Unified Remix: a Server Side Solution for Adaptive Bit-Rate Streaming with Inserted and Edited Media Content

Abstract

We present Unified Remix, our solution for adaptive bit-rate streaming of video presentations with inserted or edited content. The solution addresses three important challenges encountered when streaming personalized media presentations. First, it reduces vulnerability to ad blocking technologies and client-side playback deviations encountered when using manifest manipulation based methods. Second, it reduces storage and computational costs associated with alternative server side solutions such as brute force re-encoding or duplicate storage towards levels comparable to linear video streaming (VoD or Live). Third, it handles the multi-source, multi-DRM and multi-protocol aspects for modern video streaming natively in the workflow. The solution is based on a combination of existing proven streaming technologies such as Unified Origin and newly designed components such as the Remix MPEG-4 module. The framework uses standardized technologies such as MPEG-4 ISOBMFF, SMIL and MPEG-DASH. The components work together in a micro service architecture enabling flexible deployment using a (container) orchestration framework on premises or in the cloud. The solution is demonstrated in two use cases: content pre-/post/mid roll and Live Archive to VoD conversion. As many use cases can be implemented based upon Unified Remix, we envision it as a key component of professional video streaming platforms.