertitles can be defined as a title card or a printed text which is edited into the middle of the photographed section. In the silent era, “intertitles” started getting superimposed with the “subtitles” through the use of devices to project subtitles below the intertitles. In 1909, M. N. Tropp displayed additional text called “subtitles” on the bottom of the screen below the “intertitles.”

During the late silent era of 1918-1926, language addition was possible with the use of intertitles and subtitles. When films started having audio capabilities, subtitles were widespread and used interchangeably for intertitles. In the modern era, subtitles have evolved into captions to provide more information other than a mere transcription of dialogues. The use of commercial open-captioned broadcasts began on PBS in 1972, and Closed captioning got first demonstrated in Nashville, Tennessee, the US, at the First National Conference in 1971 on Television for the Hearing Impaired. The closed captions display text as an additional layer in the video that can be turned off. This gives closed captions an advantage over open captions, which are embedded in the video itself.

Role of Subtitles and Captions in Video Experience

As we have understood through their history, subtitles were early text capabilities getting added to a film. They were majorly used to communicate long and extra text other than intertitles. After the interchangeability of intertitles to subtitles, it was majorly getting used to translating the use of language in the form of text or transcription of foreign language audio. Until the 1970s, audio transcription got commercialized and evolved into captions.

The captions are to provide additional information other than the dialogues. It includes a transcription of dialogues, sound, musical effects, and sometimes audio that is not completely decipherable or mute. This enhances the user experience for all users and not only for people requiring hearing aid.

Also, the ability to switch these text layers and turn them off is a differentiating functionality. Closed Captions and Open Captions serve only on the On and Off functionality. The role of closed captions is just their functionality of turning themselves off and not requiring any kind of text embedding into the video.

The current popularity is mostly towards handling multiple language captions and creating automated captions from videos. The use of powerful language models like GPT-3, etc., also enhances this transcription process. Ultimately, Subtitles and captions can help improve the video experience for viewers by providing them with a way to follow along with the action sounds, music, background voice, and dialogue attached to the video. They can also help viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing to follow along with a video.

Subtitle or Caption – which one is better?

Subtitles and Captions both get used nowadays interchangeably. It is clear that captions contain more information than subtitles, but sometimes it is required enough one. For example, a new Hollywood release having a scene of an undecipherable alien communicating is better to be embedded into a movie video. This is because of the required ubiquity due to being an alien language and also due to the inconvenience of creating a caption or subtitle file to handle a small transcription.

Unlike the cases discussed in the above example, closed captions are more suitable than subtitles. The closed caption file contains more information about the other sounds an audio file contains. It still carries the text formatting of subtitles with a timestamp of each dialogue or sound effect. But with more information, the video experience improves for anyone requiring assistance. Also, those who don’t prefer these text overlays can easily turn off the captions in case of closed captions. We’ve also written a blog on Closed Captions vs Subtitles and covered this topic in much more detail, do check it out if you want to know more about the topic in much more detail.

How to Add Captions to Video?

Before adding subtitles or captions to your videos, it must be understood that it is possible only through attaching SRT, WebVTT, etc. files to your videos. Even the auto-captions services create a file through language models and attach the same with the video. After a closed caption file gets attached, it can be easily turned On and Off using the player functionality. It is also possible to add multiple caption files for multiple languages. All these upload options are provided by the platform on which your videos are uploaded or streamed through. As soon as the file gets attached to the video, it will be automatically fed through the iframe containing the < video > element containing the video.

Alternatively, the process is just like adding HTML attributes if you want to add captions directly to a video source URL via HTML. In this case, you will embed a video using the < video > tag and adding the required subtitles via the < track > tag within the video tag element. A compatible format for such embedding requires the captions file to be uploaded in WebVTT format. An example of the same is shown below.

<video id="video" controls preload="metadata">

<source src="video-file.mp4" type="video/mp4" />

<track label="English"
kind="subtitles"
srclang="en"
src="captions-en.vtt" default />

<track label="Deutsch"
kind="subtitles"
srclang="de"
src="captions-de.vtt" />

</video>

How to Add Different Language Subtitles to a Video?

Some online programs and software allow automatic captions by using speech-to-text language models. As a public video platform, YouTube also provides automatic captions in English, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Russian, Indonesian, and Spanish.

In the previous section, we discussed the addition of subtitles or captions to a video in multiple languages using HTML code. But where to add the multiple language formatted captions file is totally different for every platform, but the process remains nearly the same. For example, the following steps are followed to upload a multi-language custom subtitles or captions file to YouTube.

• Sign in to YouTube Studio.
• Select Subtitles from the left menu.
• Select the video that you’d like to add captions to.
• Click ADD LANGUAGE and select your desired language.
• Under subtitles, click ADD.

Similarly, if you are using a video hosting service for a private or subscription-based eLearning or OTT platform, only the platform changes, and the approach for attaching remains the same. For example, many eLearning solutions that use secure hosting provider like VdoCipher follows nearly the same steps as,

• Sign in to VdoCipher Dashboard.
• Click on the edit button of the video where captions/subtitles are to be added.
• Now click on the subtitles tab.
• Select your desired language and upload the respective VTT or SRT file.
• This will attach the file and can be turned On during playback for that video.

Best way to add subtitles to video for iPhone, Windows and PC

HTML5 video player is the easiest way to add subtitles and captions support to your videos with compatibility for iOS, mac, Windows, and other browsers and devices. Since HTML5 player has compatibility with most of devices and operating systems, the video can be easily attached with respective subtitle files. It not only supports a single caption file but also multi-language SRT and WebVTT files for different languages.

With an HTML5 player, you can also add the feature of illegal download protection by adding a DRM protection layer over it. Such options are also available with easy integration features through providers like VdoCipher. You can reach a global audience on Desktops, Android, IOS, and other devices. Also, through SDK Integration support for Android and IOS Native apps, HTML 5 adaptive player eases the captioning process during the playback. We’ve also written a blog on how to stream videos on iOS using AVPlayer, do check it out to know more about video streaming in iOS.

Best Online Video Player with Subtitles, Closed Captions & DRM

HTML5 players are considered the best players for supporting the latest technical advancements. Custom HTML5 players also support multi-language subtitles and captions support for global audiences. Also, they are the most secure video players when they get coupled with Video DRM Encryption.

VdoCipher HTML5 advanced player has all these features and many more customization features like,

• Enable Caption Search
• Multi-Language Subtitles
• Adaptive Bitrate Streaming
• Show Progress Bar
• Show Scrubbing Preview
• Auto Resume
• Enable Keyboard Shortcuts
• Primary Color change via Hex color code
• Show Time Text
• Show Quality Control
• Enable PiP
• Enable AirPlay
• Hide Controls on Pause
• Show Replay At the End
• Enable Lock Controls
• Enable Save Offline

With so many feature-adding options, VdoCipher HTML5 advanced player is not only the most secure but also the most customizable as per brand needs.

How to auto-generate and add subtitles to video offline using Python for free

We can use many online tools, but most are either paid, or the trial version allows limited use. That is why we have tried to use some python libraries and Mozilla deep speech open-source engine for speech-to-text conversion. The complete process can be divided into the following code steps.

Install essential libraries and models-

$ sudo apt-get install ffmpeg
$ pip install deepspeech==0.8.2
# Downloading Language Model files
$ wget https://github.com/mozilla/DeepSpeech/releases/download/v0.8.2/deepspeech-0.8.2-models.pbmm
$ wget https://github.com/mozilla/DeepSpeech/releases/download/v0.8.2/deepspeech-0.8.2-models.scorer

Extract Audio separately-

import subprocess
def extractAudio(input_file, audio_file_name):
command = “ffmpeg -hide_banner -loglevel warning -i {} -b:a 192k -ac 1 -ar 16000 -vn {}”.format(input_file, audio_file_name)
try:
ret = subprocess.call(command, shell=True)
print(“Extracted audio to audio/{}”.format(audio_file_name.split(“/”)[-1]))
except Exception as e:
print(“Error: “, str(e))
exit(1)

Generating segment limits-

def silenceRemoval(input_file, smoothing_window = 1.0, weight = 0.2):
[fs, x] = read_audio_file(input_file)
segmentLimits = silence_removal(x, fs, 0.05, 0.05, smoothing_window, weight)

for i, s in enumerate(segmentLimits):
strOut = “{0:s}_{1:.3f}-{2:.3f}.wav”.format(input_file[0:-4], s[0], s[1])
wavfile.write(strOut, fs, x[int(fs * s[0]):int(fs * s[1])])

Producing a SRT file-

import numpy as np
from deepspeech import Model

def ds_process_audio(audio_file, file_handle):
ds = Model(ds_model)
ds.enableExternalScorer(ds_scorer)

fin = wave.open(audio_file, ‘rb’)
audio = np.frombuffer(fin.readframes(fin.getnframes()), np.int16)
fin.close()

# Perform inference on audio segment
infered_text = ds.stt(audio)

# File name contains start and end times in seconds. Extract that
limits = audio_file.split(“/”)[-1][:-4].split(“_”)[-1].split(“-“)

if len(infered_text) != 0:
line_count += 1
write_to_file(file_handle, infered_text, line_count, limits)

Note: If you need to convert SRT to WebVTT file, there are multiple free online converters to do so.

FAQs

What handles subtitles during playback?

The player handling the playback handles the subtitles or closed captions through the supported format file. In the case of embedded subtitles or open captions, it is handled via a video editor placing the text layer during production.

Do subtitles and captions cause any security issues?

No, they do not create any security issues as they are fed as separate files to be attached to the main video file. The video security issues are generally handled via DRM security for video content encryption and dynamic and encrypted playback.

Which is better, WebVTT or SRT file?

A WebVTT file is identical to the SRT subtitle file but contains additional styling, rendering, text formatting, and position options. It needs UTF-8 encoding and is highly compatible with HTML5 video players.

How to handle srt player online playback issues?

A player issue in such cases gets resolved through a reload, but if there is an issue with the SRT or WebVTT file, it needs to be addressed through re-upload or error rectification in the respective file.

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post Online Video Player with Subtitles & add captions to video appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

What is Widevine?

Widevine is a proprietary digital rights management (DRM) system developed by Google, designed to provide content protection for media delivered over the Internet. It is used by a multitude of major streaming services including Google Play, YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock, Discovery+, and Paramount+, among others. The primary goal of Widevine is to ensure a seamless and secure viewing experience for premium content across various digital platforms.

Widevine Licensing and Standards

While Widevine does not charge any fees for the use of its DRM products and services, a license agreement is necessary for their utilization. Widevine DRM adheres to several key industry standards, ensuring broad compatibility and security:

• Encrypted Media Extensions (EME): A specification from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that enables web-based video players to use DRM systems.
• Common Encryption (CENC): Allows for the DRM-agnostic encryption of media content, supported across different systems.
• ISO/IEC 23001-7: Defines common encryption in ISO base media file formats.
• ISO/IEC 23001-9: Pertains to the encryption of MPEG-2 transport streams.

Supported Platforms

Widevine is embedded natively across a variety of device platforms, ensuring extensive availability. Here is an overview of the platforms supporting Widevine:

Supported Encryption Schemes

The support for different encryption schemes varies by platform, as summarized in the following table:

This table and the information provided aim to give a comprehensive view of the wide-reaching capabilities and integrations of Widevine DRM, highlighting its role as a cornerstone of content protection in the digital media landscape.

What is the Widevine Plugin?

The Widevine plugin refers to the implementation of Widevine DRM within different platforms and browsers to facilitate media protection. It acts as a bridge between the DRM technology and the device or software, ensuring secure content playback. The plugin is critical in environments considered potentially hostile, where the risk of content piracy is high. It serves as an integral component within the digital content distribution chain, ensuring that the consumption of media complies with the necessary security standards to prevent unauthorized use and piracy.

Working of a Widevine Plugin

The Widevine plugin operates by integrating the Widevine DRM capabilities into various devices and software systems through dynamically loadable HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) plugins or browser plugins. The key functionalities of the plugin are:

• Integration with Devices and Browsers: The Widevine plugin is incorporated as a dynamically loadable module within device firmware or as a browser plugin. This allows it to seamlessly function across a range of systems, including Android devices, Apple iOS, ChromeOS, and web browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.
• Content Protection: At its core, the Widevine plugin manages the encryption and decryption processes for digital media. “Installed on billions of devices, Widevine relies on cryptographic operations to protect content,” ensuring that media consumed on platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ is securely encrypted and only accessible to authorized users.
• License Management: The plugin interacts with CDNs and license servers to handle digital rights management. A license request from the originating client device will be received by a partner-operated proxy mechanism, which “validates the request and appends business rules before sending the payload to be fulfilled by the Widevine License Service,” according to the provided documentation.

How to enable Widevine Plugin in Firefox

There are two methods to enable the Widevine Plugin in Firefox. You can follow the steps:

• Click the menu button that looks like stacked bars and click on Settings.
• In the General panel, scroll below to the Digital Rights Management (DRM) Content section.
• Tick the check mark next to Play DRM-controlled content.

Alternatively,

• Enter about:config in the URL bar. A warning page will appear. Click Accept the Risk and Continue. Search for media.eme.enabled. Check if media.eme.enabled is true. If false, toggle it to true.

Also, make sure that the Google Widevine plugin is activated by,

• Click on Add-ons and themes option in the main menu or alternatively, you can enter about:addons in the URL bar.
• Select Plugins.
• In the Add-ons Manager Plugins panel, click on the ellipsis or 3-dot icon next to “Widevine Content Decryption Module provided by Google Inc.”
• Then select Always Activate from the drop-down menu.

How to Enable Widevine Plugin in Chrome

Enabling the Widevine Content Decryption Module in Google Chrome is typically handled automatically, ensuring a seamless user experience for accessing DRM-protected content. However, should you need to manually check the status or force an update of the Widevine module, here are the steps to follow:

1. Open Chrome: Launch your Google Chrome browser.
2. Access Components Page: Type chrome://components/ in the address bar and press Enter.
3. Check Widevine Status: Scroll down to find “Widevine Content Decryption Module.” Here you can see if it is marked as “Up-to-date.” If the status is not up-to-date, or if the module is missing, proceed to the next steps.
4. Update Widevine Manually:
   • Next to “Widevine Content Decryption Module,” click the “Check for update” button.
   • If the module updates successfully, it should now display “Component updated.”
   • If the module does not update, it will show “Component not updated.”

If you encounter persistent issues with Widevine in Chrome, consider these additional steps:

• Reinstall Chrome: Uninstalling and then reinstalling Chrome can often resolve issues with corrupted modules or outdated software.
• Check Chrome Policies: In some cases, organizational policies might restrict updates to components like Widevine. Consult with your IT department or system administrator.
• Disable Interfering Software: Occasionally, third-party software, including browser extensions or security programs, can interfere with Widevine. Temporarily disabling such software may help identify the culprit.

By following these guidelines, you can ensure that the Widevine plugin functions correctly in Chrome, allowing for uninterrupted access to DRM-protected content.

How to Enable Widevine Plugin in Brave Browser

In Brave Browser, the Widevine plugin is not enabled by default. To access content that requires Widevine, such as streaming services, you will need to enable it manually. Here’s how you can activate Widevine in Brave:

1. Open Brave Browser Settings:
   • Click on the menu button (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner.
   • Select “Settings” from the dropdown menu.
2. Navigate to Extensions Settings:
   • In the Settings menu, go to “Extensions” or type brave://settings/extensions in the address bar and press Enter.
3. Toggle Widevine On:
   • Find the Widevine section.
   • Toggle the setting to “On” to enable the Widevine plugin.

Handling Prompts and Errors

• Initial Prompt: The first time you visit a site requiring Widevine after installation, Brave will prompt you to enable the plugin. Selecting “Allow” will turn on Widevine, while choosing “Block” will keep it disabled.
• Error Messages: If you’re experiencing issues streaming content even with Widevine enabled, you may need to reset the component:
  • Go to brave://settings/extensions.
  • Toggle the Widevine option “Off” and then back “On.”
  • Relaunch Brave as prompted, then refresh the streaming page.

By ensuring Widevine is activated and up to date in Brave, you can enjoy a broad range of online streaming content without interruptions.

How to Enable Widevine Plugin for Your Premium Videos

To ensure the secure delivery of premium video content, VdoCipher offers a robust solution using Google’s Widevine DRM. Here’s how you can implement Widevine DRM with VdoCipher to protect your videos:

1. Integration and Setup: VdoCipher integrates Widevine DRM as part of its streaming infrastructure, which includes transcoding, encryption, and adaptive streaming. This setup ensures that your content is protected across all devices and platforms that support Widevine.
2. Encrypting and Licensing Videos: Videos are encrypted using the Common Encryption Scheme (CENC) and packaged with licensing information from the Widevine DRM license server. This ensures that each video segment is securely encrypted and can only be decrypted by authorized devices.
3. Content Delivery and Playback: Encrypted video content is delivered through VdoCipher’s secure CDN to ensure efficient and safe distribution. The DRM licenses are managed and distributed in real time to provide playback authorization.
4. Comprehensive DRM Control: With VdoCipher, you can specify DRM policies such as playback resolution and device security level. This allows content providers to optimize their delivery strategy based on the content security requirement and business model.

References

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2204.09298

https://developers.google.com/widevine/drm/overview

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widevine

https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360023851591-How-do-I-view-DRM-protected-content

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post Google Widevine Plugin Working & Integration: A Guide to Enable appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

DRM vendors help prevent piracy by developing complex software that prevents people from copying content they haven’t paid for. The content is encrypted using a key only available to someone who has paid for the content. DRM vendors provide you with an encrypted version of the content you have purchased. The provider usually distributes the content with a license that determines how the content gets used.

What is DRM (Digital Rights Management)?

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a critical tool for creators and publishers of digital media, aiming to safeguard their profits and intellectual property. With the rise of personal computers, it has become exceedingly simple to replicate digital files countless times without losing quality. DRM serves as a means to control and monitor the distribution and usage of digital media, thereby curbing the unauthorized sharing of copyrighted content.

At its core, DRM systems protect digital content by either encrypting it, allowing access only to those with proper authorization, or by embedding digital watermarks that deter unauthorized distribution. These measures ensure that only paying customers, who have legally acquired the rights, can access and use the content.

In many jurisdictions, such as the United States, circumventing DRM protections is illegal, highlighting the legal backing that supports the enforcement of these digital rights. DRM is therefore seen not only as a technical solution but also as a legal framework designed to control the use and dissemination of digital assets, exclusively applicable to digital or digitized media.

How does a DRM Vendor works?

Digital Rights Management (DRM) mechanisms function by securing content through encryption, ensuring that only authorized users who possess the decryption key can access it. The DRM process, particularly for video content, involves multiple parties including the content provider, packager, Content Delivery Network (CDN), DRM platform, and the player. Here’s an overview of how DRM works in four key steps:

Step 1: Encrypt the Content
The initial and most fundamental step in DRM is encryption. This process converts plain data into ciphertext using a key, making the content unreadable to anyone without the corresponding decryption key. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is commonly used due to its efficiency and simplicity in key management, as it uses the same key for both encryption and decryption.

Step 2: Key and License Management
The encryption key is usually generated by the content provider and handed over to the packager or transcoder for encrypting the content. In DRM systems, this process is often enhanced with tools from DRM vendors to manage and generate keys securely.

Step 3: KeyID and ContentID
Once the content is encrypted with a key provided by a DRM vendor, identifying the correct key for decryption is crucial. This is managed through a KeyID, which acts as an identifier for the key, and a ContentID, which is a unique identifier for the content. Both identifiers are packaged within the license, stored securely on a License Server.

Step 4: Decryption and Playback
During playback, if a video is encrypted, this information is flagged in the manifest file. The player, upon attempting to play the video, requests the license from the DRM server using the license URL provided in the manifest. If the server validates the request, it issues a license containing the decryption key, which the DRM modules within the player use to decrypt and play the content.

This simplified overview covers the basics of DRM operations. However, the full implementation can be more complex, involving additional features such as key rotation, particularly for live streaming services.

Why need DRM Vendors and DRM Providers?

Flawed Implementation – The root cause of DRM malfunctions is the inconsistencies in implementing DRM. It can lead to a lousy user experience or security breach. From UX designing to software diversity, collaborative integration must occur between users and DRM vendors.

End-user adaptability – The other common issue in DRM implementation is End-user adaptability. With the growing number of new devices and on-demand content consumers, the delivery model, licensing, and content management needs implementation. Educating former and existing customers about the various new updates and changes is a task to handle with better customer support.

Lack of all-in-one DRM solutions – Instead of subscribing to multiple DRM vendors, most end-users look for an all-in-one DRM solution. Implementing a unified DRM solution for digital content requires workforce, investments, and levels of technical implementations.

