Encoding REST API Services

• Several performance improvements to the DASH manifest generation via the Dash Manifest Start call. DASH manifest generation with many renditions is now up to 20 times faster.

• Updated the documentation for the daily statistics calls to make it clear that offset and limit parameters are not used.

• Added PTSAlignMode to fMP4 muxings. Setting it to ALIGN_ZERO_NEGATIVE_CTO will shift the first composition time offset (CTO) to 0. If B-frames are used, some CTOs will be negative. Therefore, TrackRun (trun) version 1 atoms are being used. This can only be set for H264 and H265 streams.

• Fixed a bug where Per-Title analysis with NextGuard watermarking and fractional framerates failed

• Placeholders in the output path can now be used with the Simple Encoding API: {uuid} or {asset} will be replaced either with a random UUID or with the name of the asset provided as input (for VIDEO or DEFAULT input type). More examples can be found here
• Interlaced video input to the Simple Encoding API will now be deinterlaced automatically.

A brand-new way to interact with our encoder - the Simple Encoding API

• With the Simple Encoding API you only need a single API call providing an input source and an output destination to start an encoding.
• You can find more information about the template and configuration possibilities here.
• This API is especially meant for everybody looking to quickly prepare videos for OTT streaming (DASH and HLS) following industry best practices. Sensible defaults, no micro-optimizations.
• Under the hood, this API is utilizing the same high performance encoding engine used by leading media brands, automatically creating the best ladder for each asset with our award-winning per-title.

• HLS Default Manifests use the language of the audio stream language (stream.metadata.language) if defined.

• Fixed a potential encoding stall for HDR to SDR conversions with files below 10 seconds.
• Fixed a bug where Prewarmed Encoder Pools in combination with Cloud Connect could lead to very slow encodings.

• Fixed a bug for the VoD and live statistics endpoints with time ranges where offsets led to an empty result.

• Support for adding CustomTags to Subtitle Media Infos which reference a ChunkedTextMuxing.

• AV1 encodings:
  • Speed - Encodings run now 5x faster.
  • Quality - Encodings now show appr. 30% higher quality when compared to HEVC/VP9 encodings.
  • Cost - Encodings are now significantly more cost effective. See our Encoding Minute Calculation Methodology for detailed pricing information.
• Added startOffset to TextMuxing and ChunkedTextMuxing. This is used for setting the MPEGTS value for the RFC 8216 (HLS Specification) X-TIMESTAMP-MAP for WebVtt outputs (e.g.: X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=MPEGTS:900000,LOCAL:00:00:00.000).
• WebVttConfigurations with CueIdentifierPolicy INCLUDE_IDENTIFIERS will now generate CueIds starting from 1 instead of 0 if the FileInputStreamType is WEBVTT.
• CueIdentifierPolicy default for WebVttConfigurations for inputs with FileInputStreamType TTML and SRT. The default is now INCLUDE_IDENTIFIERS instead of OMIT_IDENTIFIERS.

• Added support for adding DASH Label elements to Video-, Audio- Subtitle- and Image Adaptation Sets.
• Fixed an issue where streams that were ignored by stream conditions are not indicated as being ignored (i.e., the ignoredBy is empty).
• Streams with WebVttConfigurations will now be trimmed with the same offset and duration as the video stream of the same Encoding if the FileInputStreamType is WEBVTT (This works now same as TTML and SRT FileInputStreamTypes already used to).
• Fixed an issue where output subtitle cues' timestamps were shifted by the value of the first video PTS, if FileInputStream is used for the subtitle stream
• KeyFrames are now working for streams with WebVttConfigurations

• Preset configurations for setting dynamicRangeFormat:
  • SDR for H264
  • HLG and SDR for VP9

• Removed deprecated AV1 API parameters which had no effect on visual quality but lead to higher encoding times.

• Support for adding an AAC or Dolby Atmos audio stream along with a Dolby Vision video stream to a MP4 muxing.
• Cloud regions AZURE_GERMANY_WESTCENTRAL, AZURE_EUROPE_NORTH and AZURE_UAE_NORTH are now supported. AZURE_UAE_CENTRAL is only accessible for UAE North customers requiring in-country disaster recovery (as per Microsoft), so it can only be used for Azure connect by those customers.

• Corrected the documentation for BIF distance which was not marked as required.

• Support DolbyVisionInputStreams together with other input stream types like IngestInputStream, AudioMixInputStream, etc.