IMAX StreamAware | On-Air is a unified end-to-end system that analyzes and informs video quality evaluation at scale using automation. It uses computationally efficient software-based probes to monitor content quality at all points in the video distribution and streaming pipeline.

The platform offloads the operational cost, complexity, and worry associated with the metadata and metrics that it produces to a cloud-based data platform called IMAX Insights. With IMAX Insights, IMAX assumes responsibility for data collection, storage, high-availability, redundancy and back-ups, which would otherwise be extremely difficult to deploy and manage on-prem.

The system architecture is illustrated below:

The customer-deployed component joins live video streams, analyzes them, and sends the resulting metrics, metadata and alerts to IMAX Insights, which is hosted and managed by IMAX on AWS. Users interact with the customer-deployed components to configure, manage, and view the real-time components of the system. IMAX Insights is used for holistic views of entire deployments, analytics, historical trending, and data integrations.

To deploy and operate the system, the necessary network policies and permissions must be in place.

• Seamless, enjoyable video experiences for your viewers Faster
• detection and resolution of audio, video, and closed caption delivery issues
• Reduction in operations costs due to automated quality checks
• Data-driven analysis for better business decisions

Key Features

General Features

IMAX StreamAware | On-Air is a content quality monitoring system designed for seamless integration and continuous monitoring of your live streams.

A key feature of this system is its alert configuration capability. This feature helps you identify where an issue originated, whether from specific vendors, software components, or hardware elements.

IMAX StreamAware | On-Air can be deployed through one of the approaches in the following table.

Security

IMAX StreamAware | On-Air’s video-capturing probes integrate seamlessly within your local environment. This placement of the probes within your environment ensures you retain complete control and privacy over your video assets.

Probes securely transmit only extracted metrics to IMAX Insights, IMAX’s SaaS data platform, ensuring that your video and image assets never leave your environment.

In standalone deployments of IMAX StreamAware | On-Air, is tasked with analyzing audio, video, closed captions, and other metadata.

The deployment process involves several key steps:

1. Acquisition of Deployment Files
2. Server Preparation
3. Installation Execution
4. License Acquisition

Detailed explanations of each of these processes are provided in the following sections.

Acquisition of Deployment Files

1. Request the Deploy RPM File and the Customer Configuration File from IMAX SCT

Server Preparation

1. Open necessary ports in the firewall and set up multicast packet acceptance.

   If a firewall is installed, open ports 443 and 1947. These are essential for secure web access (HTTPS) and user interface and license management functionalities.
   Multicast packet acceptance enables the server to handle multicast network traffic.

   firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=1947/tcp
   firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=443/tcp
   firewall-cmd --add-protocol=igmp
   firewall-cmd --permanent --add-protocol=igmp
   firewall-cmd --permanent --direct --add-rule ipv4 filter INPUT 0 -m
   pkttype --pkt-type multicast -j ACCEPT
   firewall-cmd --reload
   firewall-cmd --list-all
   

   
   

2. Generate SSH keys to allow secure, encrypted remote access to the server.

   ssh-keygen -t rsa
   

   
   

3. Copy the deploy RPM and customer config file to the server.

   scp ssimwave-livemonitor-deploy... <user>@<ip of server>:/var/tmp/
   scp customer.zip <user>@<ip of server>:/var/tmp/
   

   
   

4. Install the package dependencies. This sets up the necessary software and tools on the server that are required for IMAX StreamAware | On-Air to function properly.

   yum install ssimwave-livemonitor-deploy{version}.license.x86_64.rpm
   

   
   

5. Install the tmux terminal multiplexer. The tmux tool manages terminal sessions during installation and deployment.

   yum --disablerepo='*' --enablerepo='ssimwave-livemonitor-thirdparty-{version}-local' install tmux
   

   
   

6. Copy the {customername}.tar.gz site configuration file to /opt/ssimwave/deploy/etc/sites/.
   
   

7. Unzip {customername}.tar.gz.
   
   

8. Replace the A.B.C.D placeholder in the hosts file with your server’s IP addresses. If using a forward proxy, set http_proxy. This lets the server identify and communicate with the right network addresses.

