---
title: Adding a Source – Transcoded
slug: zen-master/adding-a-source-transcoded
docTags:
createdAt: 2024-12-27T16:33:31.996Z
---
You can create a transcoded Source based on an existing Source. The transcoding parameters are set by selecting one of the pre-configured transcoding profiles. The transcoded Source can then be added to a Pass-Through Channel making it available to various types of Targets such as YouTube Live or Facebook Live using RTMP protocol.
The following procedure describes how to add a Transcoded Source in ZEN Master. In addition, an explanation of each of the configuration parameters is given in the table below.
:::hint{type="info"}
For a comparison of transcoders - codecs and color support - see [Comparison of Transcoders: Video Codec and Color Support](docId:0kUGUMogtknAKZY-UG6Qs).
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## To add a Transcoded 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 **Transcoded**.
The **Create New Transcoded 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.
:::hint{type="info"}
*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 **Input** section, in the **Source** field, select from the drop-down list the Source that the transcoded source is based on.
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In the **Configuration **section, in the **Ingest Cluster** field, select from the drop-down list the Ingest Cluster on which the Sources that you would like to group together are located.
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In the **Target Broadcaster/s** field, specify which Broadcaster/s within the cluster on which ZEN Master can deploy the source. Either select a specific broadcaster (for Manual clusters) 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*.
:::hint{type="info"}
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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In the **Transcoding Profile** field, select one of the pre-configured transcoding profiles to apply to this source. If you would like to create a new transcoding profile, see [Adding Transcoding Profiles](docId:3L1DNIo6v_15jzCFdhRKN) .
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If you would like to preserve closed captions for this Source, verify that the **Preserve closed captions **checkbox is selected (default).
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If you would like to crop the input stream, select the **Crop** checkbox and set the cropping parameters as follows:
1. In the **Units** section, select the type of units used to define the crop. Options are: *Pixels* or *Percentages*.
2. Enter the crop position for each of the parameters *Left*, *Top*, *Width* and *Height* in the appropriate fields.
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If you would like to assign the transcoding process to a multi GPU Broadcaster, select the **Assign to GPU** checkbox, and then select from the drop-down list the desired GPU instance. Options are: 0 (default), 1, 2 and 3.
:::hint{type="info"}
This feature is useful if you are running several heavy transcoding activities, as it enables you to distribute the load among several different GPUs.
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In the **Pad to CBR** field, enter the amount of CBR padding to be added (in kbps).
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In the **Configuration** section, 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.
:::hint{type="info"}
- 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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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 **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.
:::hint{type="info"}
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 Monitoring CEA-608 Closed Captions requires using a version 14.4 or newer Broadcaster.
:::hint{type="info"}
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**.**
:::hint{type="info"}
If 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.
:::hint{type="info"}
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.
:::hint{type="info"}
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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Select the **Ignore Transcode Thresholds** checkbox if you would like to override the Transcode thresholds on your Ingest Cluster (i.e. to allow use of full CPU/GPU and memory capacity).
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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.
:::hint{type="info"}
You can Enable/Unmute the Source at any time.
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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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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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In the **Encoder** dropdown, you can choose to Auto Detect the original encoding, NVIDIA, H.264, or H.265 (HEVC):
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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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Select **Force I-Frames on SCTE-35 markers** if a SCTE35 marker is detected and it contains a specific video timestamp (PTS), the encoder will generate an IDR-frame on the video frame with the closest or equal timestamp. If there is no timestamp in the SCTE35 marker, the transcoder will generate an IDR frame as soon as it can
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In the **HTML Overlay URL** field, if you want to include an HTML overlay on the stream, such as a scoreboard, enter the URL of the HTML. The external HTML will be pulled directly to the processing Broadcaster and rendered over the transcoded video output. For more information, see [HTML Overlay Installation](docId:1svyta7P777nBTqPN8yt8) .
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Click **Save**.
