---
title: Adding a Source - MPTS Multiplex
slug: zen-master/adding-a-source-mpts-multiplex
docTags:
createdAt: 2024-12-27T16:33:22.255Z
---
The MPTS (Multi Program Transport Streams) Multiplex source takes multiple SPTS sources and combines them to a single grouped feed with multiple video tracks. A typical use case would be bundling a group of separate programs together to be distributed as cable channels for more efficient transmission.
The MPTS should have a Target bitrate that is higher than the sum of all of the effective bitrates of the individual streams included in the multiplex source. The process involves selecting multiple sources from the list of existing sources. Each source will become a Program in the MPTS source. You will need to name the program and can optionally specify a Program number (by default the first program number is 0). This program number will be assigned to the program in the newly created MPTS.
The following procedure describes how to add a Multiplex Source in ZEN Master. In addition, an explanation of each of the configuration parameters is given in the table below.
## To add a Multiplex Source:
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In the main navigation, click **Sources**.
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Click **+ Add**.
The **Create New Source selection** window is displayed.
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Click on **MPTS** **Multiplex**.
The **Create New MPTS Multiplex Source** window opens.
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In the **Info** section, in the **Name** field, enter a unique name to identify this Source in the system.
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In the **Tags** field, select one or more of the predefined Tags from the drop-down list.
Tags are used for access control. By selecting a Tag, you are relating this Source to that Tag. Tags are associated with certain roles (through the Users & Roles screen), and roles, in turn, are associated with users and user groups. If you would like to create a new Tag, see [Creating a Tag](docId\:YpM9tw81ap6nq8sTKv4Rd).
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In the **Events Configuration Profile** field, select from the dropdown list the profile that you would like to apply to this Source. By default, the Default profile is applied.
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*Events Profiles* consist of a series of rules that determine precisely how various types of Events are logged and what results they trigger.
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The Source's location is used to represent it in the proper position in the Map display (see [Maps](docId\:sFZM6JvoRvuigo7X0dNUE)). By default, the location is determined automatically based on the Source's IP. If you would like to manually set the location of the Source (Optional), use the following procedure:
1. Click on the **Edit** icon next to the **Location **field.
A search box is shown below the **Location** field.
2. Enter identifying info for the location (e.g. street address, zip code, coordinates).
Search results are displayed below the search box as you type.
3. Click on the desired location.
The selected location populates the **Location** field.
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In the** Configuration** section, in the **Ingest Cluster** field, select from the drop-down list one of the available Ingest Clusters as the destination for the Source.
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In the **Target Broadcaster/s** field, select your broadcaster preference. Either select a specific broadcaster to be used OR specify your preference for using primary vs. backup broadcasters, options are: *Prefer Primary Broadcasters, Primary Broadcasters only, Backup Broadcasters only* or *Prefer Backup Broadcasters.*
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For managed clusters, it is not recommended to select a specific broadcaster, as the broadcaster’s availability may not remain stable.
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Under **Sources**, in the **Target Bitrate (kbps)** filed, specify the target bitrate for the multiplex stream in kbps. The target bitrate number should be at least as high as the sum of all of the effective bitrates of the individual sources included in the multiplex source.
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From the **Sources** list, select the relevant sources to add them to the Multiplex source and specify the following settings when they are added to the table below the selector:
- In the **Program Name** field, enter a name for the program. This overwrites any pre-existing Program Name previously assigned to the stream.
- In the **Program **field, enter a program number for the SPTS source. This overwrites any pre-existing program number previously assigned to the source.
- In the **Base PID**, enter a Base PID number for the STPS source. Zixi will automatically assign new PID numbers for all PIDs in the SPTS stream with consecutive numbers following the Base PID number based on this number.
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Select the **Alert on PID changes** checkbox if you would like to generate email notifications whenever a PID change is detected.
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Select the **Log SCTE-35** checkbox if you would like to log SCTE-35 markers for this stream.
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- To log SCTE-35 markers, SCTE-35 needs to be enabled both on the Ingest Cluster and on the Source configuration.
- SCTE-35 logging is only available for v13.1.40262+ Broadcasters.
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If **Log SCTE-35** was selected, you can choose to receive alerts for SCTE-35 markers by selecting the **Enable SCTE-35 alerts** checkbox.
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In the **Public Output** field, if you would like to allow access to the stream directly through a supported player, select the **Allow** checkbox.
