June 2023 Summaries

A Mux customer reported inconsistent freezing issues on Roku devices while playing videos. The problem was not reproducible consistently and only occurred on Roku devices, making debugging challenging. After extensive testing across multiple Roku devices and handcrafting HLS manifests, the team discovered that the decoderStats object indicated errors in the video stream itself. They found a pattern where the freezing cycles matched the chunk length of the input stream. To reproduce the issue, they created a sample app with access to the decoderStats object and observed that something was wrong with the individual segment files themselves. They used ffprobe to examine the .ts files but could not find any significant issues. The team purchased older Roku models on eBay to test different versions of the video asset, but they still couldn't reproduce the issue consistently. Upon closer examination of CDN delivery logs, they noticed that the client requested a partial segment and never requested the rest, which lined up with the freezing issue. They repurposed the static case from earlier to test this problem by forcing partial responses for segments and observed the issue. The team discovered that Mux's Content-Range response headers were causing confusion for Roku clients when faced with an unknown content length. As a fix, they decided not to serve range requests for these User Agents, which resolved the issue without any impact on Quality of Experience. This case highlights the importance of collaboration between different teams and the persistence required in solving complex bugs.

Mux Data media customers have the option to export raw data collected by Mux into their own data warehouse for permanent storage and complex querying beyond the platform's capabilities. This article focuses on creating a data reporting pipeline using tools within Google Cloud Platform (GCP), specifically setting up a Pub/Sub data stream, persisting data in BigQuery, and connecting Looker to BigQuery for analysis. The process involves creating a Pub/Sub schema, topic, and BigQuery table, as well as granting necessary permissions and configuring Mux to push exports to Pub/Sub. Finally, the pipeline is connected to Looker Studio for report creation using the stored data.

The text discusses the transition from being an individual contributor (IC) to becoming an engineering manager while still maintaining a love for coding. It emphasizes that it is possible to be a successful manager and continue writing code, but only if done thoughtfully and strategically. The author shares their experience of moving into management at Mux, a dev tools company, and how they managed to balance both roles effectively. They provide tips on choosing projects carefully, building empathy with the team, staying curious outside work hours, and addressing issues directly and immediately as a manager. Additionally, they recommend seeking help from experienced managers or an external coach for guidance. The text concludes by stating that it's okay to have a fluid career, transitioning between IC and management roles, and learning from each experience.

Swedish-based company Staylive, a leader in live sports streaming technology, has grown significantly since its founding in 2013 as a school project by two students. With over 120 trusted clients worldwide and the ability to stream more than one million hours of live content annually, Staylive is now considered a go-to choice for live streaming services. The company's mission is to allow everyone to share their content and create their own mini Netflix, handling everything from login and user management to payments and video content. Staylive has recently partnered with Mux to grow its business globally, focusing on delivering unparalleled service and cutting-edge technology to clients around the world.

Mux Data has introduced Video Startup Failures as a new metric in its Monitoring Dashboard, which is a subset of Playback Failures. This feature simplifies the identification process for developers by distinguishing between video views that fail to start and general playback errors. The Video Startup Failure metric can be accessed via the Mux Data Monitoring API and Dashboard, providing near real-time data on video infrastructure quality and performance.

Media Chrome, a suite of web components for building media player UIs, has reached version 1.0 and is now deemed production-ready. The project aims to provide idiomatic HTML elements for building media experiences and emphasizes that video player UI should not be tightly coupled to the playback engine/tech. Despite some issues, Web Components are considered the future of the web for widgets like a video player due to their cross-framework compatibility. Media Chrome is not mutually exclusive with Video.js, as it focuses on building media player UIs and may be used in later versions of Video.js. The 1.0 release includes improvements such as increased test coverage, better documentation, and minor API changes for consistency. Future plans include developing more themes, adding complex video player-dependent features, and providing idiomatic React support.