Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Breaking the Myth of Difficult Device Integration

30/03/2022

Agama has a long history when it comes to device integrations. For more than a decade we've dealt with projects of all sizes/lengths. With every completed milestone, and even more with every obstacle, we've been steadily building up the knowledge required to succeed.

What are the plugins?One of the key parts of understanding the satisfaction of your users is to assess the quality of experience for the services they consume, their engagement, the type of content they like to watch etc. Agama has an excellent track record in providing such insights, in fact, this is the core of what we do.

The implementations of these important KPIs historically included, among others, the following steps: agreement on the desired metrics set, investigation of the available metrics in the target platform, and integration of these metrics towards the Agama core agent. A lot of these steps were unique for every integration. This was partially due to different wishes from different customers, but mostly due to the unique characteristics of each of the target platforms.

With the growing popularity of OTT platforms and the rise of players such as ExoPlayer, Shaka Player or AV Player, the target platforms became increasingly similar between integrations. The shift from everything is custom to common platforms and players enabled Agama to step outside its domain. We started actively investigating players and platforms, gathering knowledge about them, assessing what could be possible and feasible, and defining an absolute base of metrics that would benefit every customer. These are all implemented in what we call 'Player plugins .

The player plugins follow a few basic principles:

Agama develops and maintains the plugins

The plugins provide a good set of metrics, making them usable directly

No Agama domain knowledge is required for plugin integration - just a few, stable APIs are necessary

Ability to pass custom metrics to the plugin

Agama develops and maintains player plugins for most of the popular players, such as ExoPlayer, Shaka Player, AVPlayer, and for platforms such as Android, FireOS, iOS, tvOS, Chromecast, Browsers, WebOS, Tizen etc.

While the complete list of metrics differs slightly between plugins, they all share most of the metrics. Some of the features they have in common are:

QoS and QoE metrics

Device properties

Ability to understand asset consumption

Ability to understand playback errors (for instance, DRM errors)

Integration keep it simpleLet's take a closer look at what it takes to integrate Agama into your application. To make it as realistic as possible, let's use ExoPlayer as the target player and Android as the target platform.

ExoPlayer is currently one of the most popular players for Android. It is extremely customizable and flexible, yet easy to start with. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that it is used by everyone, from hobby enthusiasts to video operators and even YouTube.

RequirementsLet's start by describing what requirements and dependencies are needed to use the plugin in the first place. Players evolve quickly and so do their capabilities and APIs, and this truly applies to the ExoPlayer. Therefore, the plugin comes in multiple variants associated with various ExoPlayer minor versions. By using a relatively modern version, plugin-player compatibility should not be a problem.

Some metrics implemented by the plugin can be subject to platform permissions. These are not critical to have in any sense, but more on the good-to-have side and will only be included if permissions are granted. Also related to privacy issues, the plugin can be configured to skip certain sensitive metrics. Such information can be, for example, the collection of the device's longitude and latitude position.

Lastly, the plugin is to be included in the project as any other 3rd party library. And the empclient must be included in the same way as well.

Initialization and configuration stepsInitialize the plugin as early as possible. The plugin's lifetime shall reflect the application's lifetime. To initialize it, one needs an Agama configuration string. It is passed on to the Agama core agent - empclient, and includes information such as report heartbeat and the operator id. The configuration string is typically provided by Agama. The application properties such as the applications name and version are needed during initialization.

String agamaConfig =

emp_service=https://cdm1.company123.se/report;report_interval=60;id_report_interval=240;operator_id=fooSoo; ;

String appName = Company 123 Play App ;

String appVersion= 2.1 ;

// Initialize the plugin

EmpStats.getInstance().init(agamaConfig, Definitions.LogLevel.DEBUG, appName, appVersion, ExoPlayerLibraryInfo.VERSION, getApplicationContext());

Once the plugin instance is created, an account associated with the user should be set as well. This will enable (among other things) to find the customer in the Agama system by its account id.

// Set user account id for user John Doe

EmpStats.getInstance().setUserAccountId( johdo28 );

Monitoring videoNow the plugin is initialized, configured and sending data to the Agama backend. It's time to start monitoring the consumed assets. The user has switched to a new channel, started up an asset from the catchup library or simply opened a new episode of their favorite TV series. Opening any new asset shall be signaled to the plugin.

// Load asset & play

String assetUri= https://demo.agamatech.se/Manifest.m3u8 ;

EmpStats.getInstance().sessionOpen(assetUri, Definitions.AssetType.VOD, Sintel , player);

URI uri = uri.parse(assetUri);

player.setMediaItem(MediaItem.fromUri(uri), false);

player.prepare();

Analog to signaling the intent to start playing content, one needs to signal playback termination as well. There are two common ways of doing this: t
LINK: https://agama.tv/breaking-the-myth-of-difficult-device-integration/...
See more stories from agama

More from Agama

18/12/2023

Agama and THEO expand partnership to deliver best video streaming experience for Telenor

Link ping, Sweden, December 18, 2023 - Agama Technologies ( Agama ), a specialis...

