An interactive video-sharing application for the netgem platform

Abstract

The rapid growth of television services in the last decade changed the concept of the traditional television. Television devices and set-top boxes are being integrated in our home networks and connected to the Internet. This integration enables television providers to merge television and Internet connections together to offer a new set of services such as over-the-top content. Over-the-top television services are able to deliver Internet content directly to the viewer, on demand, without the service provider being involved in the content delivery. In this dissertation a video-sharing application prototype was developed to demonstrate the use of an over-the-top service for viewing video content from popular video-sharing websites such as YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion. The user will interact with the application through a remote control device and initiate video downloads on request. The downloaded videos are then decoded accordingly and delivered to the set-top box. The aim was to create an application that delivers a good quality of service and experience to the average user. This design goal was met by having a reliable video delivery technique and a simple user interface offering all the navigation required. The work is structured into two modules and adapted for the set-top box API, which is based on JavaScript. The first module determines the method used for delivering the video content over the network. The second module includes the design and implementation of the graphical user interface used in the application prototype to present this content to the user in the most ergonomic way possible. Finally, to evaluate the work from a user perspective a QoS and QoE measurement framework was created analyzing the user experience and system performance delivered. This application prototype presents techniques of how video content typically available on a computer browser can be ported to the television set-top box in a living room environment. The application is provisioned with a simple user interface and with all navigation features associated with a media player such as pausing, fast forwarding and full screen playback, even of HD content.