10 Most Common Questions about Video SDKs

It’s been estimated that since 2020, consumer preference for connecting with businesses using video has skyrocketed by 300%[i]. Now that the demand is here, it’s time for businesses to deliver video experiences that are seamless and high quality. Businesses are increasingly utilizing VidyoPlatform and its Software Development Kist (SDKs) to effectively embed video calls into their applications quickly. Here are the top 10 questions we are asked about VidyoPlatform and our SDKs.

1. What is VidyoPlatform?

VidyoPlatform is an end-to-end CPaaS solution that is used to embed high quality real-time video in your application of choice. VidyoPlatform’s SDKs provide all the key capabilities you need to create your own video experience, such as:

• 4K Quality: encode and decode video chats in up to 4K UHD resolution.
• Wide Band Audio: ensures you are heard just as clearly as you are seen.
• High Quality Screen Sharing: share a single app or entire screen simultaneously with video.
• Multi-party video: scalable multiparty video calls from one-to-one to many-to-many.
• Voice Activated Layouts: always show active speakers on-screen during multi-party calls.
• Customized layouts: Easily customize multiparty layouts and compositions for your specific app needs.
• Adaptive video layering technology: ensure a high-quality user experience by adapting users to the available bandwidth and their device by utilizing Scalable Video Encoding (SVC) and Simulcast technologies.
• Firewall Traversal: SDKs are optimized to detect varying network environments and their firewalls and will automatically find the best path to give the user access to the video.

2. How are VidyoPlatform’s SDKs optimized for WebRTC, Mobile and Desktop?

Key features of VidyoPlatform’s SDK for WebRTC include:

• No download required: friction-free video chat.
• Cross-browser support: all major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Edge etc) are supported.
• Easy JavaScript API: no WebRTC expertise is required.
• Device management: easy to use device management API.

Key features of VidyoPlatform’s SDK for mobile include:

• Dynamic network adaptation: automatically adapts the video to wireless network performance.
• Error resilience: maintain a clear image during packet loss.
• Resource management: ensure resolution is balanced to bandwidth quality.
• Major platforms are supported: iOS and Android.

Key features of VidyoPlatform’s SDK for desktop apps include:

• Desktop optimized codecs: Codecs are tuned for desktop CPUs.
• Device Management: audio/video source selection is easily managed.
• Up to 4K quality: transmit and receive up to 4K resolution.
• App sharing: share single apps or entire desktops in high DPI resolution.

3. Can I customize VidyoPlatform’s SDKs?

VidyoPlatform is highly customizable from the layouts to video chat options. For example, you can take full control over the visual layout of participants or the presentation of your video feeds.  VidyoPlatform’s flexibility means that if there is a core functionality or different feature that you need, we can make tweaks to our API’s, changes, or even add functionalities to help bring your vision to life.

4. What languages do you support?

The VidyoPlatform is platform agnostic and therefore supports the following languages across all major browsers:

• Windows: C#
• macOS, iOS, iPad, Apple TV and Apple Watch: Objective-C and Swift
• Android: Java and Kotlin
• WebRTC: JavaScript

5. What support is available?

We provide consultations that include design review, on-board training, and sharing best practices. The VidyoPlatform Developer Knowledge Base provides full documentation and a developer guide for our SDKs and APIs. We are part of several developer communities such as GitHub and Stack Overflow. You can also join our community forum to post questions, contribute to how-to’s and ask for clarifications. In addition, Enghouse Video offers 24/7 support options to help get your video-enabled app up and ready in no time.

6. What support is available if I don’t want to build it myself?

Enghouse Video offers developer and professional services that will build the application for you or if you need extra help while you build it yourself. We have developer services programs available that can help you build out your use case and applications.

7. What deployment options are available?

We support on-premise, private cloud, and hybrid deployment options. Our fully hosted model, whereby we host your web-based application as a custom solution, is also available. Please contact us for more information.

8. How quickly can I embed video into my app?

We’ve built VidyoPlatform so that developers can embed custom, high-quality real-time video with just a few lines of code. We’ve seen customers download our SDK and have a proof of concept ready in just a few hours. But – depending on your use case it can take a longer. The complexity of your application, whether you’re embedding it into a larger application – and then building out the certain business logics, etc., can add to the timeline.

9. What industries are using VidyoPlatform?

Businesses, such as Barclays, SGS, Mayo Clinic, Oxfam, Hitachi, NASA, and Bloomberg, are using VidyoPlatform to connect with their customers and audiences through video. We offer advanced industry-specific communications solutions to support the telemedicine, financial services, and education sectors.

10. How do I get started?

You can get started today by checking out our online demo or trying our sample project using StackBlitz or GitHub. We have flexible pricing options that start from just $0.003/minute/participant. Get in touch with our team today to find out more.

[i] Business Wire