Timeshift and startover for live
Overview
This document provides a detailed explanation of the Timeshift and Startover features, including their purpose, usage, and configuration.
Timeshift playback with ad replacement
Serverside.ai requests the playlist and manifest from the source and stores them in the channel cache for the configured period. This includes both content segment references and ad markers for later reuse.
When a client requests the Serverside.ai-enabled channel with an absolute start time, the playlist will begin at that point in the past, and all ad markers from that time onward in the source stream will be triggered at runtime for ad replacement.
Configuration
The content segment must remain available for the configured duration, as Serverside.ai doesn't cache or store the source stream segments.
The Timeshift Window is a channel-specific setting for HLS and DASH live streams, configured in seconds. By default, the maximum value allowed in the administration UI is one hour (3600 seconds).
If a Timeshift Window longer than one hour is needed, reach out to your contact at Equativ.
The channel cache needs to be built up after creating a new channel or resetting an existing one. During this period, the feature isn't fully functional.
The Timeshift Window can also be configured via the channel API:
{
"timeShiftWindow": 0
}Playback request
The absolute start point must be provided in the initial Serverside.ai channel request as a start query parameter, using ISO date and time format.
https://mydomain.com/:format/view/:channelID?api-key=:apiKey&start=YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