DENVER, Sept. 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wowza Media Systems™, the market leader in reliable streaming infrastructure solutions that enable applications to deliver to any device for any purpose, today announced a new version of the Wowza ClearCaster™ live encoding appliance. ClearCaster Pro is a new standard for encoder management and event monitoring that brings higher reliability and streamlined control to broadcast workflows. Ideal for production teams and media groups, ClearCaster Pro encoder and cloud-based manager provides teams with a single user interface that enables better control, monitoring and automation over hardware encoders and broadcast workflows.
Adding Powerful Control With Cloud-Based Workflow Management
Unlike traditional encoders that require local configuration and hold state, ClearCaster Pro leverages the power of the cloud to enable real-time encoder command and control, preventing configuration issues while streamlining encoder setup and broadcast management. Administrators can build custom configuration templates, create streamlined broadcast workflows and tailor the web-based UI controls to meet the unique needs of their broadcast team.
“ClearCaster utilizes encoder presets and defined workflows for popular streaming destinations like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, effectively allowing you to stream to anywhere,” said David Stubenvoll, CEO and co-founder at Wowza Media Systems. “Built for professional productions, ClearCaster Manager can remotely manage the technology from any web browser, providing the ability to start or stop streams, adjust settings, configure redundancy and much more.”
Collecting 100-plus stream health metrics in real time, event producers and streaming engineers can use the live and archived broadcast health metrics to quickly identify issues and maintain an audit trail over all broadcasts. From video source through first-mile network conditions, ClearCaster Pro empowers users with data so issues are prevented before going live.
Stream Monitoring and Adaptive Network Encoding
“The new monitoring feature gives me full confidence that my streams are happy and healthy,” said Rob Baynard, director at NowThis. “We cover a lot of breaking news at NowThis and run tons of live streams every day. The last thing I want to worry about is a failed stream. We already knew that ClearCaster was our most reliable encoding option, but now we can see that on display in real time. The new monitoring tool provides me with critical feedback on our stream health, bandwidth, temperature and CPU load on each of our machines. These are exactly the things I'm looking for when monitoring a stream. We’ve been using ClearCaster appliances from the beginning, and we're excited about its continual development. The new monitoring feature is just one more reason why we trust Wowza to help us deliver the best possible experience for our viewers.”
With its unique low-level network tracking metrics and diagnostics, users can enable the power of adaptive network encoding over RTMP to automatically recover from bandwidth issues. ClearCaster Pro constantly monitors low-level network metrics and performance, while automatically decreasing video streaming bitrate in adverse network conditions — ensuring broadcasts maintain smooth, buffer-free playback for end users.
Streamline Workflows With API Integrations
Using its centralized management API, ClearCaster Pro empowers broadcasters and service providers to quickly build fully automated workflows. Broadcasters can use the API to automate regularly scheduled events or integrate encoder control into their existing production tools. Service providers can use the API to create plug-and-play user experiences that increase encoder reliability through workflow automation and reduce customer support time through improved health monitoring.
“We are thrilled to integrate ClearCaster Pro into our Encoder Management solution stack,” said James Broberg, CEO and founder of StreamShark. “The centralized API enabled us to integrate using just a few API calls. We were able to achieve end-to-end testing in hours and get up and running in production in just a few weeks.”
Wowza ClearCaster Pro is proud to demo API integrations with Singular.Live, Streamshark and Facebook — as well as a preferred live encoding configuration for Vimeo — at IBC2019. As the industry’s most influential media, entertainment and technology event, IBC2019 will be held on Sept. 13-17 at the RAI Convention Centre in Amsterdam. Each company will use ClearCaster Pro to streamline their AV system workflow automation for end-to-end streaming.
Additionally, Facebook will have a live production studio powered by Wowza ClearCaster Pro in their stand (Hall 14.B31) at IBC.
ClearCaster Pro Tech Specs
The ClearCaster Pro 1 RU unit meets the needs of all professional broadcast workflows. The appliance takes in up to 4kp30 via HDMI, HD-SDI or IP inputs including MPEG-TS and SRT. The encoder can output H.265/H.264 (HEVC/AVC) video over standard formats like RTMP, SRT and MPEG-TS (unicast, multicast) as either a single, high-quality contribution stream or a multi-output/multi-target syndicated feed. The 1 RU unit is perfect for studio production, on-site events and broadcast facilities. It is available directly at wowza.com/products/clearcaster or from a worldwide network of resellers and distributors.
About Wowza
Wowza is the market leader in providing reliable streaming infrastructure that enables applications to deliver to any device, anywhere, at any scale, for any purpose. Dedicated to fueling the explosion of live streaming by ensuring the best possible user experience, we apply our deep knowledge and years of experience to provide reliable streaming solutions to video platforms (broadcasters, CDNs, OVPs, EVPs) and product/app builders in retail, live commerce, auction, government, security, mobile, etc., as they use live streaming to engage their audiences and enhance their products. Through our battle-tested software, hardware and services, we tailor infrastructure for any use case to handle the difficult process of streaming.