Introduction to Channels and Live Streaming
Introduction
Icareus Suite's Channels Management provides tools for service administrators to manage the channels and live streaming.
Channels are the streams of video content that can be everything from TV channels to web cam streams.
Each Channels has several properties, stream sources, program descriptions as well as video presets/profiles for different devices.
There are three different types of channels in Icareus Suite used for different needs:
- Linear channels; e.g. TV channel, web cam streams, etc. having one stream source linked to the channel
- Playlist channel – loop; e.g. channel where you play your limited number of ads or marketing videos, music videos, highlights etc. in a loop
- Playlist channel – time-based; Icareus Suite allows you to create a “real TV channel” by yourself, by adding your programs and commercials to the playlist and scheduling the programs to start on a specific day and time.
The landing page of the Channel Management page can be seen in the image below.
Main Features
Icareus Suite's Channel Management main features are:
| Feature | Description | Mandatory |
|---|---|---|
| Details | This feature is used to create the channel, configure the parameters, channel logos and publishing info. | Yes |
| Streams | The Streams feature is used to configure the stream(s) used for the channel. | Optional |
| EPG Events | EPG Events is used for managing the EPG on the stream. It is possible to manage the events manually or automate them. | No |
| Event Genres | Event Genres provides tools to automatically filter and categorize some EPG events to be used as part of the content service. | No |
| EPG Source | EPG source is used to automate the EPG data. Icareus Suite has built-in API for multiple different EPG formats including different XML versions. | No |
| Playlist | Playlist is an alternative for Streams (mentioned above). The Playlist feature is integrated with the Wowza media server, so that the service administrator can make their own channel (e.g. info channel) based on the assets on Icareus Suite. | Optional |
Simulcast | Simulcast enables users to stream to YouTube or Facebook via Icareus Suite Cloud. This way it is possible to have a single ingest point and reduce the network capacity requirement at source. | Optional |
Advanced | Includes all advanced metadata fields needed for e.g. in broadcast networks | Optional |
Search
Icareus Suite's Channel Management provide search tools to search for Channels. It is an especially useful feature for operators having hundreds of different channels.
The search bar is located in the Channel Management tab above the channel list. You can search by channel name, description or channel number.