FAQs
What is AWS Elemental Live?
AWS Elemental Live is an on-premises video processing system that provides real-time video and audio encoding for linear TV broadcast and live streaming to new media platforms. The appliance or software solution performs simultaneous processing of multiple video outputs, delivering the high-quality, high-efficiency performance required for encoding and formatting live video for any device. AWS Elemental Live is designed to integrate seamlessly into an end-to-end real-time video delivery workflow, evolve as technology requires, and maximize revenue opportunities.
When should I choose an AWS Elemental Live on-premises solution instead of the AWS Elemental MediaLive service?
AWS Elemental Live is best used for deployment on-premises to accommodate physical camera and router interfaces, managed network delivery, or network bandwidth constraints. A typical example is when using live cameras that output video in a baseband SDI source format; AWS Elemental Live lets you encode that source content on premises, at the highest possible quality, before contributing the video content to the cloud for further processing or moving it through the workflow for distribution. For video encoding workflows that are not limited to on-premises locations, cloud-based
AWS Elemental MediaLive processes live video with the same feature functionality as AWS Elemental Live along with the flexibility, agility, scale, and pay-as-you-go usability of AWS services.
What is real-time live video encoding?
In a video processing workflow, an encoder compresses a video stream—taking high-quality video as input, and producing smaller-sized versions as output—with as little loss as possible to the resulting picture quality. While this is a complicated task when working with pre-recorded video files, for live video it is made even more difficult as the video processing needs to work in real-time: the encoder must be powerful enough to produce exactly one second of video every second it runs without fail so that viewers see an uninterrupted video stream.
Does AWS Elemental Live work with AWS Elemental MediaConnect?
Yes, AWS Elemental Live can use
MediaConnect to send content from on-premises locations to the AWS Cloud. With the latest release of AWS Elemental Live software, simply enter the MediaConnect flow ARN (Amazon Resource Name) as the destination. For live video sources that originate on premises, such as from a broadcast center or an event location, AWS Elemental Live can provide the high-quality, high-bitrate contribution encoding.
How do I use AWS Elemental Live with AWS Elemental MediaPackage?
AWS Elemental Live can work with a range of just-in-time packing products including
AWS Elemental MediaPackage. To configure an AWS Elemental Live output for MediaPackage, simply create a channel with MediaPackage to get a destination address, then select HLS WebDAV for your AWS Elemental Live output and add the destination address. With MediaPackage, you can create output groups for multiple delivery protocols like HLS and DASH, add DRM and content protection, and a live archive window for DVR-like features.
What options does AWS Elemental Live support for content ingest?
A broad range of input formats are supported including MPEG Transport Stream, HLS, RTMP, SMPTE-2110, SMPTE 2022-6, SDI, and numerous file input formats.
What options does AWS Elemental Live support for content output?
AWS Elemental Live can simultaneously output a mix of streams at different resolutions and bitrates for multiple target platforms. Wrap streams in popular multiscreen formats such as Apple HLS, Microsoft Smooth Streaming, and MPEG-DASH protocols, or retain content in a base container for downstream packaging. In addition, support for broadcast formats such as unicast or multi-cast MPEG-TS and the ability to write directly to files including .MOV are included, making AWS Elemental Live highly versatile and suitable for nearly any application.