Security and IP protection – DRM vendors can effectively manage access to digital assets by employing IP geolocation. IP geolocation data needs to be up-to-date and standardized. It simplified the licensing rights authentication across regions and authorized users’ access. DRM vendors need to securely store a vast amount of Intellectual Property data and create a workflow for users to manage and track their content. If there is a bug in the DRM software that allows people to copy content without paying for it, then it is easy for people to pirate content. DRM vendors have to address this issue by implementing multiple security layers, IP protection, watermarking, and of course, customer satisfaction.

What Steps are required to become a DRM Vendor

• Acquiring DRM license permissions
• Setting up storage infrastructure
• Encoding
• Transcoding
• Using the license encryption keys to encrypt the digital content
• Storing the encrypted file
• CDN setup
• Authorized access management
• Request processing via license server
• Decrypt the requested resources via the license server
• Allow playback or opening of a file through a DRM player or viewer

Benefits of using DRM Vendors and DRM Providers

The main benefit of using a DRM provider is the ease of implementation. A DRM provider is a company that provides technology and services to help content owners and distributors protect their intellectual property. DRM providers offer a variety of services, including digital rights management, content security, and anti-piracy measures. They work with content owners to help them protect their copyrighted material and ensure that it is not illegally copied or distributed.

Most DRM providers offer APIs that are easy to use and will take most of the implementation burden off your shoulders. Additionally, you get a lot of additional functionality out of the box, such as a wide array of supported devices, reporting, and even analytics.

The great thing about this is that you don’t have to build all of it yourself. It frees up your time and resources to focus on other areas of your business. You also get support and the latest updates from the provider. You’ll easily integrate any newly added features in the future.

You may also have the option of building your custom reporting based on the provider’s data. It will give you a lot of insight into the performance of your eBooks or video content and the customers who purchase them. In other words, when you register your work with a DRM provider, you can make your work securely available, in multiple formats and across multiple platforms, without having to know about all the logistical details of digital rights management. You can focus on your work, and the provider will worry about making your work available.

Challenges in implementing DRM and need of DRM Vendors

DRM license providers usually don’t sell directly to customers. Instead, they sell to software and media companies, which then sell their products to end-users like eLearning companies.
When it comes to digital rights management implementation, there are three main challenges: security, compatibility, and interoperability.

• The first challenge, security, is an important topic of concern. One of the most common threats to digital rights management is hacking. Hackers can bypass DRM systems and gain access to protected content. Content providers and publishers must ensure that the content they protect is secure against hackers.
• The second challenge, compatibility, is also a major concern. DRM must be compatible with many different types of devices. If the DRM is not compatible, it can be highly limiting.
• The final challenge, interoperability, is similar to the second challenge. DRM must be able to work with multiple technologies and platforms.

VdoCipher – Best DRM Vendor to protect your Video Content

Choosing among the best DRM Vendors for your business needs is a challenging task. It requires considerations on features, pricing, deployment model, customer support, and much more for your businesses. We have listed the best Digital Right Management Vendors for video security, eBooks, documents, and brand protection.

VdoCipher is a secure video hosting solutions provider to LMS platforms, media, e-learning platforms and individual videos creators and helps them in boosting revenue. Vdocipher offers Hollywood Grade DRM Protected Video Streaming to protect videos from piracy and unauthorized access or sharing.

Videos streamed through VdoCipher cannot be downloaded via any software or internet plugins. Using Google Widevine and Apple Fairplay DRM, VdoCipher is serving video content security to over 2000 business customers in more than 40 countries.

• Google Widevine and Apple Fairplay protected DRM encrypted streaming
• Dynamic watermarking and screen capture block
• Live streaming
• API and Plugin Integration
• Multi CDN Integration
• Adaptive and Responsive HTML5 player
• APIs and SDKs
• Geo, IP and Time based restrictions
• Backend Licensing and Authentication
• Best DRM Vendors for eBooks and Brand Protection
• User-based Video Analytics for Piracy Tracking and Hacker Identification

Best DRM Vendors for eBooks and Brand Protection

RedPoint for Brand Protection

Brand intelligence platform, Red Points delivers online brand protection, copyright enforcement, and distributor monitoring capabilities. Red Points gives you full visibility into brands’ presence online. Over 1000 brands and companies rely on Red Points to fight counterfeits, piracy, impersonation, and distribution abuse allowing them to maintain control, improve their brand value, and increase revenues.

• Detect infringers reselling credentials
• Bot-powered scan on marketplaces and social media 24×7
• Photo-analysis
• Self-improving detection
• Potential infringement review in the DRM platform
• Automatic enforcement

Memberspace for Brand Protection

Memberspace is a web application that helps organizations manage their memberships and communications. It allows members to access and update their information, makes it easy to send newsletters and other communications, and provides tools for managing events and activities. With their DRM software, you can protect the existing website and gain new members.

• Access expiration management
• PDF and image protection
• Digital distribution management
• Password management
• Member-only access

Kitaboo for eBooks

Kitaboo DRM is a digital rights management system used to protect e-books from unauthorized sharing and copying. It employs a variety of measures to prevent users from copying, printing, or sharing e-books without permission. Kitaboo DRM is the software to protect the eBooks we publish.

• Publish and secure ebook distribution
• DRM encryption
• Social DRM
• Digital watermarking
• Role-based permissions
• Create a webstore and license your eBooks
• Distribute ebooks to your users from the cloud
• Own branded apps to distribute your eBooks

FAQs

What kinds of content does DRM protect?

Digital rights management is suitable for all kinds of digital content, including everything from novels to computer programs and music. A digital Rights Management system can protect the content which gets digitized.

How is DRM technology applied to digital content?

Digital rights management is often used with digital content delivered over the Internet. When you purchase this type of content, you usually download a copy to your computer. To use the content, you may be required to install a software application. This application will protect the content by preventing unauthorized copying or unauthorized sharing.

What are the points to consider while choosing DRM providers?

Some general considerations are pricing model, market reputation, customization, flexibility in implementation, customer support, the number of countries served, client portfolio.

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post DRM Vendors & Providers to evade Implementation Challenges (2024) appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

The use of DRM servers makes it very easy to protect video and other digital assets due to the dynamic nature of its mechanism. The setup requires you to have your licensed encoding, transcoding, storage, and distribution architecture for complete protection. Also, when setting up a DRM server, it is necessary to enhance the security through multi-DRM layers and other safetynet algorithms. For example, Google Widevine DRM will only protect you on Android, Chrome, other Google devices, and third-party browsers as Firefox DRM but not on Apple. Similarly, Apple Fairplay DRM protects your digital assets on Apple devices and Safari Browser.

DRM server meaning and Working

A DRM server also serves the same purpose as that of a server, but instead of being handled via one server, it is a combination of multiple servers. They work together to establish a secure delivery of videos, audio, and other files. Similar to a server, it consists of handling various requests and responses made simultaneously to capture all levels where a security breach can be made. We have discussed the major levels of security in the section below on the setup of the DRM server.

Basically, all the coding modules for encryption and key exchange are loaded on different computational servers. They carry out the complete process of encrypting an upload stream, adaptive bitrates, storage, global distribution, and secured playback. To enhance the protection on all major devices and browsers it is further advised to have a multi-DRM setup. This means setting up more DRM servers with few alterations as per other license authorities like Apple Fairplay, which requires additional license form submission.

Who needs a DRM server solution?

Before understanding the need for a DRM server, let us understand two kinds of creator economies. One is public content that mainly earns via YT, like video monetization, and the other is premium content that monetizes via subscription, pay-per-view, etc. Now, the public content, which is mainly single user-generated content, requires too much audience and virality to earn. That is why video platforms like YouTube and ebooks platforms like Amazon Kindle are a great choices for them. But the ones having some premium content are in dire need of a DRM server.

For example, OTT providers like Netflix cannot risk direct downloads via browsers or App. EdTech platforms cannot risk their videos being illegally downloaded and distributed. This is a direct loss to their monetizable content, and that is why all the likes of Netflix use multi-DRM servers to protect their premium content. Since every video creator cannot set up their DRM servers, solutions like Vdocipher help them set up a full-fledged multi-DRM setup at very affordable prices.

When the content is unique, and premium, normal encryption like AES-128 fails through various loopholes during the delivery process. That is why it is made possible through the DRM server that no one can try to access your digital content.

How to setup a DRM server

Setting up a DRM server is a process of acquiring licenses and writing various modules of codes to handle all levels for security breach possibility. These levels can be broadly divided into two majors as follows:

Content Encryption: First of all, a DRM server starts with an encoding process to encrypt the upload stream. The digital assets file gets encrypted using DRM OEM specifications. The content stream can be packed through a CLI packager. Next implementations require chunking and fragmentation to prepare packaging of formats like MP4 into different bitrate files. This is done to support adaptive bitrate streaming for different bandwidth users, ensuring a smooth experience. Server-side encryption offers greater scalability, security, advanced API calls, parallel packaging, and more.

The packager requests an encryption key from the DRM server to encrypt the content. The server provides an encryption key and links that key to the content ID. Using the encryption key, the packager encrypts and re-packages the content.

Playback via DRM server: During the playback or when the file is requested, the DRM key exchange mechanism will check for the authorized key. The applicable DRM license provider (Apple/Google) will match the authorized keys with the widevine DRM license server or fairplay DRM license server and will revert with denied access or encrypted chunks. These chunks will later get through the device or browser’s DRM module to finally get decrypted for playback.

All these requests and responses are handled via modules of codes in compatible language with the licensing authority. This network of requests and response usually requires handling major processing codes via different servers for scalability.

Challenges in setting up a DRM server

Apart from a License, setting up a DRM server requires a necessary 2-level security infrastructure. First is at the transcoding level, where content gets encrypted with all updated DRM parameters and gets stored. The storage also requires various encrypted bitrate files for adaptive bitrate streaming. The second level is at the playback level, where the encrypted content is decrypted using a dynamic key-exchange mechanism for final playback. These challenges can also be viewed through two perspectives of in-house DRM vs DRM Server Solutions.

• In-house DRM Setup – Coding and setting up all these request response modules in different servers with load balancers for scalability is an enterprise infrastructure. That is why very large enterprises like Netflix & Amazon Prime build in-house multi-DRM infrastructure.
• DRM Server Solutions – Apart from the tech giants, many large to small video businesses rely on DRM server solutions like VdoCipher, which provide multi-DRM Encryption, AWS infra, customizable video player, and many other features.

Benefits of using DRM server solution for Video Protection

As we discussed the challenges of setting up a DRM server for your digital assets, a solution provider is necessary. Some things that must be considered while choosing a DRM solution provider are scalable infrastructure, multi-DRM, features, players, and integrations. This is because once you start growing, your needs will grow, and then you might require advanced features. A good DRM server solution needs to provide at least the following features for complete security.

