Countries
Allow a list of countries, or block a few. A viewer outside them gets a polite refusal instead of the picture, on every protocol the stream speaks.
Cue Player · included with every Cue video stream
A secure video player that decides who gets to watch
Your stream plays in it on any site you paste it into, and it checks every viewer first: the right country, the right website, a link you signed, and when the content deserves it, a FairPlay or Widevine license. Nobody you did not let in sees a frame, and for paid content the player sells the access itself.
Live
- Countryallowed
- Websiteyours
- Signed linkvalid
- DRM licensegranted
Four locks, one player
Protection you switch on per stream, in the order a viewer meets it
Each lock is a setting on the stream itself, so it holds wherever the player is embedded and whichever app asks for the video.
Websites
Name the sites that may embed the player. Someone who copies your embed code onto their page plays nothing; apps without a web page can be refused too.
Signed links
Your website signs each link with a secret and an expiry, optionally tied to the viewer's address. The token formats of the other major streaming servers work as they are, so an existing site keeps signing the way it does.
DRM: FairPlay and Widevine
The video itself is encrypted, and the key goes only to a browser that proves it may play it. FairPlay covers Safari on Mac, iPhone and iPad; Widevine covers Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Android. One encrypted copy serves both, and the license requests obey the three locks above.
Whose DRM credentials?
Yours, for both. DRM itself is built into the Cue player and included when you run Cue on your own server; the licensing is the part you bring. Widevine licenses come from Google on your account, and FairPlay's from a key server built on your machine from your copy of Apple's SDK. Apple issues FairPlay credentials and Google opens Widevine license accounts only for the owner of the content, so you get each once and upload it in your panel. From then on the player and the license service on your stream do the rest, and your keys serve your streams alone.
Built-in paywall
Sell access from inside the player, paid into your own accounts
Viewers sign up, pay and start watching without leaving your page. Every playback token lasts ten minutes, so a refund, a cancelled subscription or a revoked pass closes the stream within minutes.
Pay-per-view, passes and subscriptions
One payment for an event, a pass for a day or a season, or a plan that renews every month or every year. Viewers cancel renewals themselves and keep what they paid for.
Tickets for a dated event
Open ticket sales on one date and close them on another. A ticket bought ahead opens at the start of the event, and the player counts down to it.
Bundles and single videos
One purchase can unlock several channels at once, or price one film of your on-demand library on its own while the rest stays on a subscription.
Gifts, codes and donations
A viewer can buy access for someone else, who gets a single-use code by e-mail. Hand out access and discount codes yourself, or take donations above a minimum you set.
Stripe and PayPal, in your name
Connect your own Stripe and PayPal business accounts; their keys are sealed on your server and the money goes straight to you. Server Room takes no share of a sale.
Your brand on every screen
Your name, colour, logo, a welcome line and your terms appear on the sign-in and checkout screens, in the receipts and on the TV sign-in page.
Accounts for viewers, numbers for you
Viewers confirm their e-mail, reset their own password and open an account page listing every purchase, with receipts sent again on request; you choose how many devices one account may watch on at once. You see revenue per day, subscribers gained and lost with the churn rate, the offers that sell, and every sale and viewer as a CSV file for your accounts.
Apps and TVs
One viewer account across the web, phones and TV boxes
A subscription bought in your iPhone app plays on your website, and a pass bought on the website plays on Roku. Each store's purchase is checked with that store, on your own developer account.
App Store and Google Play
Your app sells through Apple or Google as their rules require, then sends the receipt; the paywall confirms it with the store, gives the access, and follows renewals and refunds from then on.
Roku Pay and Amazon Fire TV
Purchases made in a Roku channel or a Fire TV app are confirmed the same way, against your Roku and Amazon developer accounts.
Sign in on a TV with a code
The TV shows a short code; the viewer types it on their phone with their e-mail and password, and the TV is signed in a few seconds later. No password typed with a remote.
An API and a JavaScript SDK
Sign-in, offers, checkout, codes, store receipts and playback tokens, documented for your developers, with a small JavaScript SDK that has no dependencies.
