Appear TV has announced critical new features for its streaming portfolio, enabling just-in-time packaging with features for start-over, catch-up, nPVR and VOD.

Appear TV-1-MB-PIC-Laptop ABR

ABR Packager: Creates an environment for transcoding and publishing VOD content   

An integral part of numerous large-scale national and international OTT operations, the Adaptive Bitrate Server packager (ABR) enables just-in-time packaging with features for start-over, catch-up, nPVR and VOD. Operators can continue to deliver the latest in streaming technology at optimised operating costs, while incorporating the latest in security functionality. 

The latest ABR release now includes a complete end-to-end ABR workflow with the Appear software transcoder and the Nagra GO Live turnkey OTT solution, creating an effortless environment for transcoding and publishing VOD content and associated data. For operators looking to improve customer experience with UHD content, HDR10 dynamic range is now available live and on-demand. 

Content Protection Information Exchange Format (CPIX) from the DASH Industry Forum is designed to avoid vendor lock in and reduce technology fragmentation in the OTT space, and support all major DRM systems and playout formats. It allows for faster and more efficient integration between ABR and DRM vendors, resulting in a quicker launch of new OTT services. Appear claims that operators will be provided with an effortless path to CPIX implementation. 

In addition to live streaming, security requirements are needed for on-demand content. The Appear software-based storage solution (AMS) security features have been strengthened with CBCS encryption-at-rest. This offers industry standard safekeeping of stored content, while keeping the cost of encryption and decryption at a minimum. 

Through a partnership with Verimatrix, Appear’s support for the VCAS CEI 2.0 interface enables the use of VCAS instances in the cloud as well as on-premise. 

Geir Ertzaas, ABR R&D manager at Appear TV, said: “Appear TV retains our commitment to open standards, reducing our customers’ technological risk and need to invest in proprietary solutions. CPIX and CBCS are two of many features where Appear leads the way in standards adoption. For OTT operators looking to optimise their operation, it is good to know that ABR already supports CMAF packaging with common encryption. This enables the delivery of identical chunks for DASH and HLS video fragments, effectively cutting CDN costs in half.”