TelVue Engineering Blog

There will be scheduled maintenance for all CloudCast™ related services on Tuesday June 5th 5:00 AM Eastern Time. During the maintenance, the CMS will be unreachable and CloudCast players will not play out video streams to your website’s visitors. The maintenance window for this update is 2 hours, but we expect the change to take close to 20 minutes.

Service to CMDN has been restored. We are working now to determine the root cause of the hardware failure.

CMDN is currently experiencing an outage and we are working to get this system back up as soon as possible. We will post back when we have an update.

Over the past week we have worked closely with our CDN to resolve playback issues that our CloudCast customers were reporting. Any issues that involved videos not playing or only playing partially in their CloudCast Video Player are now resolved. If you are still experiencing any issues please contact our support team and we will assist you as soon as possible.

support@telvue.com
800 885 8886 x2

- TelVue Engineering

The TelVue engineering team is really happy to announce the launch of TelVue^® ProVue^™ 1.0.0.  

The TelVue ProVue is a reliable, user-friendly IP video decoder that converts MPEG-2 transport streams into broadcast quality SD/HD-SDI video for SDI integration, processing, and broadcast. Operation is as simple as selecting your input source IP stream and desired output format, then hitting “start.” It also remembers and recalls preferred settings.

Check out the release notes over on telvue.com, and contact sales if you are interested in a demo or to purchase yours!

Thank you for your patience during this scheduled maintenance window. Please forward all inquiries to support@telvue.com, or you can call 800.885.8886 x2.

Maintenance Detail

The CloudCast CMS storage will be getting a significant upgrade, on April 14th, 2012 between 1am - 4am EDT. Both the CMS and the video player will be down during this time. We will post an update here if anything changes.

Affected Services

• CloudCast CMS
• CloudCast Video Player

Thank you for your patience during this scheduled maintenance window. Please forward all inquiries to support@telvue.com, or you can call 800.885.8886 x2.

Going to @NABShow? TelVue has solutions for the Great Content Shift.Get a personal demo of the TelVue Cloud: bit.ly/HB6jDG. NAB2012

— TelVue Corporation (@telvue) April 2, 2012

Wednesday (April 4, 2012), TelVue launched the new re-branded PEG.TV player, now called the TelVue^® CloudCast™ Player, with a number of exciting new features. The launch went smoothly with only a few issues reported. TelVue Engineering was able to address all of the reported issues within the same day. If you or your viewers were experiencing any of the following issues, they should now be resolved. If anyone is still experiencing these issues, or notice any problems with your player, please contact our support team.

• TypeError 1034: In older versions of Internet Explorer, video playback in the pop outplayer resulted in a “TypeError 1034” error message displayed on the player. This did not occur in IE9, but was present if a viewer was using compatibility mode.
• Endless spinner, player doesn’t load: The player would load up completely and would be stuck displaying the loading spinner over the categories listings. This was a browser caching issue. We have taken steps to ensure user’s browsers retrieve the latest code for the player to fix this.
• Chapter seek error (IE): There was an issue with the main player when attempting to use the chapter links to seek to different chapter start times in Internet Explorer.
• Chapter seek error in mini player: The mini player, when embedded with a specific chapter reference, was not properly seeking to that chapter before beginning playback of the video in Internet Explorer.
• Metadata duplication (IE): In some versions of Internet Explorer, the metadata for the video listings in the main player were not shown properly. It was possible that the title and description fields both showed the title text and ignored the description text.
• Pop-out & mini-player live streams: When playing a live stream, these players did not indicate as such which may have caused initial playback problems. The players now properly recognize live streams and indicate as such (with an un-seekable playback bar, and the word “LIVE” in the playback bar).
• Mini-player JavaScript errors (IE): In earlier versions of Internet Explorer, JavaScript errors could appear on the page (resulting in a warning icon on the bottom left of the browser window). These errors should not have affected playback, but are resolved.
• Style & Formatting (IE): Internet Explorer 7 displayed player logos in the wrong position and some of the fonts used were too large.

