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Assets

The assets page allows you to manage your assets. Assets need to be uploaded first to your platform using FTP or Webdav for more information see the Uploading Assets chapter.

We have 2 types of assets: Streaming and Download assets. In the table below we will explain the difference between the 2 assets types.

TypeDescription
DownloadDownloadable files are regular files like PDF and the new WebM and OGG formats. These files are served from a web server and will be fully downloaded. For non-video or video that can't be streamed this the normal and preferred way. For playing any video that supports being streamed, it is strongly recommend to use streaming.
StreamingA streaming file will be served by a streaming server, which will essentially send the file frame by frame to the viewer. An important advantage is that a streaming server does not allow downloading the file in full. This way the user can watch the video, but can't download it to the computer. If the user watches 50% of the video, only 50 % of the traffic is used. In case it was a download asset it would have been fully downloaded. We highly recommend to use Streaming assets. Please See Appendix G: Streamable files for supported formats.

Upload new VOD assets

New VoD assets may be uploaded through FTP or WebDAV. Once the upload has finished, VDO-X will process the new file and distribute it through the CDN. Please be aware that after a file is processed it cannot be downloaded from the ftp or webdav server. Please see Recommended encoding settings for recommended encoding settings for your video content.

Uploading files with FTP is the preferred way. We will explain the process below: First you need your FTP credentials. You can find your credentials on the API page. You see here Assets Ingest API. Below the access ingest api you find your FTP details. For your username and password you need to click on the Click here for login details button. Now that we have your login credentials it is time to open your FTP client. In this example I use FileZilla, which is an Open Source FTP client for all major platforms. It can be downloaded from the following page: https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?show_all=1 . When you start Filezilla you notice the Host:, Username and Password field. Here you need to put the credentials we found earlier. After this you click on quick connect.

Files uploaded to the / (root folder) are treated as streaming files. Files uploaded in the wwwroot are treated as download files. To upload a file you need to drop the file the the right pane (remote site). When the file finished uploading it will be processed in our CDN. After this you can find it in your assets.

upload vod asset

Please consider the following points:

  • It is not possible to delete files from the FTP dropbox. If you accidentally uploaded a wrong file you should wait until VDO-X processed the file and subsequently delete the file through the interface

  • Do not close the FTP connection before the upload has finished

  • You can create any number of sub-folders you want, but do not remove the wwwroot folder

  • If you're using both Windows and non-Windows systems and/or services, we strongly recommend to use either uppercase or lowercase (i.e. do not mix) when naming folders and files Don't use spaces in your filenames. Use dashes(-) instead

Managing your assets

You can manage your assets by clicking on the assets button in the control panel. Now you see all your assets. We have put some demo assets in your account to get you started.

upload vod asset

In the following table I will explain all columns on the asset page:

FieldDescription
SelectA checkbox to select the asset so you can manipulate it by using an action in the dropdown menu which can be found on the bottom of the page.
Password lockYou can lock this asset requiring viewers to enter a password. See password protection.
Token lockWith this button you can lock an asset. A token is needed to view the asset. See generating tokens.
GeoIP LockWith this button you can make the asset only available to a specific set of countries. When you click on the button a box wil open where you can select the allowed GeoIP groups. If you need to create custom GeoIP groups please see the GeoIP Group chapter in the manual.
FilenameThe filename of the asset. If you click on it you can rename the file. This is only the display name, the filename will be the same.
SizeThe file size of the asset.
TypeThe asset type of the file. This can be Download or Streaming please see the parent page for more information: Assets
BitrateThe bitrate of the asset. The bitrate will be presented in kbps or mbps.
ResolutionYou can find here the resolution of the asset, this only applies to video content of course.
DurationThe duration (time) of the asset.
UploadThe date and time the asset was uploaded to our system
StatisticsWhen you click on the icon you see the requests/minute/network of the given asset.
StatusThe status should always be a green checkmark. If it is not a green checkmark, then the asset is not available. And you should probably contact the support department of your reseller. When you click on the icon you get more information.
DeleteWith this button you delete (remove) the asset.
DistributeDistribute will mark the asset as popular and send the asset to one or multiple Bursting servers and to redirect new viewers to the Bursting server(s) (normally you don't need this function, because the system decides by it's own what is popular).
Purge cachesPurge caches will remove any caches in the CDN. If you have trouble watching the video, this may fix the issue (normally you don't need this function).
PublishWith this button a box will open which creates embed code for you. This can be our iFrame player or a link to one of our supported protocols. See Appendix E: Embed code Generator for more information.