   # cd /opt/ssimwave/deploy/etc/sites/{customername}/
   # cat hosts
   [livemonitor_standalone]
   A.B.C.D
   

Installation Execution

1. the deployment. As part of the installation, Ansible will disable SELinux. Disabling SELinux will cause the server to reboot. ssimwave-livemonitor-deploy employs Ansible to configure hosts during the deployment process.

   tmux
   ssimwave-livemonitor-deploy --site {customername} --release {version}
   

   
   

2. After the server reboots, run the following deployment command again.

   tmux
   ssimwave-livemonitor-deploy --site {customername} --release {version}
   

   
   

3. Confirm the successful installation of IMAX StreamAware | On-Air:
   a. In a Chrome web browser window, go to the IMAX StreamAware | On-Air landing page.
   b. Enter the credentials provided to you by your IMAX representative to log in. The web UI appears.

License Acquisition

1. From a CLI, generate a .c2v file. This file contains licensing information used to activate your StreamAware | On-Air license.

   # cd /opt/ssimwave/license-manager
   .hasp_update_d i Customer.c2v
   

   
   

2. Email the Customer.c2v file to sct-support@imax.com. You will receive a .v2c file.
   
   

3. Activate the IMAX StreamAware | On-Air license with the .v2c file.

   # cd /opt/ssimwave/license-manager
   ./hasp_update_d u [filename].v2c
   

   
   

4. Verify the license has been installed and activated.

   # cd /opt/ssimwave/livemonitor/bin
   # ./analyzer --version
   

   Version information and other details should be returned, confirming the license has been applied.

   Version             : 1.23.0-XXX
   Built               : 2022-12-XXXTXXX:XXX:XXX
   Git branch          : livemonitor/release/1.23.0
   Git commit hash     : XXX
   Git commit datetime : XXX
   

   
   

5. Restart IMAX StreamAware | On-Air to apply the license.

   systemctl restart ssimwave-livemonitor-trigger
   

   
   

6. Refresh the Chrome web browser and log in again.

Now that the IMAX StreamAware | On-Air software is licensed, you can view the status of your network, define alerts, and configure services.

In a cluster deployment, multiple central servers and application servers are used.

The central servers consist of a database cluster with synchronous replication across at least three nodes, load balancers, and a license server. These servers handle long-term storage and efficient request routing. HAProxy manages incoming database connections by routing them to a Heartbeat Database Galera cluster node. This occurs when an application server or an administrator accesses the heartbeat database using the virtual IP.

The application servers are dedicated to processing video streams and include a web server, a local database, and video probes using FFmpeg and SSIMPLUS. These servers manage live video streams, storing data and summaries in both local and central databases.

A centralized heartbeat cluster monitors the health of these nodes and the quality of services in real-time.

For customized cluster deployment guidance, please contact your IMAX support representative.

1. In a Chrome browser tab, enter the IP address of your IMAX StreamAware | On-Air instance. The login page appears.

2. Log into IMAX StreamAware | On-Air with your user credentials or single sign on.

   User Credentials

   1. Enter your Username and Password.
   2. Click Login.
      
      

   Single Sign On (SSO)

   1. Click the sign in button for the supported provider.
   2. Following the prompts.

Follow this path to access the Settings page:

1. On the Network page, select the tile of a Region. The Region page appears.
2. On the Region page, select the tile of a Market. The Market page appears.
3. At the top of the left panel, click the gear icon. The Settings page for the market appears.

Through a service, IMAX StreamAware | On-Air gathers raw data about stream performance to generate metrics that inform your decision making.

When several services within the same delivery stream have been created, they form a monitoring group.

Use the following steps to create a new service:

1. Navigate to the Settings page.

2. On the Settings page, click Add Service. The New Service section expands.

3. Enter the Service Tag. This is the name of the service.

4. Select an Alert Template to associate with the service.

   If you have not created an alert template, select the default template. After creating the service, you can create a custom alert template and associate it to the service.