• Highest Grade Encryption – In today’s world, due to the efficiency of hackers, a single encryption system can protect a digital asset in some devices and browsers. This means better security is always a mix of multiple security systems as a single infrastructure. As per security reports, multi-DRM with updated devices and an extra private security net is a must for copyright protection.
• Dynamic Watermarking – This is to deter screen capture via displaying dynamic information like the user’s IP on the video. Even if the video gets captured via camera, it will still be easy to prevent propagation.
• API and Plugin Integration – For easy integrations, this must be a benefit you need to look forward to matching with your present and future goals. Otherwise, this benefit can also become a headache with no or non-working integration code and plugins.
• CDN Integration – via scalable and best uptime global distribution infrastructure like that of AWS.
• Adaptive bitrate streaming for various bandwidths and Responsive HTML5 player.
• Geo, IP, and Time based restrictions for broad access management.

Setup Widevine License Server and Apple Fairplay for Multi-DRM

Setting up a Widevine DRM server is a process of acquiring licenses and writing various modules of codes with Widevine-compatible parameters. Its implementation is necessary to handle all levels of security breach possibility on Google devices and browsers. These levels have been previously discussed as Content Encryption and Playback via DRM server in the previous sections. Similar to setting to a DRM server, these levels require setting up coding modules on various servers.

All these coded requests and responses with compatible language and parameters with the licensing authority need to work bug-free. Only then a Widevine DRM mechanism will fully work to block illegal downloads and screen captures on Google products.

You don’t need to set up Google Widevine DRM in case of using a DRM server solution like VdoCipher. Google Widevine DRM comes as default with DRM server providers like VdoCipher, but it is advisable to get Fairplay and safetynet. Apple has made it one step mandatorily extra to write a separate application for multi-DRM via client. Still, it is just an application and nothing to code and set up.

Role of DRM in evading Video Piracy

Video piracy is a major challenge faced by video creators and publishers. It refers to the unauthorized usage and distribution of video content that is copyright protected. This gives the video owner the right to perform certain actions on their content and limit or authorize access. The unauthorized sharing of content and assets has grown multifold due to access to the internet and smart devices. Video pirates now have a range of ways to retrieve and distribute video content. Common tactics include credential stuffing and bypassing encryption vulnerabilities. In 2019, on average 230k people in the United States lost their jobs due to digital piracy.

Organizations and individual creators are forced to adopt some or the other anti-piracy solution in place, the main being Digital Rights Management (DRM). Netflix, for example, has its internal team to address video piracy issues.

The term DRM is a set of technologies to enforce a license between the content provider and the consumer or viewer. DRM controls how the content is accessed and limits the use and transfer of content. Most streaming services now use DRM encryption technologies to prevent users from downloading and saving video content offline. Instead, they put restrictions on how long the downloaded video lasts or ensure only paid subscribers access the content. The key exchange between the license server and the player in DRM Encryption is private. Hackers and internet plugins cannot easily download video content.

Issues with DRM server security

Like every other technology, DRM is also a set of code, and some updates can make it buggy. Sometimes fixing up requires a different set of updated parameters and many times, the license authority handles updates on their end. Also, there is a small percentage of DRM-incompatible devices and devices that are too old and don’t get a DRM-friendly update. Such device % is estimated to be within the range of <0.3%, and such cases occur mostly in Android devices and not in Apple or Windows devices. Google majorly quotes custom Android OS implementations by some mobile manufacturers.

How can a course platform or OTT implement Video DRM server with ease?

Until a few years back, integrating DRM was within reach of big companies and organizations like Netflix that had the technical team and time to handle the complexities of DRM implementation. Small, medium, and large EdTech and OTT platforms look for DRM server providers like VdoCipher. Effortless Multi DRM integration with many other loaded features can be integrated by a single person.

With VdoCipher, you will get Google and Apple Video DRM with advanced safety net protection. The unique proposition of VdoCipher is that the integration effort required by the customers is minimal for integrating DRM-based video playback. You also get the following other features apart from DRM.

• Dynamic Watermarking to deter screen capture
• Domain Restriction for access management
• AWS-powered servers, transcoding & CDN infrastructure to ensure a smooth playback across 6 continents.
• Smart Video Player
• Quick integration with popular CMS and LMS like WordPress and Moodle via plugin.
• Dashboard to manage videos
• Iframe, Plugin, API, SDK Integrations

FAQs

Do DRM servers deter screen recording?

Yes, DRM comes with screen capture prevention support, but it is limited to the devices and browsers of the license provider.

In a simple explanation, how does a DRM server work?

When a viewer tries to access DRM-Protected digital content or video, the DRM license server checks the key authorization and returns the encrypted content. These encrypted chunks get finally decrypted using the final device DRM module.

What is the main purpose of DRM integration?

DRM, or Digital Rights Management, is mainly used to protect the rights of copyright holders. This is done by protecting against unauthorized access and distribution of digital assets.

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post DRM Server Solutions with Widevine License and Apple FairPlay appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

It also serves as pocket-friendly LMS for new, small, and medium-scale educators who do not have the budget to make a custom platform for their own. On the technical end, Moodle only requires you to

• Self-host your website through Moodle LMS.
• Purchase a domain name and renew it yourself while maintaining DNS records.
• Purchase and Integrate video hosting solutions through plugins, APIs, etc.
• Customize the appearance and features using code, plugins, and themes.
• Integrate security measures.

What is Moodle?

Moodle is an open-source and free LMS or Learning Management System. It is written in PHP language and is majorly used for online learning projects for online class delivery, hybrid learning, distance learning, and other online teaching methodologies. Edtech starters, universities, and other learning sector organizations implement their online teaching platform using Moodle due to easy accessibility and integrations. Since it is open source and gets distributed under GNU General Public License, organizations sometimes prefer it.

You can create custom websites for serving online courses through a very easy setup. It also allows advanced integrations via community-sourced and third-party plugins. Plugins, mobile responsive web design, custom design themes, and a Moodle mobile app are also available to customize each individual online learning platform. The Moodle mobile app is available on App Store, Google Play, and also on the Windows Phone Store.

To install Moodle on Web Server, you can easily download it for Apache HTTP Server and integrate it with DBMS like MySQL, etc. For local testing, pre-built MAMP, etc, packages with local Apache server and MySQL are also available to download for Mac, Windows, Linux, etc. The only part which is left to choose is video hosting, for which you get free options like YouTube as a Video Hosting solution or otherwise pick up a secure video hosting solution provider like VdoCipher.

Role of Moodle and other LMSs in eLearning Ecosystem

Moodle was originally released on 20 August 2002, and since then, it has developed into an LMS masterpiece. The core developer Martin Dougiamas started building Moodle to help educators go online with a focus on interactive learning through easy build-up. It plays a very helpful role for many low capital educators, and for being open source, it is helped by 84 Moodle Partner companies for development and finances.

Since the start, the focus element i.e, video has been integrated into Moodle infrastructure for all kinds of learning utilities. Educators get support for uploading and embedding videos for their custom websites and can even record short videos directly with the support of Atto and other editors. Even students get to use other video-related features like lecture catch-up and “how-to” screencast.

Moodle and other Learning Management Systems (LMSs) play an important role in the eLearning ecosystem. Not only do they help evade the capital-intensive task of platform development, but they also provide the framework for managing, delivering, and tracking online learning content. They include features such as quizzes, forums, and assignments, which can be used to facilitate learning. Additionally, LMSs provide tools for tracking learners’ progress, so teachers can easily monitor their progress and provide feedback.

Moodle and other LMSs also provide an environment for collaboration between students and teachers. Through forums, messaging, and other tools, students and teachers can collaborate on assignments and projects. This can help create an engaging learning experience for students and teachers.

How to Upload a Video to Moodle?

Now lets learn how to add video to Moodle with these simple steps. You can even test for uploading, and embedding via localhost Moodle setup or directly push the files into the cloud server. Whatever the case, the steps remain the same.

• First, Log in to your Moodle account either in localhost or live website.
• From the Homepage, Click on the course to which you want to add the video.
• Turn “Edit Mode” On with the button at the top right of the page.
• Scroll down to the course section where you want to add the video and click the “Add an Activity or Resource” link.
  
• Select “Text and Media area” from the list of activities or resources.
• Click on the “Insert video/audio” icon at the top of the text editor.
  
• Select “browse repositories” and then the “upload a file” button on the left pane.
  
• Select an attachment from the local or cloud storage and add other information like the name of the video.
• Click on the “Upload this File” button at the bottom.
• You can now view the “Video Source URL”
  
• Finally, click on insert media and the video will start showing within the course.
  

How to Embed a Video to Moodle Course

Embedding a video into your course is fairly simple as copy-paste. Follow through this section to see how to embed a video in your course. Incorporating YouTube videos can enrich your course content. Here’s how to add and embed YouTube video in Moodle. You just need to copy the embed code containing the iframe and video element of any video file available on YouTube or of your hosted video. Here is the list of steps you can use for reference.

• First, Log in to your Moodle account either in localhost or live website.
• From the Homepage, Click on the course you want to embed the video to.
• Turn “Edit Mode” On with the button at the top right of the page.
• Scroll down to the course section where you want to add the video and click the “Add an Activity or Resource” link.
• Select “Text and Media area” from the list of activities or resources.
• Click on the “Show more buttons” icon in the top left corner of the text editor to open more options in the toolbar.
  
• Now click on the “HTML” button to open the HTML editor of the text section.
  
• You can now copy the embed code of the video from YouTube or from your video hosting provider dashboard and paste it into the HTML editor box.
  
• Now, click on the “Save and return to Course” button at the bottom of the page, and your embedded video will start appearing in your course.

Video Tutorial to Embed a Video using Iframe in Moodle

How to install a plugin in Moodle?

There are majorly two ways to install a Moodle plugin. One is through Moodle plugin repository, and the other is through uploading the zip file of a plugin.

Installing via Moodle Plugin Repository

• First, Log in to your Moodle account either in localhost or live website.
• Click on “Site administration” in the top navigation bar and click on “Plugins” under the available tabs in the next window.
• Click on “Install plugins” and then from the Plugin Installer page, click on the “Install plugins from the Moodle plugins directory” button.
  
• To install the plugin directly on your Moodle website, you need to be logged in with your moodle.org account.
  
