Content Upload and Encoding Issues

Learn how to troubleshoot content that is stuck at the uploading stage or while encoding files.

There are a few possible reasons why content might get stuck during the uploading and/or encoding phases. Here are some things to check/keep in mind:

• You're not creating more than two VOD objects at a time. Please upload directly to your S3 bucket for files 20GB or higher.
• The Upload process might sometimes fail to initiate encoding causing the video object to get stuck. In such cases, email support to clear the queue.
• The transcoding process may stop unexpectedly after encoding but before the status is updated in Tools. Make sure the video file follows the file naming rules. 
• Clear the cookies and cache of your web browser or try using incognito mode. 
• VP9 DASH codec (DRM-transcoder) can take a bit longer time to encode. This is because the bitrates for DRM videos are higher as compared to H.264. 

Video File Naming

It's important to note that file names containing disallowed special characters, extra spaces, or extra periods will fail to get processed. And Image/video file names should only contain English characters and numbers. Hence, make sure your content follows these file naming rules before you add them to the Mezz bucket or upload them via the browser. For more information, see ViewLift Video Specs & File Naming Best Practices.

Audio Profile

As per the file specs article referenced above, make sure that your video source is a 2-channel stereo or dual-mono unless you are doing special project work with multi-language audio files.

The content ingestion workflow in ViewLift is compatible with Amazon S3 services for file storage. We run on AWS Elemental MediaConvert for transcoding VOD and AWS Elemental Live for live streaming. We also support Harmonic for encoding, especially well-suited for smaller-scale transcoding projects.

Monitor the content performance

Once your content is published, please monitor for any performance issues such as TTFB or buffering issues. If issues persist, we can provide your CDN's key (if it's not part of our group account) so you can debug the problem for yourself. Note also that the location of your viewers can also affect the streaming quality. Viewers who are located further away from your servers are more likely to experience some buffering.