endorsedCompleted

Hotel Android Local-Network Video-on-Demand System

Services Covered:

Custom Software Development • Mobile Application Development

Industry

Hospitality, Travel & Tourism

Duration

3 months

Budget

Less than 10K

Start Date

1 February 2022

Team Size

11-15 Employees

Engagement Model

Offshore

Project Capability Score (PCS)

70/100

Good

Project Capability Score (PCS) estimates how capable UXDLAB is of successfully delivering a project like this, based on its past experience, track record, and ability to handle similar work. Learn more about PCS

Client

Confidential

Vancouver, Canada

Project Summary

The client engaged UXDLAB Software to build a hotel-branded video-on-demand (VOD) system integrated into an Android app that streams movies over the property's local area network. The vendor proposed backend and frontend features including H.265/H.264 streaming, a hotel content management interface, branded app screens, playback controls, pricing/payment flows, and analytics. The engagement failed to produce working deliveries: multiple non-working APKs and a non-functional dashboard forced the client to patch deliverables, and the vendor showed poor project management and server/database configuration skills.

Key Challenges

Provide a video-on-demand system that operates solely over the property's Local Area Network and is branded per property.
Integrate VOD into the Android app with support for H.264/H.265, AAC/MP3 and ensure movie startup times under three seconds.
Implement hotel content management (upload, title, description, placeholder images, pricing, view counters).
Support payment flows (double confirmation) and ensure paid movies are available for duration of stay and billed to guest folios.
Determine media-serving strategy (file types, transcoding strategy such as ffmpeg) and properly serve media over hotel networks.

Project Deliverables

Android VOD integration
Local streaming backend service (LAN-based)
Hotel content management interface (upload, metadata, pricing)
Branded app screens per hotel
Video player with playback controls (play, pause, fast forward, rewind)
Pricing and payment flow with double confirmation
View count/analytics for videos
Content taxonomy, rating controls, and content-blocking features

Project Solution

The vendor attempted to build a LAN-based VOD system integrated into an Android app. The planned scope included backend support for H.265/H.264 streaming, a hotel-facing CMS to upload and manage videos (metadata, placeholder images, pricing, and view counters), and frontend branded app screens with search and full player controls plus payment confirmations. Development was organized into two sprints: an initial sprint to enable local streaming to the new app frontend and a second sprint for analytics, content-blocking by rating, and billing integration.

Project Outcome

They were unable to deliver working software; the client had to patch the non-working dashboard.
Multiple non-working APKs were delivered and never produced a usable release.
The vendor lacked server and database configuration skills (Apache, MySQL, Ubuntu), preventing successful deployments.
Project management and communication were ineffective, with missed meetings and poor timeliness.

Platforms

Mobile
AR/VR/XR

Tech Stack

Android
MySQL

Client Endorsement

Overall Review Rating

Timeliness

Cost Rating

Willing to Refer

Quality of Deliverables

“UXDLAB Software has delivered a dashboard that wasn't working well, which the client had to patch together. Their project management style has also not been effective with the client, and they do not communicate updates regularly. Overall, the client is disappointed with the work they provided.”
Anonymous
CTO
Date: 05/13/2022