NEW – Streaming Input/Output Support

Version 5.5 of just:live and just:play introduces SRT, UDP and ST-2110 in/out capabilities, including VANC data support, alongside SDI and NDI® v.6.

SRT and UDP streams support the SMPTE 2038 specifications related to the transport of VANC data (e.g. CEA-708, OP-47, SCTE-104) for both the output and the live input.

SRT and UDP streams support ATSC A/53 closed captions in the MPEG transport stream for both the output and the live input. When using a live input, the ATSC A/53 closed captions are disabled if the stream contains SMPTE 2038 information.

SRT and UDP streams support SCTE-35 events in the MPEG transport stream for both the output and the live input. When using a live input, SCTE-35 is disabled if the stream contains SMPTE 2038 information. Any SCTE-104 events scheduled using the “Event” option will be automatically converted to SCTE-35.

Incoming SRT and UDP streams with MP2 (MPEG-1 Layer II) audio tracks in the MPEG transport stream are supported in addition to AAC-encoded audio.

NEW – Streaming Input/Output Support

Version 5 of just:live and just:play introduces NDI® in/out capabilities, including VANC data support, as well as additional output formats, namely SRT, UDP, and ST-2110 to follow in an upcoming point release.

ENHANCED – macOS Sonoma and Apple silicon M2 Support

Version 5 of just:live and just:play is macOS Sonoma (14.x) certified and fully qualified to run natively on the Apple silicon architecture including the amazing Apple Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro M2 models.
The combination of this highly efficient and powerful system architecture from Apple and our professional playout solution offers many advantages and benefits to both our customers and our future innovations. Version 5 will still support macOS Ventura (13.6.x) and Monterey (12.7.x) to ensure full deployment flexibility and safeguard our customer’s investment in our solutions. When using Realtime graphics playout, an Apple silicon-based hardware is required!

NEW – Extended Failover Control with new Rules Workflow

Since their first inception, our playout solutions for the macOS platform have been designed to provide the ability to control and trigger events as an essential part of the feature set. Starting with version 4.0 of our playout solutions, the Event capabilities were further expanded by adding support for HTTP/AppleScript and the ability to insert frame-accurate SCTE-104 triggers into the outgoing SDI signal. The new version 4.2 will introduce a new method to execute such events called “Rules”. Rules allow an unlimited number of events to be executed based on time (per day, hour, minute or second) so that there is no need to schedule repeating events in the timeline anymore. A specific use of the Rules mechanism is Automated Failover Control, which monitors the playout engine for health issues and executes frame accurate events such as switching to a redundant engine, a router port, or sending an email notification, to mitigate the impacts in case of an on-air engine fail or the necessity to perform channel maintenance tasks. 

NEW – macOS Ventura and Apple silicon M2/M2 Pro Support

Version 4.1 is macOS Ventura (13.x) certified and fully qualified to run natively on the Apple silicon architecture including the amazing Apple Mac Studio and Mac mini M2/M2 Pro models. The combination of this highly efficient and powerful system architecture from Apple and our professional ingest solution offers many advantages and benefits to both our customers and our future innovations.
Version 4.1 will still support macOS Monterey (12.6.x) and macOS Big Sur (11.7.x). We have partially tested compatibility with macOS Catalina (10.15.7) and expect that customers will be able to use this version of the macOS with v.4.1 as well, to ensure full deployment flexibility and safeguard our customer’s investment in our solutions. 

ENHANCED – Preview and Trim Growing Files

With Version 4.1 it is now possible to preview and trim growing movie files both in the Library for scheduled items (e.g. in just:live’s Workbench). While the movie is selected but not “loaded” in the preview (only showing the poster frame), the overlay will show the clip’s current duration as it grows. Once “loaded” (e.g. after playing the movie), the movie will no longer update automatically and you can only preview/play the clip up to the duration when you started playing the movie.

ENHANCED – Synchronise In-Points ad Poster Frames

In Version 4.1 we added a new preference option to the “Playout” preferences in Just Control to enable synchronising a movie’s in-point and poster frame. When enabled, after trimming a scheduled movie the poster frame is automatically set to the new in-point.

ENHANCED – SCTE-104 Splice Null Request

When creating SCTE-104 event presets, there is a new “Splice Null Request” option.

ENHANCED – Revised Failover Control Behaviour

In Version 4.1, when a channel with “Failover Control” activated is stopped in Just Control, the channel now first switches to the “REDUNDANT” state, including firing any defined events. This will remain the active Failover Control state until the channel is restarted.

NEW – Simple Graphics Option

Version 4.0 introduces a new way to use on-air graphics. This new feature is aimed at customers that do not necessarily require animated graphics for their channels but want to air a simple station bug or independently need to define two still images where one will be played by default for every element in the video track (movie, live event, and so on) and the other one whenever a live event is on air.

NEW – OP-47 and improved subtitle support 

Version 4.0 will support the insertion of OP-47 subtitles as VANC data into the SDI signal, either embedded in the MXF container or provided as EBU-STL or SRT sidecar files. In addition to that, sidecar files in the SCC, MCC, or SRT formats are now fully supported for CEA-608 or CEA-708 closed captions.

NEW – macOS Monterey and Apple silicon Support

With version 3.5 of our playout solutions just:live and just:play, we have introduced native Apple silicon and macOS Monterey (12.x) support. This means that all our playout solutions will run natively on both Apple silicon and Intel-based Mac hardware. Version 3.5 will still support macOS Catalina (10.15.7) and macOS Big Sur (11.7) to ensure full deployment flexibility.

NEW – composition:builder version 5.0

Version 3.5 includes a new version of Composition Builder, our realtime GFX editor. Composition Builder version 5.0 adds 64-bit support as well as compatibility with macOS Catalina, macOS Big Sur and macOS Monterey and runs natively on Apple silicon- and Intel-based Macs.

NEW – SCTE-104 Splice Events

Version 3.5 introduces “SCTE-104” to the list of devices in the “Events” tab in the Just Control Configuration window. Once activated, you can generate SCTE-104 “insert splice data” presets in the “Presets” tab. These presets can then be played out by scheduling them in an optional Event layer, that inserts SCTE-104 events into the VANC data of the SDI output signal.

NEW – HTTP GET/POST events

HTTP events have been extended to include both GET and POST methods in order to support more web services. To be able to send mail, an SMTP service provider account is required. We have been testing the free service from “SendGrid” and a preset has been added to make the setup as easy as possible.

NEW – Revised Failover Functionality

The channel configuration panel in version 3.5 has an additional “Failover” tab allowing you to define the event presets that should be executed when the channel is in any of these three states: “Primary”, “Redundant” and “Failover”. For each state, you might define the event preset that will switch a video router (AJA KUMO, Blackmagic Design VideoHub or ATEM) to the correct SDI input for the relevant “state” and a notification e-mail, GPI trigger or any other kind of supported event.