Time-shifting a channel's playback - AWS Elemental MediaTailor

Time-shifting a channel's playback

With MediaTailor channel assembly, you can time-shift a channel's playback. Time-shifting allows viewers to watch a channel's content at a time other than the original broadcast time. For example, a viewer can start watching a program from the beginning, even if they join the broadcast after it has started. Or, a viewer can pause a program and resume watching it later.

To time-shift a channel's playback, you add a start parameter to the channel's playback URL. The start parameter specifies the time when playback should begin, relative to the current time. For example, if the current time is 2:00 PM, and you want to start playback from 1:00 PM, you would set the start parameter to -3600, which is -1 hour in seconds.

The start parameter accepts both positive and negative values, in seconds:

  • Negative values indicate a time in the past, relative to the current time. For example, start=-3600 means "start playback from 1 hour ago."

  • Positive values indicate a time in the future, relative to the current time. For example, start=3600 means "start playback from 1 hour in the future."

The following example shows how to add the start parameter to a channel's playback URL:

https://a1b2c3d4e5f6.mediapackage.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/out/v1/examplechannel/index.m3u8?start=-3600

In this example, playback starts from 1 hour ago.

The start parameter is subject to the following limitations:

  • The maximum time-shift window is 24 hours in the past or future.

  • Time-shifting is only available for channels that use the linear playback mode.

  • Time-shifting is not available for channels that use the loop playback mode.

If you specify a start parameter that is outside the available time-shift window, MediaTailor returns an error.