The sustainable way to launch many niched FAST linear channels

Launching many niched FAST linear channels using real-time transcoding is neither a cost-efficient or a sustainable model and an alternative is to use a technology referred to as VOD2Live instead. To facilitate the adoption of this more sustainable model, Eyevinn Technology, has launched The Sustainable FAST Channel Engine based on their open source Eyevinn Channel Engine library and community provided scheduling service plugins.

VOD2Live is a web streaming-technology that utilizes content that has already been transcoded and prepared for video on-demand (VOD) streaming. With this technology no real-time transcoding is necessary when producing the FAST linear channels as it reuses the transcoded VOD content. This technology was first introduced back in 2018 as a proof-of-concept to deliver fully personalized TV-channels [1]. The VOD2Live component in this proof-of-concept was made available as open source as the Eyevinn Channel Engine library [2].

The library currently features mixing VOD and live sources, passing through ad opportunity markers, proven integration with Server-Side Ad Insertion providers and proven integration with origin packagers for DRM content protection and multi-format support. The Channel Engine library does not contain any channel scheduling functionality as it is only concerned with generating channels using the VOD2Live technology, and it has been up to the platform provider to develop that part.

The Sustainable FAST Channel Engine (https://fast.eyevinn.technology) is a software container that bundles the Eyevinn Channel Engine library with a simplified open-source Scheduling Service [3] while still maintaining the option to integrate with other scheduling services as community provided plugins. Included in this bundle is a demo-plugin that can be used to demonstrate how running as much as 100 channels at a significant lower CPU footprint compared to real-time transcoding of 100 channels is possible.

The included Schedule Service can automatically create a channel schedule from a simplified MRSS feed that includes the links to the VOD content for the channel. It provides a REST API so channel setup and configuration can all be automated or controlled by another software component.

The open-source community can contribute with plugins for other scheduling services as this bundling is also made available as open source [4]. The software bundle is distributed as Docker container images and available on the public Docker Hub registry. Instructions on how to download and install is available on the online documentation site [5].

About Eyevinn Technology

Eyevinn Technology is world leading independent experts in sustainable video streaming technology and early initiator of using VOD2Live technology for linear TV channels. For more information about this press release contact:

Jonas Birmé VP R&D Eyevinn Technology
E: jonas.birme@eyevinn.se

Links:

[1] https://eyevinntechnology.medium.com/server-less-ott-only-playout-bc5a7f2e6d04
[2] https://vod2live.docs.eyevinn.technology
[3] https://github.com/Eyevinn/schedule-service
[4] https://github.com/Eyevinn/docker-fast
[5] https://fast.docs.eyevinn.technology