With the spread of Internet streaming providers such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime, more and more users are looking to the Internet for their video content in place of standard cable television. While people are enjoying these services, they often do not want to give up their large TVs and comfortable living room couches to watch everything on their computers. Because of this set top boxes have gained in popularity over the past few years.
What is a Set Top Box?
A set top box is a device that connects to the Internet and streams video content to a television. These devices work similarly to cable boxes in that you typically have a channel guide to control what you are watching. As cable fees continue to rise, more and more consumers are looking to set top boxes as a way to save significant money each month while still being able to access their favorite video content.
TikiLIVE Offers Set Top Box Support
As we watched the rise in popularity of STBs, we knew it was important for us to offer this option to our customers, which is why we offer support for many different set top boxes.
Roku
Roku set top boxes are the most popular STBs on the market. Roku offers an easy to use graphical interface that makes watching digital content extremely easy. Roku was one of the first set top boxes to hit the market and because of this has had a fairly large head start on the competition.
TikiLIVE allows you to easily create a channel to be viewed on Roku devices. To create a Roku channel with TikiLIVE simply follow the steps below:
- To broadcast to Roku devices you must have either a TikiLIVE Midrange or Pro account. For more information on TikiLIVE accounts click here.
- You must use either HD WAVE or SD WAVE software to live stream content to Roku devices.
- After you have installed HD WAVE or SD WAVE you will need to launch the application, select both the video and audio sources and then select the channel that you will be streaming to.
- Click Start Broadcast to begin sharing your video content on Roku boxes all over the world.
Apple TV
TikiLIVE users can now also broadcast their video content to Apple TV set top boxes thanks to AirPlay, Apple’s new streaming technology. AirPlay allows users to instantly stream any video content from their iPad or iPhone to their Apple TV. This allows users to easily broadcast content on their TV without any complicated setup.
Chromecast
In much the same way that you can watch your TikiLIVE content on an Apple TV device through AirPlay, TikiLIVE also offers full support for Google’s popular Chromecast device. Simply access your TikiLIVE content on your mobile device and “cast” it to your TV with the simply click of a button. This will allow your users to enjoy your content on their TVs as opposed to a smaller mobile device.
White Label Set Top Box
At TikiLIVE we look at our white label set top box as the best HTML5 set top box on the market. This device offers a whole host of features that allow our users to create their own IPTV networks with little effort. Using a white label set top box offers a number of large advantages over some of the other set top box options listed above.
- Branding: With your very own white label set top box you are able to completely control the branding of your device. Have the best of both worlds with the proven infrastructure of TikiLIVE along with your own brand logos to show your users that you are serious about your video content.
- Reduced Competition: With your own set top box you control all of the content that is featured on your device. With set top boxes from Roku, Apple or Google your content will be featured alongside hundreds if not thousands of other streaming providers. This means that you are forced to standout among a multitude of other competitors, which can be difficult.By using your own white label set top box you control all of the content that is featured and avoid having to appear alongside some of the big providers such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. While these providers all offer great content, depending on your video streaming options you may want to distance yourself from these competitors.
- HTML5 Support: HTML5 is the latest web technology that allows content to be streamed efficiently and with little buffering issues. TikiLIVE’s set top box offers full HTML5 support to ensure that your content is delivered reliably at all times.
Partner With TikiLIVE for Your Video Streaming Needs
Not only does TikiLIVE offer full set top box support, but we also offer a whole host of other features that make our video streaming service one of the best values among streaming providers. Some of the features that our users seem to enjoy the most include:
- Mobile Support: In the same way that our white label set top box utilizes HTML5 technology, this also allows mobile users to easily access TikiLIVE content. Whether your viewers are accessing your content from their mobile phone, tablet or set top box, know that your content will be delivered in a format that matches their preferred device.
- Top Notch Customer Support: We understand that it may take you some time to get up to speed with all that we have to offer. Because of this we are more than happy to work with you over the phone, by email or through our live chat option on our website.
- Analytics: Not sure which of your videos is the most popular? With TikiLIVE you can easily track the popularity of all of your content to determine where you may need to tweak your strategy.
Answers to All Your Questions
If you would like more information about any of our services, feel free to contact our support team with your questions. We’ll be happy to help you in any way we can!