14/09/2023

Agama redefines End-to-End Video Observability with its latest release 9.0

Amsterdam, Netherlands, 14 September 2023 - Agama Technologies ( Agama ), a specialist in video observability and analytics for service quality and customer exp...

12/09/2023

Agama Partners with Broadpeak to Introduce Multicast ABR Streams into Agama Video Observability Solution for DELTA

Link ping, Sweden, 12 September 2023 - Agama Technologies ( Agama ), a specialis...

07/09/2023

Agama and Verimatrix To Highlight Extended Partnership at IBC 2023

Link ping, Sweden, September 7, 2023 Agama Technologies ( Agama ), the specialist in video observability and analytics for service quality and customer experi...

02/05/2023

Keeping a high data quality on assets and metadata

Collecting video performance telemetry from a range of apps and set-top boxes may be challenging, especially when analyzing and comparing the data. To evaluate ...

04/04/2023

Structured Analytics for NPS video performance

Over the past decade, the rapid expansion of digital data has surpassed our ability to analyze and assess it. Operators must deeply understand the home environm...

29/03/2023

Unleashing the power of TV-Set Analytics app: How to understand your audience better

Getting an overview of the customer setup has become more challenging, as the ec...

08/02/2023

Getting Started with the New Agama Plugin for Dash.js Player

Ready-made plugins drive value for easy and fast 3rd party integrationsAgama continues to develop its library of pre-built plugins to make it easy for our custo...

25/01/2023

What is CMAF and why does it matter

Streaming using adaptive bitrateAdaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming came on the market in a big way during the last 10 years. Its main innovations compared to trad...

25/07/2022

Agama shortlisted for CSI award 2022

25 July, 2022 Press releases We are happy to announce that our Agama Elastic Analyzer has been shortlisted for the CSI Awards 2022 in the category Best Monito...

06/07/2022

We're are going to Amsterdam

6 July, 2022 Events Press releases Meet us at IBC 2022, at our new stand Hall 1, C65 and experience live the solutions powered by Agama, real-time observabil...

22/06/2022

Video Platform Observability using Agama AWE SDK - Part 3: Deployment & Conclusion

22 June, 2022 Blog By Anders Svensson In our second article Part 2 of this...

25/05/2022

Video Observability AWE SDK : Layout & Style

In our previous article (part one of this series), we presented the Agama AWE SDK, the requirements needed to create a simple application to provide real use fo...

25/05/2022

Video Platform Observability using Agama AWE SDK - Part 2: Layout & Style

25 May, 2022 Blog By Anders Svensson In our previous article Par1 of this series, we presented the Agama AWE SDK, the requirements needed to create a simp...

09/05/2022

Telefnica Servicios Audiovisuales selects Agama Monitoring and Analytics Solution for its TV channels' service quality and assurance

9 May, 2022 Press releases Link ping, Sweden, May 09, 2022, - Agama Technologi...

05/05/2022

Agama AWE SDK : Requirements & Configuration

This blog article will be the first in a series of three, covering the capabilities of the Agama's AWE SDK and how it can be used to extend the Agama soluti...

05/05/2022

Video Platform Observability using Agama AWE SDK - Part 1: Requirements & Configuration

5 May, 2022 Blog By Anders Svensson This blog article will be the first in a ...

11/04/2022

Meet with Agama team at AngaCom

11 April, 2022 Events ANGA COM is Europe's leading congress trade fair for broadband, television and online. This is where network operators, outfitters a...

30/03/2022

Breaking the Myth of Difficult Device Integration

Agama has a long history when it comes to device integrations. For more than a decade we've dealt with projects of all sizes/lengths. With every completed m...

10/03/2022

Agama Partners with Divitel to expand its Quality Assurance and Monitoring Solutions to Digicel Group

10 March, 2022 Press releases Link ping, Sweden, March 10, 2022, - Agama Techn...

25/01/2022

Agama 2021 and beyond!

We're already a few weeks into 2022 - a new year full of hope, dreams, and hopefully great achievements. But before we look to the future, let's take a ...

08/12/2021

What you need to know about data-driven grouping

Any operator providing video services is faced with a fundamental operational challenge -with tens of thousands or millions of subscribers using their services ...

29/11/2021

Agama Technologies partners with Antecna to implement a video monitoring and analysis solution for m:tel

29 November, 2021 Press releases (Link ping, Sweden, November 29, 2021) - Agam...

22/11/2021

Agama withdraws from exhibiting at IBC2021

22 November, 2021 Press releases Link ping, Sweden, November 22, 2021 - Agama Technologies, the leading provider in video service quality and customer experi...

09/11/2021

POST Luxembourg selects Agama's Monitoring and Analytics solution for its IPTV services

9 November, 2021 Press releases (Link ping, Sweden, November 09, 2021) - Agama...

03/11/2021

Making the most of your metadata

The importance of metadata in an analytics system cannot be overstated. It gives context to the details of customer behavior and quality measurements, and it ma...

