Creating & Broadcasting Playout 1.0 Channels

What are Playout 1.0 Channels

Playout 1.0 channels are linear live channels programmed with playlists of on-demand Zype-hosted videos in your Zype video library. Playout channel broadcasts are scheduled with a future start date/time and optional end date/time.

Playout channels can appear on your website and native applications in the same way live channels would appear. Zype supports the ability to program your channel, as well as the ability to enable paywalls or registration requirements.

Creating a Playout Channel Source Playlist

In order to create a Playout Channel, you must first create a playlist in the Zype Admin that contains all the video content you’d like to appear in your channel. You may already have an existing playlist you’d like to use as your Playout channel. Keepin mind, any playlists being used for Playout Channel creation must contain only Zype-hosted videos whose VOD transcoding profiles all match.

Within the video list view, you can select a sort order for easy programming by entering the playlist details view and selecting "Manage Videos":

Creating a New Playout Channel

Now that you've created or updated a source playlist, you can now create and schedule a new Playout 1.0 Channel.

Enter the channel creation flow by selecting Playout 1.0 (Linear or VOD) from the left side navigation menu and selecting the "Create New Playout Channel" button.

Follow the below steps to complete the channel creation flow:

Step 1: Describe your Playout Channel

First, you’ll need to provide basic details about your new Playout channel.

Title: Select a title that will be used as the channel title in any of your O&O app distribution. You can update this title later on.

Start time: Select a start time for your Playout to begin. As a guideline, Zype recommends allowing at least 24 hours for media processing from the time you create your channel to the time you would like to Playout to begin broadcasting. 

End time: Set an end date and time for your linear playout stream to conclude. This will determine when your stream will stop being sent to any assigned playout destinations. Leave this blank if you would like your playout channel to broadcast continuously, without an end time.

Loop: Set Loop to ON if you'd like to have your playout channel loop continuously back to the start of the program rundown at the conclusion of all scheduled video playback. This is a good option if you have a finite number of videos in your Playout channel playlist, but want to ensure playback continues undisrupted through a longer playout channel broadcast window. 

Step 2: Select and Validate Source Playlist

During this step, you will select the playlist that you want to use to create the program rundown for your Playout channel.

You will also need to determine whether to enable the "Restart from beginning" toggle when updating an already broadcasting channel. Turning this toggle ON will start broadcasting from the first video in your selected source playlist immediately upon saving the Playout channel.

Note: Only playlists containing Zype-Hosted videos whose transcoding profiles all match are supported for Playout Channel creation. You may also only use a parent playlist that is nested 1 level deep (i.e., has direct child playlists that contain videos). Additional nesting will result in validation errors when building your Playout Channel.

If your playlist contains non-Zype hosted videos or videos whose transcoding profiles do not match, you will see an error message when attempting to create your Playout Channel. You can read more about Playout Channel validations in this article.

Step 3: Confirm Program Rundown

Next you'll want to confirm that the programming for your Playout channel is as expected. From here, you can see the start and end time for each video in your channel according to your assigned start time.

If you would like to make changes to this rundown, you'll need to edit the source playlist through your playlists page. Read more on this in the section below, How to Update/Modify Playout Channels.

Step 4: Select Streaming Destinations

Next, choose which destinations you'd like to send your Playout stream to. If you do not see a destination in this list that you would like to distribute to, you can add it in the Create New Destinations page.

Step 5: Confirm Playout

Lastly, you'll confirm Playout. You'll have the option to preview broadcast before your scheduled Playout begins. For for information on this, read below in the Reviewing Playout Channel Broadcasts section.

How to Update/Modify Playout Channels

If you want to edit the details of an existing Playout channel, like the title or the start time, you can enter the Settings page of the channel by selecting the gear icon to the right of the channel name on the Playout channels page.

If you want to edit the rundown of an existing Playout channel, you must first edit the source playlist through your playlists page. Once done, re-enter the Playout channel Settings page and select “SAVE”.

Note: For Playout channels already broadcasting, once you update your rundown via the source playlist and select SAVE on the Playout channel Settings page, as soon as media broadcasting is completed the broadcast over at the top of the playlist.

How to Publish Playout Channels

Publishing to RTMP destinations

At the scheduled broadcast time, Zype will automatically begin broadcasting your Playout channel out to any assigned RTMP based destinations. You are responsible for ensuring that your RTMP destinations (e.g., YouTube Live or Twitch) are properly configured to receive the RTMP stream and "go live" on the platform where the linear live stream is being broadcasted.

Publishing HLS to O&O apps & websites

For O&O, you’ll see a new Playout channel video added to your Zype library for any Playout channels created. You can update the metadata, add a custom thumbnail, and then add this Playout channel to any curated playlist of your choosing just like any other video in your library.

Reviewing Playout Channel Broadcasts

You can preview your Playout broadcast at any time by returning to the Playout channels page and selecting either the channel name or the broadcast icon to the right of the channel name. 

This will bring you to the test broadcast view, where you can preview your Playout stream, review the Destination status, and Rundown.