Admin: Playback Simulator

The Playback Simulator page tells you whether a device would direct play a title before anyone presses play, by working out the decision a real start would make without starting a stream.

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Pick what to ask about:

• Title - search for a movie or an episode and choose its file. The line under the search box shows the file you chose, with its resolution and codecs.
• Device - any device that has told the server what it can play. Opening the app on a device is what does that, so a device that’s listed under No stored capabilities needs its app opened once first.
• Max bitrate, Video quality and Audio language - optional, standing in for the viewer’s own settings. Leave them at No limit, Server default and No preference to ask about a viewer who hasn’t changed anything.

The answer updates as soon as both a title and a device are chosen, and again whenever you change one of them. It opens with a few notes on what the prediction is based on, then the headline (Predicted: and the mode, with one line on what happens to the video and audio), the reasons, and the chart of the route a start would take. Click a step in the chart to see what it compared.

The simulator reads the file the way a start would, so it works from the same facts as a real play. Playback Decisions explains how to read the chart and what the prediction can’t foresee, and Transcoding what each reason means.