Use these plugins to handle SCTE (Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers) standards. These standards are crucial for managing various aspects of digital video streams, including ad insertion, content protection, and more.
Baseline SCTE Plugin
The Baseline SCTE plugin provides SCTE signal processing functionality to the Live Slicer. To leverage this functionality, it must be enabled within your Live Slicer configuration file by adding the following lines:
YAML
1scte_type: python2scte_module: scte_baseline
Blackout
The Baseline SCTE plugin triggers blackout based on the
splice_insert’s out_of_network_indicator field.To achieve the desired blackout effect, set the
out_of_network_indicator field to:1: Enter blackout.2: Leave blackout.
Content Start
In addition to a
splice_insert with out_of_network_indicator set to 0, you can also start a new program by sending a time_signal with a segmentation descriptor where segmentation_type_id is set to 0x10 (PROGRAM_START).Ad Insertion
Ad insertion is managed by
time_signals with a segmentation descriptor having a segmentation_type_id of 0x34 (PLACEMENT_OPPORTUNITY_START). You can end an ad explicitly by sending a time_signal with a segmentation descriptor having a segmentation_type_id of 0x35 (PLACEMENT_OPPORTUNITY_END).- If
segmentation_durationis0when starting an ad, the ad break will last until the nextcontent_start,blackout, or explicitPLACEMENT_OPPORTUNITY_ENDis sent. - If
segmentation_durationis set, the ad will last for the specified duration and then return automatically. - You can always end an ad preemptively by explicitly sending a
PLACEMENT_OPPORTUNITY_END.
Python SCTE Plugin
Use the Python SCTE plugin to process your SCTE 35/104 signal with a custom Python file. Your code should contain specific functions that hook into SCTE processing and control the state of the Live Slicer.
Python
Python and its libraries must be installed in your system’s shared library path. By default, the Live Slicer uses Python 2.7, which is included with Mac OS X and Ubuntu versions 14.04 LTS or lower. However, you may configure the Live Slicer (version 20031300 or higher) to use Python 3.6 by including the following configuration in your Live Slicer configuration file:
-
Syntax (Python 3.6):plaintext1scte_python_version: 3.6
-
Syntax (Python 3.6 installed with pymalloc support):plaintext1scte_python_version: 3.6m
Set up a Live Slicer
Set up a Live Slicer to use your Python SCTE plugin by adding the following settings to your Live Slicer configuration file:
1scte_type: python2scte_module: my_scte_plugin3scte_python_version: 3.6m
If you have not installed Python 3.6 with pymalloc support, then you should update the
scte_python_version setting with the correct version.Copy your Python plugin to the
plugins subfolder of your Live Slicer’s installation directory and then replace my_scte_plugin with your Python plugin’s file name.See information on the SCTE parameters in Live Slicer Configuratin File Settings.
Encrypted Plugins
Plugins may be either plaintext or encrypted. The configuration for both plaintext and encrypted plugins is the same with the exception of the file name. The file name for an encrypted plugin is the SHA-1 hash of the plaintext plugin’s file name. Although the file name will be encrypted, the
scte_module parameter should still be set to the plaintext file name.If both an encrypted and plaintext version of your plugin are found, then the plaintext version will take precedence.
Sample Scenario
In this sample scenario:
-
You have created a plaintext plugin called
scte_example.pyand stored it in thepluginssubfolder of your Live Slicer’s installation directory. -
You have encrypted the above plugin. The encrypted file name is:plaintext1B1487EF85E26CA04BF0350D46B2E4509EB93A298.py
Set the
scte_module parameter to the following value:1scte_module: scte_example
If you would like to use the encrypted version of this plugin, please verify that the plaintext version of the plugin is not present in the Live Slicer’s
plugins folder.Plugin Functions
The most basic plugin, which does nothing, must appear as:
1import slicer2def Initialize():3 return slicer.Initialize()
This function is necessary to establish proper communication between the plugin and the slicer. The second, optional, function is where you perform SCTE logic:
1def Process35(slice_info):2 slicer.Blackout(long(0))3 return long(0)
This function receives the SCTE35 packets and inside you may inspect the slice_info object containing the SCTE packet or call slicer module functions to control the slicer. SCTE104 packets are converted to SCTE35 and passed to this function for unified handling of SCTE.
Slicer Module
The slicer module provides a way for your plugin to call functions and manipulate slicer state.