The apps themselves are yours or your app builder's; the player, the paywall and everything they call are part of Cue.
Delay you choose
From a broadcast delay down to a conversation
With Cue on your own server the same player plays the same stream three ways; on hosted video plans it plays the first two. Pick by how close to the moment your audience needs to be; a DRM-protected stream uses the first.
- HLS The default. Every browser, every phone, and the CDN carries it to any number of viewers.
- Low-Latency HLS Measured about six seconds behind live over the internet. Good for sport and auctions. Hosted plans have it from Starter up.
- WebRTC With Cue on your own server: glass to glass in under a second, for Q&A and live shopping. If a network blocks it, the player drops back to HLS by itself.
What viewers get
Small things that keep people watching
Quality that follows the connection
With a transcoding ladder on, the player picks the rendition the connection can carry and keeps adjusting; a menu lets a viewer pin 1080p, 720p or anything in between.
Their language
A stream with several audio tracks shows a language menu. Your site can open the player already speaking Spanish, or Romanian, with one parameter.
Plays inside locked-down pages
Site builders often wrap embeds in a sandbox, which breaks most web players on iPhone and Safari. This one detects it and hands the stream to Apple's own player instead.
A second route when one fails
When you deliver through the video CDN, the player tries the CDN first and falls back to the origin server on its own, then tries both again after a pause.
Fullscreen and picture-in-picture
Both are allowed in the embed code, and autoplay starts muted when you ask for it, the way browsers require.
Open to your own player too
Prefer Video.js, Shaka or a native app? The HLS and DASH addresses and the license endpoints are yours to use; the same locks apply.
Putting it on your site
One line of HTML, copied from your panel
The panel writes the embed code for each stream. Paste it where the video belongs; nothing to install, no script to host, nothing to license separately.
embed.html
<iframe src="https://your-stream.example/_player/live/livestream"
width="640" height="360"
allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture"
allowfullscreen></iframe>Questions
Before you protect a stream
Does DRM stop people from recording my stream?
It stops the video file and the stream from being copied or replayed outside a licensed player, which is what pirate restreams depend on. Nothing stops a camera pointed at a screen, so for premium events combine DRM with signed links and a short link expiry.
Do I need my own FairPlay and Widevine credentials?
Yes. Apple grants FairPlay credentials through its developer program, and Google signs Widevine agreements, only with the company that owns or licenses the content. You upload both once in your panel; nobody else's streams use them.
Which browsers and devices play a protected stream?
FairPlay plays in Safari on Mac, iPhone and iPad. Widevine plays in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Android. Turn both on and the player picks the one the device supports.
Can viewers pay to watch?
Yes. The paywall in your panel sells pay-per-view, passes, subscriptions and event tickets through your own Stripe or PayPal account, and the player handles sign-up and checkout. The money goes to you directly; there is no platform fee from us.
Can I sell inside my iPhone, Android, Roku or Fire TV app?
Yes. Your app sells through its store, as Apple, Google, Roku and Amazon require, and sends the receipt to the paywall, which confirms it with the store on your developer account. The viewer then watches with the same account everywhere, your website included.
Can I sell one video, or a ticket for one event?
Yes. An offer can open a single film of your library, a bundle of channels, or a dated event whose ticket opens at the start time. Sales can open and close on the dates you set.
Can I use the locks without DRM?
Yes. Country, website and signed-link locks work on their own and cost the stream nothing in quality or delay. DRM is the extra step for content that is worth copying.
Does protection add delay?
The country, website and signed-link checks happen when a viewer starts, so the video is not slowed and low-latency playback keeps its speed. A DRM stream plays over standard HLS and DASH; low-latency HLS and WebRTC are not encrypted yet, so they stay off while DRM is on.
I run Cue on my own server. Do I get the same player?
Yes. The player is part of Cue itself, so a licensed Cue server serves it as our hosted plans do, with the same country, website and signed-link locks.
Stream it with us, or run it yourself
A hosted plan gives you the player, the server and the CDN in one. Cue on your own machine gives you the same player on hardware you control.