Today we are pleased to announce the release of the Cloud Slicer Live (CSL) service for all use cases, including linear and live events.

CSL provides an economical and simple way to ingest live streams into the Uplynk platform. It supports major network video transport protocols such as SRT, RIST, RTMP, etc, and is simple to configure via a User Interface in the CMS.

To learn more about the CSL service visit our support documentation here

To enable CSL on your account, please contact your account manager.

We're excited to announce new upgrades to our Channel Scheduler!

Ever wanted to replay your live morning news until the live evening broadcast begins? Now, it's simpler than ever. With our new "Schedule Replay" feature, you can loop through content for a designated period with ease.

Additionally, we've introduced a drag & drop functionality for scheduled entries across the timeline, allowing for quicker and more convenient content scheduling.

Check out our UI and API docs for more details.

Should you have any questions or need assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team. We're here to help!

Fixes:

  • Fix another edge case where video encoder could sometimes produce invalid output with PTS < DTS.

Known issues:

  • Apple M1 slicer build (mac_arm64) does not support Dolby AC3/EC3 encoding, or Nielsen options.

Prerequisites:

  • Due to CentOS 6 reaching EOL in November 2020 this slicer release requires CentOS 7 or newer.

  • Due to the slicer being built on CentOS 7 it picks up some new library dependencies which are not included in the base install of Ubuntu 18.04. Ubuntu users may need to pre-install them: sudo apt install libnl-3-200 libatomic1.

  • Nvidia driver 418 or later is required for HEVC 4K HDR/SDR.

  • Mac intel build: sudo xattr -d -r com.apple.quarantine uplynk_slicer_mac_64-23092000-master.

As of 23020901-rc1 VOD slicer no longer requires a CPU with AVX instruction set support, and is compatible with rosetta on Apple M1.

Today we released Reduced Latency for Live Channels and Events. This new functionality will reduce the time between ingest and playback for a given stream to as low as 15s. Reduced Latency works with our existing features and workflows, only requiring minor encoding profile and playback configuration changes.

Actual latencies will vary based on platform, player, profile, and other factors. Different protocols and platforms including other third party networks and dependencies may also affect latency which are beyond the control of Edgio.

To learn more about Reduced Latency visit our support documentation here

To enable this functionality on your account, contact your account manager or [email protected]

Fixes:

  • Fix slicer behavior when every broker on its list has told the slicer to goaway, leaving the slicer with an empty brokers list.

  • Fix an edge-case and 2 race conditions that could cause slicer to lose some slices when switching brokers, leaving the slicer stuck waiting for unfinished slices and unable to shutdown.

  • Fix a defect in /reload_remote_slicer_config slicer API which always included error: 1 in the respose.

  • Fix handling of overlapping cues in rollup captions TTML.

  • Restore -nielsen support in mac intel slicer build, a recent regression.

  • Fix some issues with new async uplynk API and web request support in SCTE plugins.

  • Fix liveslicer preview crash on slicer shutdown.

  • Fix a rare bug where video encoder could sometimes produce output with PTS < DTS.

  • Fix SCTE plugin async uplynk API call authentication issue.

  • Fix SCTE plugin avail descriptor identification issue.

  • Fix an issue ingesting .umf file where trim start aligns exactly with the slice start boundary.

  • Fix a liveslicer entitlements issue with ssl_port: support on mac.

  • Fix AC3 pass-through issue when there are more input tracks than output tracks.

  • Fix slicer shutdown issue when input signal is lost and AC3 pass-through is enabled.

Enables:

  • Add support for additional timestamp formats in TTML subtitles.

  • Add support for more SCTE descriptors.

  • Add VU meter to livepreview and livepreview_with_audio video output.

  • Add scte_call_queue_size and scte_call_timeout_ms configuration options, for async web calls or uplynk API calls from within the SCTE python plugin.

  • Add uplynk_log_keeper_capacity liveslicer configuration option, add /get_last_n_logs, /get_logs, and /upload_logs slicer APIs.

  • Add -show_nv_devices and -nv_use_uuids slicer options.

  • Add -cmaf_only option.

  • CEA-608 XDS content rating pass-through to the Beam via parse_XDS: yes liveslicer config option.

Other changes:

  • Remove support for python2 SCTE plugins.

  • Ship CA bundle as a separate file included in the slicer package.

  • Update sample SCTE plugins to python 3.

  • Shutdown liveslicer according to no_signal_shutdown_time if no audio has been decoded within that time.

Known issues:

  • Apple M1 slicer build (mac_arm64) does not support Dolby AC3/EC3 encoding, or Nielsen options.

  • It is still possible (but rare) for video encoder to produce invalid output with PTS < DTS. This will be fixed in the upcoming 23092000 hotfix release.

Prerequisites:

  • Due to CentOS 6 reaching EOL in November 2020 this slicer release requires CentOS 7 or newer.

  • Due to the slicer being built on CentOS 7 it picks up some new library dependencies which are not included in the base install of Ubuntu 18.04. Ubuntu users may need to pre-install them: sudo apt install libnl-3-200 libatomic1.

  • Nvidia driver 418 or later is required for HEVC 4K HDR/SDR.

  • Mac intel build: sudo xattr -d -r com.apple.quarantine uplynk_slicer_mac_64-23090500-master.

As of 23020901-rc1 VOD slicer no longer requires a CPU with AVX instruction set support, and is compatible with rosetta on Apple M1.

By Thursday, Uplynk users will be able to create custom ad integrations with the Universal Ad Config (UAC). The UAC enables integration with any compliant 3rd party Ad Server using a self-serve tool available in the Uplynk Control Center.

Navigating to the Settings Tab, you will see a new format for the Ad Server section. Additionally, Universal Ad Config will be available as an option when creating a new Configuration.

To learn more about the UAC please read our user documentation

Today we launched 3 new Ad Delivery data points in Uplynk’s Ad Analytics report;

  • Requested Break Duration

  • Response Break Duration

  • Ad Server Fill Rate

 

These new metrics will help you track your ad server’s ability to honor requests, providing important insight into ad optimization.

 

More information can be found in our user docs

Live Timeshifting 1.0 is now available.

This first release allows viewers to fast-forward, rewind, pause or resume live playback up to one hour from the time they join the stream. This capability is achieved by expanding the live manifest window up to 60 minutes utilizing HLS Playlist Delta Updates, keying off standards to minimize implementation effort.

Support for Historical Ads, DRM, and DASH will be added in future version updates.

Please reach out to your account manager or [email protected] to enable Live Timeshifting on your account.

More information is available in our User Documentation.

We have just enhanced VOD Uploader 1.1 to remove the 5 GB file size limit for local file uploads. The maximum file size for VOD Uploader for any type of upload is now 90 GB.

Contact Support with any questions.

Starting today, you will find a new report in the Uplynk Analytics portal called Error Detail.

The Error Detail Report surfaces new insights into the performance of your 3rd party ad providers.  With metrics on error and timeout types, you can dive into dimensions such as date/time, channel, event and demand partner (VOD will follow in the coming months).

These analytics will help uncover areas for optimization, providing critical telemetry when escalating issues to 3rd party ad providers or diving into data with our Ad Debug tool.

You will now see Ad Analytics listed on the vertical navigation bar in the Uplynk Analytics Portal.  The Ad Analytics page will contain 3 tabs - Ad Delivery, Error Summary and the new Error Detail report.

More information can be found in our user docs or by contacting support