JW Player Module Advanced

Upgrade !!

Changelog JW Player Module Advanced 5.16.0 :

^ Upgrade to JW Player 8.16.0 Emsg metadata in MPEG-DASH streams,

Our metadata API events allow developers to listen for timed metadata embedded in the media file to signal the start and stop of an ad. This release adds support for parsing Event Message box events, or esmg, which carries ID3 metadata, often used in DASH streams.

Updates

Added support for triggering the on(meta) and on(metadataCueParsed) methods based on in-band emsg timed metadata.

^ Upgrade to JW Player 8.15.0, Connecting AMP Components

Google s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) have become ubiquitous for digital publishers, which is why we are excited to release AMP improvements in JW 8.15 and to our official AMP component, amp-jwplayer.
AMP is an open source HTML-based web component framework that enables media companies to easily create web pages that are compelling, smooth, and load near instantaneously. Developers will find that amp-jwplayer is now compatible with other AMP components, including amp-analytics, which allows video player data to be sent to any supported analytics platform, and amp-video-docking, which allows the player to stick to the page.

Updates

The VAST ad client, added support for the jwpseg macro from within VAST tags contained within a wrapper.
Improved playback resilience and error handling with some bad VPAID ad creatives.
Improved compatibility with the AMP framework and quality assurance capabilities of our amp-jwplayer component.
To supplement documentation we maintain on amp.dev, we created JW Player developer documentation on embedding an AMP player and working with AMP analytics.
Added a configuration option, playlistIndex, which enables a playlist to be loaded and start playback from any item within it, not just the first. The default of this option is a 0 index.

^ Upgrade to JW Player 8.14.0, Service Release

We are looking forward to updates later this year where we will be improving our Google AMP component and adding Samsung TV app support. In the meantime, this minor release contains under the hood service improvements, as well as small updates and bug fixes to ensure the player is the best it can be.

Updates
Core Player

Added a new property, cueType, to the addCues event, which adds a custom CSS class that can be used for additional cue styling in the format of .jw-cue-type-{cueType}.
Added a new CSS class .jw-cue-type-ads to ad cues so they can be styled separately from other cues, such as chapter markers.
Added support for 608 caption track names defined in the parent manifest via #EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=CLOSED-CAPTIONS tags.

Advertising

To the VAST client, added support for the VAST 4.1 viewableImpression node, which adds a tracking pixel to the page when the adImpression event fires based on whether the ad is viewable at that time.

Upgrade !!

Changelog JW Player Module Advanced 5.17.0 :

^ Upgrade to JW Player 8.17.0 Floating API

Few features have been as big of a sensation among our customers as the floating player, a configuration option released in 8.8.0. Ad viewability rates and view engagement increase when the player remains in view as a viewer scrolls, and can be enabled with the click of a button in the player builder in our dashboard or configured with a single line with JSON in the setup block.
Over the past year, you’ve shared ideas for other floating experiences including: when the page first loads, when the viewer reaches a certain point in an article, or on interaction (i.e.with a button). So, we have taken that feedback to create a new API to start and stop floating on command in 8.17.0.

Updates

Added a method, setFloating(), which starts and stops the player from floating, and getFloating(), which returns the current floating status.
Added a new configuration option in the floating object, mode, which defaults to notVisible, which is current behavior for floating when the original container would be out of view. always can be used to start floating and never stop unless updated with the API, and never can be used to not float, unless updated by API.
Made some big improvements to the way we do scheduling in the Google IMA client:
We now make ad request for each ad break, rather than creating a VMAP for the entire schedule for each playlist item.
The adRequest event has been changed to fire each time we make ad request to IMA SDK.
Added a new adLoaded event, which fires when IMA's LOADED event fires.
Deprecated the ability to use the playlistItem event to update an ad schedule. By the time that event fires, the schedule for the playlist item has already been created, so the change does not have an effect. Please use setPlaylistItemCallback to properly update the ad schedule.

Improved the message read aloud by a screen reader when the keyboard shortcuts toggle is selected.
Added the name of the menu the user will go back to if they leave a captions styling menu when using a screen reader.

Upgrade !!

Changelog JW Player Module Advanced 5.18.0 :

^ Upgrade to JW Player 8.18.0 2018+ Tizen Support Beta

The future of TV viewership is OTT, and along with our comprehensive app offering, we are re excited to announce beta support for embedding video players in Tizen apps on 2018+ Samsung smart TVs. Tizen is a web-based platform that is already capturing significant market share worldwide. Our beta offering works out of the box on these devices using the same web player library and setup configuration you know and love.

Updates

Added support for Tizen on 2018+ Samsung smart TVs.
Created a Tizen demo app to showcase our initial 2018+ beta support of this platform.
Added a new method, jwplayer().stopCasting(), which can be called to stop a casting session on a Chromecast device.
Added a new method, getPercentViewable, which takes no arguments and returns the visibility attribute from the player s model.
Added support for DRM robustness. To configure the player to use this feature, specify videoRobustness and/or audioRobustness in the playlist item source in the Widevine, Playready and Clearkey object within the DRM block.

Deprecations

Removed support for rendering 360/VR videos across all devices and streaming providers due to underutilization. The player will no longer recognize or render 360 videos as expected, though the videos will still play.

Upgrade !!

