Cablecast 7.2.6 Release

Release Date: December 22, 2020

7.2.6 is very likely the largest technical change we have made to the new video server engine that powers the VIO and Flex servers.

Originally with the new video server engine a naive approach was taken where files were cued up five seconds before scheduled air time and then a play command was issued at the scheduled play out time. This worked well in most cases but the timing of events did not take into account the latency of the video server engine. Specifically on Flex servers where the programed latency of the Matrox card is about one second, this could lead to files getting the last few frames and audio samples cut off.

With 7.2.6 files up 10 seconds before scheduled playout and the play commands are issued 5 seconds before scheduled playout. Internally the video server engine aligns the first frame of the file with the internal timestamp required to compensate for the video server engines latency. This essentially means we time files correctly so the first frame leaves the SDI output at the scheduled wall clock time.

The other major issue areas addressed were with SCC sidecar seeking and compatibility, as well as numerous fixes to how network streams are buffered, leading to more reliable playout.

All Release Notes:

• CC-1788 Installer Fails To Download Matrox Drivers
  • Fixed an issue where the installer would detect a corrupt download and fail to retry the download.
• CC-1980 Output Analog CEA-608 (line 21) Closed Captions When Server Output Is NTSC
  • Video servers using the CablecastVideoServerPlaybackCM will now render analog CEA-608 (closed captions) when the servers output is NTSC. Digital closed captions will still be included in the VANC.
• CC-1987 HTTP Redirect To User Interface Can Fail If Port 80 Is Blocked
  • Fixed an issue with the Cablecast User Interfaces http redirect if port 80 is blocked. It is now possible to access the Cablecast UI entirely through https when using a manually configured ssl certificate.
• CC-1989 CablecastCG Schedule Changes Do Not Update Bulletins Immediately
  • Resolved an issue where bulletin updates would be ignored by the CablecastCG until a full 15 minute polling interval elapsed.
• CC-1990 CodanNKCM Is Slow On Larger Routers
  • Optimized the CodanNKCM to only poll for status on configured outputs. This can greatly speed up status requests on larger sparsely populated routers.
• CC-1992 Update Nginx Proxy Server
  • The nginx proxy server has been updated to the latest stable release.
• CC-2004 Manually Renaming File Leaves Duplicate Digital File Links
  • Renaming a digital file in the user interface now correctly removes and recreates digital file links as needed.
• CC-2005 Public Report Fails For Anonymous Users
  • Public reports can now be accessed anonymously.
• CC-2010 Automatically Listen On Configured HTTP Port
  • If a non-standard http port is configured, cablecast will automatically listen on that port without editing the configuration files.
• CC-2011 CORS Header Added Twice
  • Some requests would have two Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers sent with responses, causing some clients to treat the requests as invalid.
• CC-2016 Flex Servers - High CPU Usage and Memory Usage
  • Optimized how files are buffered for playback reducing overall cpu and memory usage.
• CC-2024 NTSC Widescreen Output Configuration Crashes VIO Server
  • Fixed a configuration issue that would cause the video server engine to crash if configured to widescreen NTSC.
• CC-2026 Encoding Audio From Network Streams Can Fail
  • Fixed an issue encoding audio from network streams that could cause the stream decoding to get stuck.
• CC-2027 Encode Stereo Audio From Network Streams That Only Have Single Audio Channel
  • Network streams with a single mono audio channel will now be encoded as stereo audio.
• CC-2028 Audio Can Be Distorted In Some Versions of VLC
  • Was observed that some versions of the popular VLC media player would distort audio of files recorded using CablecastVideoServerEncodeCM. The audio encoding profile has been adjusted to work around this bug.
• CC-2029 Network Streams Can Fail To Buffer Content
  • Improved buffering logic for HLS,RTMP, and RSTP network streams that could cause some streams to frequently fallback to standby graphic, or output black.
• CC-2038 Better Reporting of Cablecast Installer Asset Download Failures
  • The installer will now report which asset fails to download in the installer UI.
• CC-2040 HLS Streams With Elemental Tracks Play Poorly
  • Fixed issues with HLS streams that contain separate audio and video renditions, most notably from Vimeo, that would play back poorly.
• CC-2041 Desktop CG Performance Improvements
  • Fixed several issues with desktop Cablecast CG Player performance.
• CC-2042 Some MPEG2 Files Play Without Audio When Cue Is Used
  • Fixed an issue seeking into MPEG files where the audio stream would fail to be detected due to the seek.
• CC-2054 Eliminate Reboot Requirement on Cablecast Uninstall
  • Fixed installer logic to shutdown certain processes before a file is marked for removal, preventing a reboot on uninstall in most cases.
• CC-2055 Standby Graphic Prevents Some Streams From Loading
  • Fixed an issue where some JPG images in a non-RGB color space would cause the stream to fail because the standby graphic could not be loaded into memory.
• CC-2056 Pesa Router Improvements
  • Implemented some new configuration options to allow the PesaP1CM to work with newer Pesa Cheetah routers.
• CC-2057 Video Server Process Can Crash
  • Fixed several crashes in the video server engine.
• CC-2058 Schedule May Not Show All Runs
  • Fixed an issue where the schedule would only load the first 1000 runs for a given day. On systems with large amounts of deleted runs this could prevent the entire schedule day from loading in the user interface.
• CC-2062 Improve HTTPS Security Practices
  • When enabled the https implementation now disables TLS 1.0 and SSL as well as enabling perfect forward secrecy.
• CC-2064 NDI Discovery Service Is Not Allowed Through Firewall
  • The Cablecast installer now adds the adds the NDI discovery service to the firewall. Previously the windows firewall could block Cablecast from discovering NDI sources on the network.
• CC-2066 SCC Sidecar Files Do Not Seek Correctly
  • Fixed an issue that would prevent playbacks that would seek into the file from seeking into a corresponding SCC file if present.
• CC-2069 Files With Greater Than 1920x1080 Resolution Are Marked As Valid
  • Fixed a file validation issue with the CablecastVideoServerCM where 4k files were marked as valid. Most 4k files can not be decoded by the CablecastVideoServer in realtime and do not playback correctly.
• CC-2071 Video Servers May Lock Inputs If Status Is Requested Before Hardware Is Initialized
  • Fixed an issue where SDI inputs may not work on process startup if status is requested by the Force Matrix before the hardware is fully initialized. This issue would cause the force matrix to report no signal and all encodes would fail until the process was restarted.
• CC-2072 Video On Demand Variant Manifest Has Incorrect 1080p Rendition
  • Fixed an issue with VOD variant manifests that would cause the 1080p rendition to not be accessible. On some players this could lead to stalling, most notable on Roku devices.
• CC-2075 CablecastCG Public Site
  • CablecastCG now implements a Public Site where a Zones bulletins can be viewed. The public site can be found in the Zone Settings screen.
• CC-2078 Not Able To Edit Media of Existing Shows
  • Re-enable the Media edit screen in the Show Record.

To request this update, contact Cablecast Support by opening a ticket through the help center support.cablecast.tv or by emailing support@cablecast.tv



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