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If you selected the **Allow** checkbox, then enter a password in the **Password **field to authenticate access to the stream.
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Under **Content Analysis** select one of the following options:
- **Full **- select this option if you would like to enable full Content Analysis (CQA), including analysis of the stream's audio and video content, including audio levels, audio silence detection, frozen video detection, and more.
- **TR101 Only **- select this option to perform TR101 analysis only (without video and audio content analysis). The analysis can be used to check the integrity of the TS and the most important elements of the stream. The analysis includes priority 1 and 2. To learn more about TR101 analysis see [TR 101 290 Technical Report](https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_tr/101200_101299/101290/01.03.01_60/tr_101290v010301p.pdf).
- **None **- no content analysis is enabled.
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It is generally recommended to enable full Content Analysis unless it is causing technical problems. If Content Analysis is disabled, the system won't detect errors in the video and audio content of the stream and won't generate warnings for such events.
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If you would like to monitor CEA-608 closed captions, select **Monitor CEA-608 **checkbox**.**
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Monitoring CEA-608 Closed Captions requires using a version 14.4 or newer Broadcaster.
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If you would like to monitor CEA-708 closed captions, select **Monitor CEA-708 **checkbox**.**
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Monitoring CEA-708 Closed Captions requires using a version 14.4 or newer Broadcaster.
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If you would like to disable auto-pull, select the **Disable Auto-Pull** checkbox.
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Disabling Auto-Pull will lock Channels using this Source to the Source's Ingest Cluster and Targets to the Source's current active Broadcaster. This setting only applies to Pass-Through Channels.
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If Auto-Pull is *enabled*, in the **Auto-Pull Latency \[ms]** field, specify the maximum latency for auto-pull actions. (Default: 1000 ms)
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In the **WebRTC Playback** section, select the desired playback method.
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WebRTC enables you to monitor the stream via web browsers and mobile applications with real-time communication (RTC). WebRTC needs to be activated independently for each Source in ZEN Master (by default it is disabled).
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Select one of the following options:
- **Disabled **- users will not be able to view this Source using WebRTC (default)
- **Pass-Through** - passes the stream through to WebRTC without transcoding. This option *can only be used *if the input stream is already in a WebRTC compliant format (video - H.264 codec with *Baseline *or *Main *profile and no B frames, Audio - Opus codec).
- **Auto **- ZEN Master automatically transcodes the stream using the optimal profile for each specific user. In this option Zixi Broadcaster will decode the video, transforming it into RAW frames, which will be passed to the WebRTC library, where it will be re-encoded for each individual user.
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Best quality. However, if monitored by multiple users this can consume extensive resources.
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- **1080p/720p/480p/360p** - ZEN Master transcodes the stream to a WebRTC compliant profile with the specified resolution. The transcoding is done by Zixi Broadcaster's transcoder.
:::hint{type="info"}
This method requires a Zixi Broadcaster with X264 or Nvidia for transcoding. This method allows many users to monitor the stream without encoding separately for each individual user, which saves CPU capacity. Since there is only one stream version, it is recommended to encode to a low resolution and low bitrate so that the stream will be viewable by all users monitoring the stream.
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Additional SCTE-35 options are available when you expand the** SCTE-35 Manipulation** section:
Here you can:
- Enable SCTE-35 Manipulation
- Specify the length of a search window for a NULL packet for SCTE-35 intertion
- Set the SCTE-35 PID
- Remove any existing SCTE-35 messages from the stream
See the **Parameters Table** below for an explanation of these options.
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In the **Initial State** section, select the **Disabled** checkbox if you would like to disable this Source upon initial configuration.
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Select the **Muted** checkbox if you would like to disable error/recovery notifications for this Source upon initial configuration.
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You can Enable/Unmute the Source at any time.
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Under **Error Concealment,** click the Enable Error Concealment checkbox to enable the following error concealment mechanisms that can correct transaport stream for downstream IRDs:
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1\. **Continuous Timeline** - corrects errors that are related to timeline jumps in the source. This mechanism will normalize the timeline by creating a variant of the input (the input is doubled) and normalizing the timeline of the doubled input.
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2\. **Replace Frames** - If there are frames with CC errors, it replaces them with skip frames (inserts the last good frame received in place of missing ones). This solves issues such as an IRD that lost synchronization when it received broken frames. This mechanism also creates a variant of the input (doubling the input).
