App Cloud
- Overview and general topics
- Product Updates
- Glossary
- The App Cloud SDK
- Creating an app template
- Tutorials
- Content optimization
- Development tips and best practices
- Packaging a template
- Creating apps from a template
- Publishing an app
- Delivering ads
- Push Notifications
- Analytics
- Managing users and accounts
Player Debugger
Resources
Creating Videos with Remote Assets Using the Media Module
Remote assets is a feature that is available only for Video Cloud Pro and Enterprise customers. If you are interested in upgrading your Video Cloud account, please contact Brightcove for more information.
This topic describes how to create videos in your Video Cloud account using remote assets. In the standard procedure for creating videos in your Video Cloud account, you upload video files, which then are maintained in the Brightcove system, together with their names, descriptions, tags, and other metadata. Under an alternative procedure, remote assets, you maintain your video files on your own or a third-party system and provide Brightcove with the URL of the video file when you create the video.
As an alternative to using the Media module, you can create videos with remote assets using:
- the Video Cloud FTP batch provisioning process
- the Media API
After you create a video using the remote assets approach, you can edit and manage your videos using the Media module, FTP batch provisioning, or the Media API.
Videos with remote assets are also used for live streaming in Video Cloud players. Read more about delivering live streams.
Accessing remote assets
All of your remote asset files must be available at a public URL, without any requirements for authentication or access control. If your remote assets are hosted by a CDN, the URL of the remote assets should be the URL of the assets in the CDN and not the URL on the origin server.
Adding a video with remote assets in the Media module
To add a video that uses remote assets to your Video Cloud media library:
- In the Media module, click Add Videos and select Remote Assets.
The Add Media to Library screen opens.
- Enter a display name for your video. This display name will be displayed in the Media module and also in the Video Cloud player.
- Enter properties for how your video will be delivered. Note that your choice of video type and delivery type may affect the other properties available.
| Property |
Description |
| Video Type | On-Demand or Live |
| Delivery Type | One of Akamai, Akamai HD, Limelight, HLS, or Other. See Choosing a Delivery Type for more information. |
| Service Type | For On-Demand, choose one of Streaming or Progressive Download. Select Progressive Download if you want your video to be available for delivery to mobile devices. You do not need to choose service type for Live, Akamai HD, or HLS. |
| Duration | The length of the video, in hh:mm:ss format. |
| Codec | One of H.264, On2, or Sorenson. Required only for On-Demand with Streaming and Akamai, Limelight, or Other. |
- Enter information for each video file that will be a rendition for this video. See Entering rendition information.
- Click the + icon to add another rendition to the video.
- Click Create Videos when you are finished.
Choosing a Delivery Type
You can choose one of the following delivery types for a video with remote assets:
- Akamai
- Akamai HD
- Limelight
- HLS
- Other
| delivery type | when to use it |
|---|---|
| Akamai | Your remote assets are on an Akamai CDN and will be served by Akamai FMS. |
| Akamai HD | Your remote assets are on an Akamai HD CDN and will be served by Akamai HD. If you choose Akamai HD and On-Demand, you do not need to choose streaming or progressive download. Akamai HD has its own service type. |
| Limelight | Your remote assets are on a Limelight CDN and will be served by Limelight FMS. |
| HLS | Your assets are on a supported CDN and use Apple HTTP Live Streaming. If you choose HLS, you do not need to choose streaming or progressive download. Videos with the HLS delivery type use their own service type. Renditions require only the URL property. |
| Other | Your assets are on a supported CDN other than Akamai or Limelight and do not use Apple HTTP Live Streaming. |
Entering rendition information
Depending on your video type (on-demand or live) and your delivery type, you must enter some or all of the following information for each rendition in your video. A red asterisk in the Add Media to Library screen indicates which fields are required. Read about how Video Cloud uses multiple renditions.
| rendition field | description |
|---|---|
| URL | Required for all renditions. This is the complete path to the file (or live stream) hosted on the remote server on the CDN. If the file is served using progressive download, then you must include the file name and extension for the file. You can also use a URL that re-directs to a URL that includes the file name and extension. |
| Stream name | Required for all types except Akamai HD and HLS. A stream name that will be appended to the URL. * See important note below |
| Encoding rate | The average total (video and audio) encoding rate of the video, in kbps. Required for On-demand, unless the delivery type is HLS. Important for Live, if you are using multiple renditions. |
| Frame width | The frame width of the video, in pixels. Optional, and unavailable for HLS. |
| Frame height | The frame height of the video, in pixels. Optional, and unavailable for HLS. |
* Note: to ensure that your content plays back successfully, it is important that you get the syntax for the Stream Name right. Correct syntax depends on the file type used in the stream, and does not include the ampersand (&) character if it is present between the server URL and the stream name. For Adobe FMS, the file extension is omitted for FLVs and MP3s. For MP4 and other h.264-compatible files, the file extension is retained.
Changing renditions for videos with remote assets
For videos with remote assets that were created in the Media module, you can add, remove, or change any of a video's rendition files in the Video Editor. To change a video's rendition files:
- Select the video in the Media module and open its Edit Video screen.
- Select Video Files. The Edit Video: Video Files edit screen displays information (video type, delivery type, duration, URL, encoding rate, dimensions) about the video rendition files associated with this video.
- In the Edit Video: Video Files edit screen, click the + icon to add a new rendition file and the - icon to remove an existing rendition file. Change the rendition URL and other information to change an existing rendition file.
Limitations
Only videos that were created in the Media module can be edited. Videos with remote assets that were created via the Media API or FTP batch provisioning cannot be edited in the Media module at this time, though they can still be edited via those other methods.
After you have created a video with remote assets in the Media module, you can edit its metadata like any other video. However, you cannot preview videos with remote assets in the Media module.
You cannot use the Media module's image capture feature to create thumbnail and video still images from videos with remote assets that use streaming (rather than progressive download) as the service type. You can supply thumbnail and video still images.
You cannot use the Media module to create or edit cue points for videos with remote assets.
Related topics
- Creating Videos with Remote Video Files Using FTP Batch Provisioning
- Creating Videos with Remote Assets using the Media API
- Delivering Live Streaming Video