The available functions are:
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| AdEnd | Explicitly ends an ad break. |
| AdMeta | Adds metadata to an ad break. |
| AdStart | Starts an ad break. |
| Blackout | Initiates blackout mode. |
| ContentStart | Starts a new asset. |
| EndBoundary | Ends an ad boundary. |
| FlushBreakMeta | Defines the presentation timestamp (PTS) at which the metadata defined via the MetaMetadata function will be applied. |
| GetState | Indicates the current Live Slicer state. |
| GetStatus | Returns Live Slicer status and configuration information. |
| Initialize | Initializes the slicer module. |
| Metadata | Adds metadata to the asset currently being sliced. |
| MetaMetadata | Adds metadata to the asset associated with the next segment. |
| SlicerLogger | Logs error conditions, informational messages, and debug messages. |
| StartBoundary | Starts an ad boundary. |
| TimedMeta | Adds metadata as an ID3 tag at the presentation timestamp (PTS). |
Initialize
Initializes the slicer module. Call this function via the
Initialize() function as shown above.GetState
Returns a string that indicates the current Live Slicer state.
Valid values are:
- start_blackout: Indicates that the Live Slicer started up and remains in blackout mode.
- slicing: Indicates that the Live Slicer is currently slicing.
- adbreak: Indicates that the Live Slicer is in an ad break.
- replace: Indicates that the Live Slicer is in replace content mode.
- blackout: Indicates that the Live Slicer is in blackout mode.
Sample request:
print slicer.GetState()GetStatus
Returns Live Slicer status and configuration information. The response for this function may contain the following parameters:
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| status | Object | Contains Live Slicer status information. This object is similar to the status object returned by the status endpoint from the Live Slicer API. |
| config | Object | Contains Live Slicer configuration file settings. |
| slicerID | String | Identifies the Live Slicer’s ID as defined in the Live Slicer configuration file. |
| externalID | String | Indicates the external ID that will be assigned to the CMS asset created from the live stream. |
Sample request:
print slicer.GetStatus()Blackout
Initiates blackout mode.
Sample request:
print slicer.Blackout(long(pts))ContentStart
Starts a new asset.
Description and External ID are optional.Sample request:
print slicer.ContentStart(long(pts), "Description", "External ID")AdStart
Starts an ad break.
Duration is optional. If omitted, you must call AdEnd() to end the ad break.Sample request:
print slicer.AdStart(long(pts), long(duration))AdEnd
Explicitly ends an ad break.
Sample request:
print slicer.AdEnd(long(pts))AdMeta
Adds metadata to a specific ad break. Call
AdMeta before starting an ad break.This function only adds metadata to a specific ad break. It is not applied globally across all ad breaks.
Sample request:
print slicer.AdMeta("key", "value")FlushBreakMeta
Defines the presentation timestamp (PTS) at which the metadata defined via the
MetaMetadata function will be applied.Sample request:
print slicer.FlushBreakMeta(long(pts))Metadata
Adds metadata to the asset currently being sliced as determined by the next video frame.
Metadata may be incorrectly applied to an asset under certain conditions. For example, metatadata may be applied to the previous asset when this function is called directly after a content_start. The recommended method for setting metadata is via the
MetaMetadata and FlushBreakMeta functions.View the metadata associated with an asset from within the CMS.
Sample request:
print slicer.Metadata("key", "value")MetaMetadata
Adds metadata to the asset associated with the next segment as determined by content start, ad start, etc.
The recommended method for associating metadata with an asset is to set it via the
MetaMetadata function and then setting the presentation timestamp (PTS) at which it will be applied to an asset via the FlushBreakMeta function.View the metadata associated with an asset from within the CMS.
Sample request:
print slicer.MetaMetadata("key", "value")SlicerLogger
Logs error conditions, informational messages, and debug messages to the terminal and syslog.
Valid log levels are:
- error: Logs error conditions.
- info: Logs informational messages.
- debug: Logs debug-level messages that may be used to troubleshoot an issue.
Syntax:
print slicer.SlicerLogger("{Log Level}", "{Log Message}")Sample request:
print slicer.SlicerLogger("info", "Started an asset boundary.")StartBoundary
Starts an asset boundary. If a boundary is already active, this is ignored.
Duration is optional. If omitted, call EndBoundary() to explicitly end an asset boundary.Sample request:
print slicer.StartBoundary(long(pts), name, long(duration))EndBoundary
Ends an asset boundary. This function is ignored when there isn’t an active boundary.
Sample request:
print slicer.EndBoundary(long(pts))TimedMeta
Adds metadata as an ID3 tag at the presentation timestamp (PTS).
Syntax:
print slicer.TimedMeta({Presentation Timestamp}, {Metadata Key}, {Metadata Value})Sample request:
print slicer.TimedMeta(long(pts), "key", "value")