Product Updates

As part of our 2017 and 2018 initiatives for deeper synchronous and asynchronous video capabilities, we have completed our work on adding new infrastructure alongside our RTMP-based Live Streaming (with our Flash-based Live Stream Player) to include HLS Live Streaming with a new HTML5 Live Player. This HTML5 Live Player works with the newer HLS infrastructure and adds a new ability to pause and resume Live Streams, as well as single-click Jump-to-Live.

Our Operations Team will continue to operate both sets of infrastructure while institutions migrate to the new capabilities. To ensure a smooth transition as we increase capacity, we’ve turned off tablet and mobile live streaming through November however this will be enabled in December. This release is part of a larger initiative around Live Streaming workflows that we’re excited to offer our partner institutions.

To take advantage of this new infrastructure, please update your Software Station applications. Appliances do not need a firmware update.

We have successfully pushed an update to all zones. This release includes:

1. Improved Hardware Hub firmware which includes support for SDI and HDMI embedded audio within HLS-based Live Streaming, support for Hardware Appliance-based OCR meta-layer creation, and improved error and alert reporting. To receive this firmware update, please contact your Account Manager to receive an update appointment.
2. New System Alert tab within the Admin Panel that enables Administrators to send custom email notices to users of the Platform within their organization including – but not limited to – internal policy changes, notices of newly available media relevant to all users, upcoming user training sessions, etc.
3. Minor version update of the Software Capture for PC including general availability for screen region capture, improved behavior when the desktop icon is clicked on during an active capture, and more. We will be releasing another minor application update with some additional capabilities in a few weeks.
4. General availability of Recycle Bin capability with an Admin-configurable retention period. The organization’s Administrators can establish a retention period (default is 30 days) for all users. All deleted media automatically goes to the user’s Recycle Bin (underneath their My Account) where it be self-recovered prior to the retention period.

We also added about 65+ additional smaller features and improvements such as new third-party captioning vendor support, minor update to the Android app to support uploading locally stored photos and videos, and more.

To take advantage of these new capabilities, you may need to clear your browser cache.

We have successfully pushed an update to all zones. This release includes:

1. New YuJa Software Station for PC binaries which includes:
   • Improved MPEG restoration capabilities in instances where capture-only sessions are terminated abruptly (forgetting to press Stop, premature machine termination, abrupt logout)
   • “Robustification” of PC-based software capture automation
   • New capabilities within Watch Point ingestion, namely ability to select a Publish location and Owner
   • A dozen or so smaller bug fixes and UI improvements

   Note: We will be performing one additional PC Software Capture application update within the next month as we roll-out fully HTML5-based live-streaming capabilities across all capture platforms, including the ability to “pause and resume” Live Streams. We have already rolled out HTML5-based live streaming to some zones and are pleased with the response. We will continue to broaden this in the next release. RTMP-based Adobe Flash streaming will continue to be officially supported by YuJa Product Support for approximately 60 days after our HTML5-based Live Streaming enters general availability.

2. We also did a very minor binary improvement to the YuJa Software Station for Apple binary in all zones that resolves a few relatively rare issues.
3. Media Channels offer Sub-Channel capabilities within course-linked Media Channels with separate permission capabilities. The primary use-case is the ability to create sub-channels within a course for student submissions, and better organization with large numbers of media assets aligned to a given course.
4. General improvements to the Software Capture suite’s Auto-Scheduling capabilities in edge-case scenarios including when the remote machine is switched off, turned on late, turned off early/abnormally, etc. We will continue to analyze aggregate log data to identify mechanisms to improve Auto-Scheduling capabilities even further.
5. Improvements to the Accessibility Dashboard including the ability to create a downloadable report of all media that matches specific criteria such as missing copyrights, missing captions, missing audio descriptions, etc.

In addition to the above items, we also added about 62 smaller features and improvements. Looking ahead to our November releases, we will be introducing a fully HTML5 Live Stream player, customized Metadata Schema Management tools, new standardized and fully automated caption integrations with Rev and CaptionSync, configurable Transcoding Profiles, and much more.

