Release Notes 2023/3

• We are pleased to formally announce the release of software branch 2.10, which incorporates significant additions in terms of major features.  

Notable new features include: 

1. Integration of a new 3D graphics engine.

The 3D graphics engine module is based on Godot game engine and allows creation of advanced visual effects for broadcast graphics such as 3D transitions, scriptable 3D and 2D visual elements. It also allows creations of custom 3D applications such as virtual studio, complex infographics, sport and other 3D graphics applications which can be generally programmed in a modern game engine. 

The following features come as part of the integration module: 

– Window or windowless mode of the game engine which allows both interactive 3D application and fully programmable application as well. 

– Output of the 3D engine in available in the media server as a live stream and can be used in all standard workflows such as playback in a program channel layer, output as fill+key, recording and others. 

– Integration of all live streams of circulating in the media-server as live video textures in the game engine allowing to use live capture, output of program channels and other modules in the gave engine. 

– Playback of all supported media file formats from the filesystem and media-database as a video texture in the game engine. 

– Playback of standard media-server 3D graphics compositions as video textures in the game engine allowing to use all the available PIP, text and counter objects including RSS and data integration. 

– Passing of events and commands between the game engine scripting engine and media-server action/event system allowing to integrate play-list and GPI events with game engine as well as sending commands to other media-server modules from the logic of the 3D application. 

– Support for Free-D protocol allowing to use real-time positioning data from cameras that support position data for visual studio integration. 

Godot Engine renders 2D and 3D scenes for the Godot game engine, considering camera tracking information. The module output generates a video stream with or without an alpha channel. 

This module enables the use of VR and AR technologies in TV and internet broadcasting. 

 Compatibility. 

A graphic card driver with Vulkan API support is recommended for Godot module to work. * To view the Vulkan SDK library version installed on the server, use OpenGL Extension Viewer. 

Projects prepared in Godot3 are supported with limitations and require prior verification. It is recommended to prepare projects in compatible versions. 

If you open an object previously edited in earlier Godot versions, you will get a message: “This project was last edited in a different Godot version: XX”. We recommend creating a backup copy of the project before proceeding. 

Virtual Reality 

The image shows an example of interaction between software modules in VR mode. 

Augmented Reality 

The image shows an example of interaction between software modules in AR mode. 

2D/3D Design 

The image shows an example of interaction between software modules in 2D/3D design mode. 

Functional elements in the diagram: 

Capture Modules are used to capture LIVE sources (live broadcasts, studio signals). 

RSS Feeder Module provides conversion of external data for display inside scenes. 

Program Module: 

Sends scene control commands to the Godot module (switching scenes, enabling animation, etc.). 

Sends data from the playlist to be displayed inside scenes (clip titles, artist names, geo tags and other information). 

Plays the scene rendering result by the playlist, with overlaying logos and other linear graphics of the channel. 

Playout Module provides signal output to an output board (SD, IP, etc.). 

AirManager client application: 

Provides playlist management of the Program module. 

Allows sending control commands to the Godot module manually (switching scenes, enabling animation, etc.). 

VideoStreamPlayer objects are used to output video streams inside scenes.

2. Media Recording

The Recorder and Recorder Manager components have been updated with the following improvements: 

• Integration with IN2IT for media transfer after and during recording 
• New web-based UI for Recorder Manager scheduler and Recorder control including timeline, job-list and “studio” control style 
• Scheduling of back-to-back recording for recorder manager 
• Continuous, chunk based, recording mode 
• Recording profile and source control directly from recording list 

3. External Audio support

Playout and Capture modules are now capable of output and reception of additional audio channels to and from system audio devices. Most notably this allows output to AES67/Dante devices in parallel to SDI output as well as capture from AES67/Dante devices and adding as additional audio channels to SDI captures. Both Playout and Capture modules allow for adding configurable delay adjustment for audio/video synchronization. 

4. AJA Playout and Capture cards

Capture and Playout modules now support cards produced by AJA Video Systems. 

The supported cards include: 

• Corvid (Developer) cards. 
• KONA (Desktop IO) cards. 
• T-Tap pro, IO X3 and IO 4K (Thunderbolt) devices. 

5. Integration with external MAM and Archive system

This release adds a new CMSSync application which allows for automated media transfer from external MAM and Archive system based on the currently loaded program channel playlists. 

The CMDSync app monitors the configured playlists and the contents of the playout media-database and requests missing media assets from an external MAM/Archive system. 

6. In addition to new major feature additions there are a lot of smaller incremental changes that were implemented in various components:

• In MaConnect application there is a new Media asset certificate/status toolbar for quick media status operations. 
• In AirMgr Broadcast window it’s now possible to select multiple lines and choose the “Selection Preview” command from the right mouse button menu. This allows to load multiple lines into the FileMonitor and preview the concatenations of playlist items. 
• The Segment Editor in AirMgr and MaConnect applications during “Cut” operations now asks for parameters for both segments in one dialog window. 
• Nielsen watermarking improvements and fixes. 
• The external subtitling module now support Fingertext devices. 
• Capture module allows to add separate delays for video and audio for audio/video synchronization adjustments. 
• The media-database now allows for detailed open files tracking for better workflow troubleshooting. 
• ProgramChannel module can now be configured to suppress generation of some playlist events and secondary events when the main/backup synchronization mode is active. 
• AirMgr marker displays CountDownToLine and CountDownToCondition now support audio alerts. 
• Added AirMgr marker display OutputStream which displays the current output url for IP outputs. 
• All UI elements that display webpages now use the WebView2 (Edge) component. 
• The WebPreview profiles in the media-database can now be configured for profile auto-creation. 
• Improved quality of the statistical multiplexing algorithm.  
• The ProgramChannel now allows for random clip selection/rotation from a predefined folder for automated ad/announce block generation 
• Transfermgr can now be configured to delete source media for failed transfers 
• ProgramChannel can now dump the current playlist in realtime using format templates 
• TransferMgr can now be used for transferring of stand-alone XML files 
• TransferMgr can now use the HouseNumber media attribute as the destination media ID 
• TransferMgr now supports MoveForAttach transfer mode 
• TransferMgr now supports segment extraction transfer mode 
• Media asset segment generation based on BXF metadata is now supported 
• Capture module now exports “Signal Present” flag via SNMP 
• EazyMuxer now supports manual source Suspend/Resume operations 
• Neovid service log now allows to create custom log windows/files using configurable log filters and extraction messages from logs of other services 
• MultiViewer module now allows output window position configuration for the “Soft” output driver 
• The LSM module now support the multi-camera output module 
• The Capture module now support built-in ColorKey and is capable of producing Fill+Key signal