Changelog JW Player Module Advanced 5.19.0 :

^ Upgrade to JW Player 8.19.0 Apple Low Latency HLS Support

At last, streaming live video no longer sacrifices latency, or the delay between a moment captured on camera to when it is displayed to viewers.
In 2020, Apple, which developed the HLS format, amended its spec and added support for low latency in Safari across devices, and since then, the JW Player team has worked ceaselessly to bridge support across other browsers through our open-source maintainership of hlsjs.
We are excited to announce full, out of the box support for LL-HLS support in 8.19.0.

Updates

Core Player

Removed support for Flash, which was deprecated by Adobe on December 31, 2020.
Added out of the box support for low latency HLS streams, including partials, automatic playback rate adjustment, hold back, and part hold back. The player automatically detects low latency streams and goes into that mode with no additional configuration required.
Added support for low latency in JW Live Channels streams.
Added support for IMSC1 captions in HLS streams.
Added markup to discourage Google from displaying player error messages in search result snippets.
Removed a default value for liveSyncDuration. The player will no longer add a default of 25 to item sources.
Improved automatic latency defaults by starting HLS live streams with a latency based on the streams TARGET-DURATION or HOLD-BACK, in accordance with the HLS spec. This can still be overridden in browsers other than Safari by configuring liveSyncDuration, which used to default to 25 seconds.
Added duration, currentTime, seekRange, and metadata.currentTime to the seek event response.
Added targetLatency to time events. When playing live streams, the player will adjust playbackRate to meet the latency target.
Improved stream type detection for Yospace streams, which often contain query string parameters after the file extension.
Reduced fatal player errors caused by user agents represented as Safari that are really Chrome.
Added a new configuration option, horizontalVolumeSlider, that when optionally set to true, makes the volume slider appear horizontally, below the scroll bar, instead of above it.

New Features

Added a new configuration option to the advertising block, adTagParameters, an object, which supports custom parameter key value pairs with the DAI ad client.
Added a new configuration option to the advertising block, ppid, which can be used with the Google IMA client to pass a publisher provided id to the IMA SDK.
Added fallback support for Norwegian automated player translation. In addition to no, which is already supported, the player will now recognize html tag lang attributes of nn or nb as Norwegian as well. To customize text, please use the no object inside of the internationalization block regardless of which code is used in the page s lang attribute.

Known Issues

Due to a bug in 8.17.0+ affecting some player bidding customers, we will not update the biannual player release channel on its scheduled February 3 date. Instead, we will update it off schedule, on or before 8.20.0 in March. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Removed files from JW player media directory

- jwplayer.flash.swf
- provider.flash.js
- provider.hlsjs-progressive.js
- jwplayer.vr.js

Upgrade !!

Changelog JW Player Module Advanced 5.20.0 :

^ Upgrade to JW Player 8.19.0 OMID Ads in VAST

Pioneered by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the Open Measurement standard for video on the web is a giant leap forward in reducing the dependency on VPAID ads for viewability measurement.
Open Measurement gives publishers transparency and control to manage the third-party verification scripts rather than running them through the ad creatives themselves, where they cannot be accessed.
Our 8.20.0 release brings out of the box OMID-compliant XML support for this industry-wide specification through our VAST ad client.
Google is expecting to include full OMID support soon, which will be available through our Google IMA client as soon as it s available.

Updates

    Added support for OMID ads in the VAST client. No configuration is required; the player automatically handles verification when the XML is returned.
    To the VAST client, added the adVerifications node to the adImpression event response, which returns the parsed content of that element in an object.
    Added a new configuration option to the advertising object, allowedOmidVendors, which accepts an array and is supported in the VAST client. If not set or set as an empty array, all vendors can run. If set, only the resources from the listed vendors can run. All failures to run verification will be noted accordingly to the ad server.
    Improved stalling when there is significant drift from the edge of live streams.

Upgrade !!

Changelog JW Player Module Advanced 5.21.0 :

+ Support and tested with Joomla 4

^ Upgrade to JW Player 8.21.2 Picture in Picture

Picture in picture minimizes videos to a corner of the screen, allowing you to multitask in any other app or browser tab.
Picture in Picture, or PiP, as it s often shortened to, works at the operating system level, as compared to our floating player,
which only minimizes to a corner of the current browser tab and is not viewable when backgrounded.
We have added out of the box support across Chrome and Safari on desktop and mobile devices.

New Features

    Added support for playback in Picture in Picture mode across all supported browsers, including ads, captions, and playlists. Firefox and Internet Explorer do not support this feature.
    Configuration: Added a new configuration option, pipIcon, which defaults to enabled and adds a Picture in Picture icon and right click menu options to supported desktop browsers only. Setting this option to disabled will remove this icon, which you can also hide with CSS. On mobile devices, we have elected not to add an icon to our controls, but rather, PiP can be enabled through the operating system s native gestures and user interface on both iOS and Android.
    Added automatic localization support for the Picture in Picture icon tooltip and right click menu option across all supported languages, which can also be customized via the intl block with pipIcon.
    Javascript API: added a new event, adLoadedXML, which fires when the VAST ad client loads an ad tag. The response contains the same object properties as other ad events, such as adBreakId, adPlayId, adPosition, client, tag, etc, as well as an XML parameter that exposes the XML downloaded from the tag.
    Improved recovery of live DASH streams that buffer infinitely by implementing segment timeouts.

# Fix allowedOmidVendors configuration option.
# Fix omidSupport configuration option.