Questions, answered.

The service

What is APlayout?

APlayout is a cloud playout service for 24/7 linear TV and FAST channels. It keeps your media library, schedules a rolling rundown, inserts frame-accurate SCTE-35 ad breaks, writes the programme guide (DVB EIT and XMLTV) and delivers the channel over SRT, HLS or UDP multicast — from one console, on a playout engine dedicated to you.

What is cloud playout?

Playout is the system that turns a schedule of programmes, ads and graphics into a continuous TV signal. Cloud playout runs that system on servers you reach over the internet instead of racks in your own building, so a channel can launch without buying hardware.

Who is APlayout for?

FAST channel operators, regional and niche broadcasters, content owners who want to turn a VOD library into a 24/7 channel, and OTT services adding linear channels. It is built for teams that want broadcast-grade output without a broadcast engineering department.

Can I connect my own AI assistant?

Coming soon. You will be able to connect the AI assistant you already use, so it can see what is on air, explain alerts and propose changes that you approve. Every change will be logged, and billing and access stay with you.

What is not offered in the first release?

Live inputs, 1+1 or N+1 redundancy, 4K/UHD, SCTE-104, SDI and SMPTE ST 2110 are not part of the first release. APlayout plays out file-based programming and delivers it as IP streams.

Media and catalogues

How does media get into APlayout?

Three ways: upload in the browser (large files resume after a dropped connection), drop files into your SFTP folder, or add an MRSS feed. Everything is checked and conformed to your channel standard — resolution, frame rate and loudness — before it can air.

Can I build a channel from an MRSS feed without copying my whole catalogue?

Yes. APlayout treats an MRSS feed as a catalogue: titles and guide metadata are imported, but each video is fetched only shortly before it is scheduled to air and released again afterwards. You schedule from thousands of titles without paying to store them twice.

Can I control what may air on each channel?

Yes. Each channel has programming rules: which titles, feeds and collections it may use, what is blocked, genre, length and language filters, and a watershed that keeps age-rated titles out of daytime. Automatic gap filling follows the same rules.

Ad breaks

What is SCTE-35 and why does it matter?

SCTE-35 is the standard signal that tells downstream systems where an ad break starts and ends. FAST platforms and server-side ad insertion use it to replace breaks with targeted ads. APlayout writes SCTE-35 splice_insert into the transport stream and matching ad markers into HLS.

How accurate are the ad breaks?

Frame accurate. You mark cue points on a programme at HH:MM:SS:FF — by hand, by CSV import, from the feed, or by accepting a suggested black-and-silence point — and the break starts on that frame.

Can APlayout play my own commercials in the breaks?

Yes. Breaks can be signal-only (for downstream ad insertion) or filled locally with commercial pods. Pods follow your break rules, keep two spots from the same advertiser apart and rotate spots across the day.

Programme guide

What is DVB EIT, and does APlayout generate it?

The DVB Event Information Table carries the programme guide inside the transport stream: present/following (now and next) and the schedule for the days ahead. APlayout generates both from the rundown, with genres, age ratings and descriptions, so set-top boxes and TVs show a correct guide.

Do FAST platforms get an EPG?

Yes. APlayout publishes an XMLTV guide per channel from the same rundown and metadata, with series and episode numbers, ratings and genres. Metadata rules fill fields automatically and a completeness score shows what is still missing.

Delivery and the engine

Which outputs does APlayout deliver?

SRT (caller or listener, with passphrase), HLS with ad markers, and MPEG-TS over UDP multicast with DVB service information. Every output is analysed for PSI/SI tables, PCR timing and continuity.

Is my playout engine shared with other customers?

No. Each customer gets a playout engine on a dedicated server. The console controls it remotely over an authenticated API, so one customer’s load never touches another’s channel.

What is the difference between playout and a CDN?

Playout makes the channel: it schedules programmes and ads and produces the continuous signal. A CDN distributes a finished stream to many viewers. APlayout’s HLS and SRT outputs can feed any CDN or FAST platform.

Comparison

How is APlayout different from other cloud playout services?

It keeps the whole path in one service — library, catalogues fetched just in time, rules, rundown, frame-accurate pods, DVB EIT and XMLTV, and SRT, HLS and multicast — on an engine of your own, run from a six-page console. Enterprise services are stronger on distribution networks, redundancy and scale.

Is APlayout an alternative to Amagi or Veset?

For independent and mid-size channels, yes: it covers scheduling, SCTE-35 breaks, guide data and IP delivery. It does not offer a FAST distribution network or ad sales, which Amagi does, and its first release does not offer 1+1 or N+1 redundancy.

Launch and pricing

When does APlayout launch?

APlayout is in final preparation. Join the waitlist and we will e-mail you when accounts open. Joining creates no account and no obligation.

How much will APlayout cost?

APlayout will be a subscription service. Plans and prices will be published in full on this site before launch, and the waitlist hears first.

Company

Who is behind APlayout?

APlayout is an AMTECCO service. AMTECCO is a Belgian, broadcast-native live media infrastructure company whose services also include SRT Cloud, CDN Live and TSPulse.