This article will outline what new features are included in Cablecast 7.1 and who is eligible for upgrades. It will also breakdown feature compatibility across the different line of Cablecast Video Servers.

Feature Compatibility Matrix

The table below lists all the new features in Cablecast 7.1 and links to the appropriate KBs when available. The table also lists the model of Cablecast hardware that supports the new features. Follow this article for updates or check back later for additional KB links.

FeatureSXFlexVIOCarousel CG 340Carousel CG 330 and earlierImproved Channel Branding UI❌✅✅

N/A

Expanded Network Streaming❌✅✅Easy SSL Implementation✅✅✅Digital File Uploads via UI✅✅✅Confidence Monitoring❌✅✅h.264 encoding❌✅✅Closed Captioning Sidecar Support❌✅✅Squeeze-back via CablecastCG❌❌

✅

❌

❌

Integrated Cablecast CG❌❌

✅

❌

❌

Standalone Cablecast CG ❌ ❌

✅

✅❌

Upgrade Requirements

While Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 are End of Support for Microsoft Cablecast 7.1 is still supported on these operating systems.

Getting 7.1 - Process & Timeline

To request and update to Cablecast 7.1 start by contacting support@cablecast.tv to request an update to Cablecast 7.1. We evaluate systems and issue updates on a first come first serve basis. What follows is a typical 7.1 Upgrade Scenario.

1. Organization requests a 7.1 update
2. Support and Sales staff evaluate system for eligibility and any reasons to postpone update, see important notes below.
3. Support Staff arranges a time to access each Cablecast machine and perform licensing.
4. Once the above is completed the support staff issue a download key for Customer to install update.

The typical turn around time as of March 16th, 2020 is 2-3 weeks. Follow or check this article at a later date as we will update this article if the timeline changes significantly.

Important Changes

Encoding Support On Flex Servers

Cablecast Flex servers that upgrade to Cablecast 7.1 will be migrated to a new CablecastVideoServerEncodeCM. The CablecastVideoServerEncodeCM only supports the following encode codecs:

• h264
• mpeg2

Most notably there is no longer support for encoding the Apple ProRes codec. If you rely on encoding anything but the above listed codecs read below about maintaining legacy support.

Network Capture of RTP Streams

Flex servers that migrate to the CablecastVideoServerCM do not have the ability to directly capture RTP network streams to disk. All Network streams must be played out a video server and encoding using a video server encoder.

Support for direct capture of network streams is expected in a future Cablecast release.