Stream Circle Unveils Advanced Features to Enhance Playout Solution

Stream Circle is thrilled to announce a suite of new features designed to elevate the performance, stability, and scalability of our playout solution. These enhancements ensure that broadcasters can deliver seamless, high-quality content with improved efficiency and reliability. Here’s a closer look at the innovative updates:

Stream Circle Caster Grid

Introducing the Stream Circle Caster Grid, a software-defined stream transcoding and recording tool. This powerful feature is designed to transform any stream format into another, while also providing comprehensive recording capabilities for all streams. The Caster Grid operates independently from the main Stream Circle playout infrastructure but is monitored by the same components, ensuring cohesive management and oversight.

Enhanced Live Feed Control

Our newly implemented live feed control offers detailed monitoring agents that meticulously track traffic, video quality, audio synchronization issues, black frames, and other failures. This feature also includes automated live feed restart capabilities based on predefined conditions and rules, ensuring uninterrupted and high-quality broadcast experiences.

Automated Primary/Secondary Server Handling

To further bolster reliability, Stream Circle now includes automated primary/secondary server handling. This feature leverages monitoring agents to track the behavior of all playout servers, automatically switching between servers as needed. Additionally, it can switch output streams and SDI routings according to predefined conditions, ensuring continuous and error-free broadcasting.

EPG Data Interfaces and APIs

Stream Circle has developed new EPG data interfaces and APIs to facilitate long-term Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data management. This enhancement is based on the schedule data and content metadata stored in the Stream Circle database, offering broadcasters seamless integration and efficient management of programming information.

Comprehensive Component Refactoring

We have undertaken a comprehensive refactoring of the entire Stream Circle ecosystem. This upgrade enhances scalability, stability, and monitoring across all levels, ensuring that our solution can handle growing demands and complex broadcasting environments with ease.

Conclusion

These advancements are designed to enhance the operational stability and scalability of the entire Stream Circle ecosystem across all deployment scenarios. The new playout server technology and live feed handling functions significantly increase operational safety, making Stream Circle the preferred choice for reliable and efficient broadcasting operations.

Discover how these new features can transform your broadcasting experience. Contact us today to learn more about Stream Circle’s cutting-edge playout solution and how it can benefit your operations.

Meet Stream Circle at IBC 2023

We are thrilled to express an invitation to you for the upcoming IBC 2023 This year, we are particularly excited to present our extensions and changes in the Stream Circle Playout Automation technology, poised to redefine the way content is managed and delivered.

In the dynamic world of broadcasting, precision and flexibility are paramount. Our latest Stream Circle releases bring a suite of features designed to empower broadcasters in their everyday operations. Say hello to live preview, an intuitive tool that allows real-time content assessment before airing. Seamlessly integrated, our playlist monitoring and editing feature ensures flawless programming.

Experience the power of live feed recording, capturing every moment for future use. With automated secondary event scheduling and parental guidance logo insertion, never miss a beat in your programming and ensure that viewers are aware of the content suitability. Failover management guarantees uninterrupted broadcasting, while event splitting maximizes content distribution efficiency and accuracy.

Stream Circle comes with intuitive and feature rich user environment

Embrace these cutting-edge enhancements, redefining the way you manage and deliver content to captivate your audience.

Whether you opt for cloud-based or on-premises installation, our comprehensive solution offers a consistent array of features designed to transform your broadcasting experience. Enjoy seamless content management, real-time scheduling, and dynamic graphics integration, ensuring your audience receives top-tier viewing. With both deployment options, you’ll have access to interactive elements, automated failover management, advanced playlist and live event control, and the flexibility to tailor broadcasts to your unique needs.

Whether in the cloud or on your premises, our feature-rich solution guarantees a seamless, efficient, and engaging broadcasting journey.

On top of the playout automation enter Tweenly, a cutting-edge graphics animation tool designed to revolutionize your broadcast graphics using the power of HTML. With its intuitive interface and versatile capabilities, Tweenly empowers broadcasters to create stunning animations that seamlessly integrate with your broadcasts.

Tweenly, feature rich animation broadcast graphics editor and cloud ecosystem

Plans and schedules combined together

If you were a Stream Circle user of previous versions, you know that the system had two types of programs – plan and schedule. A plan was a long-term preparation for the broadcast, and it could be freely edited and contain hundreds to dozens of items, yet loaded quickly in the system. However, before broadcasting by the playout, a plan had to be generated in the schedule for an on-air broadcast. The schedule could be further edited but at a certain price. The schedule involved the generation and technical preparation of all data for the playout microservice, which could cause slower loading. The user had to decide whether to work more at the plan or schedule levels, considering the differences between the two approaches.