We have successfully pushed an update to all zones. This release includes:

1. Ability to create “virtual edits” using the Sub Clip capability within the HTML5 Player. This enables Content Owners to send a video link that plays at a certain start point or sub-section without needing to use the Video Editor to create a new copy.
2. Improved accessibility of HTML5 Player with new use of highlight color on the buttons, the ability to initiate the initial play action with only the keyboard, and the ability to incrementally control the volume bar with only the up-and-down keys.
3. Improvements to IMS role mappings to ensure LTI mapping roles are preserved within a Course for TA and other non-student and instructor roles.
4. UI improvements including improved thumbnail icon for videos and more consistent dialog format across the Platform.
5. Ability to customize the name of your Login options. For example, if your institution calls your Single-Sign-On a institution-specific name, you can now use that in the Platform label.

We also used this release to improve a total of 115 separate items across the Platform. Looking ahead to October and early November we will be introducing some key features including: Metadata Schema Management and Enforcement, new filtering tools for administrators to better track Accessibility Compliance across all video assets, brand new secure HTML5 Live Streaming Player, configurable Transcoding Profiles, an update to the YuJa Software Station for PC, and much more.

Important Notes:

1. We introduced a feature to set a customizable color for the Sliding Side Bar within the Platform. This also updated the rendering of the icon colors which your web browser may have cached. To see your new or customized color palette, please clear your browser cache.
2. With the new ability to customize Platform Login options, Administrators will need to re-select their preferred Login method. We apologize for the oversight in setting the most likely default for institutions.

Today an issue was brought to our attention by a partner institution that recently upgraded their Moodle instance. The issue could, through a series of events, result in a premature user account deletion in rare scenarios. The Product Team has reviewed the affected code-path and issued a suitable patch. We will continue to monitor the situation accordingly.

We have successfully pushed an update to all zones. This release includes:

1. Probably the most noticeable is we made some cosmetic improvements to the look-and-feel with a more modern main menu, modern font-face and blue styling.
2. Improved Media Extension improvements to D2L Brightspace and Moodle to bring them to parity with Canvas and Moodle, including: drag-and-drop upload, initiate capture, select media sub-folders, and more.
3. Thumbnail preview for uploaded images
4. Replace video capabilities which will replace video A with B.

Since we had pushed back this release by a week, this semi-month release also includes 83 additional features and product improvements.

As many of our enterprise customers head back into the school year this past week, we made a decision to perform only a minor Platform update of about a dozen small fixes and improvements. We will be resuming our regular bi-monthly by mid-September.

We released an updated iOS application to the AppStore this week. The new capabilities of the iOS application include:

1. Integration with the Single-Sign-On product currently being used by the organization
2. Improved stability and compatibility with newer iOS devices

To accommodate this release, our SaaS-based platform release will shift by two weeks and is now currently slated for September 8th.

Please Note: Given the breadth of iOS devices and form-factors released in the last year by Apple, we encourage users to download and install the latest application. If you encounter any issues, please send us details to support@yuja.com and we will work to replicate and address these incompatibilities in a prompt manner.

To improve a narrow use-case which was causing some institutions issues with the Video Classrooms we pushed out a hotfix. A summary of the fix is provided below:

#150115257 – Improved the UI responsiveness when a large number of users are marked as Owners and/or are interacting with the classroom UI elements heavily.

We have successfully pushed an update to all zones. This release includes:

1. New branding elements to customize/hide channel names;
2. Updates to both PC and Apple desktop captures to resolve some minor Single Sign On (SSO)
3. Improved backend to the video editor for improved robustness in processing video edits. We will be further enhancing some of the visual capabilities in our September releases.
4. New Blackboard Media Chooser Building Block (please request this from your Account Manager)
5. Further improvements to the accessibility capabilities of the HTML5 Media Player
6. New Sharing access type called Edit Access which provides essentially Full Access minus deletion rights to the user.
7. Removal of the legacy JWPlayer and Flash-based media player which has been deprecated for the last 8 months.

We also released over 50+ smaller improvements and enhancements.