bitdash 3.0 – Added Support for Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and a New Reduced Price

Sunnyvale, CA, July 07, 2015 --(PR.com)-- Apple’s HLS is undoubtedly one of the most popular technologies for adaptive video streaming on the web today, especially as it is natively supported by the Apple ecosystem. Thus, it was about time to integrate HLS streaming into bitdash, empowering everyone to freely choose between MPEG-DASH and HLS, or progressive MP4s as fallback.

Of course by using HLS you don’t have to go without appreciated features of bitdash, like custom skins and the usage of the JavaScript API! Thus, existing integrations of bitdash do not have to change a single line of code to use HLS streaming. bitmovin mapped all events of the bitdash API as well as player features accordingly. Adding the support for HLS is also a great step towards platform agnostic playback. bitdash chooses based on your configuration the streaming and player technology which suits best for every browser/OS combination. To see it in action, just take a look at the HLS demo or just download a free version of bitdash to test it out.

Using HLS in bitdash is possible for VoD as well as for live streams, similar to the existing MPEG-DASH support. Additionally, bitmovin also added the timeshift support, to further increase the functionality of the player.

Reduced Price to $149 For bitdash Professional Edition
In the context of the bitdash 3.0 release, bitmovin reduces the price of the bitdash Professional Player license by 50% to $149. So take the chance now to get the player using this special offer.

bitdash comes with three different versions and feature sets.

New Platform http://portal.bitmovin.net/
But not only the player has improved, bitmovin further established a platform around bitdash, making it easy to get the latest player version and keep track of all your player instances. Beneath useful examples, code snippets and documentation, the platform offers the possibility to use CDN infrastructure to host your player for free! Alternatively it is of course possible to download the player files and host them wherever needed.

Further New Features: Keyboard Shortcuts, Live Subtitles and Usability
We all know how handy it can be to press space to pause a video, or increasing the volume by using the up-key. These are only two examples of keys which can be used to control bitdash – you can find a detailed overview of the assignment of keys in the bitdash developer area. Adding the support for keyboard shortcuts is only one part of the improvements in context of usability. bitmovin further added useful features, like the support for labels, making it possible to provide intuitive naming to your streams/tracks and enhanced feedback in case of mis-configuration.

Another very useful feature is the support of TTML subtitles/captions for VoD – and in particular – for live streams. bitmovin recently deployed that at their customer Genflix in production with great success. This feature is part of bitdash Enterprise player, so please feel free to contact bitmovin if this sounds interesting for you.

Have a look at the release notes to get a full overview of the updates and changes included in this major release or get a free bitdash player package and try it out by yourself. At this point bitmovin also want to say Thank you.

“Thanks to everyone who helped us improving our player by getting in touch with us and to all developers out there, who provided us helpful feedback!” says Stefan Lederer, CEO of bitmovin.

Complementary products
In addition to the bitdash MPEG-DASH/HLS video player, bitmovin developed bitcodin, the fastest cloud-transcoding service on the market. bitcodin brings video content online as fast as possible, so that time to market is reduced and content providers can start immediately to monetize. For this, cloud-based service bitcodin takes the video and generates video representations and formats to reach all devices, such as desktop, mobile and SmartTVs. Try it at www.bitcodin.com and get $25 for free now.

Download Your Free bitdash Evaluation Version
Visit www.dash-player.com and download the best MPEG-DASH and HLS online video player based on HTML5 and Flash for free now.

For more information please contact
Gerald Zankl
Public Relations, bitmovin GmbH
press@bitmovin.net
+43 664 88697790

Press Images: http://www.bitmovin.net/press/

About bitdash
bitdash is a video player based on HTML5 and Flash which enables high quality streaming over the web, guaranteeing smooth streaming without buffering, lowest startup delay and playback of high definition (HD) as well as 4K. bitdash is a suite of highly optimized MPEG-DASH clients for various platforms and devices, delivering the best streaming performance and user experience, particular in adverse (mobile) network conditions. bitdash is the result of continued R&D investments and incorporates patent pending technology resulting in MPEG-DASH compliant client solutions that deliver up to 101 % higher effective media throughput as well as significantly higher Quality of Experience (QoE) compared to existing adaptive bitrate streaming technologies and clients.

About bitmovin
bitmovin – which is ranked by Streamingmedia.com in 2014 as the youngest company within the Top 100 companies that matter most in online media – is specialized in adaptive streaming solutions based on MPEG-DASH and Apple HLS, which can be used to offer live as well as on demand content in highest quality (HD, UHD/4K) without stalls and startup delays. Bitmovin brings videos online as fast as possible and offers its cloud-based transcoding and streaming platform www.bitcodin.com to generate the content for adaptive streaming via the Internet as well as its bitdash MPEG-DASH players at www.dash-player.com to consume this content in the best quality up to 100 % higher media throughput as other solutions. Using bitmovin’ products it’s possible to have one technology and solution for multiple platforms (Web, TV, Smartphone, etc.) and to use cost-effective HTTP delivery infrastructure, which both helps to reduce costs. bitmovin also actively participates in standardization bodies, including ISO/IEC MPEG, DASH Industry Forum, IETF and IEEE.