Adding File Streams
This input creates a file input for the Zixi Broadcaster from a local or mounted disk and subsequently streams it to the end-user.
If the stream is an MPTS stream, you can either upload it as an MPTS file or you can demux it into separate SPTS input streams. To Demux the MPTS stream, create the input stream by following the instructions below, and then follow the instructions in the Demuxing an MPTS Stream section.
To Add a File Stream:
In the Zixi Broadcaster Navigation menu, click the Inputs tab.
In the Menu bar, click New Input and select the File type. The Add a new input stream window is displayed.
Enter the unique Stream I.D.
Select the maximum concurrent connections to this stream from the Max. Outputs drop-down list. Default: Unlimited.
Select the Show in Matrix check box to display this stream in the Matrix (see Using the Matrix). Default: Selected.
Select the Log this stream checkbox if you would like to generate event logs for this input.
Select the Analyze checkbox if you would like to enable stream analysis for the input.
Specify the Stream Parameters (see Input Stream Parameters Table).
If you want to Enable time shift, select this checkbox (see Input Stream Parameters TableInput Stream Parameters Table). The stream will be recorded and broadcast after the specified delay. The time shift feature is typically used to broadcast a live event across time zones (due to the time differences between locations).
If you want to Enable multicast on pull outputs, select this checkbox (see Input Stream Parameters TableInput Stream Parameters).
If you want to Enable encryption, select this checkbox (see Input Stream Parameters TableInput Stream Parameter Table). For more information, seeEncrypting an Input Stream in Zixi Broadcaster.
Click OK.
The “Input added” message appears at the top of the screen. The Push Stream from the ZEC is added to the Zixi Broadcaster and now appears in the list of streams available in the Zixi Broadcaster inputs UI.
Input Stream Parameters Table
Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
Stream Parameters | |
Path | Type the local or mounted (Linux) disk or click the adjacent browse button to select the desired one. The suffix .ts indicates a transmitted stream. Note: see Notes on the File Path below for more information. |
Enable time shift | Select this checkbox to record the stream content and broadcast it after a specified delay. To deploy an input stream that uses the current stream's time shift, you need to configure a "Delayed" input stream, see Adding Delayed Streams. |
Maximum delay [hh:mm:ss] (for Time Shift enabled) | Specify the maximum time delay of this input. |
Enable multicast on pull outputs | Select this checkbox to enable the transmission of this stream’s outputs as multicast. A Zixi receiver that will pull the stream will receive it in multicast. By default, Zixi Broadcaster is configured to allow transparent fallback to unicast if it is out of the LAN. Requires enabling Multicast Pull in the Settings. |
Multicast Only (for Multicast enabled) | If desired, specify force multicast-only outputs. A Zixi receiver will receive it in multicast (unless it is out of the LAN, in which case it will relay in as unicast). You can also force Multicast only outputs. |
Enable Encryption | Select this checkbox to encrypt the Input stream. The stream encryption prevents any further processing, such as analysis, transcoding, etc. The encryption works in the following way:
For more information, see Encrypting an Input Stream in Zixi Broadcaster. |
Encryption type (for Encryption enabled) | Specify the type of Encryption (AES 128/192/256). |
Encryption key (for encryption enabled) | Click Generate to generate an encryption key. The generated encryption key must be sent to the end-user to decipher the received encoded stream. |
Notes on the File Path
- The paths the Broadcaster understands here are not operating system paths - full system paths such as /home/user/videos/file.ts or C:\home\videos\file.ts will not work.
- Instead, the file you wish to use must be in the root folder for the Broadcaster. The location of the root folder is shown in the General settings of the Settings tab:
- Note that to change the root folder location, you must edit the broadcaster-info.xml file, which is located in the Broadcaster installation folder.
- On the Files tab, you can upload files to the Broadcaster for use as file streams and also create subfolders to organize files.
- For files in subfolders, the Path is relative to the root folder - for example, if you create a videos subfolder and within the videos folder create another subfolder called nature, and you want to use a file called forest.ts for the file stream, the path would be: /videos/nature/forest.ts
Advanced Mode
The fields discussed below are optional and available only in Advanced Mode.
To enter Advanced Mode add the URL parameter ?advanced=1 to the Zixi Broadcaster URL in your browser and press Enter/Return to reload the page:
Note the Advanced Mode settings are generally intended for advanced users and special cases. If you do not understand the settings, you should probably accept the default values.
General
- Latency Offset [ms] - Specify the additional buffering time in milliseconds. Increasing this value can improve stream stability in unstable network conditions, but will increase end-to-end delay. Default: 0 ms
- Support SCTE-35 injection - Select this checkbox if you would like the stream to support SCTE-35 insertion.
- SCTE-35 PID - Enter a PID number for SCTE-35 injection. You can enter a value manually or use the Up/Down arrows that appear when clicking the field. (or leave as Auto to match existing SCTE-35 PID)
- Inject Metadata - Select this checkbox to insert metadata into the stream.
- Remove old SCTE-35 packets - If SCTE-35 injection is supported, select this checkbox to clear out existing packets.
- Timeout for CBR - Time in MS to wait for a NULL packet to inject SCTE-35 into.
Stream Parameters
- Synchronize playback - checkbox
- Compression - checkbox
- Fast connect - checkbox
Synchronize Playback
Synchronize playback ties a looping file's position to wall-clock time instead of to when the input was started.
When it's OFF (default): the file simply starts from the beginning when the input starts, and loops from there. If you restart the input, or start the same file on a second Broadcaster, each one begins at the start of the file at the moment it was started — so they will not be at the same point in the file as each other.
When it's ON: the Broadcaster calculates where in the file it would be if the file had been playing continuously since a fixed reference time and jumps straight to that position. This means: The playout position is deterministic from the clock — restarting the input resumes at the "correct" point for the current time rather than jumping back to the beginning. Two or more Broadcasters playing the same looping file will stay aligned with each other because they all compute their position from the same clock reference rather than from their individual start moments.
This is what makes it possible to have multiple servers (or a restarted input) present the same looping file content in lock-step, as a continuous "always-on" channel, rather than each copy starting from frame one whenever it happens to be launched. PCR, PTS and DTS are all derived from the NTP time.