Cisco Cisco MXE 3500 (Media Experience Engine) Guida Informativa
Q&A
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Live Transcoding and Streaming Services
Q.
What is live transcoding?
A.
It is the ability of the Cisco MXE 3500 to take in live IP feeds and transcode them in real time and output the
transcoded stream to a variety of endpoints.
Q.
How can I purchase live services for the Cisco MXE 3500?
A.
The Live transcoding feature is delivered as an add-on license to the base Cisco MXE 3500 services. In order to
use the live feature, you must purchase the live license for the Cisco MXE 3500.
Q.
What is the latency for live transcoding?
A.
The latency for live transcoded streams varies depending on the type of processing. Generally, the latency for
live broadcast ranges from 5 to 25 seconds. Because the primary use cases for this application are one-way
broadcasts (without interaction), these latency figures are well within the bounds of what typical users desire.
Q.
Does live transcoding deliver all the input and output formats supported for file-to-file transcoding?
A.
No. Live transcoding supports a subset of the list of formats available for file-to-file transcoding:
●
Input: MPEG-2 in MPEG2-TS, WMV
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Output: WMV, FLV, and H.264
Q.
During the processing of live streams, is it possible to perform graphics overlays?
A.
Yes, you can apply graphics templates to live transcoded content. Procedurally, the tasks are very similar to
how graphics are applied to VoD-based content.
Q.
Is it possible to perform color correction through the preprocessing functions?
A.
Yes, the live transcoding feature allows you to use the preprocessing functions applicable to VoD content. So,
for example, if you want to vary the contrast, hue, color, and other parameters to the live streams, you can use
the preprocessing profile to accomplish that.
Q.
Live events generally come with more stringent requirements for fault tolerance. How can I ensure
reliability to my live transcoding deployment?
A.
The optional Cisco MXE 3500 Resource Manager product allows you to have multiple Cisco MXEs in a fault-
tolerant cluster such that a failure to one of the Resource Nodes would result in the instantaneous transfer of
live transcoding operation (for FLV and H.264 only) to another Resource Node.
Q.
How can I ensure that enough resources are available for my live events?
A.
The optional Cisco MXE 3500 Resource Manager allows you to cluster multiple Cisco MXEs so you can easily
scale any deployment to meet the needs of even the most demanding live events. The Resource Manager can
intelligently load balance across multiple Cisco MXEs to ensure that resources are optimized.
Q.
What are the options for CDN (Content Delivery Network) products delivered by Cisco that may be used
for scalable content distribution for the MXE 3500?
A.
The Cisco MXE 3500 can send out live streams directly from the device, but it is not built to deliver the services
of a typical CDN product. The recommended deployment strategy is to perform the live transcode with the Cisco
MXE 3500 and deliver the stream to a CDN device for stream replication and other CDN-type services.
Q.
If I am sending the live stream to a region that does not have adequate bandwidth, how can the Cisco
MXE help?
A.
The Cisco MXE 3500 can transrate live video such that you can adjust content to ensure that the bit rate is at a
level that allows playback on virtually any environment.