Production Studio harnesses the power of Alibaba Cloud's ApsaraVideo Live and ApsaraVideo Media Processing services to transform traditional video production tools into cloud-based solutions. It features video AI recognition, bilingual translation, and a range of interactive capabilities to enhance video production effects, including dynamic tags, ET bilingual subtitles, and ad replacement. The service scales automatically, removing the need for hardware investments and enabling access from anywhere at any time. This topic provides an overview of the Production Studio service architecture, benefits, and features.
Service architecture
Scenarios
The production studio offers three types of production services: general mode, playlist mode, and virtual studio. Each type caters to different application scenarios.
General mode
General mode production studios are equipped with features such as multi-channel stream mixing, graphic packaging, and live subtitles. They are suitable for a variety of live streaming scenarios. Input sources can be live streams or video-on-demand (VOD) files, enabling multi-screen output. Images, text, and subtitles can be layered, allowing the insertion of watermarks, logos, banner text, and live subtitles into live streams to enrich the content.
When adding video sources to a general mode production studio, all sources are treated as live streams and are automatically parsed and played from the moment they are added. Switching video sources to PVW and PGM modes is based on the timing of the switch. To play a video source from the beginning upon switching, consider using a production studio in playlist mode.
Scenario | Description |
Event live streaming | By using the features of production studios in general mode, you can merge outputs from multiple camera angles and add components such as scoreboards. This mode supports event titles, commercial insertion, and sponsor pre-rolls. |
Live shopping | Co-streaming is supported. Image, text, and subtitle components can be overlaid. You can insert materials such as watermarks, logos, banner text, and live subtitles into live streams to enrich the live streaming effect. |
Enterprise live streaming | The PVW and PGM modes are supported. You can switch between the two modes at low latency. You can specify a standby video that is played before live streaming or when an emergency occurs. You can configure stream delay to delay the streaming output for up to 5 minutes. These capabilities ensure the continuity of live streaming. |
Live streaming solutions | Production studios in general mode are used in various live streaming scenarios. This mode provides various capabilities that can help meet your live streaming requirements and allow you to live stream in an efficient manner, such as real-time graphic packaging and multilingual subtitles. Live streaming service providers can integrate relevant Web SDKs to reduce development costs. |
Playlist mode
Playlist mode production studios are designed for quickly compiling multiple video programs and setting up carousel playback in live rooms. This mode enhances the diversity of live streaming scenarios and content types. Episodes can be added, removed, edited, and queried in an episode list, offering flexibility and ease of use for various business needs.
Playlist mode production studios do not support real-time graphic packaging of video sources. Watermarks, logos, banner text, or live subtitles cannot be inserted in this mode. Only sorting, editing, and deleting of video sources is possible.
Scenario | Description |
Radio, television, and new media | You can use a production studio in playlist mode to create live rooms for carousel playback of multiple video programs. This helps diversify live streaming scenarios and content forms. You can add, remove, modify, and query episodes in an episode list and modify episode content. This helps meet your specific requirements in different business scenarios in a flexible, easy, and collaborative manner. |
Newscast | You can create a production studio in playlist mode to play news programs 24/7 for viewers to watch. Commercials can be inserted every 30 minutes to help increase revenues. |
Pseudo-live streaming | For pseudo-live streams, production studios in playlist mode can be used to aggregate multiple episodes, videos, and image files. This helps partners diversify their video scenarios and content forms, addressing issues such as irregular live streaming schedules, limited content, or unstable user bases. Commercials can be automatically inserted in real time or based on schedules to help increase revenues. |
Entertainment live streaming | On entertainment live streaming platforms, some streamers conduct live streams in which they watch videos together with viewers. The videos that they watch can be added to production studios in playlist mode. After live streams end, the recordings and highlights can also be added. Such diversified content can attract more viewers and hold their attention longer. |
Virtual studio
Virtual studios offer a production mode for chroma keying, providing automatic and professional chroma key solutions for blue or green screens and real-scene backgrounds. They enable live streaming from multiple camera angles and locations using various devices. Cloud-based chroma keying facilitates diverse live streaming scenes such as dual screens, split-screens, and picture-in-picture, creating an immersive experience.
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Scenario |
Description |
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Live streaming and rebroadcasting of global events |
Virtual studios facilitate live streaming from multiple camera angles and locations using various devices. They can provide cross-site commentary for global events, feature multiple hosts for a single event, add titles, insert commercials, and include sponsor pre-roll ads, offering a rich live streaming experience. |
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Live streaming of e-commerce promotions and other activities |
Text and multimedia resources can enhance live streaming, with support for co-streaming, Q&A, online interaction, and live commentary. Backgrounds can be changed to suit business needs, providing an immersive viewing experience for the audience. |
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Program production |
Multiple camera angles can be switched to change the scene's perspective. Automatic and professional chroma keying for blue or green screens and real-scene backgrounds is available. Cloud-based chroma keying enables various live streaming scenes, such as dual screens, split-screens, and picture-in-picture, efficiently meeting program production requirements. |
Production studio functional areas
This section introduces the main components of the Production Studio operation area.
