MultiChoice has upgraded its DStv Now streaming service, ditching Adobe Flash in favour of HTML5, while also updating its SuperSport iOS and Android app to allow for a picture-in-picture mode.
At the same time, the company is promising reduced buffering and adaptive bit-rates on the DStv Now service. The move means that DStv Now is now platform-agnostic, the company said.
Supported platforms are Windows, Mac and Linux.
Head of DStv Digital Media Graeme Cumming said DStv Now will automatically detect a customer’s connection speed and adapt the video accordingly, saving unnecessary data costs.
Stream quality can be adjusted manually through the settings icon on the video player within the browser. The lowest quality stream will start at 400×224 at 370kbit/s, and will be capped at 960×540 at 1,2Mbit/s.
DStv Now offers 60 channels for streaming. It is only available to DStv Premium subscribers with an active personal video recorder (PVR) subscription.
The service now does “on-the-fly” encoding with multiple digital rights management technologies supported, Cumming said.
The SuperSport app, meanwhile, has been updated with picture-in-picture mode to allow users to watch two streams – say cricket and rugby – at the same time on supported iOS and Android devices.
The picture-in-picture mode “enables DStv customers to read news, view scores and watch videos simultaneously”, the company said.
Both videos streamed simultaneously can be viewed in either horizontal or vertical modes. The size of the picture-in-picture is determined by the smallest size possible in relation to the device it is viewed on and can be resized by pinching it.
The quality of the videos streamed within the SuperSport app are determined by a customer’s Internet speed. Current default streams use approximately 4,5MB/minute.
DStv Premium customers with an active PVR can access live streaming and highlights through the SuperSport app. No DStv subscription is needed to access and watch highlights within the app (data costs apply when streaming content). — © 2016 NewsCentral Media
