Channel assembly enables you to create a linear stream by assembling your live, video-on-demand (VOD), and ad sources. The stream plays media sources in a scheduled sequence. Channel assembly also supports inserting ad breaks into media sources, which facilitates content monetization.
You are charged for channel assembly based on the running duration of channels and outbound traffic. For more information, see Billing of channel assembly.
Concepts
Source location
A source location represents the origin server where your media sources are stored. It can be a content delivery network (CDN), an Object Storage Service (OSS) bucket, or an HTTP server.
Source group
A source group identifies a specific package configuration, such as a particular resolution or packaged format. It is used to categorize different package configurations of a media source.
Source
A source represents a piece of content that can be accessed through the base URL of the source location combined with the relative path of the source group. VOD and live sources are supported.
Channel
A channel assembles your media sources into a linear stream. Each channel has one or more outputs that provide playback URLs. Each output is associated with a specific package configuration based on the source group. Make sure the source groups that the outputs require are configured for your media sources. A channel contains a schedule, which determines when media sources will play in the assembled stream.
Program
A program defines what content will be played at a scheduled time in a channel. Each program contains a VOD source or a live source from your source locations.
How it works
After you add programs to a channel and configure the outputs, channel assembly fetches manifests of each program from their respective source locations and assembles them into a single linear stream manifest for each output when the channel is started. For example, if a channel has three outputs, three assembled manifests will be generated for playback. Each output is assigned a playback URL.
A player sends a request to the assigned playback URL to access the channel and play the linear assembled stream.
If the playback mode of the channel is linear, each program in the schedule plays only once, back-to-back. Gaps between programs in the schedule are filled by the filler slate.
If the playback mode is loop, after the last program plays, playback loops back to the first program. Playback continues looping until you stop the channel. The loop mode does not support live sources.
Reference
To learn how to use channel assembly, see Get started with channel assembly.