Virtual Linear Playlists and Smartstart

• Smartstart: Use Smartstart to generate a virtual linear experience for a single asset.
• Virtual Linear Playlist: Use a standard virtual linear playlist to generate a virtual linear experience for multiple assets.
  You may create a virtual linear playlist for a single asset. However, the recommended method is to enable Smartstart on your assets in bulk.
• Comma-Delimited VOD Playback URL: List all of the desired assets within a playback URL.
  Use a virtual linear playlist for better performance.
• Live Channel: Schedule VOD assets within a live channel.
  A live channel’s feed determines what viewers will stream at any given time. This allows the live channel’s viewers to stream the same content at the same time. Playback for a virtual linear playlist, on the other hand, always starts with the playlist’s first asset.

Advantages #

• Faster player load times
• Higher monetization

• Comma-Delimited VOD Playback URL: A standard VOD playback session requests ads and inserts them into the manifest upon initiating playback. Playback will not start until the manifest is finalized. The amount of latency that this causes varies according to the number of assets in the comma-delimited VOD playback URL and their duration.
• Virtual Linear Playlist: A virtual linear playlist requests ads and inserts them into the manifest when a playback session approaches an ad break. This eliminates or reduces ad request timeouts, stale ads, and the unnecessary depletion of ad inventory.

Smartstart #

Virtual Linear Playlist Management #

• A virtual linear playlist’s Require a token for playback option determines whether playback requires a digital signature.
• The enforcement of Studio DRM is determined by the manner in which the Require studio approved DRM for playback option is configured on:
  • The virtual linear playlist
  • Each asset associated with the desired virtual linear playlist
    Disabling the Studio DRM requirement on a virtual linear playlist does not affect whether an individual asset requires Studio DRM.
    Disable Studio DRM protection for the entire virtual linear playlist viewing experience through the following steps:
    1. Disable the desired virtual linear playlist’s Require studio approved DRM for playback option.
    2. Add the following query string parameter to the playback URL: `drm_optional=1’
• Restrict a virtual linear playlist to assets that have been encoded with the same codec (i.e., AVC or HEVC).
• A virtual linear playlist supports the following types of ads:
  • Pre-roll ads: Add the following query string parameter to the playback URL: ad.preroll=1
  • Post-roll ads: Add the following query string parameter to the playback URL: ad.postroll=1
  • Ads between assets: You may insert ad placeholders within your virtual linear playlist by adding ad breaks.
    Adding an ad break will automatically append it to your virtual linear playlist. Drag the ad break’s icon

    

    to the desired position.
    Alternatively, you add ad breaks through the Virtual Linear Playlist API by defining the ad dictionary between the desired assets.
  • Embedded ads: Determine whether an asset’s ad breaks will be honored and their duration through the Embedded Ad Break Duration option.
• Playback URLs are provided on the desired playlist’s Playback tab.
  Alternatively, you can construct a playback URL by using the desired playlist’s ID. Each playlist is assigned a 32-character hexadecimal unique identifier upon its creation.
• Preview playback by clicking the preview player that appears on the right-hand side of the window. By default, this preview player displays the playlist’s poster image.

Create a Virtual Linear Playlist #

1. Navigate to the Playlists page: From the main menu, navigate to Content > Playlists.
2. Click + Create Playlist.
3. In the Playlist Name option, assign a name to the new playlist.
4. Click Create & Edit.
5. Perform the following steps to determine how ads embedded within assets will behave:
   • Enable: Set the Embedded Ad Break Duration option to the durations, in seconds, for each ad break within an asset.
     Use the Embedded Ad Break Slate Fill option to determine whether an ad slate will play when there is insufficient ad content for an ad break. Setting this option to No will return the viewer back to content when there is insufficient ad content for an ad break.
   • Disable: Set the Embedded Ad Break Duration option to 0.
6. Verify that the Active option is set to Yes.
7. Use the Repeat option to determine whether the playlist will repeat when a viewer reaches the end of the playlist. Enabling this option will cause it to repeat indefinitely.
8. Click Save Playlist.
9. Click the Entries tab.
10. Add assets to the playlist by performing these steps:

• Click + Assets.
• Find the desired asset and then mark the checkbox that appears directly to the left of it.
  Assets are added to your playlist in the order in which they are marked. However, they can be reordered after they have been added to your playlist. Reduce this cleanup effort by selecting assets according to the order in which they should appear in your playlist.
• Repeat the previous step as needed.
• Click Add to Playlist.
  Reposition an asset by dragging the move icon

  

  to the desired position in the playlist.

11. Add ad breaks to the playlist by performing the following steps:
    • Click + Ad Break.
    • From the Duration (seconds) option, indicate the duration, in seconds, of the ad break.
    • Click Add. The ad break will be appended to your playlist.
    • Reposition the ad break by dragging the move icon

      

      to the desired position in the playlist.
    • Repeat Step 12 as needed.
12. Click Save Playlist.

Duplicate a Virtual Linear Playlist #

1. Navigate to the Playlists page: From the main menu, navigate to Content > Playlists.
2. Click the row of the playlist.
3. Select Duplicate from the top right corner.
4. Enter a name for the new playlist.
   By initial default the Edit after duplicate option is selected and will open the new playlist after saving. Uncheck to return to the original playlist. Your selection is saved as the default for subsequent playlist duplications.
5. Click Duplicate.
6. Optional. If you selected the Edit after duplicate option, make your changes to the playlist.
7. Click Save.

Modify a Virtual Linear Playlist #

1. Navigate to the Playlists page: From the main menu, navigate to Content > Playlists.
2. Click on the desired playlist.
3. Perform one of the following actions:
   • Add one or more asset(s) to the playlist.
   • Remove one or more asset(s) or ad break(s) from the playlist.
   • Update an ad break’s duration.
   • Modify how ads embedded within assets will behave.
4. Enable or disable a playlist through the Active option, which can be found on the Details tab.
5. Determine whether the playlist will repeat when a viewer reaches the end of the playlist through the Repeat option.