• Search for the plugin in the directory and select “Install” from the Plugin description page. For local installation, you can download the plugin for upload.
• This will validate the plugin and will ask you to “continue” if the plugin gets successfully verified.
• Finally, click on “Upgrade Moodle database now” to make the final plugin migration and again continue from the next page.

If required, you can edit the settings from the “Plugin Settings” page. This will enable the plugin for your Moodle website.

Installing Moodle Plugin by Uploading ZIP file

• First, Log in to your Moodle account either in localhost or live website.
• Click on “Site administration” in the top navigation bar and click on “Plugins” under the available tabs in the next window.
• Click on “Install plugins”
• To download the zip file, search for the plugin in the directory and select Download from the Plugin description page.
• Now, click on the “Choose a file” in the “Install plugin from ZIP file” section of the Plugin Installer page.
  
• Name the plugin in the next window and choose the attachment from the local or attached cloud storage.
• Click on the “Install plugin from the ZIP file” button at the bottom of the page.
• This will validate the plugin and will ask you to “continue” if the plugin gets successfully verified.
  
• Now, on the next page of “Current release information” click again on “Continue” at the bottom of the page. This page also displays if all server requirements are met.
  
• Finally, click on “Upgrade Moodle database now” to make the final plugin migration and again continue from the next page.
  
• Settings page of the plugin might open up, requiring further details like API keys, etc to be filled in. You can add and save the settings from this page.
  

Note: For VdoCipher Plugin, go to filters under the Plugins section and then manage filters. Here change the dropdown across VdoCipher to On and save changes. This will enable the plugin for your Moodle website.

Video Tutorial to Install VdoCipher Plugin in Moodle

Moodle Video Player and Customizations

Moodle use VideoJS player as a default player for Video playback. VideoJS player is also used to playback YouTube videos with Moodle course. To tweak VideoJS player settings, you can go to “Site administration” > Plugins > Media Players > VideoJS player. From here, you can also identify the CSS class getting used for player display, supported video and audio file extensions, limit size and default YouTube playback options. For applying customizations, there are two methods. One is by making additions to the CSS file attached with the VideoJS player and whose CSS class can be identified from the settings page discussed above. Another way to make customizations to the player, be it styling or features addition like security, can be done using a third-party Moodle Video Plugin like VdoCipher.

Plugins like VdoCipher not only provide player customization features with better UI and controls for adaptive bitrate streaming and multilingual subtitles but also contains various other features like,

• Protection against illegal video download through downloader tools.
• Protection against screen capture on many devices and browsers.
• Dynamic controls to change playback speed and skip/rewind.
• Option for selecting Multilingual subtitles.
• Show Progress Bar
• Show Scrubbing Preview
• JavaScript API to add overlay buttons and track viewer interactions with video.
• Auto Resume
• Enable Keyboard Shortcuts
• Primary Color change via Hex color code
• Show Time Text
• Lock Controls
• Enable Save Offline
• Show Quality Control
• Hide Controls on Pause

Moodle Video Hosting Solution

Explore the essentials of Moodle Video Hosting to enhance your educational content. You can store video files on the same server instance where your Moodle website is hosted, but it creates certain issues. For example, if you want adaptive bitrate streaming, you must store multiple copies of your videos for different bitrates and even for different devices. These copies can cost you your main server’s available storage space within the instance, also making the variable cost dearer. There are many other reasons, like security, scalability, costing, and integrations which are only available via third-party Video Hosting Solution Providers.

To handle these cases, it is always advised to integrate a video hosting solution provider with your Moodle website. Moodle suggests using low-cost options like YouTube and Vimeo, but they don’t provide security against illegal video downloads. You can also set up your video hosting solution via AWS by combining various AWS services, but they will require a technical understanding of AWS infrastructure. Also, if you plan to integrate security into your video infrastructure, it requires getting licenses and their integrations. To summarize the challenges, let us list four major stages required to set up AWS S3 Video Streaming.

• S3 bucket creation and upload
• AWS CloudFront set up
• Batch Transcoding for adaptive playback
• Applying DRM Encryption

The difficulty of setting up such an infrastructure is a cumbersome task for small, medium, and large-scale eLearning Moodle Platforms. This is the reason to use a video hosting solution provider with a history of providing the best in class service and features. Best-in-class solution providers like VdoCipher can help you evade the challenges in the implementation part and the challenges in creating dashboards, APIs, etc., for easy integration.

Why need Video Security on Moodle

Educators using in-moodle or other video hosting platforms have a basic need to upload, embed, share, or view a video. This requirement also poses a threat during different stages of transferring the chunks of a video file. Major leaks happen during the storage process and the delivery of video files for playback. These videos are mostly premium and unique content to serve students for learning. If these videos get illegally downloaded and distributed, it is a direct revenue loss for creators with enabled monetization on Moodle platform.

As Moodle does not provide any security for videos uploaded and streamed via the default mechanism, the only choice left is to use a third-party video security solution like VdoCipher. VdoCipher’s Hollywood Grade Video DRM encryption protects a wide range of video file formats. The videos streamed via VdoCipher cannot be downloaded by any internet plugin or software. This is possible due to the use of multi-DRM licensing and encryption technology. It is the safest way to store and deliver a video file globally. DRM technology uses encryption to protect content from unauthorized copying and playback. The user needs a valid DRM license to play the video content with access on only to authorized devices. Only people with the appropriate key can decrypt and access the video.

For example, like EdTech platforms, OTT providers like Netflix cannot risk illegal downloads via browsers or apps. This is a direct loss to their monetizable content, which is why all the likes of Netflix use multi-DRM servers to protect their premium content. Since every video creator cannot set up their DRM servers, solutions like Vdocipher help them set up a full-fledged multi-DRM setup at very affordable prices.

VdoCipher – Moodle Video Plugin for Security

Choosing the right Moodle video plugin can drastically improve your video integration. If you are looking for a secure video hosting solution provider with easy integrations for Moodle, then VdoCipher will be your best choice. It uses AWS Infrastructure for the highest scalability, uptime, and integration ease and is also the best one based on global reviews. To use the VdoCipher’s moodle plugin, you can download the latest version directly from the GitHub page and then install the plugin by uploading it to your Moodle website. This plugin adds download-protected videos from your VdoCipher dashboard directly inside your moodle content using the video id. This will replace the video shortcode with an embedded video player, having added security and features. It not only uses the best infrastructure for storing and delivering videos but also provides a ton of other features, like,

• Google and Apple FairPlay DRM Encryption – to protect videos from unauthorized access and downloads via Widevine and FairPlay DRM.
• Dynamic watermarking – to discourage screen capture, details like user ID, email, etc., can be dynamically watermarked over the video.
• Adaptive Video Quality with CloudFront CDN – VdoCipher uses Global AWS Cloud Infrastructure. Storage on AWS S3, batch Transcoding via VdoCipher algorithms on AWS EC2, Streaming of content via Cloudfront CDN, and Encryption by integrating Google and Apple DRM.
• Smart HTML5 Video Player – dynamic controls with multi-lingual subtitle support, change playback speed, theme options, and API to add overlay buttons for tracking viewer interactions with video.
• Secure offline downloads in apps – VdoCipher iOS native SDK securely enables video download on the device.
  Google Play Integrity for app-based security – SafetyNet to block playback on rooted, duplicate, and unauthorized apps. Check out our play integrity api documentation to know more.
• Plugins – The video plugin by VdoCipher supports WordPress, Moodle, and other CMSs and LMSs.
  Geo-Restrictions – For blacklisting or whitelisting specific countries

Important FAQs Around Moodle Video Hosting

How to enable Moodle DRM?

Moodle does not provide DRM integration as a feature of its own. The only way to set up DRM protection for your videos can be achieved by using a secure video hosting solution provider like VdoCipher. They integrate the Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay DRM licenses with other video infrastructure required for streaming secure videos.

Does Moodle provide an end-to-end solution for Video Hosting?

Moodle only provides video hosting on your main website server. If you want an end-to-end solution for Video Hosting with support of player customizations, APIs, dashboard, analytics, DRM, etc. solutions like VdoCipher are applicable.

Is Moodle really free, or does it cost?

Moodle is an open-source and free LMS or Learning Management System distributed under GNU General Public License. Its use as LMS is free of charge, but cloud hosting plans start at USD 110/year for 50 users and 250 MB storage without any video security.

How to add a video to a Moodle course?

To add a video, log into Moodle, navigate to your course, and switch to Edit Mode. In the course section, click “Add an Activity or Resource”, select “Text and Media area”, and use the “Insert video/audio” icon to upload or embed your video.

How to upload a video to Moodle?

First, ensure you’re in Edit Mode in your course. Click on “Add an Activity or Resource”, choose “Text and Media area”, and then select “browse repositories” followed by “upload a file”. After uploading, click “Insert media” to add the video to your course.

How to embed a video within a Moodle course?

In Edit Mode, select the course section, click “Add an Activity or Resource”, and choose “Text and Media area”. Use the HTML editor to paste your video’s embed code and save the changes to see the video in your course.

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post How to Add, Upload, Embed Videos in Moodle: Video Hosting Explained appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is an open-source UI software development kit created by Google. It’s used for developing cross-platform applications from a single codebase, meaning you can create apps for Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, Windows, Google Fuchsia, and the web from the same source code. Flutter enables developers to deliver high-performance, natively compiled applications with a rich set of pre-designed widgets and tools that make it easier to build visually attractive and smoothly interactive user interfaces.

Key aspects of Flutter include:

• Dart programming language: Flutter uses Dart, which is optimized for fast apps on any platform.
• Widgets: Everything in Flutter is a widget, from a simple text to complex layouts. Widgets describe what their view should look like given their current configuration and state.
• Hot Reload: This feature allows developers to see the effects of their changes almost instantly, without losing the current application state. It significantly speeds up the development process.
• Rich animation libraries: These make it easy to add smooth and complex animations to your app, enhancing the user experience.

Why is Flutter getting popularity?

Flutter is gaining popularity and being used by developers worldwide for several reasons:

• Cross-platform development: Flutter allows for code reusability across multiple platforms, which saves significant development time and resources.
• Performance: Applications built with Flutter are compiled to native code, which helps achieve performance that is comparable to native applications.
• Productivity: With features like Hot Reload, developers can make changes to the codebase and see the results instantly, which greatly improves the development workflow.
• UI Flexibility and Customization: Flutter’s widget-based architecture enables the creation of complex and custom UI designs, making it easier to bring creative ideas to life without being limited by the framework.
• Growing community and support: Being an open-source project, Flutter has a rapidly growing community and a wealth of resources, including documentation, tutorials, and third-party packages, which provide additional functionality and make development easier.
• Google’s backing: Flutter benefits from strong support from Google, ensuring continuous updates, improvements, and the addition of new features.