Upon creating a production studio instance and accessing the operation interface for the first time, the configuration panel will automatically be displayed. For subsequent visits, you can access the full configuration panel by clicking Live Settings located in the upper-right corner of the operation interface to set up the production studio.
Playlist mode introduction
Ordinal number | Description |
① | Adds an episode. |
② | Starts or stops live streaming. |
③ | Specifies the number of loops for the entire playlist. |
④ | Switches to a specific episode. |
⑤ | Adjusts the sequence of episodes in the playlist. |
⑥ | Removes the video source from the production studio. |
General mode/virtual studio introduction
Ordinal number | Area | Description |
① | Manage video sources |
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② | PVW | Production Studio video source monitoring and debugging area. The end user cannot view this stream. After debugging and previewing, you can click Sync To PGM to apply it to the program (PGM) area. |
③ | PGM | In this area, you can view the same live stream that the viewers are watching. |
④ | Manage layouts | Create multiple layouts for live streams. |
⑤ | Manage components | In this area, you can manage components such as images and text that are displayed on live streams in real time. |
⑥ | Subtitle management | In this area, you can manage subtitles that are displayed on live streams in real time. |
⑦ | Audio mixer | In this area, you can use the audio mixer to manage the audio of the produced live streams in program mode. For example, you can listen to the audio of the live stream and adjust the gain and volume of the output audio. Note You cannot adjust the gain of the audio in a virtual studio. |
Benefits
Benefit | Description |
Low latency | A production studio can reduce the latency of video switching to a minimum of 600 milliseconds based on the optimization of multi-link and multi-phase latency. This allows you to switch among videos almost instantly. |
Cost-effective | The cloud-based end-to-end processing architecture eliminates the need for you to purchase hardware or install software. You can use a production studio anytime, anywhere on a pay-as-you-go basis. |
Support for multiple content types | A production studio allows you to load videos from live streams or media files along with images, documents, and web pages. You can mix videos from up to 12 sources at the same time. |
Robust cloud infrastructure | Powerful cloud-based capabilities of Alibaba Cloud, such as video AI, translation, and live interaction, are incorporated as a part of the capability matrix of a production studio. |
Flexibility and ease of use | Production Studio provides multiple usage methods, such as console, API, and Web SDK. You can access the service without development. You can directly configure and manage video Production Studio in the console, or you can build your own production studio business based on API or SDK. |
Elasticity | You can purchase or release production studio instances based on your business requirements. |
Key features
Feature | Description |
Live stream switching and media file switching | Multiple types of content sources are supported. You can mix up to 12 input sources at the same time. |
PVW and PGM modes | The PVW and PGM modes are supported. You can switch between the two modes at low latency. |
Create a custom layout | You can create a custom layout to mix streams. Landscape and portrait layouts are supported. |
Standby resources and stream delay | You can play warm-up videos before live streaming or display standby resources in case of emergencies. You can also delay the playback of live streams for up to 5 minutes. |
Audio mixer | You can adjust the volume of output audio from multiple channels, adjust audio gain, and enable or disable audio follows video (AFV). |
Component overlay | Images, text, and subtitles can be overlaid, allowing you to insert components, such as watermarks, logo images, banner text, and live subtitles, into live streams. |
Live subtitles | Bilingual subtitles can be generated for live streams in real time by using the speech recognition technology. |
Automatic cloud-based recording | The output live streams are automatically recorded as video files in multiple formats. |
Wide range of definitions | You can choose from a wide range of definitions to accommodate various screen sizes across different devices. |
Production studios in playlist mode | You can use a production studio in playlist mode to create live rooms for carousel playback of multiple video programs. This helps diversify live streaming scenarios and content forms. You can add, remove, modify, and query episodes in an episode list and modify episode content. This helps meet your specific requirements in different business scenarios in a flexible, easy, and collaborative manner.
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Features
Category | Feature | Description |
Input sources | Live source | You can pull a live stream from a live center or directly enter a streaming URL:
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Media files | Video formats:
Important All media files must be uploaded to the video-on-demand (VOD) media library in advance. For more information, see the referenced document. | |
Output content | Live stream | The following protocols are supported:
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Live recordings | You can specify the recording length. The following recording formats are supported:
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Media asset processing | Video layouts | You can create custom multi-screen layouts and add live streams or media files to the screens. |
Live stream switching | You can switch among live streams. | |
Media file switching | You can switch among media files. | |
Component overlay | You can overlay text watermarks and image watermarks on videos. | |
Multi-view merging | Multi-view merging can merge multiple input streams from different viewpoints into a multi-view stream. | |
Cloud production | PVW and PGM modes | You can create custom multi-screen layouts and add live streams or media files to the screens. |
Standby resource | You can prepare a standby resource to switch in the event of a problem during live streaming. Only media files can be used as standby resources. | |
Relay | You can relay a live stream to third-party platforms to facilitate content distribution. | |
Stream delay | You can delay the playback of live streams. |