Add Assets to Playlist #

1. Click the Entries tab.
2. Click + Assets.
3. Find the desired asset and then mark the checkbox that appears directly to the left of it.
   Assets are added to your playlist in the order in which they are marked. However, they can be reordered after they have been added to your playlist. Reduce this cleanup effort by selecting assets according to the order in which they should appear in your playlist.
4. Repeat the previous step as needed.
5. Click Add to Playlist.
6. Click Save Playlist.
   Reposition an asset by dragging the icon to the desired position in the playlist.

Remove Assets from Playlist #

1. Click the Entries tab.
2. Mark the checkbox next to each desired asset or ad break.
3. Click Remove.
4. Click Save Playlist.

Update an Ad Break’s Duration #

1. Click the Entries tab.
2. Mark the checkbox next to the desired ad break.
3. Click Remove.
4. Click + Ad Break.
5. From the Duration (seconds) option, indicate the duration, in seconds, of the ad break.
6. Click Add. The ad break will be appended to your playlist.
7. Reposition the ad break by dragging the

   

   icon to the desired position in the playlist.
8. Click Save Playlist.

Modify Behavior of Ads Embedded in Assets #

• Enable: From the Details tab, set the Embedded Ad Break Duration option to the durations, in seconds, for each ad break within an asset.
  Use the Embedded Ad Break Slate Fill option to determine whether ad slate will play when there is insufficient ad content for an ad break. Setting this option to No will return the viewer back to content when there is insufficient ad content for an ad break.
• Disable: From the Details tab, set the Embedded Ad Break Duration option to 0.

Delete a Virtual Linear Playlist #

1. Navigate to the Playlists page: From the main menu, navigate to Content > Playlists.
2. Click on the desired playlist.
3. Click Delete Playlist from the bottom right corner.
4. When prompted, confirm deletion by clicking Delete.

Virtual Linear Experience #

• Timeline - Set up a timeline by including timeline metadata through the dmm.schemas.top query string parameter and then using this metadata to construct the timeline within your player.
• Seeking - Use the plts (i.e., playlist timestamp) query string parameter within the playback URL to seek to a specified position in the playlist.

Timeline #

Add a Timeline Dynamic Manifest Marker #

• HLS version 7 and up - A timeline Dynamic Manifest Marker is added as an #EXT-X-DATERANGE tag at the top of a ray manifest file. The X-DATA attribute contains Base64-encoded timeline metadata.
  Example:

  1#EXT-X-DATERANGE:ID="2e64fcbc2c5d4eecbf5fc6bb4c8b2d60:2020-12-18 02:09:28.957000+00:00:playlist",
  2
  3START-DATE="1970-01-01T00:00:00+00:00",
  4
  5DURATION=60.3093,
  6
  7CLASS="urn:uplynk:top-data:playlist:v1",
  8
  9X-DATA="eyJicmVha3...VwZWF0IjotMX0="

• DASH - A timeline Dynamic Manifest Marker is added as an EventStream tag at the top of a manifest file.
  Example:

  1<EventStream schemeIdUri="urn:uplynk:top-data:timeline" timescale="90000" value="top-data">
  2
  3<Event duration="5877840" id="5877840" presentationTime="0">{"repeat": -1, "content_duration": 60.3093, "breaks_count": 4, "session_id": "d9cab2afee494db7a0a5b877727ef387", "breaks": [{"id": 1, "offset": 11.0080}, {"id": 2, "offset": 26.0000}, {"id": 3, "offset": 33.0026}, {"id": 4, "offset": 52.0053}]}</Event>
  4
  5</EventStream>

1{
2	'repeat': -1,
3	'content_duration': 60.3093,
4	'breaks_count': 4,
5	'session_id': 'd9cab2afee494db7a0a5b877727ef387',
6	'breaks': [{
7			'id': 1,
8			'offset': 11.0080
9		}, {
10			'id': 2,
11			'offset': 26.0000
12		}, {
13			'id': 3,
14			'offset': 33.0026
15		}, {
16			'id': 4,
17			'offset': 52.0053
18		}
19	]
20}

Ad Break Dynamic Manifest Markers #

• Requested ad break duration
• Actual ad break duration
• Total duration for all ads
• Number of ads in the ad break
• Actual ad break duration status
• Duration of the current ad
• Position of the current ad within the ad break
• Offset, in seconds, of the current ad within the ad break
• Ad slate
• Whether ad break information has been received from the ad server and processed

• HLS Version 7 and Up - An ad break Dynamic Manifest Marker is added as an #EXT-X-DATERANGE tag within a manifest file. The X-DATA attribute contains Base64-encoded ad break metadata. The daterange class for this data is: urn:uplynk:ad-data:break_info
• DASH - An ad break Dynamic Manifest Marker is reported within an event stream with the following schemeIdUri:
  urn:uplynk:break_info:ad-data

1{
2	'break_dur_req': 180.00,
3	'break_dur_act': -1,
4	'ad_dur': 10010.02,
5	'num_ads': 3,
6	'ad_slate': 0,
7	'dmm_data_not_ready': 1
8}

1{
2	'break_dur_req': 180.00,
3	'break_dur_act': 185.68,
4	'ad_dur': 10010.02,
5	'num_ads': 3,
6	'ad_slate': 0,
7	'dmm_data_not_ready': 0
8}

Seeking #

• Only content counts towards seek times. Specifically, ad breaks are excluded from this calculation.
• The plts query string parameter is exempt from digital signatures.