Steps required for Live Streaming in Flutter

From video capture to broadcasting, Live streaming in a Flutter application involves a series of steps. If you are looking to integrate Live streaming directly into your Flutter app via embedding, a third-party provider like VdoCipher is the way to go. Otherwise, here’s a simplified breakdown of the process.

• Capture – The live video and audio are captured using a streaming device’s camera and microphone. Flutter has a ‘camera’ package for this purpose. It has tools to get the list of available cameras, display a preview from a specific camera, and record. Doc – https://docs.flutter.dev/cookbook/plugins/picture-using-camera
• Encode – The captured raw video and audio data is encoded into a format suitable for transmission over the internet. It compresses the media size to reduce bandwidth requirements and facilitate easy transmission. Packages like flutter_ffmpeg can be used for encoding media into various formats.
• Transmit – The encoded video and audio are sent to a streaming server or service. This server is responsible for receiving the live feed from your app. You might use packages like ‘flutter_rtmp_publisher’ to send the stream to an RTMP server or flutter_webrtc if you are using WebRTC for real-time streaming.
• Transcoding – Once the stream reaches the server, it undergoes transcoding. This process involves decoding the incoming stream to a raw format and converting the stream into multiple formats, resolutions, and bitrates. This is essential for adaptive bitrate streaming, which allows the stream quality to dynamically adjust based on each viewer’s internet speed and device capabilities.
• Distributing the stream – The transcoded streams are then packaged into different formats (like HLS or DASH) and distributed to viewers via content delivery networks (CDNs). The step is mostly handled by the streaming server or platform and doesn’t require direct handling within the Flutter app.
• Playback – Stream viewers will see the live video and hear the audio on their devices. You can use the ‘video_player’ plugin to play videos stored on the file system, as an asset, or from the internet. Doc link – https://docs.flutter.dev/cookbook/plugins/play-video

Live Streaming Protocols in Flutter

For live streaming in Flutter apps, the choice of streaming protocols depends on the application requirements like compatibility, latency, and scalability. The commonly used protocols are:

• HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) – HLS streaming in Flutter is via plugins and packages such as ‘video_player or ‘flutter_hls_parser’
• DASH – DASH can be implemented in Flutter through various media player libraries supporting DASH streaming, ensuring compatibility with a range of devices, and providing adaptive streaming capabilities.
• RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) – While native support for RTMP might not be extensively available in Flutter, third-party plugins like flutter_rtmp_publisher can be used to send streams to RTMP servers. For playback, packages that interface with native video players that support RTMP can be utilized.
• WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) – Flutter strongly supports WebRTC via plugins like ‘flutter_webrtc’, to implement real-time, peer-to-peer streaming.

How to Stream Videos in Flutter Player?

Playing videos in a Flutter application involves using the video_player plugin, which provides a widget to display video content. The plugin supports both network and asset videos, giving you flexibility in how you incorporate video playback into your app.

Step 1: Add the video_player dependency

First, you need to add the video_player plugin to your pubspec.yaml file:

dependencies:

  flutter:

    sdk: flutter

  video_player: ^latest_version

Replace ^latest_version with the latest version of the video_player plugin available on pub.dev.

Step 2: Import the package

Import the video_player package into your Dart file where you want to play the video:

import 'package:video_player/video_player.dart';

Step 3: Initialize the VideoPlayerController

Create a VideoPlayerController and initialize it with a video source. This can be a network URL or a local asset. For this example, we’ll use a network video:

late VideoPlayerController _controller;

@override

void initState() {

  super.initState();

  _controller = VideoPlayerController.network(

    'https://www.example.com/video.mp4', // Replace with your video URL or asset path

  )..initialize().then((_) {

    setState(() {}); // Ensure the first frame is shown after the video is initialized

  });

}

Step 4: Display the video

Use the VideoPlayer widget to display the video controlled by your VideoPlayerController. You can also add controls with the VideoProgressIndicator widget:

@override

Widget build(BuildContext context) {

  return Scaffold(

    body: Center(

      child: _controller.value.isInitialized

          ? AspectRatio(

              aspectRatio: _controller.value.aspectRatio,

              child: VideoPlayer(_controller),

            )

          : CircularProgressIndicator(), // Show loading spinner until the video is initialized

    ),

    floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(

      onPressed: () {

        setState(() {

          if (_controller.value.isPlaying) {

            _controller.pause();

          } else {

            _controller.play();

          }

        });

      },

      child: Icon(

        _controller.value.isPlaying ? Icons.pause : Icons.play_arrow,

      ),

    ),

  );

}

Step 5: Dispose the controller

It’s important to dispose of the VideoPlayerController when it’s no longer needed to free up resources:

@override

void dispose() {

  super.dispose();

  _controller.dispose();

}

This basic setup allows you to play videos in your Flutter application. You can customize the UI and controls further based on your app’s requirements. Remember to check the documentation for the video_player plugin on pub.dev for more advanced features and updates.

Considerations for Smooth and Resource Efficient Video Streaming in Flutter

For video streaming in Flutter, especially when dealing with a large user base or large video files, there are additional considerations to ensure smooth playback and efficient resource usage. Streaming video efficiently requires careful handling of video data, possibly adapting to different network conditions, and ensuring that your app can handle video data streams without causing performance issues. Here are steps and considerations for setting up video streaming in Flutter:

• Choosing the Right Video Streaming Format – HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) and DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) are the most common formats for video streaming. These formats allow for adaptive bitrate streaming, which adjusts the video quality in real-time based on the user’s internet speed, ensuring smoother playback under varying network conditions.
• Use a Video Player that Supports Streaming – Ensure that the video player package you choose supports the streaming format you plan to use. The video_player plugin can handle network videos, but for advanced streaming features like adaptive bitrate streaming (HLS or DASH), you might need a more specialized plugin. For Flutter, plugins like chewie (which is a wrapper around video_player) or flutter_video_player (not to be confused with video_player) might offer additional functionality or ease of use for streaming scenarios.
• Implementing Adaptive Bitrate Streaming – If your video content is available in multiple qualities, implement adaptive bitrate streaming to dynamically adjust the video quality based on the current network speed.
• Pre-buffering and Caching Strategies – Implement pre-buffering to start loading the video a few seconds before playback begins. This can help avoid initial buffering delays. Consider caching parts of the video as they are streamed. Caching can reduce data usage for videos that are watched multiple times and improve playback start times. Be mindful of device storage limitations.
• Handling Network Fluctuations – Monitor network state changes and adjust the video quality accordingly. You may also need to implement custom logic to pause, buffer, or alert the user depending on the network conditions.
• Testing Across Devices and Network Conditions – Test your streaming implementation across a range of devices with different capabilities and screen sizes. Simulate various network conditions (e.g., 3G, 4G, WiFi, and low signal areas) to ensure your app provides a consistent and smooth video playback experience.
• Legal and DRM Considerations – If you’re streaming copyrighted content, ensure you have the rights to do so. Additionally, consider implementing Digital Rights Management (DRM) to protect the content. Flutter plugins like flutter_video_encrypt can help with video encryption, but DRM often requires more complex solutions like VdoCipher.
• Using a Video Streaming Service – For complex streaming needs, consider using a third-party video streaming service like VdoCipher. These services can handle video encoding, DRM, dynamic watermarking, adaptive streaming, and provide a content delivery network (CDN) to ensure fast and reliable video delivery worldwide.

Top Video Streaming Flutter Players

In the Flutter ecosystem, there are several video plugins, each offering unique features like,

• Vdocipher_flutter: The vdocipher_flutter plugin supports video streaming in Flutter applications, providing a way to serve content with Hollywood-grade DRM security to prevent video piracy. It enables video playback functionality by leveraging native libraries based on the platform, supporting Android, iOS, and web.
• video_player: The official Flutter plugin for video playback, supporting both network and asset videos but without DRM protection.
• chewie: Provides a wrapper around video_player for a customizable video player experience, including fullscreen and playback controls, without built-in DRM.
• flutter_video_info: Extracts video metadata but does not handle playback. Useful for managing video files within an app.
• better_player: An advanced video player based on video_player, offering extended functionalities like HLS, DASH, and more customization options, though DRM support is limited compared to VdoCipher.

Each plugin caters to different requirements, from simple playback to complex video management needs, with VdoCipher standing out for its DRM and security features.

How to Stream Videos in Flutter using VdoCipher

To stream video with the VdoCipher Flutter plugin, you’ll integrate it into your Flutter project, ensuring secure and DRM-protected video delivery. The plugin offers features like offline playback, player customization, and encrypted streaming. The key benefit over basic video plugins is its focus on security, making it ideal for content creators needing to protect their videos from piracy. For implementation, you’ll use the VdoPlayer widget, initializing it with your video’s OTP and playback info. By choosing VdoCipher over more basic video plugins, you benefit from enhanced security measures, support for DRM, and a tailored solution for protected content distribution.

Usage

To use VdoCipher in Flutter, first add the dependency to pubspec.yaml. Initialize VdoPlayerController with a video ID, OTP, and playback info obtained from the VdoCipher API. Then, use VdoPlayer widget for display. This plugin offers DRM protection, ensuring content security beyond what basic video plugins provide. It’s ideal for applications requiring stringent content protection, offering features like offline playback and player customization.

class PlayerView extends StatefulWidget {

PlayerView({super.key});

@override

State<PlayerView> createState() => _PlayerViewState();

}




class _PlayerViewState extends State<PlayerView> {

VdoPlayerController? _controller;

@override

Widget build(BuildContext context) {

EmbedInfo embedInfo = EmbedInfo.streaming(otp: "YOUR_OTP", playbackInfo: "YOUR_PLAYBACK_INFO");

return VdoPlayer(

embedInfo: embedInfo,

aspectRatio: 16 / 9,

onError: (error) {},

onFullscreenChange: (isFullscreen) {},

onPlayerCreated: _onPlayerCreated,

);

}




_onPlayerCreated(VdoPlayerController? controller) {

setState(() {

_controller = controller;

});

_controller?.addListener(() {});

}

}

For detailed implementation, refer to the plugin's official guidelines.

FAQs

What is Flutter video streaming?

Flutter video streaming involves using Flutter plugins to play video content directly from the internet without downloading the entire file first.

Can I use DRM with Flutter for video streaming?

Yes, using plugins like VdoCipher, you can implement DRM (Digital Rights Management) to protect your video content in Flutter applications.

Is it possible to customize video players in Flutter?

