In the fast-paced world of video streaming, staying ahead of the curve requires continuous innovation and the ability to overcome complex challenges. Jet-Stream, a prominent provider of video streaming solutions, recently presented a hybrid live transcoding solution: MaelStrom Live. This remarkable technology was built to offer you enhanced control and an unmatched streaming experience.

To gain insights into the development process behind MaelStrom Live, we asked the talented team of Jet-Stream developers working on MaelStrom Live to answer a few questions. They shared their experiences, the challenges they encountered, and the rewarding moments that made the journey worthwhile.

How do you feel now that MaelStrom Live is officially released and available to customers?

Marijn Pool, an engineer at Jet-Stream: “Releasing MaelStrom Live was a tense moment since it is such a core piece of technology that connects to a lot of other services we offer. Seeing it live and functioning as expected feels great and it excites me to continue to work on it.”

What challenges did you face while developing this product, and how did you overcome them?

Marijn Pool: “A big challenge was connecting MaelStrom Live to all other services without any disruption to our customers. We developed MaelStrom Live as a standalone project that integrates into our existing platform via the same interfaces our customers have access to. This is more difficult compared to a tightly coupled system but gives more flexibility in the future to upgrade the system.”

What was the most rewarding aspect of developing MaelStrom Live?

Joshua Peper, the CTO at Jet-Stream: “The most rewarding aspect was the automation we implemented. We offered manual setup transcoding for years, but our customers were not in control of the bitrates and qualities. Also, they could not see it actually running. They had to go check the stream. So in essence, automated an exciting service we provided and in return, the customer gained control and has additional features available to him. Since the launch, we did not have any questions about the functionality so that makes all the efforts worthwhile.”.

What sets Jet-Stream’s live transcoding solution apart from others, and why everyone should choose it for their video streaming needs?

Joshua Peper: “In general, all transcodes offered by competitors use mostly the same underlying technology. This is needed to make the streams viewable on all devices. But how they implement it is very different. We made some choices, like redundant transcoding if you ingest your stream redundant. Normally that takes a lot of configuring in other platforms, we have that out of the box.

Another advantage is that we give our customers complete control over the quality and costs of their streams. This is made possible through our quite unique capability to manage transcoding qualities on a per-title and per-stream basis.

With MaelStrom Live, you have the flexibility to take the easy route by starting a live stream with just one click using OnAir 4K. Our platform will automatically initiate live transcoding, ensuring a seamless experience. Alternatively, you can select standard live transcoding profiles while setting up your live stream, allowing you to customize the transcoding process according to your preferences.

But here’s where things get really smart. If you want to take it to the next level, our platform enables you to personalize your transcoding profiles based on your specific needs. This level of customization empowers you to fine-tune the transcoding settings to meet your exact requirements.

And if you happen to be an expert in the field, you have the option to handle the transcoding yourself.“.

Marijn Pool: “And let’s not forget about the innovative combination of hybrid hardware and software, which enables us to offer an exceptional experience while helping our customers save money. Unlike relying on third-party services, running MaelStrom Live on our own Jet-Stream Cloud allows us to have greater control over the entire streaming process. This translates to improved reliability, faster response times, and enhanced security.“.

What kind of feedback have you received from early adopters of the MaelStrom Live?

Joshua Peper: “We received most feedback about the speed of it activating after your ingest stream is live. It can take up to 30 seconds. Not a real problem in production environments, but it is for testing, so we are working on detecting it earlier. We also had feedback about deleting and changing the profiles while they have active transcodes. Customers want this, but after explaining the consequences and logic needed, we have some measures in place and will create some more controls in the near future.”.

The journey of developing MaelStrom Live has been a true reflection of our unwavering dedication to innovation and our relentless pursuit of customer satisfaction. Throughout the development process, we faced numerous challenges, but our team’s determination and expertise allowed us to overcome them and deliver a product that surpasses expectations.

Would you like to see MaelStrom Live in action? Let’s schedule a discovery call! Or try Jet-Stream services with a test account!

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