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Video Player

This guide will walk you through the steps to start a BlendVision One streaming playback using the Android player SDK.

Additionally, you can also check out the sample project for an even smoother start: https://github.com/BlendVision/Android-Player-Samples


Prerequisites​


Step 1: Initialize the Player​

Import Player SDK​

  • Follow the integration to import SDK
  • Add the latest version in the gradle
implementation "com.blendvision.player:playback:${player_version}"
implementation "com.blendvision.player:download:${player_version}"
implementation "com.blendvision.player:analytics:${player_version}"
implementation "com.blendvision.player:common:${player_version}"

Others (can be imported from public maven)

//[optional] Chromecast
implementation "com.google.android.gms:play-services-cast-framework:$cast_version"

Set gradle.properties

android.enableDexingArtifactTransform.desugaring=false
android.enableJetifier=true

Create a Player​

To play the streaming content, create a player instance with the license key and stream information in the initialization configuration:

// create the player instance
private var player: UniPlayer? = null
player = UniPlayer.Builder(
        requireContext(),
        PlayerConfig(
            license = "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY"
        )
    ).build()

// set player view type
binding.playerView.setupControlPanel(
    defaultContentType = ContentType.STANDALONE
)

// bind the new created player to player view
binding.playerView.setUnifiedPlayer(player)

// load stream information
player?.load(
    MediaConfig(
        source = MediaConfig.Source(
            url = "DASH_MPD_URL",
            protocal = MediaConfig.Protocol.DASH,
            drm = MediaConfig.DrmInfo.Widevine(
                licenseUrl = "DRM_SERVER_URL",
                headers = mapOf("KEY" to "VALUE")
            )
        ),
        title = "",
        imageUrl = "",
        thumbnailSeekingUrl = ""
    )
)

// start playback
player?.start()

// pause/play during playback
player?.pause()
player?.play()

// release the player
player?.release()


Step 2: Obtain a Playback Token​

Make a POST request to the API: POST /bv/cms/v1/tokens

Query ParametersRequiredDescription
resource_idRequiredThe unique ID of your content. You can retrieve this in two ways:
1. Using BlendVision One CMS
- VOD > Publishing Tools
- Live > Publishing Tools

2. Using BlendVision One API
- VOD: GET /bv/cms/v1/vods
- Live: GET /bv/cms/v1/lives
resource_typeRequiredThe streaming type of your content.
customer_idOptionalYour custom user ID to identify who is watching the content.
This parameter is required if the content's security privacy is set to SECURITY_PRIVACY_TYPE_TOKEN.
const val API_DOMAIN = "https://api.one.blendvision.com"

interface ApiService {
    @POST("/bv/cms/v1/tokens")
    suspend fun getPlaybackToken(
        @Header("Authorization") cmsToken: String, // 'Bearer ${CMS token}'
        @Body request: PlaybackTokenRequest()
    }: PlaybackTokenResponse
}

data class PlaybackTokenRequest(
    @SerializedName("resource_id")
    val resourceId: String,
    @SerializedName("resource_type")
    val resourceType: String,
    @SerializedName("customer_id")
    val customerId: String
)

data class PlaybackTokenResponse(
    @SerializedName("token")
    val playbackToken: String
)


Step 3: Start a Playback Session​

Start a playback session and obtain the stream data using the APIs:

Replace the sample URLs in Step 1 with the obtained manifest_url (dashUrl) for playback.

const val API_DOMAIN = "https://api.one.blendvision.com/"

interface ApiService {
    @POST("bv/playback/v1/sessions/{deviceId}:start")
    suspend fun startPlaybackSession(
        @Header("Authorization") playbackToken: String,
        @Path("deviceId") deviceId: String
    ): StartSessionResponse

    @POST("bv/playback/v1/sessions/${deviceId}")
    suspend fun getStreamInfo(
        @Header("Authorization") playbackToken: String,
        @Path("deviceId") deviceId: String
    ): GetStreamInfoResponse
}

// data for start a session
data class StartSessionResponse(
    @SerializedName("drm_server_endpoint")
    val endPoint: String
)

// data for get stream information
data class GetStreamInfoResponse(
    @SerializedName("sources")
    val sources: List
)

data class Source(
    @SerializedName("manifests")
    val manifests: List,
    @SerializedName("thumbnail_seeking_url")
    val thumbnailSeekingUrl: String
)

data class Manifest(
    @SerializedName("protocol")
    val protocal: String,
    @SerializedName("url")
    val url: String,
    @SerializedName("resolutions")
    val resolutions: List
)

data class Resolution(
    @SerializedName("height")
    val height: String,
    @SerializedName("width")
    val width: String
)


Step 4: Manage the Lifecycle of a Playback Session​

To keep the playback session alive, periodically invoke the heartbeat API every 10 seconds:

POST /bv/playback/v1/sessions/:device_id:heartbeat

const val API_DOMAIN = "https://api.one.blendvision.com/"

interface ApiService {

    // post this API every 10 seconds
    @POST("bv/playback/v1/sessions/${deviceId}:heartbeat")
    suspend fun Heartbeat(
        @Header("Authorization") playbackToken: String,
        @Path("deviceId") deviceId: String
    )

    @POST("bv/playback/v1/sessions/${deviceId}:end")
    suspend fun EndPlaybackSession(
        @Header("Authorization") playbackToken: String,
        @Path("deviceId") deviceId: String
    )
}


Workflow Sequence Diagram​