Technical

[mainconcept]

I’m evaluating the MainConcept Live Encoder. I've installed the encoder and opened the web UI, however I cannot create an encoding Job. Why I cannot start any encodig on the freshly installed encoder? 
MainConcept Live Encoder requires license activation before using it. Please activate with your license ticket following the instruction described in the installation notes. The evaluation license is valid for 30 days while the purchased license has no limitation in time.

Do you have any performance benchmark information? For example, how many channels does one encoding server support? What are the actual resolutions and hardware specs for this? 
For an AVC-based Apple HLS and MPEG-DASH set as it is present in the MainConcept Live Encoder we can do 8 channels on an Intel Xeon E5-2699v4. This is basically using the most balanced presets with regards to quality and speed. If you can live with slightly lower quality, more channels are possible. This covers 1080p, 720p, SD, mobile in different flavors. Please keep in mind that the results can be influenced by the codec, resolution, bitrate, hardware, etc.  

Many people are talking about 8K these days? Will you also release such a version for HEVC?  
The MainConcept Live Encoder for HEVC 8K60p is already available today. Please request a free demo version on the MainConcept website. It is fully functional but only adds a watermark to the processed video and mutes audio from time to time. 

Does the MainConcept Live Encoder come with integrated DRM?  
No, DRM is not supported. It is basically more of a post-processing step whereas the MainConcept Live Encoder is rather focusing on the OTT encoding and packaging workflow.

Does the MainConcept Live Encoder support OTT content creation for both AVC and HEVC? 
Yes, it can generate DASH-264 as well as DASH-265 compliant content, incl. packaging  and MPD generation. Moreover, it can encode to HLS-AVC and HLS-HEVC footage, incl. packaging and playlist generation.

Do I need a separate application for uploading my content to a CDN? 
The MainConcept Live Encoder allows you to directly upload your encoded MPEG-DASH and HLS segments and playlist files to Akamai and Amazon Cloudfront CDNs. There are various options to configure the CDN upload directly within our software, so you do not need a second solution for this. 

I used local VLC Player to create a UDP@TS as input but cannot get an UDP input source working in the MainConcept Live Encoder. Can you help? 
There is a brief tutorial that shows how to setup a UDP source in the VLC Player. An MPEG-2 Video in TS was used for this. Please contact our Application Support for more information and a copy of this document. 

What AVC/H.264 Encoder is used inside the MainConcept Live Encoder: Does the current version come with the MainConcept H.264 Encoder or the x264_Encoder? I want to get a 2Mbps@720p@GOP=3s for good quality experience. Is it possible? 
It is using the MainConcept H.264 Encoder and it will give you very good quality results. However, depending on your quality requirements, you need to tweak the encoder settings because the default profiles try to find a good compromise between quality and speed.

[Olga Bulava]

For my HEVC encodings, I need highest encoding performance, but I don’t want to sacrifice quality. Can the MainConcept Live Encoder fulfil these requirements? 
Yes, the MainConcept Live Encoder is featuring Hybrid GPU accelerated HEVC Encoding that combines the power of NVIDIA’s RTX Graphics engine with the quality and control of MainConcept’s encoding technology to accelerate video encoding without sacrificing quality, i.e. you get software-like HEVC encoding quality in tremendous speed. 

How can I test playback of MPEG-DASH or HLS streaming output?  
A: For MPEG-DASH or Apple HLS playback, you need e.g. the DASH-IF Player, THEOplayer or the player from Bitmovin. Basically, you can use every player that supports MPEG-DASH or Apple HLS. However, many players only support H.264/AVC playback, so players supporting HEVC/H.265 are still not common.  

How can I test playback of RTMP streaming output?  
For RTMP you need to setup a Flash Media Server first that then sends the feed to a player or website supporting RTMP playback. 

Does the MainConcept Live Encoder support TS@UDP or RTP output?  
Yes, you can output content via TS over UDP, TS over RTP as well as TS over HTTP. 

I have a DeckLink card attached on my PC, and I see multiple DeckLink device selections in the input list. Why? 
MainConcept Live Encoder has native support on DeckLink cards, however it also detects devices in system frameworks. Please select our native DeckLink device handle named with all capital letters unless there is any specific reason not to. 

I don’t see an option for file import within the MainConcept Live Encoder. Isn’t this supported? 
No, this is not supported in the MainConcept Live Encoder. We have a different application for doing file transcoding, called TotalCode Studio. 

I need to add multi-language tracks to my HLS and MPEG-DASH encodings. Is this supported? 
Unfortunately, multi-audio track support for different languages is not yet supported but it is on our roadmap. 

I am looking for low latency encoding solution for CMAF. Is this already supported? 
Not yet, but we are already planning to add CMAF-DASH to the MainConcept Lice Encoder soon. 

I need to encode my live feed to both MPEG-DASH and HLS. Do I need to setup an encoder instance for each? 
No, if the encoding ladder and presets are basically the same, you only setup the different Output types (DASH and HLS). In this case, the encoding is only done once, but the segments are packaged differently (for MPEG-DASH and HLS). 

Can the MainConcept Live Encoder only be used via web UI? 
No, it can also be controlled via REST API for easy integration in your existing workflow. 

How can the REST API be used in the MainConcept Live Encoder? 
All data is expressed in either XML or JSON format.