15/09/2021

netplus.ch Selects Agama for Its Network Monitoring and Analytics

15 September, 2021 Press releases (Link ping, Sweden, September 15, 2021) - Agama Technologies, the specialist in video service quality and customer experienc...

16/08/2021

Integrating real-time consumer experience insights with customer care operations

16 August, 2021 Blog By Aner Gusic At Agama, we have provided integrated solutions for Customer Care Operations for many years, as integrating high-quality c...

24/06/2021

Agama and Zodiac Team up to Deliver Integrated Quality Assurance And Analytics Solutions to Video Operators

24 June, 2021 Press releases June 24, 2021, EDISON, N.J. and LINK PING, Sweden...

09/06/2021

Demystifying the MP4 container format

7 June, 2021 Blog By Alexander Nordstr m In previous installments of this blog series, we've told you all about how our solutions help make sense of vide...

26/05/2021

See you in Amsterdam in December!

26 May, 2021 Events As the world's most inspiring content and technology event, IBC's mission is to Empower Content Everywhere by driving thought lead...

20/05/2021

Collaboration tools and new ways of working

20 May, 2021 Blog By Johan G rsj The latest innovations in technology have significantly shaped the way we collaborate, connect and interact, and are helpin...

07/05/2021

Agama Technologies launches new support ticketing system, knowledge base and community forums

7 May, 2021 Press releases (Link ping, Sweden, May 7, 2021) - Agama Technologi...

27/04/2021

New Release for Video Observability and Analytics Solution

27 April, 2021 Press releases (Link ping, Sweden, April 27, 2021) - Agama Technologies, the specialist in video service quality and customer experience, launc...

07/04/2021

Delta Fiber selects Agama's Video Monitoring and Analytics Solution to improve End-User Experience across all device types

7 April, 2021 Press releases (Link ping, Sweden, April 7, 2021) - Agama Techno...

30/03/2021

Quality of Experience - how four colors make sense of terabytes of metrics

30 March, 2021 Blog By Alexander Nordstr m Quality of Experience (QoE) is central to the insights that video operators get from the Agama solution. But what ...

29/03/2021

Agama Technologies joins the SRT Alliance and integrates SRT protocols into its solutions

29 March, 2021 Press releases Agama Technologies joins SRT Alliance for High Q...

25/03/2021

Altibox TV selects Agama to expand its current Client Device Monitoring solution to OTT devices

25 March, 2021 Press releases Parties extend current partnership with OTT Clie...

29/01/2021

Feature highlights of Agama products in 2020

29 January, 2021 Blog The year 2020 was a special one for all of us at Agama, the COVID-19 pandemic changed our way of interacting with each other, the way of...

22/01/2021

How Agama contributes to Slovak Telekom's success

13 January, 2021 Opinion pieces This is a guest post by Vladimir Uhrovic, Senior Designer at Slovak Telecom A customer talking about their experience with y...

21/12/2020

Happy holidays!

21 December, 2020 News & press releases The holiday season is here again, despite the Covid-19', which turned our lives upside down. However, in spite of...

18/06/2020

Instantly spot problem channels with new Penalty Box

18 June, 2020 News & press releases Read more about Agama version 6 Share this:...

06/05/2020

Colaboracin y anlisis potente en el nuevo lanzamiento 6.0 de Agama

28 April, 2020 News & press releases (Link ping, Suecia, 28 de abril de 2020) Agama, especialista en calidad de servicio de video y experiencia del cliente,...

29/04/2020

Collaboration and Powerful Analytics in New Agama Release

28 April, 2020 News & press releases (Link ping, Sweden, April 28, 2020) - Agama, the specialist in video service quality and customer experience, launches ne...

20/03/2020

ANGACOM postponed due to Corona

20 March, 2020 Events As you know, ANGACOM has been postponed due to Corona. We are happy to meet virtually to discuss you needs and what Agama can offer p...

26/02/2020

Let's meet at AngaCom2020!

13 January, 2020 Events We are very excited to be introducing many new features and enhancements in the new major version of our solution. We believe in openn...

26/02/2020

Let's meet at IBC2020!

25 February, 2020 Events We are very excited to be introducing many new features and enhancements in the new major version of our solution. We believe in open...

04/02/2020

A1 Bulgaria selects Agama for service quality and customer experience assurance

4 February, 2020 News & press releases A1 Telekom Austria Group expands its Agama solution into Bulgaria (Link ping, Sweden, February 4, 2020) - Agama Techno...

13/01/2020

AngaCom2020

13 January, 2020 Events Meet our team of experts at ANGA COM 2020, 12-14 May, and discuss how we can help you create insights and awareness to assure optimal ...

18/12/2019

Wishing you a nice and warm holiday season!

18 December, 2019 News & press releases The holiday season is upon us. Some of us will be spending time with family and friends and maybe enjoy some tradition...