5. Select the geographical location from the Monitoring Group dropdown menu.

6. Select the associated Market.

7. Enter the Application Node IP. You can fill this field with a server address obtained from the Server Manager page. If this field is left empty, the IMAX StreamAware | On-Air will automatically assign an IP address from an available server.

8. Select to enable or disable the Alignment. Alignment must be enabled to produce a full reference SSIMPLUS Viewer Score (FR SVS).

9. From the Service Type dropdown menu, select the type of stream.

10. Add the Source.

11. Add the Encoder Output.

12. Click Start to begin the service.

Add the source

1. Under Source, select the Type.

2. Enter the Name of the source.

3. Enter the Multicast Address. with the UDP port appended to the address, separated by a colon. For example: 232.1.1.1:1234.

4. Enter the SSM IP address.

5. (Multi Program Transport Streams) Enter the PID. If this field is left empty, IMAX StreamAware | On-Air will automatically find and fill in this value.

   The selected PID must be the video PID of the program to be analyzed.

6. (Optional) Click Add Stream to include an additional input stream and repeat steps 1-5.

Add the encoder output

1. Under Encoder Output, select the Type.

2. Enter the Name of the source.

3. Enter the Multicast Address. with the UDP port appended to the address, separated by a colon. For example: 232.1.1.1:1234.

4. Enter the SSM IP address.

5. (Multi Program Transport Streams) Enter the PID. If this field is left empty, IMAX StreamAware | On-Air will automatically find and fill in this value.

   The selected PID must be the video PID of the program to be analyzed.

6. Select a Device.

   Note!

   Unless a different list is requested, IMAX StreamAware | On-Air installations come, by default, configured to capture device-adaptive scores for the following devices (one device per category):

   1. iPad Pro 2021 12.9" (Tablet)
   2. XL2420T (Monitor)
   3. iPhone 13 Pro Max (Smartphone)
   4. Macbook Pro 16.2" (Laptop)
   5. OLED65C9PUA (TV)

7. Define the minimum acceptable SVS Threshold for streams output by the encoder.

   If the SVS falls below this threshold and SVS (QoE) alerts have been enabled in the template for the service, then a stream-level alert will be raised.

8. (Optional) Click Add Stream to include up to 4 additional encoder outputs and repeat steps 1-7.

The IMAX StreamAware | On-Air UI simplifies your stream management by offering bulk and single-item tools to facilitate changes within your services.

Clone a service

You can clone existing services to create copies to run on any of your markets.

Use the following steps to clone an existing service:

1. On the Settings page, click the Errors, Running, or Warning tab. The tab expands into a list of services.

2. In the menu of the desired service, click Clone. The cloned service appears in the New Services tab.

   Note!

   Except for the Service Tag, the cloned service will have identical metadata to the parent service. Be sure to rename the Service Tag if you want to convey a specific name.

3. Click Start. The cloned service moves to the Running tab and begins streaming.

Start one or all services

Stop one or all services

Remove one or all services

At the market level, IMAX StreamAware | On-Air allows you to bulk remove or remove single services.

IMAX StreamAware | On-Air enables you to export all services within a market as a downloadable JSON file to your local device. You can also import the JSON file to add services to a market. The use cases below require service export and import.

Export services

On the Settings page, click Export Services. A JSON file containing the metadata of all your services downloads to your local device.

Import services

Follow these steps to import services from a local device:

1. On the Settings page, click Import Services. A file selector appears.
2. Select a JSON file containing the metadata for your services. The file imports to your market.

Use the following steps to create a new alert template:

1. On the Settings page, click Manage Alert Templates. The Alert Template page appears.
2. Click Add a Template.
3. Enter a Template Name.
4. Define the Stream Priority.
5. Define the Service Alert Configuration settings.
6. For Video Alerts, Audio Alerts, and Closed Caption Alerts, define the alert settings for each applicable metric.
7. Click Save.

Stream Priority

Determines the weighting for each test stream for averaging of SVS and QoD values on the region page.

