ZEC Adding UDP Streams

This enables the Broadcaster to receive a UDP stream. The UDP stream is not protected by the Zixi protocol.

The UDP streams can be one of the following types:

UDP – the input stream is plain UDP.
RTP – the input stream uses the RTP protocol, which adds RTP headers to the UDP stream. RTP adds a 12-byte header, which includes a sequence number and a timestamp that can be used to detect dropped packets. The sequence number in the RTP headers can be used to do automatic reordering and the timestamps can help overcome inter-packet gaps, also known as IAT (Inter Arrival Time).
However, plain RTP does not feature error recovery or error protection. By default, the RTP headers (which include the timestamps and sequences) are being used on the input side, but then they are stripped off and they no longer propagate to outputs.
RTP + SMPTE 2022 FEC – the input stream includes forward error correction, which enables error recovery or error protection.

If the stream is an MPTS stream and you want to demux it into separate SPTS input streams, create the stream, by following the instructions below, and then follow the instruction in the ZEC Demuxing an MPTS Stream section.

To Add a UDP Stream:

In the ZEC Navigation menu, click the Inputs tab.
In the Menu bar, click New Input. The Add a new input stream window is displayed.
Enter the unique Stream ID.

Note this must be identical (case sensitive) to the stream name configured in the sending Zixi Broadcaster or MediaConnect.
Select the maximum concurrent connections to this stream from the Max. Outputs drop-down list. Default: Unlimited.
Select the Show in Matrix checkbox to display this stream in the Matrix (see ZEC Using the Matrix). Default: Selected.
Select UDP for the input stream.
Specify the Stream Parameters (see Input Streams Parameters Table).
If you want to specify Billing Codes to identify and differentiate traffic on a ZEC for billing purposes, select this checkbox (see Input Stream Parameter Table below).
If you want to Enable multicast on pull outputs, select this checkbox (see Input Stream Parameter table).
If you want to Enable encryption, select this checkbox (see Input Stream Parameters Table). For more information, see ZEC Encrypting an Input Stream.
If you want to configure the Recording Parameters, specify them in the respective fields (see Input Stream Parameter table).
Click OK.
The “Input added” message appears on the top of the screen. The UDP Stream is added to ZEC and now appears in the list of streams available in the ZEC inputs UI.