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## Transcoded Source Configuration Parameters Table
| **Parameter** | **Description** |
| --------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ***Info*** | |
| Name | Specify a name for the Transcoded 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. |
| ***Input*** | |
| Source | Select from the drop-down list the Source that the transcoded Source is based on. |
| ***Configuration*** | |
| Ingest Cluster | Select from the drop-down list one of the available Ingest Clusters as the destination for the Source. |
| Target Broadcaster/s | Specify which Broadcaster/s within the cluster on which ZEN Master can deploy the source. 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. |
| Transcoding Profile | Select one of the pre-configured transcoding profiles to apply to this Source. If you would like to create a new transcoding profile, see [Adding Transcoding Profiles](docId:3L1DNIo6v_15jzCFdhRKN) . |
| Preserve closed captions | If you would like to preserve closed captions for this Source, select this checkbox (default). |
| Crop | If you would like to crop the input stream, select this checkbox and set the cropping parameters as follows:
1) In the Units section, select the type of units used to define the crop. Options are: Pixels or Percentages.
2) Enter the crop position for each of the parameters Left, Top, Width and Height in the appropriate fields. |
| Assign to GPU | Select this checkbox if you would like to assign the transcoding process to a multi GPU Broadcaster, and then select from the drop-down list the desired GPU instance. Options are: 0 (default), 1, 2, and 3
Note: this feature is useful if you are running several heavy transcoding activities, as it enables you to distribute the load among several different GPUs. |
| Pad to CBR \[kbps] | Specify the amount of CBR padding to be added (in kbps).
This parameter is optional. If you do not specify a TS Bitrate, the transport stream will be variable bitrate (VBR) with no additional null packets added. If you specify a bitrate, the transport stream will be constant bitrate (CBR) where null packets are added as necessary to achieve the specified bitrate.
CBR transport streams are typically required when sending a stream to a satellite head-end or to a professional integrated receiver-decoder (IRD). The overhead of MPEG TS is about 7%. To determine the bitrate setting, sum the max video bitrate and audio bitrate from the encoding profile and then add the other PIDs (if choosing to pass all PIDs) and add 7%. If the bitrate needed for the transport stream exceeds the value specified, the Broadcaster will give a “bitrate too low” error message.
VBR transport streams are typically used for HLS, DASH, RTMP, and other similar live streaming workflows. |
| Alert on PID changes | If you would like to generate email notifications whenever a PID change is detected, select this checkbox. |
| Log SCTE-35 | If you would like to log SCTE-35 markers for this stream, select this checkbox.
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. |
| Password (for Public Output) | If you selected **Allow** in the *Public Output* field, specify a password in this field to authenticate access to the stream. |
| 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-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) |
| Ignore Transcode Thresholds | Select this checkbox if you would like to override the Transcode thresholds for your Ingest Cluster (i.e. to allow use of full CPU/GPU and memory capacity). |
| ***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. |
| ***Advanced*** | |
| Auto-Pull Billing Code | If you would like to track usage for this Source when using Auto-Pull connections, enter the billing code that corresponds to this stream. The relevant billing can be obtained from the organization that received the billing code from Zixi. |
| Auto-Pull Billing Password | Enter the password that corresponds to this auto-pull billing code. |
| Auto Pull MTU | Specify the maximum transmission unit (largest data packet that a network-connected device will accept) in bytes for the Auto Pull. |
| Encoder | If you would like to specify a specific encoder to use for transcoding (decode and reencode processes), select the desired option from the drop down menu. By default, if there is an Nvidia GPU available, it would auto detect and use that, however you can override this behavior by selecting a different option from the list. |
| Frozen Video Minimal Duration | 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 | 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. |
| Force I-Frames on SCTE-35 markers | Selecting this option will do the following:
* If a SCTE35 marker is detected and it contains a specific video timestamp (PTS), the encoder will generate an IDR-frame on the video frame with the closest or equal timestamp.
* If there is no timestamp in the SCTE35 marker, the transcoder will generate an IDR frame as soon as it can. |
| HTML Overlay URL | If you want to include an HTML overlay on the stream, such as a scoreboard, enter the URL of the HTML. The external HTML will be pulled directly to the processing Broadcaster and rendered over the transcoded video output. For more information, see [HTML Overlay Installation](docId:1svyta7P777nBTqPN8yt8). |
| Use HTML overlay for audio | Select this checkbox to use the audio channel in the HTML overlay feed. |
| Overlay Audio PID | Specify the PID of the overlay audio. |
| Transcode TSID | Specify the Transport Stream ID in the PAT that allows downstream receivers to uniquely identify transport streams within a delivery network. |