development KVS 5.2.0 development

[Tech Support]

 

Hi guys! Please make the same for albums! And if possible also for models.

 

 

We will see for albums, at the moment we didn't yet approach albums changes. For models and other categorization objects we do not plan changes at the moment.

[Tech Support]

Content stats plugin was enhanced in many ways:

1) Better handling of huge databases with millions of content

2) Data that are stored on storage system provides breakdown for each storage group

3) Plugin also provides ability to access previous calculations for the last 30 days

 

[kaopsa]

Please add an option to host the thumbs on a media server instead of the primary server.

 

Thank you.

[Tech Support]

Please add an option to host the thumbs on a media server instead of the primary server.

 

Thank you.

 

This is a huge effort, we will not be able to do that for now as it will take +2-3 more months of development and testing.

 

There is a workaround for doing this:

https://forum.kernel-video-sharing.com/forum/educational-support/educational-series/312-how-to-move-static-files-to-cdn-or-another-server-in-kvs

[davex]

small chunks, thanks!

[hbarnetworks]

Any Date on when this update will be available?

[Tech Support]

Any Date on when this update will be available?

 

No, still have conversion engine changes ongoing, too many reworking.

[Tech Support]

Logon block can now be used to auto-login users from 3rd-party apps by asking them to follow Single Sign-on link to your site. In order to enable this functionality you should first enable single_sign_on parameter in this block and set a secret key. This secret key will be used to generate SSO secure links for your users.

 

The important feature of SSO is that there is no need to add users to KVS before they can actually be logged in. When users open SSO link in their browser, KVS will validate the link security and will automatically log in the user that has been encrypted in this link. If there is no such user exist in KVS database, they will be automatically created in a transparent way. This is very convenient if you need to allow your forum or blog users to access KVS memberzone functionality - in this case they will only need to use SSO link to open KVS website and they will automatically get into their KVS profiles. However there are cons as well. Such users won't be able to access their KVS profiles using password, they will need to log in to your app first and then navigate to KVS using new SSO link.

[Tech Support]

Finally we are very close to finishing our biggest update on video screenshots and other video features. Here is a summary of latest changes in addition to what has already been posted in this topic.

 

Video posters

 

We added support for 3rd group of screenshots in addition to Overview and Timeline screenshots. The new set of screenshots is named Posters. These can be only uploaded manually.

 

 

In video screenshot editor it is now possible to switch between screenshots and posters:

 

 

Posters are also supported in import, export and feeds similar to overview screenshots.

[Tech Support]

Exporting feeds

 

Lots of changes are coming into feeds, as we decided to finalize them and implement all features that have been asked for them during the last years.

 

First of all we added support for specifying several traffic tracking parameters, instead of a single tracking parameter allowed before. Because in most cases multiple parameters are used:

 

 

Also we allowed using static filters to limit the content that appears in the feed, so that you can strictly limit which content is visible via the feed access point:

 

 

Last couple of options added to feed editor is whether you want to expose content source and channel data. This is not only about performance, but about data protection as well. Previously KVS feeds returned this data in 100% cases, even if you didn't want to expose it.

 

 

Another huge enhancement for exporting feeds is the new feed access point GUI, which is not old-fashioned text style anymore, but a newly designed form that allows selecting all feed options with few clicks.

 

If feed requires password, feed users will first be required to enter it to access feed form:

 

Main feed form contains of 2 parts, data feed and deleted data feed. For CSV feed format we also added ability to customize list separator (previously comma was forced) and enable quotation for all fields:

 

 

There are several more feed sections with filters (by category, by tag and etc.), video files configuration and URLs / embeds configuration:

 

 

In exporting feed implementation we did some important change in logic, which may brake some of your old feed usage after the update. Previously it was possible to specify video_format_standard=XXX option and to ask feed to return video files of a specific video format. However, if a video didn't have this format, feed could return any other existing format of the video, which looked confusing to the feed user.

 

We changed this behavior and feed will now return such videos with empty files, so that importing feeds triggered errors for them. The key concept is - if you specify that you want to import 1080p format file, then don't want to import other formats. This however will not act like "filter", e.g. it will not filter out videos that do not have 1080p format - the reason is that we don't have ability to filter on this without seriously affecting performance.

