Testing an Interactive Video App

Interactive Video is a technique which is used for blending interaction and linear film or video. A number of interactive video technologies have been developed in last few years that utilize new ways of encoding videos to allow users to add clickable hotspots to different objects in video.

Testing Experience:

Recently, we got the chance to test an interactive video application. It was a new experience for us as it was much different from testing Web or Mobile applications. The application under test was related to cosmetics products and hot spots were added on the various points in the video screen where the Product appears. On hovering cursor on hotspots different options appear which include…

• Add the product in favourite list
• View the details of product
• Cancel to resume the video

The detail of the product includes the Product’s Name, Price, Description and Similar items.

There are 6 steps in the video. On each step the list of Product items used in the video were displayed in a sequence on right side of the video and hotspots were added on each item in the list.

Testing Approach:

In order to test Interactive Video application, the user should know the testing scope of the application. The user should understand the application behavior deeply and should identify the points where the user can interact with such application. After that the user should gather information about the actions he can perform by interacting with the application at such points.

While testing the application we explored the video and developed understanding of the features. The video was basically developed to allow the user interaction through hotspots with the product advertised in this video. We wrote test cases of this application, executed test cases and reported defects which occurred in the execution of test cases.

Nature of Defects in Interactive Video:

The issues that I have found in the interactive video were mostly Functional and Cross Browser. The details of defects are as below:

• Video playback issues in different browsers
• Functionalities related to Hotspot

Functional Defects

• Hotspots were not added at some desired items
• Hotspots were displayed even when the desired content was not displayed in the video
• The sequence of products in the list and corresponding products tab was different
• Items were displayed outside the boundary
• Item was added to favourite list but is not displayed in the favorite list
• Spelling mistakes
• Incorrect Link

Cross Browser Defects

• Video was not Played in some browser
• Video section was not displayed in some browsers
• Video did not Play smoothly in some browsers
• The video was not displayed on full screen in some browsers
• Video was not displayed in the center of the screen when played in full screen mode

All bugs were identified and reported, resulting in a successful product launch for our client.

Have you ever used or tested any interactive video apps? Any particular usability bugs you might have noticed on more than one occasion? Sound off in the comments.