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@peaBerberian peaBerberian released this 11 Dec 18:32
v3.10.0
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peaBerberian Paul Berberian
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Release 3.10.0 (2018-12-11)

Overview

The v3.10.0 brings a lot of features and improvements:

  • dash: the player now handle DASH' XLinks in "onLoad" resolution mode
  • dash: adaptation-set-switching is now available
  • compatibility: we improved the API to allow a cleaner management of browsers restrictive autoplay policies
  • compatibility: we fixed many other compatibility issues and inconsistencies
  • and more

DASH: XLink management for the "onLoad" resolution mode

XLink is a specification allowing to refer to external links in a given XML document. In the context of DASH, it can be used to define a single or multiple Periods not directly in the Manifest, but via another external ressource.

DASH' XLinks can come in two flavors:

  • in an "onLoad" resolution mode: the corresponding link is loaded as soon as the Manifest is loaded

  • in a "onRequest" resolution mode: the corresponding link is only loaded when we need it.

For the moment, only the onLoad flavor is handled, but onRequest support should come very soon in one of our next release.

DASH: adaptation-set-switching

The RxPlayer already handle advanced DASH features such as multiple media licenses for different media qualities.

This comes with several drawbacks however, such as the obligation to divide such qualities into separate DASH AdaptationSets, which the player precedently handled as different unrelated tracks. To allow seamless switching between those, we had to support a specific DASH feature called adaptation-set-switching.

As managing this advanced feature could complexify a lot our API, we decided to provide a straightforward implementation: "switchable" AdaptationSet having similar characteristics are now merged into a single RxPlayer's Adaptation.

This means that the RxPlayer definition of an Adaptation is slightly different than a DASH AdaptationSet. To clarify that difference, we decided to add a new documentation page.

Better autoplay policies management

Due to browser's policies a play action can be completely blocked by the browser. This is often done as a mechanism to prevent a video from being played without any user interaction.

To alert users when a call to play failed, we decided to bring two new features:

Compatibility improvements

As with the last releases, we continue towards improving our compatibility across all browsers:

  • we added a new warning: "MEDIA_ERR_METADATA_NOT_LOADED", triggered when we're unable to load the current content. For the moment, this problem has only been seen on the Samsung mobile browser, when playing a content in directfile mode. This error is documented here.

  • we re-defined when our LOADED state should be set, to be sure it is the same definition across all browsers. Until now, the state could arrive too soon on Firefox leading sometimes to a SEEKING or PAUSED state without any interaction.

  • we fixed an issue we had with Smooth Content on Edge, which prevented some contents to be played with that browser

  • we fixed an issue we had with the MediaCapabilitiesProber on Safari

  • we provide an implementation of Promise for browsers not supporting it

Deprecating NetworkError "xhr" property

To prepare the management of CMAF low-latency and other advanced features, we decided to deprecate the xhr property, as found in a NetworkError.

This is because those new features might lead us to use the fetch API instead of an XMLHttpRequest, which is necessary in the current NetworkError API.

Changelog

Features

  • dash: Manage xlinks in "onLoad" resolution model
  • dash: Implement AdaptationSet switching by merging similar and switchable AdaptationSet into a single track
  • compat: add MEDIA_ERR_METADATA_NOT_LOADED warning, triggered when the browser has issues with loading the initial data (only seen on the Samsung mobile browser in directfile mode)
  • compat: add MEDIA_ERR_PLAY_NOT_ALLOWED warning, triggered when the application tries to play but the current browser doesn't allow it (often due to autoplay policy)
  • api: the play API now returns a Promise, mirroring the original browser's play API

Deprecated

  • api: The xhr property from a NetworkError is now deprecated

Bug fixes

  • compat/smooth: fix fatal error BUFFER_APPEND_ERROR happening on some HSS contents with Edge
  • dash/smooth: never refresh the manifest if its content is not dynamic
  • dash/smooth: use new URL if the initial manifest request is redirected (again :/ - thanks @fnatte)
  • api: do not go out of the LOADING state if the metadata could not be fetched (even if the browser tells us otherwise) - to work around Samsung Browser bug
  • api: avoid going out of the LOADED state until the initial seek is done and metadata is fetched
  • compat: use Promise ponyfill to improve IE11 compatibility with the MediaCapabilitiesProber and some EME functionalities
  • api: translate most IETF language tags into corresponding ISO639-3 codes for the normalizedLanguage property - given from APIs such as getAvailableAudioTracks
  • tools: fix mediaCapabilitiesProber.getCompatibleDRMConfigurations experimental tool on Safari
  • api: filter out duplicates in getAvailableVideoBitrates and getAvailableAudioBitrates

Other improvements

  • dash: better infer unknown Period durations
  • dash: better manage overlapping Periods by giving more importance to the last chronological one
  • memory: clean-up Adaptation and Representation informations on Periods which are not considered anymore
  • log: warn through our logs every time a warning event is sent by the API
  • demo: authorize DRMs in IE11 or Safari when in HTTP in the demo page
  • demo: fix time indication for non-live contents
Assets 4
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