 

Due to this change in logic, we decided to also change parameter names for these 2 parameters: video_format_standard and video_format_premium. After the update, your feed users will see their importing feeds stopped working if they used these parameters and they will need to open feed URL and correct these parameters in options.

 

Finally deleted data feed provides very few options to get a list of deleted video URLs or IDs. For URLs it will also be possible to specify the same traffic tracking parameters that you used when generating data, so that deleted URLs are also generated in the same format:

 

[Tech Support]

Importing feeds

 

Importing feeds were updated to provide much easier integration between 2 KVS projects by using KVS feed type. Previously using CSV format was preferred, as it provided more control on the options, but now KVS feed format will become more powerful. Here are some details.

 

We did better logging and allowed configuring the maximum number of days to keep logs for each feed. Also each feed editor will now show stats from the latest feed execution:

 

 

Another important feature added to importing feeds is autodelete support. For KVS feed type you don't even need to specify deleted data URL, as it can be automatically built from feed URL. With regard to delete mode, it will be possible to either fully delete videos, or mark them as deleted with specifying delete reason:

 

 

Video filters were added to importing feeds in the similar way that we have them in grabbers. Even if your feed provides mixed data and you don't have filtering options available there, you can easily filter videos based on several quality criteria right in KVS importing feed settings:

 

 

In KVS importing feeds it will be possible to choose which data you want to import by simply checking the needed fields, it is much easier than matching CSV columns:

 

 

Also KVS feeds will allow to import videos with multiple video formats. This is extremely useful if you want to duplicate some part of your video database to another project without any reconversion, but just by copying video files:

 

 

Finally importing feeds will now support KVS grabbers API and can use grabbers to import videos. In this case they will use grabber settings to decide which data and how to import. But in addition to that you can also specify custom values for any data fields in feed data to override them from grabbers, similar to mass import:

 

[kaopsa]

 

This is a huge effort, we will not be able to do that for now as it will take +2-3 more months of development and testing.

 

There is a workaround for doing this:

https://forum.kernel-video-sharing.com/forum/educational-support/educational-series/312-how-to-move-static-files-to-cdn-or-another-server-in-kvs

 

 

This doesn't help. The purpose is to save some hd spaces on your main server which is usually on more expensive managed hosting. And put all your data ( images, thumbs and videos ) on a media server.

[Tech Support]

 

 

This doesn't help. The purpose is to save some hd spaces on your main server which is usually on more expensive managed hosting. And put all your data ( images, thumbs and videos ) on a media server.

 

It is actually possible by using NFS mount as described in the article:

 

2) The second option is to move the whole screenshots storage folder to a remote server using network filesystem (NFS mount).

[hbarnetworks]

Does by any chance allow the new update for comment hierarchy?

 

its a little odd that it isn't possible

[Tech Support]

Does by any chance allow the new update for comment hierarchy?

 

its a little odd that it isn't possible

 

Unfortunately not in 5.2.0.

[kaopsa]

 

It is actually possible by using NFS mount as described in the article:

 

 

 

Yes we could use NFS Mount if the hosting service is offering this option for $$. But isn't it basically the goal of a media server to provide hard drive space and bandwidth at a better price we don't need to host any media on a script managed server?

[Tech Support]

 

 

Yes we could use NFS Mount if the hosting service is offering this option for $$. But isn't it basically the goal of a media server to provide hard drive space and bandwidth at a better price we don't need to host any media on a script managed server?

 

For sure there are better and even much better ways to perform every task in the world, but we are where we are. We are doing everything possible to make this and other features into the future KVS releases. But it is not possible to do everything and make everybody happy.

[Tech Support]

There are set of changes added to KVS player VAST support and more of them coming into KVS VAST profiles soon.

 

At the moment we would like to share KVS player updates that can already be tried on any KVS versions 5.1.0 and 5.1.1:

 

1) KVS player will now support multiple VAST wrappers within the same VAST response. This is used by some advertisers to supply alternate ads if for some reason primary ad won't be displayed (typically because primary advertising supplier doesn't want to buy this traffic). If you are working with ad providers that support this, you are advised to update KVS player and check with your advertising company.