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3\. **Renumber CC **- The Continuity Counter is part of the TS encapsulation. When there are CC errors in TR101 analysis it means that the counter has a gap due to the lost frames. This mechanism can re-write the CC counter for the downstream devices, so they will see a continuous increase of the counter.
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4\. **Delay (ms) **- Enter the delay that the Error Concealment adds to the stream in miliseconds. Error Concealment needs to buffer the stream to analyze it. One second is a reasonable value. Lower values may cause the Error Concealment to not be able to fix some of the frames.
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5\. **CBR Padding** - enter a value for the rate at which padding will be added to maintain a specific output transport bitrate. For example, if you have a video bitrate at 5000 kbps or that varies from 3000-5000 kbps and audio at 64 kbps, total bitrate will be max 5064 kbps or min 3064 kbps. With CBR padding set at 6000 kbps, 6000 kbps is being delivered downstream at all times, ensuring a consistent bitrate.
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6.** PCR Interval** - Select the frequency at which Program Clock Reference is inserted into the outputs Transport stream. This depends on standard used by downstream encoders or decoders. Options include:
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ATSC standard - 100 ms
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DVB standard - 40 ms
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7. **Remux Buffer Size** - Specify the time added for remuxing the stream (default: 2500 ms).
8. **Smoothing** - Time added for smoothing a bursty stream - adds to latency, but produces a smoother output.
See [Improving Stream Resiliency: Error Correction and Concealment](docId:9_OLo1Argk_2aDoSHYFBb) for more information.
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If you would like to adjust the advanced settings, click **Advanced**.
The **Advanced** settings fields are displayed:
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If you would like to track usage for this Source, enter your **Billing Code** details. See [Billing Codes](docId\:lalXJ_N928TeGCPDpBirJ).
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In the **Auto Pull MTU** field, specify the maximum transmission unit (largest data packet that a network-connected device will accept) in bytes for the Auto Pull.
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To apply Input NIC selection to the network device, select the **Apply Input NIC selection to network device** checkbox
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To set the detection of frozen video, in the **Frozen Video Minimal Duration** field, specify the default minimal duration in seconds of frozen video after which the Broadcaster will trigger a Frozen video alert. Default: 10 seconds. This setting is supported for Broadcaster version 16.3 and higher.
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To set the detection of blank video, in the **Blank Video Minimal Duration** field, specify the default minimal duration in seconds of blank video after which the Broadcaster will trigger a Blank video alert. Default: 10 seconds. This setting is supported for Broadcaster version 16.3 and higher.
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Click **Save**.
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## Multiplex Source Configuration Parameters Table
| **Parameter** | **Description** |
| ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ***Info*** | |
| Name | Specify a name for the Multiplex Source in ZEN Master |
| Tags | Select one or more of the predefined Tags from the drop-down list.
Tags are used for access control. By selecting an Tag, you are relating this Source to that Tag. Tags are associated with certain roles (through the Users & Roles screen), and roles, in turn, are associated with users and user groups. If you would like to create a new Tag, see [Creating a Tag](docId\:YpM9tw81ap6nq8sTKv4Rd) . |
| Events Configuration Profile | Select from the dropdown list the profile that you would like to apply to this Source. By default, the *Default* profile is applied.
Note: *Events Profiles* consist of a series of rules that determine precisely how various types of Events are logged and what results they trigger. |
| Location (Optional) | The Source’s location is used to represent it in the proper position in the Map display (see [Maps](docId\:sFZM6JvoRvuigo7X0dNUE)). By default, the location is determined automatically based on the Source’s IP. Enter identifying info for the location (e.g. street address, zip code, coordinates) and select the desired location from the suggestions that are shown. |
| ***Configuration*** | |
| Ingest Cluster | Select from the drop-down list one of the available Ingest Clusters as the destination for the Source. |
| Target Broadcaster/s | Select your Broadcaster preferences. Either select a specific Broadcaster to be used OR specify your preference for using primary vs. backup Broadcasters. Options are: *Prefer Primary Broadcasters, Primary Broadcasters only*,* Backup Broadcasters only *or* Prefer Backup Broadcasters.*
**Note**: For managed clusters, it is not recommended to select a specific Broadcaster, as the Broadcaster’s availability may not remain stable. |
| ***Sources*** | |
| Target Bitrate\[kbps] | Specify the target bitrate for the multiplex stream in kbps. The target bitrate number should be at least as high as the sum of all of the effective bitrates of the individual STPS sources included in the multiplex source. |
| Sources | Click the **+** button on the relevant sources to add them to the Multiplex source. |
| Program Name | Enter a name for the program. This overwrites any pre-existing Program Name previously assigned to the stream. |
| Program | Enter a program number for the SPTS source. This overwrites any pre-existing program number previously assigned to the source. |
| Base PID | Enter a Base PID number for the SPTS source. Zixi will automatically assign new PID numbers for all PIDs in the SPTS stream with consecutive numbers following the Base PID number based on this number. |
| Remove Inactive Streams from Multiplex | Select this checkbox if you would like to automatically remove inactive streams from the MPTS source. |
| Alert on PID changes | If you would like to generate email notifications whenever a PID change is detected, select this checkbox. |
| Log SCTE-35 | Select this checkbox if you would like to log SCTE-35 markers for this stream.