Input Stream Parameters Table

Parameter	Description
Stream parameters
Port	Specify the port to listen on. This port must be open on all firewalls between the ZEC and other devices it is communicating with.
Multicast IP	If multicast, type the Multicast IP address (or leave blank in the case of Unicast).
SSM Source	Specify the source IP for a source-specific multicast.
Type	Select the appropriate protocol type from the drop-down list: UDP – the input stream is plain UDP. RTP – the input stream uses the RTP protocol, which adds RTP headers to the UDP stream. RTP adds a 12-byte header, which includes a sequence number and a timestamp that can be used to detect dropped packets. The sequence number in the RTP headers can be used to do automatic reordering and the timestamps can help overcome inter-packet gaps, also known as IAT (Inter Arrival Time). However, plain RTP does not feature error recovery or error protection. By default, the RTP headers (which include the timestamps and sequences) are being used on the input side, but then they are stripped off and they no longer propagate to outputs. RTP + SMPTE 2022 FEC – the input stream includes forward error correction, which enables error recovery or error protection.
Bind to IP	Select from the drop-down list the local IP address to be used for this Input, OR select Any to enable any IP to be used.
Max. bitrate [kbps]	Specify the maximum expected bitrate for memory allocation. Recommended: 2X the actual bitrate, which will prevent buffer overruns (especially with VBR streams). Default: 8000. Note – Overflows will typically occur when the Max Bitrate isn’t sufficient.
Dejitter Buffer [ms]	A buffer size used to de-jitter RTP and UDP inputs. For RTP packet timing is fixed according to packet arrival times and RTP timestamps. For UDP dejiterring is only based on arrival times. Default: 0. Assuming that the timestamps in the RTP are accurate, this feature is helpful when the encoder generates an accurate timestamp on the stream, but the arrival is jittery/bursty. In case of jitter, specify a higher value than the RTP input jitter. To view the Jitter level of the input stream, create the input and select it on the Inputs screen, the Jitter metric will be displayed in the Stats pane at the bottom of the screen.
Billing Codes	Billing codes are used to identify and differentiate traffic on a ZEC for billing purposes. When a billing code is added to a Source or Target, Zixi can track the traffic on that Broadcaster input or output separately from other inputs and outputs on the same Broadcaster. Billing codes are created by Zixi personnel on the Zixi Customer Portal for a particular organization.
Billing Code	Enter the billing code that corresponds to this stream. The relevant billing can be obtained from the organization that received the billing code from Zixi.
Billing password	Enter the password that corresponds to this billing code.
Enable multicast on pull outputs	Select this checkbox to enable the transmission of this stream’s outputs as multicast. A ZEC that will pull the stream will receive it in multicast. By default ZEC 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)	Selecting this checkbox will force the transmission of this stream only in multicast.
Enable Encryption	Select this checkbox to encrypt the Input stream. For more information, see ZEC Encrypting an Input Stream.
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.
Recording parameters	Select this checkbox to customize the recording parameters.
*Destination Type*	Select the radio button for the desired storage type and then fill in the relevant parameters. Record to disk – the recording is saved on the local disk. It is possible to record to an external destination by replacing the default storage location with a symbolic link. To learn more, see Using an External Storage section. Record to S3 – the file is saved to your AWS S3 Bucket.
Record to Disk Parameters
File Name Template	Specify the file name pattern that Zixi will use to generate when saving the recorded content. A separate file will be generated for each recording up to the time specified in the Max recorded file duration parameter (see above). After this duration a new file will be generated. The file name pattern can include any string and up to five variables listed below. Only the %T=HH.MM.SS creation time is mandatory. You can change the order of these variables and add text as long as you maintain the legitimate structure of the file in Linux and Windows: %S=stream id - optional. %Y=year - optional %M=month - optional %D=day - optional %T=HH.MM.SS creation time - mandatory %U=YYYYmmddTHHMMSSZ UTC timestamp – optional For example, the following pattern %Y_recording%T.ts will generate the following file name 2022_recording15:32:35.ts.
Max recorded file duration [hours]	Specify the maximum time allotted for recording a video stream. Default: 2 hours
Keep recorded files for [hours]	Specify the maximum time for storing the recording. Default: 0 hours
Custom Path	Optionally specify a storage location for the recorded files that is relative to the root folder. This location bypasses the location specified as the root folder in the Settings > General screen.
Record to S3 Parameters
File Name Template	Specify the file name pattern that Zixi will use to generate when saving the recorded content. A separate file will be generated for each recording up to the time specified in the Max recorded file duration parameter (see above). After this duration a new file will be generated. The file name pattern can include any string and up to five variables listed below. Only the %T=HH.MM.SS creation time is mandatory. You can change the order of these variables and add text as long as you maintain the legitimate structure of the file in Linux and Windows: %S=stream id - optional. %Y=year - optional %M=month - optional %D=day - optional %T=HH.MM.SS creation time - mandatory %U=YYYYmmddTHHMMSSZ UTC timestamp – optional For example, the following pattern %Y_recording%T.ts will generate the following file name 2022_recording15:32:35.ts.
Max recorded file duration [hours]	Specify the maximum time allotted for recording a video stream. Default: 2 hours
URL	Specify the URL of the S3 bucket.
Ignore TLS certificate errors	TLS certificate for S3 bucket might be detected as faulty if bucket name contains dot[s]. When this option is selected, ZEC will ignore the TLS certificate errors and transmit the stream to its destination.
Access Key	The access key that is used for accessing the S3 bucket.
Secret Key	The secret key that is used for accessing the S3 bucket.