Video on Demand Quality

On most Cablecast systems, the Video on Demand (VOD) quality is set to Auto. This is set in Settings > Location Settings > I/O > Video On Demand.

For example, if the master video file quality is 1080, this means that Cablecast is going to generate a 1080, 720, 480, and 360 quality file. The version that gets served to a viewer depends on their device and the speed of their connection. If a viewer is watching the VOD on their phone over an inconsistent data connection, they're likely going to receive a lower-quality version of the VOD. This ensures the viewer doesn't encounter as much buffering while trying to playback the file.

Transcoding VOD

Once you click Enable VOD in a Show Record, if a video file is present for that Show Record, Cablecast will queue up the file for transcoding on the VOD.

During this time, the file is first copied from the video server to the VOD, then it is processed into the variants outlined in the Video on Demand Quality section above. If multiple VODs are queued for transcoding, Cablecast will generate the first variant for each file that is queued and then it will make its way back through the list and transcode the next variant until all variants have been generated for each VOD that's been queued.

When they've all been generated, the status should show Complete for that VOD and the VOD will be moved from the Processing queue to the Completed queue.

Ready for Viewing

Once the first variant is available, the VOD should be available for public viewing and the other variants will continue to be generated in the background. The VODs get uploaded to REFLECT+ as each variant completes as well, however, REFLECT+ also needs to be informed that a specific show record now has a valid VOD asset.