Asset Preview

You can preview your asset in the within the Uplynk platform. This allows you to test and verify your asset, including URL parameters, before you actually try it in a production environment.

In conjunction with the developer tools built into the web browser, you can view the actual HTTP requests for playback using your desired URL parameters and the returned manifests.

Test Video Playback in the Uplynk CMS

To playback an asset in the Uplynk CMS:

1. Go to the asset details page.

2. At the top-right, observe the image under Asset Preview and hover the cursor over the image.

3. If there is no Play icon in the image, the poster image is being displayed. To switch to the video player, move your cursor over the image and a button with Show Player will appear (if it doesn't click on the image to force CMS window focus). Click the Show Player button and the Play icon will appear on the image.
4. Enter any desired Uplynk URL parameters in the Params box and click the Reload Player w/ Params button to its right. Uplynk URL parameters are described in Customizing Playback (Playback Customization Parameters).

5. Click the Play icon on the image.

Viewing VOD Asset Manifests

The instructions below are for Google Chrome but Apple Safari and Microsoft Edge are similar.

To view the HTTP requests to Uplynk and the returned manifests:

1. In the browser menu, select View->Developer->Developer Tools.

2. In the Developer Tools, select the Network tab.

3. To make it easier to see the new HTTP calls for manifests, enter m3u8 in the filter box and click the Clear network log icon.

4. Click on the Reload Player w/ Params button which forces a reload of the VOD manifest in the CMS and the manifest calls will appear in the Developer Tools. The first 200 return will be the top level manifest.

5. Click on the top-level manifest call and you can view the HTTP headers on the Headers tab.

6. Click on the Payload tab to view the URL parameters.

7. Click on the Response tab to view the HLS manifest.