Absolutely. Many Flutter video plugins offer customizable video players, allowing you to adjust controls, appearances, and behaviors to fit your app’s design.

How do I handle video streaming in poor network conditions?

Consider plugins that support adaptive bitrate streaming, which adjusts video quality based on the user’s current network speed to ensure smooth playback.

References

• Flutter Video Plugin – link
• VdoCipher Flutter Plugin – pub.dev
• Flutter Wikipedia – link
• Flutter Chewie Plugin – link

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post Flutter Video Streaming with Adaptive and Secure Playback appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

As per a US Chamber of Commerce report, online piracy costs the US economy nearly $30 billion per year. This is where DRM technology comes into play to control and manage access to copyright materials. DRM technology combines a set of applications and technologies to protect digital media against copyright infringements. DRM aims to protect the original copyright holder rights and restrict the unauthorized copying, editing, or redistribution of digital files and proprietary software. Today DRM is playing a leading role in data security.

Importance of DRM Technology?

Stealing and copying someone else’s work and ideas has been long here. However, with technological advancements, digital piracy is sharply rising. Sensitive company documents, video footage, and multimedia content is every second getting remixed, reused, and republished. Anyone having an internet connection can access these files. Consequently, these digital assets need proper protection. With DRM, access to these resources gets restricted, and no one can do whatever they want to the intellectual properties and media files.

In our rapidly evolving digital world, DRM technology’s relevance is ever-growing. Picture this: you’ve borrowed a hardcover book from the library, and you yearn for your own copy. While copyright law may frown upon replicating it, no tangible barrier stops you. However, you’re deterred by the labor, expense, and subpar outcome of duplicating a physical book.

Now, envision possessing that same book, but digitally. Copying is a breeze—practically instantaneous, free of charge, and yielding an impeccable replica. Moreover, digital files make generating several copies and disseminating them a cinch. Although copyright laws shield both physical and digital books, the simplicity of duplicating digital content demands sturdier protection.

Enter DRM technology. Since copyright laws can’t fully thwart unauthorized copying and distribution, a tech-based approach, like DRM, becomes indispensable in safeguarding digital assets. This potent protective measure empowers creators and copyright owners to retain control over their digital creations amidst an evermore interconnected world.

What is DRM Technology & what does Digital Rights Management protected Video mean?

DRM Protected refers to a file that has applied DRM controls to restrict copying, editing or unauthorized content distribution. This includes encryption to prevent unauthorized access and license control for authorizing permissions and access. Here is an example for better understanding. The Apple iTunes Music Store uses DRM solution to restrict the number of devices on which songs are played. The downloaded music files contain the data about purchase and usage activity. Unauthorized devices cannot play the songs. Before installing Microsoft Windows or office software, users must agree to the user license and input the key. A wide range of businesses and professionals are using DRM technology to protect their documents, files, contracts to even employee data.

What DRM does?

DRM enables content owners and publishers to have control over not only who receives the content but also what they can do with it. Such controls include:

• Only authorized users can access your content.
• Authorized users get access to the content without any 3rd party apps or plug-ins.
• Prevents editing, printing, saving, forwarding, sharing, screen grabbing and more.
• Secure storage and distribution of content between collaborators during production.
• Content limited to devices, IP addresses and country locations.
• Watermarking to establish identity.
• Access gets activated or revoked anytime

Meaning of DRM protected Video?

When you upload a video on a website for users, the main concern is whether the content is safe or not. There are probable chances of someone downloading or misusing the content if not secured. DRM technology in respect of video ensures encrypted transmission so that only authorized devices and users can watch it. For better device compatibility Multi DRM is used to encrypt and package the video content. When a user attempts to play a video, the online video player requests a key from the licensed server. Before issuing a decryption key, the DRM license server authorizes the user and the device. The player decrypts and the content is played back for the user after receiving the decryption key.

DRM Software

DRM Systems can get implemented as a hardware solution (hardware DRM) or software. Hardware DRM appliances include video game consoles, tablets, personal computers implementing secure boot. Digital Rights Management (DRM) software is an application tool combined with a set of policies and procedures for copyright protection and unauthorized content access. DRM software encodes the file with access control settings defined by the owner or copyright holder.

Encryption vs DRM Technology

Though encryption is key in shielding digital files, it’s not foolproof. It doesn’t block file copying but rather restricts content access. DRM technology, however, shares encryption’s focus on controlling access and use, not copy prevention. Grasping these nuances helps reveal how encryption fits within DRM systems to protect digital content.

Picture this: selling an encrypted ebook to Jane. If the seller gives Jane the ebook and decryption key, the cat’s out of the bag. Jane can share both with anyone. In this scenario, encryption flops, as the key holder has no incentive to protect the file.

A safer approach: give Jane’s computer the key, not Jane. She downloads the encrypted ebook and a separate, encrypted key file (a “voucher”). Jane’s ebook software decrypts the voucher, and presto, ebook access—Jane never lays eyes on the key. Yet, even this method isn’t foolproof, as Jane could send both files to a friend, who could then access the content.

To amp up security, DRM can tether the key to Jane’s hardware. When Jane buys the ebook, her computer’s unique hardware ID goes to the seller. The voucher has this ID, and the software checks for a match before opening the file. No match, and no access to different machines.

Linking digital files to specific hardware is common in DRM, but it’s not without issues, given the hardware’s brief average lifespan. A cutting-edge solution would connect files to people, not devices, allowing smooth file transfers between machines. Enter “trusted systems,” potentially DRM’s next evolutionary step.

While encryption is a powerful tool for protecting your video content. However, DRM has its limitations. Learn more about why is DRM not enough to protect video piracy and what you can do to secure your content effectively.

Key Players in Digital Distribution via DRM

In the realm of Digital Rights Management (DRM), we’re primarily concerned with two essential content aspects. To illustrate:

• Rights Management: Legal rights holders must identify, gather metadata, assert rights, and develop business models for their content distribution. They should also provide client access via surveys.
• Rights Enforcement: Enforcing usage rules and rights for content is critical, posing a significant challenge in DRM solutions.

DRM technology systems involve four key players in digital media distribution (multimedia, documents, music, etc.):

1. Creators: Those who create and legally own the content (documents, videos, music, etc.).
2. Producers: They transform the content into a digital product, wrap and safeguard it.
3. Distributors: They promote and sell digital products to consumers.
4. Consumers: The paying clientele who enjoy digital content.

In certain scenarios, these roles may merge, such as the first two entities often referred to as the content provider. Introducing these entities necessitates a new subsystem in digital content delivery: the licensing subsystem. This subsystem comprises a licensing service (LS), responsible for issuing consumer rights, and client components that enforce those rights.

DRM Licence: The Root, Leaves, and Chains

A license, a crucial data file, holds an asset’s decryption key (either another license or content). Coupled with DRM rights and restrictions, it defines content usage parameters. Licenses come in three distinct flavors:

• Simple License: A DRM License, sourced from a DRM Server-built application, containing rights, restrictions, and a key for the corresponding content.
• Root License: Governing one or multiple leaf licenses, it controls playback for various content pieces. For instance, in a subscription model, the root license may expire, while the leaf licenses don’t. When the root license expires, the leaf licenses become unusable until a new root license is obtained.
• Leaf License: A simple, root license-dependent license.

Imagine a user with a subscription who has downloaded several videos for offline viewing. Each video possesses a leaf license, outlining its permissible usage. Let’s assume the leaf license permits video playback anytime. However, DRM technology mandates a valid root license for playback. If the root license expires (possibly due to an expired subscription), the leaf license disallows playback. In this manner, the root license governs the entire subscription (including all leaf licenses on the user’s device).

DRM Scheme and Transactions Basics

In the DRM scheme, various entities like content providers (CP), distribution services (DS), license servers (LS), certification authorities (CA), and clients (C) work in tandem, adhering to DRM protocols and design patterns detailed earlier. The CP generates content, which is then securely transmitted to DS. This occurs in a protected environment employing SSL, HTTPS, SRTP, FTPS, and the like, so security concerns between CP-to-LS or CP-to-DS are negligible.

DRM transactions can be broken down into distinct phases:

• Crafting content, rights, metadata, and containers
• Key generation
• Content requests
• Client authorization
• Distribution of licensing info and rights-objects
• License acquisition, interpretation, and utilization
• Content consumption

During the final stage, content consumption, crucial security measures must be in place within the client subsystem as content is decrypted and rendered. In this ecosystem, any security breaches in the client component jeopardize the entire content protection strategy. Bearing these risks in mind, DRM-enabled content delivery systems should incorporate mechanisms to address potential client component corruption.

A PKI-based framework where the public key is shared and used to validate the identity of the person transmitting the data and to decrypt the data itself is suggested. This is for DRM architecture tailored to business-specific environments, offering cryptographic support for entity authentication and usage rights protection via asymmetric encryption of license objects. Shielding these objects, uniquely issued for each user request with a license issuer’s private key, also ensures service non-repudiation.

Users should avoid sharing their private keys and certificates, as unauthorized parties could exploit them to purchase content at the original user’s expense. The DRM component interactions contribute significantly to the overall DRM system, with the “middleware” playing a vital role in guiding interaction policies. This middleware entity is responsible for signaling delivery and licensing services to confirm that only legitimate users access the system.

Positioning the middleware component as a cloud-based service makes it accessible to users across various devices. Additionally, a user’s personal computer can serve as a distribution service provider for their domain of devices, reducing internet connectivity reliance. The protocol outlined earlier in this section ensures heightened security for users and content management by handling each user and content request autonomously.

DRM Technology vs Copyright Laws

A common question arises: “Do I retain fair use rights?” Absolutely, copyright law still upholds your fair use rights. However, DRM may hinder the exercising of those rights. It’s not a copyright law implementation but a digital work protection system. As the fair use and first sale rights debate for digital materials continue, most DRM system creators steer clear of copyright law references in their products. Instead, DRM enforces licenses via software controls, reflecting grants expressible in a computer environment rather than traditional copyright law rights.

Imagine a license allowing up to five book pages to be copied. If you need six pages and believe fair use permits it, the software still restricts you to five. Unlike copyright law’s flexible nature, DRM systems are quantitative.

A notable contrast between DRM and copyright law, causing concern, is that copyright law outlines a few copying and performance rules, granting exclusive copyrights to rights holders and listing some exceptions. It doesn’t attempt to foresee every copyrighted work usage. DRM, on the other hand, operates oppositely. While copyright law implies “everything not forbidden is permitted,” DRM adopts the “everything not permitted is forbidden” stance. With DRM, actions like printing must be explicitly granted; otherwise, the system disallows it. DRM developers see this as a necessary security measure, but it carries significant implications for future protected work usage.

