Security camera video streaming app
Security Star
A video surveillance system manufacturer engaged us to develop a video monitoring app for iOS. Their customers need 24/7 access to both live camera feeds and video archives from their network video recorders.
We helped them design and build a mobile app that’s become a key element of their product line.
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This client graciously allowed us to tell their story, but insisted we not mention them by name online, so we've used a project code name here. Full details and references are available in response to direct inquiries.
THE CHALLENGE: BUILDING A LIVE VIDEO STREAMING APP
The key challenge was implementing very low-latency streaming in the iOS 6-7 era, prior to GPU-accelerated H.264 decoding support. Decoding on the CPU is slow, and the only way to decode in hardware was to use HTTP Live Streaming, which adds huge latency.
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Our client’s engineers created a low-latency custom streaming protocol, based on HLS, which we implemented for iOS. We used the FFmpeg library for H.264 decoding, and achieved sub-2 second latency, which was remarkable for the time.
FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS
LIVE STREAMING
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Watch low-latency video in near realtime.
ARCHIVED VIDEO​
Search and browse recorded video from server archives.
SCRUBBING
Examine video footage frame by frame.
MULTI-CAMERA
Scan quickly through dozens of camera feeds.
THE PROCESS: PERFECTING THE USER EXPERIENCE
After tackling the video streaming and decoding, we went through several major iterations on the user interface. Our client’s original concept required some serious rethinking for mobile usage patterns. We devised an efficient, minimal UI enabling users to flip through a large number of camera feeds, as well as searching through recorded video.
"I was surprised how much the Lorien Digital developers focused on creating an intuitive user experience. We are pleased with the code quality and professionalism and would happily work with Lorien Digital again."
Tim Bybee, VP Software Development
THE RESULTS: MOBILE VIDEO PERFORMANCE
Breakthrough technology
Our collaboration with the client’s amazing engineering team produced an app that met their ambitious latency requirements.
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Companion app
The mobile app gives customers instant access to their video feeds, greatly increasing the value of their surveillance solution.
