HLS ingest to MediaPackage with SCTE35

Question

Hello, I am using our custom live encoder and packager to do HLS ingest to AWS MediaPackage. The source video contains embedded SCTE35 markers for ad insertion (splice insert). Customer will be using MediaTailor for add replacement.

The problem I'm facing is that not all SCTE35 markers that are sent from our encoder is accepted/included in MediaPackage output endpoint, meaning not visible in the output HLS playlist. SCTE35 markers from our encoder are signalled both in HLS media playlist and embedded on a PID in the HLS TS segments. Every OUT cue is signalling duration and auto-return, and there is no overlap of the ad periods.

For the MediaPackage output endpoint I use HLS with "SCTE-35 enhanced" option.

I have tried different setups with regards to IDR/GOP size, HLS segment length, and not including audio to rule out possible alignment issues from our side. I have looked for patterns within the playlists and segments that are ingested to MediaPackage to understand why it sometimes works and sometimes fails, but fail to find any (I guess it works >50%)

Does any kind of documentation exists for how SCTE35 should be signalled when ingested to MediaPackage?

Any help is appreciated.

Answer

AWS Elemental MediaPackage will process SCTE35 markers from the input HLS playlists to provide the markers on HLS and DASH output endpoints.
Please see this link to review how MediaPackage processes SCTE35 markers.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/mediapackage/latest/ug/scte.html

If some of the SCTE35 messages are being passed through and others do not, it may be helpful to determine which messages are having a problem. Perhaps there is a format inconsistency or some other variation that causes the message not to be recognized. Given that some messages are working properly, it indicates likely differences btwn the good and failing messages.

If a test can be created with different SCTE35 messages sent every 60 sec, for 30 sec ad break, that may help isolate the problem.
Also you may consider testing with another encoder for comparison of MediaPackage outputs.

Answer

You seem to have a similar issue to us, splice insert signaling seems to be the keyword here.

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/medialive/latest/ug/getting-ready-set-the-ad-avail-mode.html

Reading the above you can see that if your signaling uses splice insert without any service descriptors it won't be treated as an ad avail. It could be that one of your signaling is picked up, either from the TS or from the playlist. In addition I did read somehere but can't seem to find it anymore that you're not supposed to mix between signaling on the input and just stick to one type.

You can interrogate the payload for your particular scte markers using this scte parser:

https://www.middleman.tv/scte35-parser

Good luck, hope this helps a bit :)

HLS ingest to MediaPackage with SCTE35

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