You can also select multiple items by selecting the checkbox before the filename. After this you can select one of the following options in the -=actions=- dropdown menu:

ActionDescription
Embed codeWith this option a box will open which creates embed code for you. This can be our iFrame player or a link to one of our supported protocols. See Appendix E: Embed code Generator for more information.You can only select multiple items if the file is MP4 or WEBM. In this case the Embed code Generator will generate a HTML5 tag with the video's combined.
DeleteDelete the selected assets.
DistributeDistribute will mark the selected asset as popular and send the asset to one or multiple Bursting servers and to redirect new viewers to the Bursting server(s) (normally you don't need this function, because the system decides by it's own what is popular).
LockLock the selected assets. A token is needed to view the asset. Please see the API page for information about token generation.
UnlockUnlock the selected assets. A token is no longer needed to view the asset.
Group to multi bitrateGroup multiple assets of the same video with different bitrates as one combined asset. This way the viewer automatically decides what the best quality will be for the client. A box will open where you provide the information about the assets and the name for the combined asset. After this you can use the Publish button next to the combined asset. If you want you can also create your own smil file see Appendix D: Create your own multibitrate SMIL file.
Ungroup multi bitrate to singleYou can ungroup a multibitrate file. This way the combined asset will be removed and you get the assets as seperate files.
GeoIP lock filesGeoIP lock the selected assets. The assets will only be available to a specific set of countries. When you select this action a box wil open where you can select the allowed GeoIP groups. If you need to create custom GeoIP groups please see the GeoIP Group chapter in the manual.
Purge all caches for selected filesPurge caches will remove any caches in the CDN. If you have trouble watching the video, this may fix the issue (normally you don't need this function).

we recommend the following encoding settings

FieldDescription
ContainerMP4 (Only if applicable)
VideocodecH264
Keyframes2 seconds. When you are using 25 FPS you need to configure a keyframe every 50 frames
H264 profileWhen the resolution is below 1280720: Baseline 3.2 When the resolution is 1280720 or higher: High 4.1
Video bitrates424240 512 kbit (Baseline 3.2) 640360 1 mbit (Baseline 3.2) 1280720 2,5 mbit (High 4.1) 19201080 5 mbit (High 4.1)
AudiocodecAAC-LC or AAC when AAC is not an option for you, you should use MP3 Samplerate: 48kHz

Please see the following websites for more information: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/technotes/tn2224/_index.html http://www.lighterra.com/papers/videoencodingh264/ https://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html

The metadata Menu

The metadata menu is found by clicking on the name of the individual asset in the asset page of VDO-X, As the title suggests this is where you can change the metadata of the streaming of downloading asset.

metdatamenu

The Title, Description and Author options speak for them self, The keywords And Advertising categories are highly linked.

caution

Please use the Keyword box for your own keywords, and only use the checkboxes to interact with the IAB categories. The next time The menu is opened the categories will also be displayed in the keywords box, if you want to disable a category due so by unchecking the checkbox and not deleting it from the Keywords, this will not work.

The keywords and advertising categories are used to identify the content and suggest the next video for the viewer. In the keywords section you can add your own selection of keywords, the Ad categories section uses the IAB(Internet Advertising Bureau) standard for all the major categories, we have chosen not to include any of the subcategories.

The full list of IAB categories

  • IAB1 - Arts & Entertainment
  • IAB2 - Automotive
  • IAB3 - Business
  • IAB4 - Careers
  • IAB5 - Education
  • IAB6 - Family & Parenting
  • IAB7 - Health & Fitness
  • IAB8 - Food & Drink
  • IAB9 - Hobbies & Interests
  • IAB10 - Home & Garden
  • IAB11 - Law, Gov’t & Politics
  • IAB12 - News
  • IAB13 - Personal Finance
  • IAB14 - Society
  • IAB15 - Science
  • IAB16 - Pets
  • IAB17 - Sports
  • IAB18 - Style & Fashion
  • IAB19 - Technology & Computing
  • IAB20 - Travel
  • IAB21 - Real Estate
  • IAB22 - Shopping
  • IAB23 - Religion & Spirituality
  • IAB24 - Uncategorized
  • IAB25 - Non-Standard Content
  • IAB26 - Illegal Content

Subtitle tracks (WebVTT)

If you want to add subtitle tracks to your assets you can do so with WebVTT files. Our algorithm will combine the asset automatically if the WebVTT is named like the asset.

If you use our transcoding service, please upload the asset to the transcoding service first. After the transcoding is started you can upload the WebVTT as download asset. When the transcoding is finished the WebVTT will be automatically combined with the asset.

For example, if your video is named: my_video.mp4, the Dutch (NL) subtitle name would be my_video_NL.vtt. All languages that can be used are all ISO 639-1 language codes. Examples:

  • Dutch(NL): my_video_NL.vtt
  • English(EN): my_video_EN.vtt
  • Frysk/Frisian(FY): my_video_FY.vtt

Please upload the WebVTT files as a download asset, not as a streaming asset. These files cannot be streamed. They will be downloaded by the player when specified in the player parameters.

In the screen show below you see the subtitle tracks available for the asset. Selecting a subtitle track will automatically add it to the player embed information.

subtitle_selection

You can also add it to the player by using the GET parameters of the player. For example:

  • Single subtitle: &sub=subtitledemovideo_EN.vtt
  • Multiple subtitles: &sub=subtitledemovideo_EN.vtt%2Csubtitledemovideo_NL.vtt%2Csubtitledemovideo_FY.vtt

Special preview thumbnails track

There is a special text track format for thumbnail previews. You can add those to you assets by using the name my_video.vtt. It will automatically add it to an asset as a thumbnail track. You can add it to the GET parameters of the player using &thumbnails=my_video.vtt. For details see the player docs.