We appreciate the cooperation and helpfulness of customers that reported any issues. 

On Wednesday, April 4, 2012, existing PEG.TV customers will be switched over to the TelVue® CloudCast™ Player v3.  The new TelVue® CloudCast™ Player represents a significant upgrade to the previous PEG.TV™ v2 player.  It supports HTML5 technology that makes your compatible videos visible on devices that do not support Flash, such as the iPhone and iPad. Of course the player continues to support devices such as PC, Mac, and Android phones and tablets that do support Flash.  And the new TelVue® CloudCast™ Player also supports HD videos in their native 16:9 aspect ratio. This FAQ answers some questions you may have about this switch-over.

Do I need to do anything to be upgraded to the new TelVue CloudCast Player v3?

No. The change to the new TelVue CloudCast Player will happen automatically. Your current player branding, banner ads, playlists, and metadata will remain intact. Although you can continue to access the Content Management System (CMS) through the old URL, we recommend that you begin accessing the CMS at http://cloudcast.telvue.com using your current username and password.

Will all of my on-demand Flash videos work on the iPad and iPhone?

The iPad and iPhone only support the newer H.264 video format and AAC audio format, in a mp4 container. If your on-demand content is in Flash format (Spark or VP6 format, in a flv container), it will not play on the iPad and iPhone. For more information about how to create H.264 and AAC content, see our content guide. If you would prefer to continue to use the flash-only player, so that the player does not display at all on the iPhone or iPad, contact support@telvue.com. The flash player will be available upon request until December 31st, 2012.

Will my live Flash stream work on the iPad and iPhone?

No, unfortunately not without a further change to the format of your live Flash stream. In addition to only supporting H.264 video and AAC audio, the iPad and iPhone only support a specific format of streaming called HTTP Live Streaming or HLS. For your current live Flash stream to be made available in HLS format requires further service from TelVue Corporation. If you would like to upgrade your live stream to support iPad, iPhone, and Roku, please contact your TelVue sales representative at sales@telvue.com and ask about the new TelVue CloudCast HTTP Live Streaming feature.

How can I make content that will work across all supported platforms?

It is easy to create content that will work across platforms, as many tools exist today capable of making H.264 video and AAC audio. For a list of just a few of such tools and some help in using them, see our content guide.

Why should I consider upgrading to the new TelVue CloudCast HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) feature for my live streams?

HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) is the only way to reach Roku, iPad and iPhone with live or linear content. Let TelVue Corporation handle the work of transforming your current live stream to this new format, and you will have virtually nothing to change or manage on your side. Your live stream will be available to the many millions of iPad, iPhone and Roku viewers in the world, and in your town! If you want to enhance the HLS stream to adapt seamlessly to multiple viewing devices, we recommend a further upgrade to the Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) feature.

Why should I consider upgrading to the new TelVue CloudCast Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) feature for my live streams?

Adaptive Bit Rate is a transformative technology that allows for very high quality, seamless video viewing over the internet. It represents the end result of more than 12 years of development on internet streaming technologies. Like supporting HLS, working with TelVue Corporation to transform your existing live stream into an adaptive bit rate stream takes away the hard work from you and your staff and makes your channel available in the most robust stream available to your potential audience.

Adaptive Bit Rate streaming is a method of streaming that builds upon the best features of previous streaming formats:

• It uses HTTP as its data transfer protocol, making it CDN friendly, firewall friendly, proxy friendly, and simple.
• It uses multiple bit rates to provide the best experience to users on different connections, across the noisy internet, or on different mobile devices.
• It uses keyframe aligned video to insure that the switch from one bit rate to another is never visible to the end-user, except as a change in quality. For instance, it should not require rebuffering or cause a stutter in the frame rate to change bit rates.

ABR streaming is what has allowed for a true TV experience using Internet streaming - maintaining quality high enough for large-screen HD viewing while adapting to moments of bandwidth shortage or connection hiccups.

What bit rate should I encode my on-demand videos or live streams?

