New Transcoder 

Zixi Broadcaster v1.10 features an enhanced transcoder with added support for new video formats and protocols and a wide variety of new features: 

• • New supported formats/protocols: HEVC encoding (Output), MPEG2 encoding (Output), HEVC decoding (Input)
  • Hardware acceleration: the new transcoder supports hardware acceleration on selected platforms, including CentOS 7.1, Windows 8+, and Windows Server 2012+. 
  • GOP and SCTE-35 retention: the new transcoder retains the source’s GOP structure and preserves the SCTE-35 markers. 
  • Non-transcoded PIDs – PIDs which have not been transcoded can now pass through the transcoder and become included in the outputted stream.  

Additional Supported Protocols and Platforms

The new Zixi Broadcaster version expands its support for the following additional protocols and platforms:

• RTSP Input: the new version includes support for the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) as an input stream.
• RTMPS secure client: In RTMP Pull input and RTMP output you can now define RTMPS clients with the proven security of a secure socket layer (SSL), by using the rtmps:// url.  
• RTMP idle disconnection: In RTMP Pull input and Push output you can set the Zixi Broadcaster to disconnect if the stream has been idle (with 0 bitrate) for 30 seconds, by selecting the Disconnect if inactive checkbox.  

Performance improvements

The following performance improvements were introduced in the new version:

• Faster uploads and downloads: faster than 1Gbps uploads and downloads and up to 10Gbps.
• File transfer: file size has increased from 95GB to 6TB.
• Accelerated file uploads: file uploads can be accelerated through proxy, using HTTP PUT/POST commands. Such uploads (currently, PUT and POST), which are marked with ‘resumable: 0’ values in the listing requests, take priority over other uploads in queue, and are executed simultaneously.

Security Enhancements

The following security enhancements were introduced in the new version:

• Decryption of input streams: it is now possible to decrypt an input stream as it enters the Zixi Broadcaster. When defining a Push or Pull input stream you can select the Decrypt Stream checkbox and then select the type of encryption that has been used and enter the encryption key. If the source is a Zixi Feeder, the encryption key can be copied from the relevant output stream.   
• Authentication enhancements: It is now possible to allow undefined Push inputs and deny undefined Pull outputs. In the Settings > Authorization stream you can now set the following parameters:
  • Allow Automatic Push inputs: if this checkbox is selected, the Zixi Broadcaster will automatically create an input stream each time it receives a push stream from a source. However, if this checkbox is not selected, only predefined Push Input streams with the defined credentials will be allowed in (this is the default setting and the behavior in previous versions).    
  • Allow Automatic Pull outputs: if this checkbox is selected, any Zixi Receiver that requests a Pull output will be granted access. In this case, a Pull output will be automatically created in the Zixi Broadcaster (this is the default setting and the behavior in previous versions). However, if this checkbox is not selected, only predefined Pull output streams with the defined credentials will be pulled by the Zixi Receiver.
  • Non-admin users: The administrator can define new types of users “Operator” and “User” in the Settings > General screen as follows:
    • Operator: the “Operator” can perform all actions except accessing the Settings screens. You can enable this type of user by selecting the Enable read / write user – except for settings screen checkbox and then setting the user name and password. You can modify the default user name and password at any time.
    • User: the “User” can view the streams in read-only mode and switch between existing streams. You can enable this type of user by selecting the Enable read only user + ability to switch streams checkbox and then setting the user name and password. You can modify the default user name and password at any time.
    • Authentication-support in cluster: the cluster feature (configured in Settings > Cluster) now supports the authentication mechanism. This means that from now, if the “Allow Automatic Push inputs” checkbox is selected (located in Settings > Authorization screen), the Zixi Broadcaster cluster will automatically create relevant input streams each time it receives a push stream from a source.

HLS-support Enhancements

The following HLS support enhancements were introduced in the new version:

• EBP: the new version includes support for EBP (Encoder-Boundary-Point) in the segmentation mechanism.
• SCTE-35 markers: SCTE-35 markers in source input will be user to segment the stream.  As part of this feature the #EXT-X-CUE-IN/#EXT-X-CUE-OUT tags will be added to the manifest.
• Global synchronization: HLS chunks are now globally synchronized by absolute time across multiple Zixi Broadcasters.   
• Playlist recording: it is now possible to record HLS playlists to disk without storing the HLS content in memory.
• I-Frames-only playlist: i-frames-only playlists are now supported.
• New event tag: EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE:VOD|EVENT tag was added.