MIAMI - VidQ Inc. announced Tuesday that it has launched its VidQ video-streaming solution, which allows video files in virtually all formats to be encoded, encrypted, secured and streamed through any browser.
According to Sales and Marketing Manager John Tipton, this is done without the use of special server software, player plug-ins or third-party applications.
"VidQ video streaming - including security, bandwidth detection, player features and other customizations - are controlled by a single, tiny VidQ Java applet residing on the server," he said, adding that the applet is downloaded to the viewer's browser only when the "first video file" is requested.
While current secure-delivery models require the viewer to download and install players or browser plug-ins, or use passwords or third-party digital-rights-management providers, VidQ protects video streams using a passive methodology that is transparent to the viewer. VidQ quickly batch-encodes and secures video streams with flexible DRM specifications that can be changed on the fly without re-encoding.
"Standard DRM, like Windows Media, normally requires the viewer to enter a password or in some manner be authorized to download a license to their local computer in order to view the secured video," Tipton explained. "With VidQ, the encrypted video is locked to one or more authorized hosting domains or [directories within those domains]. Once a paid website member has been authenticated through normal pay-site security protection and enters the VidQ-authorized domain and directory, they are able to view the video located in that directory. Even if both the video files and security file are obtained by someone looking to bypass the protections, there is no way to manually alter the files. Security information can be changed, but only through the VidQ desktop application and only by someone who has access to the original encryption string."
According to Tipton, VidQ DRM rules can be enforced by three methods.
"Domain lock, expiration by date and authorized linking domains: Any of these parameters may be modified by recreating the security file with the new information using a utility in the desktop encoder," he said. "The entire process takes a few minutes, at most."
VidQ helps control the delivery and display of video and offers bandwidth detection, custom player toolbars, pre- and post-images for displaying 2257 information, playlists, scene splitting and a right-click contextual menu. Additional features include full-screen display without interruption, event triggering, text and image overlays, and a JavaScript interface. Information about video delivery and viewer statistics are generated by the VidQ back-end system, which can be integrated into other webmaster scripts.
VidQ is available in two versions. The Starter version is free for unlimited commercial use and includes hot-linking prevention. The Pro version, which sells for $249, has added features such as video encryption, domain locking and file expiration by date.
