DVR

Turning on the DVR feature lets your viewers pause, rewind, and continue during the live stream.

How it works

– When a stream is pushed to a live streaming zone, it is assigned a session ID.

– The stream media is then separated into multiple HLS (.ts) segments.

The list of segments is stored in an ‘index_dvr.m3u8’ file for a set amount of time, depending on the configuration in the below DVR section.

– The client (player) then reads the index file and plays the segments (representing the timeline).

To enable DVR for your Live Stream sessions, follow the steps outlined below:

1. Log in to the Universal CDN Control Panel at my.ucdn.com.

2. Navigate to the Livestraming tab from the left menu section:

3. In case a Live Streaming Zone is not yet created, click on the ‘New Live stream’ button:

In case a Live Streaming zone is already created, click on the cogwheel icon next to the Live Streaming zone:

4. Locate the DVR Section

4.1 Enable DVR

Turning on the DVR feature lets your viewers pause, rewind, and continue during the live stream.

4.2 Keep full stream – keeps all .ts segments in the ‘index_dvr.m3u8’ file for each DVR session. You can later use the index file to re-play the full DVR session.

NOTE: It is recommended to keep this option disabled in cases of extended stream sessions.

4.3 DVR session timeout – determines the time period in which a stream push can reconnect to the UCDN streaming server, without the streaming session being terminated.

4.4 Stream rewind window – The maximum duration of a DVR session in which .ts segments are stored in the ‘index_dvr.m3u8’ file. This is independent from the amount of interruptions (stop/start) of the session.

Example: the rewind window is set to 4 hours. A stream is initiated and runs for 4 hours, during which all .ts segments are stored in the index file. After the 4 hour mark, the oldest .ts segments are removed from the index file in order to keep the new segments and retain the 4 hour window.

NOTE: Generating large index files will also increase the overall stream session’s traffic.

5. Click on the ‘Save Changes‘ button (if Live Stream Zone was already created) or the “Add Live Stream Zone” button (if a new zone is being created).

6. Manually stopping a DVR Session

If you wish to stop a DVR session after a stream session’s end and before the ‘DVR session timeout’ option has expired, use the ‘Stop DVR session’ button in the Main Settings section: