Work · BuddyCinemas
BuddyCinemas, a streaming service we built and run.
BuddyCinemas is a streaming service for Telugu films. Newtact operates it in India; Thaja FZE LLC operates it everywhere else.
It is our own product, not a client's: we designed it, built it and run it every day.
Built and operated by Newtact and Thaja
Facts
- Catalogue
- Telugu films
- Titles encoded and checked
- 152
- Streaming
- HLS, 360p to 1080p
- Payments
- Razorpay: card, UPI, netbanking
Using BuddyCinemas?
For help with the app, go to BuddyCinemas help. Complaints about content go to BuddyCinemas’ own Grievance Officer, as the IT Rules 2021 require of a streaming publisher.
What we built
Everything behind the play button.
- Batch ingest and encoding on our own machines, with the master file never uploaded
- An HLS ladder from 360p to 1080p, with 5.1 sound kept alongside a stereo mix
- Signed segment URLs and short-lived playback tokens
- Delivery from Cloudflare R2 through an edge cache
- A web player built on hls.js, with playback quality measured
- Free titles, rentals, purchases, subscriptions and ad-supported viewing
- Tokens earned from rewarded ads, daily check-ins, streaks and referrals, spent to unlock films
- Razorpay payments by card, UPI and netbanking
- Age ratings on every title, and a Kids profile that blocks adult titles at playback
- The catalogue on screens in venues: paired screens, playlists and proof of play
- A producer portal with royalty statements, settlements and TDS
- An admin console with 30 sections and per-module permissions
Architecture
How a film reaches a viewer.
01
Ingest
Masters encoded locally; the master never leaves the disk.
02
Encode
HLS, 6-second segments, 360p to 1080p.
03
Protect
Signed URLs and 2-hour playback tokens.
04
Deliver
Cloudflare R2 behind a Worker edge cache.
05
Play
hls.js on the web, with quality tracked.
06
Pay
Razorpay, tokens and ads.
For your platform
The same stack, for your catalogue.
Everything above is what we would bring to a streaming service of yours, with the parts you need and nothing you don't.