Release 2.0.0

Build date

2022-11-17

Release status

Type: Second production ready release

Release content

Product version

2.0.0

Release artifacts

Library details

libacl-ingest.so

Version: 8.0.0

Library containing the core Ingest functionality used by the acl-ingest executable.

libacl-productionpipeline.so

Version: 9.0.0

Library containing the MediaReceiver, MediaStreamer and ControlDataReceiver classes, used to implement a Rendering Engine. Also used by the acl-renderingengine application

libacl-controldatasender.so

Version: 8.0.0

Library containing the ControlDataSender class, used to send control messages to a ControlDataReceiver component.

Changelog

The supported OS has changed from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Official support for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is dropped from this release.

Ingest 8.0.0

• Changed to epoch aligned timestamps
• Improve duplicating and dropping of frames to cover up drifting cameras
• Expose counters for dropped, duplicated and lost frames per source in the REST API
• Fix a memory leak when generating thumbnails
• Interlaced sources are now shown in the REST API and correctly marked as interlaced
• Improved support for detecting connection and disconnection of SDI cables at runtime, as well as changes in the format of the sent SDI stream.
• Applications are now stopped by pressing Ctrl-C instead of pressing enter to prevent accidental stopping
• Thumbnails and source info are now cached for each source to improve response time in the REST API. This means that sources that are not connected to any production will only update its thumbnails and source info every ~5 seconds or so. Sources that are connected will update the info continuously.
• The field active for sources in the REST API was not working before and has now been removed in favor for a new field in_use which indicates if a source is currently being streamed somewhere or not.
• Log files will now get a unique name by appending the date of creation to the filename
• Log files will now have the same log level as the terminal output
• Appending the --help flag to the ingest executable will print information about the binary and list the environment variables
• A stack trace is now printed in case the application should crash

Rendering Engine 1.0.0

• First version of the Rendering Engine application
• Support for program, preview and cutting between them
• Support for fading between sources over a given time
• Support for graphics with key (alpha) by ingesting the fill and key (color and alpha) as two separate sources
• Support for fade to black
• Support for setting the audio volume per source

Production Pipeline 9.0.0

• Support for tally borders in the Multi-view generator with new API for setting and clearing the borders from the Rendering Engine in the MediaReceiver class.
• Updated API for passing video memory to and from the Rendering Engine, now uses RAII classes for automatic memory handling. See upgrade guide for more details.
• The MediaReceivernow passes the mRenderingTimestamp to the Rendering Engine, i.e. the timestamp when the frame was delivered.
• Alignment is internally rounded to the nearest even frame time. This together with the changes in the Ingest results in that the frames delivered to the RenderingEngine will have rendering timestamps that are evenly devisable by the frame time.
• PTS in MediaStreamers are now calculated based on the mRenderingTimestamp, instead of a newly taken timestamp when the frame was sent to the MediaStreamer. This will make the PTSes of the output streams equidistant, even if the Rendering Engine jitters slightly.
• New class PipelineSystemControllerInterfaceFactory to help Rendering Engine implementors in creation of SystemControllerConnections by reducing code duplication

Control Data Sender 8.0.0 and Control Data Receiver 9.0.0

• The control channel between ControlDataSenders and ControlDataReceivers are now encrypted by default. Read more about it in the security tutorial
• The support for connecting multiple ControlDataSenders or ControlDataReceivers to another ControlDataReceiver is temporarily disabled.

System Controller 2.0.0

• Added support for HTTPS communication with the REST API and encrypted connections between the components and the System Controller. Read about how to activate it in the security tutorial
• Components now automatically reconnects to the System Controller in case they loose connection to it. This means that the System Controller can be restarted during a broadcast and all components will automatically reconnect to it once it turns up again on the network. It also means that components can be started before the System Controller and get connected as soon as the System Controller is started
• REST API now features basic authentication. Read more about it in the security tutorial
• Streams (of audio and video) between Ingests and Production Pipelines are now automatically encrypted when set up by the System controller
• Control connections between Control Panels and Production Pipelines are now automatically encrypted when set up by the System controller
• Fix a bug where the System Controller would not search for the config file in all the directories listed in the documentation. Also make the application search in the application’s directory and not only the current working directory.
• New endpoint [PATCH] /pipelines/{uuid}/streamconnections/{connection_id} to change the alignment of an already created stream during runtime. Note that changing the alignment will cause the audio and video of that stream to make a sudden jump and/or freeze for a moment, so it is not recommended to do this on stream connections that are on air
• The endpoint [POST] /stream now has improved error messages in case the System Controller failed to start the stream. The endpoint also closes the Pipeline’s stream connection instead of leaving it open in case the Ingest failed to start the stream
• The [DELETE] endpoints for the specific components has been removed in favor for the general [DELETE] /components/{uuid} endpoint
• Fix a bug where the System Controller would crash in some rare cases when a component is shut down at the same time as a REST request is using that component.
• Fix some false positive log outputs

Known limitations

GPU performance

The GPU utilization in the Ingest status message is currently not working. Use intel_gpu_top and/or nvidia-smi instead.

Drivers

You need to install the CUDA Toolkit on Ingest machines, even if they don’t have Nvidia cards.

Number of Control Senders per Control Receiver

For now the system is limited to only connect one Control Sender (or Receiver) to another Control Receiver. This means that, for now, it is only possible to connect a single Control Panel to a production.

Audio channels

Only stereo audio is supported with two channels embedded per connected input.

Security issues

There is no rate limiting implemented in any of the components. Should the application be running in a network where ports are accessible to unauthorized users, there is a risk of a denial of service (DOS). The network should be configured with firewall rules closing out unauthorized users.

Encryption (HTTPS) is not enabled by default in acl-system-controller. This means that pre-shared keys (PSK) used for encrypted communication between components and the System Controller will be exchanged in the clear and could be revealed.

Client authentication is not enabled by default in acl-system-controller so anyone with access to HTTP on the machine hosting acl-system-controller will have access to the REST API.

Even when client authentication is enabled, there is no enforcement of the length or format of the password. Also note that HTTPS should be enabled when using client authentication since the credentials would otherwise be sent in clear text.

It is strongly recommended to enable both HTTPS and client authentication.