Service Alert Configuration

The following table lists the settings that can be configured for a service alert.

Alerts Settings

The following table lists settings that can be defined for most Video, Audio and Closed Caption alerts.

Edit an alert template

Follow these steps to make changes to an alert template:

1. On the Settings page, click Manage Alert Templates. The Alert Template page appears.

2. Select a template. The template settings appear.

3. Modify your template settings as needed.

   For information on configuring your template settings, see Create an alert template (steps 3-18).

4. Click Save.

Clone an alert template

Follow these steps to clone an alert template:

1. On the Settings page, click Manage Alert Templates. The Alert Template page appears.

2. Select a template. The template settings appear.

3. Click Clone.

4. Enter a new Template Name to distinguish the clone from its parent template.

5. Modify your template settings as needed.

   For information on configuring your template settings, see Create an alert template (steps 4-18).

6. Click Save.

Remove an alert template

Follow these steps to remove an alert template:

1. On the Settings page, click Manage Alert Templates. The Alert Template page appears.

2. Select a template. The template settings appear.

3. Click Remove. The alert template is deleted from your template list.

   Only unused alert templates can be removed.

You can apply and manage alerts at the service level to track real-time developments in a stream.

View service alerts

Follow these steps to access and view the alerts for a service:

1. On the Market page, click the name of a service. The Service page appears.
2. Click Alerts.
3. Click a tab to expand the Active alerts or Past alerts of the service.
4. Sort the alerts by severity state, PID, type, start date or time, and duration.

A capture enables you to record a sample of a stream within a service.

Create a manual capture

Follow these steps to create a manual capture for recording a sample of a stream within a service:

1. On the Market page, click the name of a service. The Service page appears.
2. In the left sidebar, click the Capture tab.
3. Click New manual capture. The Generate new capture settings appear.
4. Set the Capture duration.
5. Click the check box next to one or several streams. 6 Click Run.

Add a quality trigger capture

Follow these steps to add a quality trigger for recording a sample of a stream within a service:

1. On the Market page, click the name of a service. The Service page appears.
2. In the left sidebar, click the Capture tab.
3. Click the plus sign (+) next to Quality triggers. The New quality trigger settings appear.
4. Select a Trigger Type.
5. Set the Capture duration.
6. Click the CAPTURE check box next to one or several streams.
7. Click Save.

Add a time trigger capture

Follow these steps to add a time trigger for recording a sample of a stream within a service:

1. On the Market page, click the name of a service. The Service page appears.
2. In the left sidebar, click the Capture tab.
3. Click the plus sign (+) next to Time triggers. The New time trigger settings appear.
4. Select one or multiple days.
5. Define the Start Time.
6. Set the capture Duration.
7. Click the check box next to one or several streams.
8. Click Save.

The Network page displays an overview of the performance of all your services.

The left panel shows the network name, total number of services, and three summary performance metrics:

• Number of services in a critical state
• Number of services in a warning state
• Percentage of services in a critical or warning state

In the right main panel, you can group your services by regions. These regions are dimensions, such as environment, physical location, logical area, or content type classification.

A card representing each region displays the following information:

• Color status indicator for the services in the region
• Total number of services
• Percentage of services in a critical or warning state
• Number of services in a critical state
• Number of services in a warning state

Clicking on a region card, opens that specific region’s page.

Similar to the Network page, the Region page displays an overview of the performance of your services but grouped by market.

The left panel shows the region name, total number of services, and three summary performance metrics:

• Number of services in a critical state
• Number of services in a warning state
• Percentage of services in a critical or warning state

In the right main panel, a card representing each market displays the following information:

• Color status indicator for the services in the market
• Total number of services
• Percentage of services in a critical or warning state
• Number of services in a critical state
• Number of services in a warning state

Clicking on a market card, opens that specific market’s page.

The Market page allows you to assess the performance and health of a group of services.

The left panel shows the market name, total number of services, and two clickable tabs. Each tab contains its own metrics and content.

In the right main panel, three rows representing each severity state display video cards of your services.

