AWS Elemental MediaConvert’s New Video Source Replacement Feature

Overview

Video content is at the heart of the digital age and ensuring that videos are delivered seamlessly to a global audience is a priority for content creators and broadcasters. AWS Elemental MediaConvert, an essential component of Amazon Web Services (AWS) suite of media services, has recently introduced a significant update, the Video Source Replacement feature. This enhancement further simplifies creating and managing video content, allowing users to seamlessly replace specific portions of their videos with new content. In this blog, we’ll look at this exciting new feature and its implications for content creators and media professionals.

Introduction

AWS Elemental MediaConvert is a file-based video transcoding service that transcodes content for broadcast and multi-screen delivery at scale. AWS Elemental MediaConvert supports various input and output formats and HEVC and H.264 compression standards. AWS MediaConvert service helps customers easily replace the source video with alternative video clips for time stamps.

With the new video source replacement feature, customers can now frame-accurately replace sections of source video with alternative content versions.

This feature is ideal for creating alternative versions of content, such as:

• Censoring explicit content
• Replacing commercials with localized ads
• Creating different versions of a video for different audiences
• Fixing mistakes in a video without having to re-encode the entire video

To use video source replacement, customers must specify the input video file, the start and end times of the section to replace, and the replacement video file in the MediaConvert job configuration. AWS Elemental MediaConvert will then replace the specified section of the video with the replacement video file while preserving the underlying audio essence and the duration of the output video.

Video source replacement can create complex video editing workflows with other AWS Elemental MediaConvert features, such as video splicing and overlay. For example, a customer could use video source replacement to replace a commercial in a video with a localized ad and then use video splicing to insert the edited video into a longer video program.

Benefits of video source replacement

Video source replacement offers several benefits over other video editing workflows, such as:

• Efficiency: Video source replacement allows customers to replace video sections without re-encoding the entire video. This can save a significant amount of time and processing resources.
• Quality: Video source replacement preserves the underlying audio essence and the duration of the output video. This ensures that the edited video is of the highest possible quality.
• Flexibility: To create complex video editing workflows, video source replacement can be used with other AWS Elemental MediaConvert features, such as video splicing and overlay. This makes it a versatile tool for various video editing needs.

Use cases

Here are some examples of how video source replacement can be used in real-world scenarios:

• A broadcaster could use video source replacement to censor explicit content from a live video stream.
• A streaming provider could use video source replacement to replace commercials in a video with localized ads for different audiences.
• A media producer could use video source replacement to create different video versions for different platforms, such as a shorter version for social media and a longer version for on-demand viewing.
• A video editing studio could use video source replacement to fix mistakes in a video without having to re-encode the entire video.

Video source replacement is a powerful new feature that makes AWS Elemental MediaConvert even more versatile and flexible. It is a valuable tool for any customer who needs to create and deliver high-quality video content at scale.

Steps to use video source replacement

To use video source replacement, customers need to follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the AWS Elemental MediaConvert service page and create a MediaConvert job.

2. Add input video file.

3. In the input settings, navigate to Video overlays, click on Add Video overlays, specify the input video file, the start and end times of the section to replace, and the replacement video file.

4. Submit the job.

AWS Elemental MediaConvert will then replace the specified section of the input video with the replacement video file and create an output video file.

Conclusion

Drop a query if you have any questions regarding AWS Elemental MediaConvert and we will get back to you quickly.

About CloudThat