TelVue Cloudcast supports any bit rate you want to use. Trends for target bit rates across the internet are changing, both because more bandwidth is available, and because viewers are now using more devices connected to large screens, such as the Roku set-top box. To reach computer desktops or embedded players in web pages, 256 kilobits per second to 512 kilobits per second still generates very good looking video, particularly in the very efficient H.264 format. However, to create full-screen standard definition video for a large (40 inches or more) screen, a higher rate is recommended: 768 kilobits or greater. For 720p or larger HD video, rates of 1200 kilobits or higher are common. You can also control which aspect ratio (4:3 or 16:9) is used for either SD or HD content. The new TelVue CloudCast player automatically supports and sizes 4:3 and 16:9 content.

Can I really stream my channel in High-Definition to iPads and connected TVs today? What do I need to do this?

Yes, you can! To get going with HD Over The Top, you need:

• An HD source, such as a TelVue HD-SDI Broadcast Server, or TelVue HyperCaster IP Broadcast Server plus TelVue ProVue High-Definition IP Decoder.
• An HD capable streaming encoder, such as the TelVue Telecast HD.

We would also recommend the TelVue CloudCast Adaptive Bit Rate feature so your stream can also be delivered to devices that don’t have sufficient bandwidth for high quality HD. With this setup, you can deliver in HD over the Internet, and either also deliver in HD for your traditional broadcast, or downconvert to SD for your traditional broadcast if that is required.

I use a TelVue Turbo for 1-click VOD transcoding and publishing from my TelVue Princeton. Do I need to change configurations to point to the new TelVue CloudCast CMS?

No. Everything about your existing Turbo configuration will continue to function.

I am not yet streaming my channel or channels live but would like to do so. Does TelVue offer a streaming encoder that is compatible with TelVue CloudCast?

Yes. The TelVue TeleCast SD and HD streaming encoders are fully compatible with TelVue CloudCast for live streaming to the TelVue CloudCast Player v3 on PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Android Devices, Roku and more.

Do I have to update any of my embed codes on my website for the full player and mini player for individual videos?

Although the urls you previously used to embed the Player will continue to work, we do recommend that you work with your webmaster to update your embed codes if possible. The updated embed code provides optimal support for full screen video mode across all browsers.

How do I update my embed codes to take advantage of optimal support for full screen video mode across browsers?

Full Player Embed Example

  <iframe src="http://cvp.telvue.com/player?id=<USERNAME>" width="740" height="460" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" frameborder="1" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" webkitallowfullscreen=""></iframe>

Mini Player(Single Video)Embed Example

  <iframe src="http://cvp.telvue.com/player?id=<USERNAME>&video=<VIDEO_ID>&mini=1" width="740" height="460" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" frameborder="1" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" webkitallowfullscreen=""></iframe>

There are many more options on how to embed the CloudCast player. As before, this updated embed code is always available on your video player config page in the CMS, and further options are outlined here.

Is the PEG.TV brand going away completely?

No. We will continue to use the great PEG.TV™ brand for the PEG.TV™ Community TV channel on the popular Roku Internet Player. TelVue CloudCast customers will automatically be included in PEG.TV, although you can opt out if you want.

But for your Roku channel to play properly, you need to insure you have some or all of your content available in H.264 video and AAC audio. See our content guide for information on creating content in H.264 format.

What is HTML5 and why do I care?

HTML5 is a series of new standards published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and supported by major browsers. Among its many features, it includes native support for video as an object on a page, rather than via special plugins. This creates many more possibilities for how video can interact with your web pages (and vice versa), and reduces the complexity of what end users need to watch and enjoy video over the Internet. While HTML5 has changed the requirements of how you encode and offer your videos, it is also standardizing how video is offered on the web, which in turn creates a stronger ecosystem for video. The new TelVue CloudCast Player v3 uses HTML5 for cross platform navigation, and for video playback on non-flash enabled devices.

Where can I go if I have questions not answered here?

You are always welcome to post questions on our forum, or contact support at support@telvue.com.