 

2) VAST timeout option will now work for individual wrappers, not for the whole VAST processing. It could be possible that your primary advertising supplier works slowly and triggers timeout, but in this case alternate provider will also have a chance to supply advertising.

 

3) KVS player will now render VPAID ads better and in consistent way with other players. Previously some ads were not working as expected, for example Youtube player used to spoof Youtube views for low-profile countries. This was due to HTML layout used in KVS player that was not common in other players. So we redesigned this to be consistent with others.

 

4) Better handling of autoskip functionality and pre-roll ads.

 

5) Valid error codes are now provided to VAST error handling.

 

In order to get these features you can update player file in your installation:

https://www.kvs-demo.com/player/kt_player.js

 

Important: Please note this update is possible for 5.1.0 and 5.1.1 KVS versions.

 

We would also like to remind you that starting from KVS 5.1.0 we added support for player stats (Stats -> Player stats). You can use these stats to track how good is your VAST configuration and your VAST advertiser. In many cases advertisers fill only some %% of ads (e.g. 50% or 70%), some advertisers could be blocked by ad blocker software. Most probably your advertiser will not want to show you how many advertising is not filled.

 

Use KVS player stats to analyze this! You can enable Pre-roll views, clicks, and more importantly errors column in the list, which shows how many pre-roll errors is there. If you have too many errors, you should consider some improvements in your VAST profile, or adding alternate VAST provider.

 

 

If you don't have anything in player stats, you should enable them in Settings -> Stats settings. If you see too many errors and you want to understand their details, you can enable error logging in Stats -> Player settings.

[Tech Support]

For vertical screenshots we did further improvements based on your feedback and added blurred background instead of black bars, please see below:

 

[hbarnetworks]

 

No, still have conversion engine changes ongoing, too many reworking.

 

oohh what changes exactly :D?

[Tech Support]

 

oohh what changes exactly :D?

 

All of them were described in this topic before.

[Tech Support]

Good news! Here is one of the last features in 5.2.0 and we are moving to prepare 5.2.0 beta next week.

 

In VAST advertising in player settings KVS will now support as many alternate VAST advertisers as you need (previously only 1 alternate VAST was supported):

 

 

Then we also modified GUI for VAST profiles.

 

First of all we changed logic for countries, allowing you to specify which countries should be included or excluded for this advertiser. IMPORTANT! This will make your existing VAST profiles work differently if they are using countries filtering, so they should be reconfigured after the update.

 

Old behavior: if some of the advertisers specified countries filter, then advertisers with empty countries automatically excluded all the countries that were listed in other advertisers. E.g. empty countries would mean "all other countries that were not listed in other advertisers".

 

Example:

- Advertiser 1 was configured for India;

- Advertiser 2 didn't list any countries that meant all other countries except India.

 

New behavior starting 5.2.0: advertisers with empty countries will not exclude any countries automatically. If you want them to exclude some countries, you should explicitly specify that.

 

Example:

- Advertiser 1 was configured for India;

- Advertiser 2 must be explicitly configured to exclude India, otherwise it will be used for all countries including India as well.

 

Here is the screenshot of the new GUI:

 

 

As you can also see, we added ability to exclude or include referrers. Why is this needed? If you purchase traffic from various traffic partners, some traffic partners will have stricter rules to the duration of preroll advertising and to ability to skip it. Such advertising typically has lower rates, so the idea here is that you are able to configure more profitable advertisers for referrers from other traffic channels. Plus, when a visitor initially comes from a traffic partner and then clicks on related video, this visitor is no more considered to be under restrictions and you can benefit from showing more profitable ads to them.

 

Also advertisers in VAST profiles will now all provide ability to specify alternate advertisers for them, so that you have absolute power to control player VAST and can maximize your profits.

 

Finally, starting with KVS 5.2.0 you won't need to manually update VAST subscription keys anymore, they will be automatically taken from KVS repository and silently updated when new keys are purchased. This will also include aliases, if you use them together with the primary domain.

 

[Tech Support]

KVS 5.2.0 update will be available in beta phase from Monday:

https://forum.kernel-video-sharing.com/forum/general-discussion/announcements/1342-kvs-5-2-0-update

[dUbs]

Good work KVS team! this update is looking great! I am most excited about the black bars being changed to a blurred image :)