• Color status indicator for the services
• Total number of services in the severity state tab
• Clickable thumbnails of the services

At the top of the page, you can toggle between different viewing options.

Clicking on the thumbnail of a service opens that specific service’s page.

The Services page captures information about streams in your network. This information is displayed across five tabs.

Service Tab

Alerts

Capture

Report

Config

The Server Manager page lists all the servers in the market.

The servers are grouped by status: Error, Idle, and Running.

Expanding a status row, reveals all the servers in that state. For each server, the following information is displayed:

• Server IP
• Server Time
• Uptime
• Number of Services
• Server Capacity

The Settings page enables you to view and manage all the services created in your account. To learn more about creating and managing services, refer to the Services section.

IMAX Insights, the data platform from IMAX, enables you to access immediate insights into the status and performance of various services configured through IMAX StreamAware | On-Air:

• Filter and display specific probes within your delivery pipeline
• View an overview of services with performance issues
• Identify problematic monitoring points within a monitoring group
• Preview real-time thumbnail streams*
• Examine details of specific services

Additionally, IMAX Insights features reporting dashboards that facilitate historical trend analysis, offering a comprehensive view of your service’s performance over time.

By default, IMAX Insights has four common prebuilt use cases.

Each use case has two data sets.

Create a video wall (Realtime)

1. On the IMAX Insights home page, click Realtime. The Welcome to Live Monitor page appears.
2. Click in the filter bar. The Add a filter popup window appears.
3. Define one or more filters. Each filter is defined by selecting options from the Dimension, Condition, and Value dropdown menus.

4. Click the refresh icon. Services that meet the criteria of the filters appear on the page.
5. (Optional) Click the SORT BY button to arrange the services by Status or Name.
6. (Optional) Click the row or panel icon to display the services as collapsed rows or as a wall of thumbnails.

Analyze a service (Realtime)

1. Create a video wall.
2. Click the caret at the end of a service row. The row expands and displays a real time thumbnail of the live stream for each monitoring group and active alerts.
3. Click the graph icon. The Service Details page in the IMAX Live Monitor UI displays.

Analyzing services (Historical/Trending)

1. From the IMAX Insights home page, click Historical / Trending. The Real-Time Monitoring - Summary page appears. The Services dashboard provides a high-level overview. The remaining dashboards on the page provide summaries of each data point.
2. In the Services dashboard, identify the service with the highest value in the Stream Alert column.
3. In the row of the service, click in the Service column. A popup menu appears.
4. Click Service Details… > Open link in new tab to drill into the details of the service. The Service Details page appears in a new tab.
5. (Optional) Click the Time Range box to change the time frame to analyze. The default time range is in the last 24 hours.

On the Service Details page, you will see the stream overview dashboard and dashboards detailing the alerts for each monitoring point.

Review perceptual quality (Historical/Trending)

1. From the IMAX Insights home page, click Historical / Trending. The Benchmarking Perceptual Quality - Summary page appears.
2. In the Services table, identify the service with the highest value in the Stream Alerts column.
3. In the row of the service, click in the Service column. A menu appears.
4. From the menu, click Service Details… > Open link in new tab to drill into the details of the perceptual quality. A new IMAX Insights tab opens and shows the Service Details page.
5. (Optional) Click the Time Range box to change the time frame to analyze. The default time range is in the last 24 hours.

The Service Details page provides detailed information about the stream, such as monitoring point details and alerts.

Encoder Performance

1. From the IMAX Insights home page, click Historical / Trending. The Encoder Performance - Summary page appears. This dashboard provides an overview of the services monitored.
2. To examine a specific service, click ⋯ > Service Details… > Open link in new tab next to the service name. The Service Details page appears in a new tab.

SLA Management

1. From the IMAX Insights home page, click SLA Management. The Home page appears.
2. The Summary page appears. This dashboard provides an overview of the services monitored and tracked metrics between the services.
3. To examine a specific service, click ⋯ > Service Details… > Open link in new tab next to the service name. The Service Details page appears in a new tab.