**Note:** To log SCTE-35 markers, SCTE-35 needs to be enabled both on the Ingest Cluster and in the Source configuration.
**Note:** SCTE-35 logging is only available for v13.1.40262+ Broadcasters |
| Enable SCTE-35 alerts (for Log SCTE-35) | If you would like to receive alerts for SCTE-35 markers, select this checkbox. |
| Public Output | If you would like to allow access to the stream directly through a supported player, select the Allow checkbox. |
| Content Analysis | Select one of the following options:
* **Full **- select this option if you would like to enable full Content Analysis (CQA), including analysis of the stream's audio and video content, including audio levels, audio silence detection, frozen video detection, and more.
* **TR101 Only** - select this option to perform TR101 analysis only (without video and audio content analysis). The analysis can be used to check the integrity of the TS and the most important elements of the stream. The analysis includes priority 1 and 2. To learn more about TR101 analysis see TR 101 290 Technical Report.
* **None **- no content analysis is enabled.
**Note**: It is generally recommended to enable full Content Analysis unless it is causing technical problems. If Content Analysis is disabled, the system won't detect errors in the video and audio content of the stream and won't generate warnings for such events.
|
| Monitor CEA-608 Closed Captions | If you would like to monitor CEA-608 closed captions, select this checkbox.
Note: Monitoring CEA-608 Closed Captions requires using a version 14.4 or newer Broadcaster. |
| Monitor CEA-608/CEA-708 Closed Captions | If you would like to monitor CEA-708 closed captions, select this checkbox.
Note: Monitoring CEA-708 Closed Captions requires using a version 14.4 or newer Broadcaster. |
| Disable Auto-Pull | If you would like to disable auto-pull, select this checkbox.
Note: Disabling Auto-Pull will lock Channels using this Source to the Source’s Ingest Cluster and Targets to the Source’s current active Broadcaster. This setting only applies to Pass-Through Channels. |
| Auto-Pull Latency \[ms] | Specify the desired latency for auto-pull actions. (Default: 1,000 ms) |
| WebRTC Playback | Select the desired playback method.
**Note:** WebRTC enables you to monitor the stream via web browsers and mobile applications with real-time communication (RTC). WebRTC needs to be activated independently for each Source in ZEN Master (by default it is disabled).
Select one of the following options:
* **Disabled **– users will not be able to view this Source using WebRTC (default)
* **Pass-Through** – passes the stream through to WebRTC without transcoding. This option *can only be used* if the input stream is already in a WebRTC compliant format (video – H.264 codec with *Baseline* or *Main* profile and no B frames, Audio – Opus codec).
* **Auto **– ZEN Master automatically transcodes the stream using the optimal profile for each specific user. In this option Zixi Broadcaster will decode the video, transforming it into RAW frames, which will be passed to the WebRTC library, where it will be re-encoded for each individual user.
**Note:** Best quality. However, if monitored by multiple users this can consume extensive resources.
* **1080p/720p/480p/360p **– ZEN Master transcodes the stream to a WebRTC compliant profile with the specified resolution. The transcoding is done by Zixi Broadcaster’s transcoder.
