Content Switching
Zixi hosted ESNI leverages ZEN Master’s Channel Switching capabilities. All switches will be a seamless switch on an i-frame, ensuring no downstream disruptions or disconnects, as well as the option to create a continuous PTS timeline.
Redundancy and Dual Redundancy Options
The Zixi ESNI switching logic only works within a ZEN Master Broadcaster cluster and seeks out the nearest source to the target being switched. This means that if there are two channels within a cluster with the same External ID, the target will switch to the one on the same broadcaster first, and if none exist, search other broadcasters within the cluster. It will not switch across clusters. This means two things:
- If a Channel is within a cluster but not on the same broadcaster, there will not be a seamless switch, but the show will go on. We recommend ensuring ESNI workflows are on single broadcasters, but have built this functionality for flexibility.
- If an identical workflow is configured in two different ZEN Master broadcaster clusters using the same Channel/Target external IDs, both workflows will switch simultaneously, allowing for hot-hot redundancy from a single schedule.
If using a Channel External ID multiple times within a cluster, be sure to specify the Target Broadcaster in the Channel configuration to ensure Targets switch to Channels on the same broadcaster.
Notes
- If a 224 element such as Audience is deleted, any element that references that specific element will no longer have that reference. Remember to add that element back to relevant viewingpolicys/policys if it’s been deleted and replaced.
- Precedence:
- <Priority> works on a low to high scale with low priority taking precedence.
- <Order> value matters and will prioritize higher numbers when multiple policies are simultaneously applied. If unsure, leave it out, and the schedule will implicitly auto-increment.
- With no priority/order attributes defined, the most recent effective policy for an audience will be applied.
- ZEN Master Targets must be set up to prefer any source in the channel being switched. If you pin a source, it will be unable to negotiate the seamless switch.
- For matchSignal, Zixi’s default maximum value for allowed SCTE-35 pre-roll is 30s. If you expect a longer pre-roll, please let your Zixi account team know.