The great news is that we have decided to unify this entire process. Whether you create a long-term plan at the level of the primary items or a short-term schedule fine-tuned by secondary events and branding for the given channel does not matter. In new Stream Circle versions, you set up, prepare and save the schedule, mark it as ready-to-air and let playout broadcast your programmed playlist.

Read more in documentation release notes or book a demo to learn more.

The first show at NAB New York 2022

It’s been about a month since the last show in Amsterdam, IBC 2022, and we’re already heading to the next one. Same solution of Stream Circle & Provys integration, this time across the ocean in New York! Keen to present for the first time in one week at NAB Show New York 2022.

Read more about the Stream Circle & Provys integration in the previous article.

The International Broadcasting Convention (IBC)
was held September 9-12 in Amsterdam after a three-year break

Stream Circle was delighted to present and attend exciting meetings with clients and partners. We came to show significant improvements in our product, namely our new playout control, editing monitor, and integration with the Provys traffic management solution. Thank everyone who met us for exciting discussions and insights, making the show memorable.

Improvements and changes in the industry

Among the presentation and meetings, IBC brings a chance to see the improvements and changes in the broadcasting industry. We noticed these interesting news:

   ●   There are exciting user experience improvements in various software products.
   ●   More and more end-user applications perform in browsers or applications using web technologies.
   ●   Component-based services and solutions form the platforms.

The news shapes these trends in the industry:

   ●   Traditional technology leaders move to cloud services.
   ●   There is a push to lower segment markets.
   ●   The solutions are strongly software-defined.
   ●   FAST channels are discussed everywhere.

Stream Circle’s position

How does Stream Circle fit into these trends?

   ●   Stream Circle is a software-defined and hardware-agnostic solution.
   ●   Stream Circle is deployable on-premise and in the cloud, with no changes required in the software.
   ●   Our end-user application is web native with all aspects, including monitoring and preview.
   ●   We are scaleable to support small as well as enterprise operations.
   ●   We integrate OTT platforms to support FAST channels natively.

We are happy to see the proof that Stream Circle perfectly sets and fits in with the news and trends on the market. If you are curious about more details, don’t hesitate to contact us to set up a demo or a meeting to discuss what we can do for your operations.

Stream Circle playout with the Provys broadcast traffic integration

The integration covers end-to-end content management, media management, planning, playout, and reporting workflows benefiting from the strengths of Provys and Stream Circle.

Provys is an enterprise broadcast traffic management software solution supporting all major processes of a broadcaster, from content and rights management to linear and non-linear planning, air-time sales, and production resource management.

Stream Circle is a TV channel automation and playout software platform ready to enrich the broadcasting experience of all players in the media market.

The whole solution stands on open interfaces and BXF data exchange standards, which are native and binding to both solutions. There is no limitation to installing integrated solutions on-premise and in a cloud environment.

One integration in two scenarios

Two workflows are designed based on the different usage scenarios:

1. content and metadata focused, or
2. end-to-end planning and playout focused.

Content and media metadata-based workflow

In this first scenario, PROVYS is in the role of a metadata database, and Stream Circle is in the position of a Media Asset Management system. The outcome workflow is as follows:

1. register new content media files in Stream Circle MAM, ingest and analyse its metadata
2. register titles – content metadata headers – in PROVYS a integrate title media metadata with Stream Circle – placeholder ingest
3. change media file metadata in Stream Circle and propagate these metadata to PROVYS
4. change title metadata in PROVYS and propagate these metadata to Stream Circle

End-to-end planning and playout-based workflow

In the second scenario, PROVYS takes the role of a planning tool, and Stream Circle shows its full-value playout component by mastering the playlist run. The outcome workflow is as follows:

1. prepare playlists in PROVYS using all content metadata from its library
2. enrich playlists in PROVYS with logos and secondary graphics
3. import playlists into Stream Circle
4. run the playlists in Stream Circle playout (modify as they run)
5. import as-run-logs into PROVYS following a real run-down of the playlist

We offer Stream Circle and PROVYS integration as a standard feature of PROVYS and the Stream Circle playout platform.