NexPlayer Vies for Slice of IFE Pie
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APEX Insight: Video playback solution provider NexPlayer, a product from multimedia software vendor NexStreaming, is hungry to expand its business in the in-flight entertainment market.
Having joined the Airline Passenger Experience Association in December, and with some 30 airlines already using its video player in their wireless IFE applications, video playback solution provider NexPlayer is focused on expanding its business with airlines and in-flight entertainment providers.
Airlines – and IFE providers, specifically – will benefit from the reliability and advanced feature set of the market-leading solution, according to Jesse Felix, who’s been appointed to develop this promising aspect of NexPlayer’s business. Additionally, he touts the 24-hour support offered by NexStreaming’s large global team, the broad offering of third-party add-ons and compatibility with any iOS or Android device as key selling points.
“We provide a media video player that can easily be integrated into their applications,” said Felix, NexStreaming’s business development manager. “Since the industry is moving toward BYOD function for IFE, our player adds value because it works equally well across all devices and platforms, whether it be a browser, Android or iOS. This is something you don’t find with many of the source players that a lot these companies are using.”
“NexPlayer works equally well across all devices and platforms, whether it be a browser, Android, or iOS.” – Jesse Felix, NexStreaming
Elaborating on why NexPlayer is a good alternative to open-source solutions, Felix explained: “When the airlines’ or IFE companies’ engineers did not create the code, it takes much more time to develop new features, apply updates and fix problems. If there’s ever a problem with NexPlayer playback or you want to add a new feature or anything, we do that. It leaves the IFE companies and airlines with free engineering resources, so they can focus on innovation and other parts of the business.”
A roster of more than 300 clients, including media giants like LG, Samsung, HBO, CNN, Disney and Panasonic Avionics (hence the 30 airline customers) points to a popular solution that provides a quality user experience and, from a digital rights management (DRM) perspective, is trusted to keep content safe and secure.
“We are compatible with any DRM, Google Widevine is pre-integrated into our player,” Felix said. “This is a free solution, which a lot of the other DRMS out the are not. There’s also a difference between hardware DRM and software DRM. A lot of studios are now going to start requiring, or already do require, hardware solutions for DRM because it protects their content better. Google’s Widevine provides both software and hardware so the industry is moving very quickly toward them.”
For NexPlayer, the streaming IFE industry represents an exciting opportunity and the decision to join APEX was a key part of the company’s roadmap for this sector. It’s eager to engage with IFE steaming solution providers or airlines direct.
NexPlayer will attend APEX EXPO 2018 in Boston.