Picture a decade from now, when computers project displays onto any surface instead of using screens. If the DRM technology system doesn’t recognize this as an allowed action for a specific digital resource, it won’t permit viewing on future computers. Consequently, it might become impossible to view the resource at all, as the DRM controls won’t acknowledge the technological shift. This potential DRM and innovation interaction could suppress both innovation and access to intellectual resources.

DRM Architecture and How Does it Work?

DRM architecture lacks a standard, with multiple frameworks provided by various vendors. However, the DRM framework can be divided into three areas:

1. IP Asset Creation and Capture: This pertains to content management and creation for streamlined trading. It encompasses asserting rights when content is initially created or reused by content creators/providers. This module offers:
   • Rights Validation: Ensures existing content rights when creating new content.
   • Rights Creation: Assigns rights to new content, including identifying rights owners and usage permissions.
   • Rights Workflow: Processes content through workflow steps for rights and content review or approval.
2. IP Asset Management: Involves managing and enabling content trade. This includes receiving content from creators and incorporating it into an asset management system, which manages descriptive metadata and rights metadata (parties, usages, payments, etc.). This module includes:
   • Repository Functions: Accesses and retrieves content and metadata from possibly distributed databases.
   • Trading Functions: Issues licenses to parties after rights agreement for content.
3. IP Asset Usage: Refers to content usage after trading. This encompasses supporting traded content constraints within specific desktop systems or software. The IP Asset Usage module features:
   • Permissions Management: Enforces rights associated with content in the usage environment (e.g., disabling printing if the user can only view the document).
   • Tracking Management: Monitors content usage when tracking is part of the agreed-upon license conditions (e.g., limiting video plays to ten times).

Types of DRM, its free & open-source providers

There are many DRM solutions to protect video content. The most popular DRM solutions/services supporting common web browsers, devices, and set-top boxes are:

Widevine DRM: Google’s Widevine DRM is compatible with Chrome, Firefox, and Edge browsers, Android, and Chromecast devices. Widevine DRM supports HLS, MPEG-DASH, and MSS streaming with CENC and CMAF. There are two versions of Widevine, Classic, and Modular.

FairPlay DRM: DRM solution from Apple, FairPlay DRM securely delivers streaming media using HLS (HTTP live streaming) protocol. It has native support on iOS, tvOS, iPadOS, watchOS 7, macOS AND Safari browsers.

Open Source: There are GitHub repositories on open-source DRM solution, but most of them don’t get updated frequently. Also, there is a fundamental problem with open-source DRM solutions. Even though all of the algorithms & source code can be publicly available without harming the core security principles, client devices need to be trusted & verified by the rights issuer to do anything forbidden or restricted. This is incompatible with FOSS licensing guidelines, which elaborates that the user of a device should always have complete control over what the device does.

OMA DRM: OMA DRM, a digital rights management (DRM) system, was developed by the Open Mobile Alliance. Its members include mobile phone manufacturers (such as Nokia, LG, and Samsung), system manufacturers (like Ericsson and Siemens), network operators (Vodafone, O2, and Orange), and IT companies (Microsoft, IBM, and Sun). This DRM system allows content creators to enforce limits on usage and duplication by customers. Many modern phones feature OMA DRM, which has two versions: 1.0 and 2.0. To guarantee compatibility among all OMA DRM implementations, the Open Mobile Alliance supplies specifications and testing tools.

How does DRM encryption work?

DRM Content Encryption

In an IP-based DRM system, the content is encrypted using DRM OEM specifications. The license key contains the licensee or owner’s digital rights as rights objects. Most solutions are using technologies designed around 128-bit AES encryption using CTR or CBC modes. Both of these modes are part of Common Encryption (CENC) and encrypt streams to deliver securely. The video player decrypts the encrypted streams using DRM licensing.

The simplest method of packaging content is through the command line interface packager. CLI tools lack complexity, support hooks, error messaging, and more. Next are the server-side tools to provide content encryption. These tools will provide the necessary chinking, and fragmentation to prepare packaging of formats like MP4 into adaptive bitrate streaming files. Server-side encryption offers greater scalability, security, advanced API calls, parallel packaging, and more.

To encrypt content, the packager requests an encryption key from the DRM server. The DRM server provides an encryption key and links that key to the content ID. Using the encryption key, the packager encrypts and re-packages the content.

DRM Playback & two ways of DRM Encryption

There are two ways to encrypt the content using streaming servers. One is Pre-Encryption and the other is Just-in-Time.

Pre-Encryption: In this model, the server encrypts the content at the time when it is ingested or uploaded. The content gets stored and streamed when requested. The server cues and encrypts the content when the server’s systems are optimized i.e; during low-demand periods. Servers implementing pre-encryption can handle more streaming connections and are more secure.

Just-in-time: In this model, the server stores the content raw. When a user makes a request, the server instantly starts to encrypt it and feed out the streaming interface to the CDN and user. Such servers are susceptible to performance issues under significant load. In addition, the server storage is full of encrypted master files and requires a robust security system in place.

Playback: To enable DRM playback on the player side without plugins, decrypted playback uses HTML5 encrypted media extensions (EME). For MPEG-CENC Multi-DRM encrypted content, the player can auto-choose the natively supported DRM.

The need for Multi DRM encryption?

Not all viewers watch content on the same platform and browser. Each platform and browser support a single DRM encryption. To ensure complete coverage across all screens, multiple DRM encryptions are required. MPEG Common Encryption (MPEG-CENC) standard makes DRM implementation effective. MPEG-CENC allows multiple DRM encryptions on a single video. It’s up to the video player to decide which encryption must be activated based on the platform/browser. In fact, Apple browsers and devices are exceptions to the MPEG-CENC standard, which instead require HLS packaging.

How Industries are benefiting from DRM Software?

eLearning Organizations: They have a great need to apply Video DRM solutions as they are the most vulnerable. Making an educational video is itself a tedious task and protecting it from piracy is again a technical mechanism. This technical mechanism is hard to implement and most of the eLearning platforms use services from DRM enabled secure video hosting providers like VdoCipher.

Standard Organizations: National standard organizations or industry associations have the most pertinent information that professionals need. Companies and professionals pay subscriptions or membership fees to access these documents. Such organizations need to have their documents, audio, video files encrypted so that only authorized members access them. A DRM solution can be useful to secure these contents down for a certain audience.

Media & Publishing: For media and publishing houses, content is everything. Protecting the content is their bottom line. Unfortunately, the content gets shared with subscribers, and there arises leaks, piracy, unauthorized access and more. This holds the same for self-book publishers.

Financial Services: Financial institutions like insurance companies, equity firms, asset management companies need to protect the data of their clients and shareholders. Solutions like ‘Dropbox’ secure the portals where clients access the files but don’t protect individual files once downloaded. A DRM solution protects the downloaded files, irrespective of where they get saved or stored.

Signs of DRM issues while using Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime, Mac, etc

• No sound, but the title plays
• Background sound but no dialogue
• Disc stucks on the title page or loading screen
• The movie stops in the middle of playback, or scenes play out of order
• The video freezes or skips
• Pixelated or distorted picture
• Troubleshooting DRM issues on Hotstar, DR-1100 Playback Error
• This error generally occurs due to a downgraded Hotstar app or an unsupported device. To watch DRM protected videos, one needs to have a DRM supported device and a valid Disney+ Hotstar subscription.

Fix DR-1100 error on Android Phone & TV

• Update or download the latest Disney+ Hotstar app
• Install the DRM Info app from the Google play store and check the security level. DRM content will only play if the security level is L1, not L2 OR L3.
• Try to replay the video title again in the Hotstar app and if it shows an error, then try using a different browser. Also, verify that the device isn’t rooted.
• On clearing Data/Cache followed by TV OS update and restart, the error is fixed on Android TV.

Netflix Error N8156 6013

Sometimes while playing videos on Netflix via a web browser, an error is thrown. “Whoops, something went wrong… Digital Rights Management (DRM) Error. We’re sorry, but there is a problem playing protected (DRM) content. The date on your computer is 12/17/2012, which may be incorrect. Please correct the date on your computer and try again.”

This error is related to the Silverlight plugin used by the browser to play Netflix. It requires using a browser supporting HTML5. (Edge, Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera)

Fix error on Mac computers

• Quit all browser instances
• Go to Library/Application Support/Microsoft/ folder
• Under it, delete the PlayReady folder
• Verify that you have the administrative rights on your OSX profile
• Try to replay the video title again and if it shows an error then try using a different browser.

Fix error on Windows computer

• Quit all browser instances
• Search C drive for mspr.hds
• Under search results, delete all the mspr.hds files
• Verify that you have the administrative rights on your Windows user account
• Try to replay the video title again and if it shows an error then try using a different browser.
  Amazon Prime Video Error 7235 on Chrome
• Make sure the Chrome web browser is up to date. Navigate to Settings > About Chrome for the available browser updates.
• Type chrome://components in the chrome web browser and hit enter. Under Widevine Content Decryption Module, click ‘Check for Update’. Install any available update.

FAQs:

What is TPM DRM?

Trusted Platform Module TPM (ISO/IEC 11889) is a dedicated microcontroller to provide security capabilities at the hardware level using integrated cryptographic keys. Generally speaking, the term refers to a chip conforming to the standard.DRM tools use TPM functionalities like device authentication. Windows Defender, software license enforcement, Windows Domain Logon and many more use TPM chips.

How to check if a video is DRM Protected in Windows 10?

• Select the desired multi-media file
• Right-click on the file and select ‘Properties’
• Select the ‘Details’ tab and scroll down to the ‘Protected’ selection.
• The ‘Protected’ field will show ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. ‘Yes’ indicates DRM protected file.

Why CENC standard allows two encryption modes, AES-CTR and AES-CBC?

We use both the standards for encrypting video content and are not compatible with one another. It is due to the encryption cipher supported by each DRM system. However, Apple FPS supports only AES-CBC, while Google Widevine supports both modes. Service providers deliver content to various devices using HLS or MPEG DASH streaming format, which vary in support of DRM systems. To cater to this fragmentation, CENC allows both modes.

DRM Vendors

Basically, DRM vendors are media tech companies like VdoCipher. They offer complete integrations including your video hosting and distribution over CDN with all advanced video security features. The complete package lets you safeguard your video on all devices supported by inbuilt Google Widevine or Apple Fairplay. These packages also include Adaptive bitrate streaming for various bandwidths and multi-device support.

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

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