**Note:** This method requires a Zixi Broadcaster with X264 or Nvidia for transcoding. This method allows many users to monitor the stream without encoding separately for each individual user, which saves CPU capacity. Since there is only one stream resolution, it is recommended to encode to a low resolution and low bitrate so that the stream will be viewable by all users monitoring the stream. |
| ***SCTE-35 Manipulation*** | |
| Enable SCTE-35 Manipulation | Select checkbox to enable SCTE-35 Manipulation. |
| SCTE-35 PID | Set the SCTE-35 PID in which the messages will be inserted. |
| Remove Existing SCTE-35 | Remove any existing SCTE-35 messages from the stream. |
| NULL Packet Search Window (ms) | Look for a NULL packet to insert SCTE-35 messages into the stream
* If the stream is **VBR**, set the value to `0` - SCTE-35 messages can be inserted anywhere, and do not need a NULL packet
* If the stream is **CBR**, the downstream receiver *may* need a CBR stream. Inserting the SCTE-35 message into a NULL packet ensures the stream will remain CBR; however, it may delay the insertion of the message up to the length of the search window |
| ***Initial State*** | |
| Disabled | Select this checkbox if you would like to disable this Source upon initial configuration. |
| Muted | Select this checkbox if you would like to disable error/recovery notifications for this Source upon initial configuration. |
| ***Error Concealment*** | |
| Enable Error Concealment | Select this checkbox to enable the error concealment mechanisms listed below to correct transport stream for downstream IRDs. |
| Continuous Timeline | Corrects errors that are related to timeline jumps in the source. This mechanism will normalize the timeline by creating a variant of the input (the input is doubled) and normalizing the timeline of the doubled input. |
| Replace Frames | If there are frames with CC errors, it replaces them with skip frames (inserts the last good frame received in place of missing ones). This solves issues such as an IRD that lost synchronization when it received broken frames. This mechanism also creates a variant of the input (doubling the input). |
| Renumber CC | encapsulation. When there are CC errors in TR101 analysis it means that the counter has a gap due to the lost frames. This mechanism can re-write the CC counter for the downstream devices, so they will see a continuous increase of the counter. |
| Delay (ms) | Enter the delay that the Error Concealment adds to the stream in miliseconds. Error Concealment needs to buffer the stream to analyze it. One second is a reasonable value. Lower values may cause the Error Concealment to not be able to fix some of the frames. |
| CBR Padding (kbps) | Enter a value for the rate at which padding will be added to maintain a specific output transport bitrate. For example, if you have a video bitrate at 5000 kbps or that varies from 3000-5000 kbps and audio at 64 kbps, total bitrate will be max 5064 kbps or min 3064 kbps. With CBR padding set at 6000 kbps, 6000 kbps is being delivered downstream at all times, ensuring a consistent bitrate. |
| PCR Interval (ms) | Select the frequency at which Program Clock Reference is inserted into the outputs Transport stream. Options include:
* ATSC standard - 100 ms
* DVB standard - 40 ms |
| ***Advanced*** | |
| Billing Codes | If you would like to track usage for this Source, enter your **Billing Code** details, see [Billing Codes](docId\:lalXJ_N928TeGCPDpBirJ) . (Supported for Broadcasters v14.8+) |
| Billing Channel ID | An optional arbitrary string - you can enter anything you want to for your record-keeping. This is **not** related to ZEN Master Channels. |
| Billing Password | Enter the password that corresponds to this billing code. |
| Auto-Pull Billing Code
| Specify the maximum transmission unit (largest data packet that a network-connected device will accept) in bytes for the Auto Pull. |
| Auto-Pull Billing Password
| Enter the password that corresponds to this auto-pull billing code. |
| Auto Pull MTU (seconds) | Specify the maximum transmission unit (largest data packet that a network-connected device will accept) in bytes for the Auto Pull. |
| Apply Input NIC selection to network device | Select this checkbox to apply Input NIC selection to the network device. |
| Frozen Video Minimal Duration (seconds) | Specify the default minimal duration in seconds of frozen video after which the Broadcaster will trigger a Frozen video alert. Default: 10 seconds. This setting is supported for Broadcaster version 16.3 and higher. For existing sources, you may need to restart the source. |
| Blank Video Minimal Duration (seconds) | Specify the default minimal duration in seconds of blank video after which the Broadcaster will trigger a Blank video alert. Default: 10 seconds. This setting is supported for Broadcaster version 16.3 and higher. For existing sources, you may need to restart the source. |
| Ignore Monitoring PIDs | Ignore PIDs for empty audio streams to prevent false warnings - enter a comma-delimited list of PID numbers that should not be monitored for null content. |