SMART TV & STREAMING APP DEVELOPMENT
Apps for Roku, Android, Samsung, LG, Fire TV and Chromecast
We build streaming applications for Smart TVs and streaming devices, plus the backend that powers them: video transcoding, DRM, CDN delivery, linear TV, VOD and cloud DVR.
Get in TouchWhat we do
Smart TV and OTT applications
Custom streaming apps for Roku, Android TV and Google TV, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Amazon Fire TV and Google Chromecast: from UI design and video player integration to store submission.
Supported platformsStreaming backend and infrastructure
Video transcoding to HLS and DASH, multi-DRM protection (Widevine, FairPlay, PlayReady), CDN distribution, linear TV channels, VOD catalogue, cloud DVR and EPG, all managed from one CMS.
Backend and infrastructure servicesWorking with clients worldwide
4TV is a development studio focused on television and streaming platforms, working remotely with broadcasters and streaming services around the world. Tell us about your project and we will propose the platforms, architecture and timeline.
Get in touchPlatforms we build for
Every living-room platform has its own language, player API, store and certification process. A Roku channel is written in BrightScript, a Samsung app is a Tizen web app, an Android TV app is Kotlin on ExoPlayer - the backend is shared, the clients are not.
- Roku app developmentCustom SceneGraph channels for the Roku Channel Store, with Roku Pay billing and certification.
- Android TV and Google TV app developmentNative Android apps for Android TV, Google TV and operator set-top boxes, built on Media3 and ExoPlayer.
- Samsung Tizen TV app developmentWeb-based Tizen applications for Samsung Smart TVs, with AVPlay playback and Samsung Checkout billing.
- LG webOS TV app developmentwebOS applications for LG Smart TVs, built with the webOS TV SDK and published to the LG Content Store.
- Amazon Fire TV app developmentFire OS applications for Fire TV Stick and Fire TV sets, with Amazon in-app purchase and Alexa integration.
- Chromecast and Google Cast developmentCast-enabled receivers and sender apps, so viewers can move playback from phone to television.
From our engineers
Notes on the streaming problems we debug on living-room devices - how we read a Roku playback error, why Widevine fails on one Android device and not another, what actually causes buffering on Smart TVs, and why a television that claims to support a codec still cannot play it. All streaming issues.
- Roku playback errors: how to find the actual causeA Roku channel that fails to play gives you more information than the on-screen message suggests - if you know where to read it. Here is the order we work through when a stream plays everywhere except on Roku.
- ExoPlayer DRM errors on Android TV: provisioning, security level and licence failuresWidevine failures in ExoPlayer look alike from the outside but have very different causes. Separating provisioning, security level and licence problems takes a few minutes once you know what to check.
- HLS buffering on Samsung Tizen and LG webOS: what actually causes itA stream that plays smoothly in a browser can rebuffer constantly on a television. The causes are rarely bandwidth - they are usually the ladder, the segments or the device itself.
- Low-bandwidth buffering: when the stream really is too big for the connectionThe spinning loader is the most common streaming complaint there is. Most of the time the connection is genuinely slower than the rendition being played, and the fix is in how the player and the ladder respond to that, not in the network.
- Hardware decoder limits: when a TV says it supports a codec and then cannot play itThe most frustrating class of TV bug: the same stream plays on one model and fails on another with supposedly identical specifications. The codec API said yes; the silicon behind it said no.
- DRM licence acquisition failures: tokens, certificates and networksThe most common playback failure on protected catalogues. The message the viewer sees is generic; the causes are four distinct things, each with a different owner.