This release addresses caption scaling and improves stability on older Android devices.

Bug Fixes

• Captions correctly scale when a device has been rotated to fullscreen landscape mode.
• On older Android 6 devices, crashes no longer occur when users resume an app (using a TextureView configuration) from the background during an IMA ad.

Older default audio track metadata can be edited.

New Feature

You can now edit the default audio track of older, previously uploaded media in the dashboard and via the v2 Management API.

This feature relates to alternate audio track enhancements and streamlined tracks management features that have already been released.

You can now permanently delete and recreate tags through the API.

New Feature

The bulk remove tags endpoint now hard deletes tags:

• Deletes the tags
• Removes them from all associated media and playlist resources
• Prevents deleted tags from being suggested in the dashboard

This improved functionality allows for tag recreation with different letter casing.

Player v8.34.5 introduces two new UI/UX features and addresses a player behavior bug.

New Features

• New methods for converting color names and creating DOM elements have been implemented, which improve player performance.
• The player now supports localization for the following language: Chinese (Taiwan) (code: zh-tw).

Bug Fix

• Autopause and pause behaviors are now respected when the player is not viewable.

Dynamic Strategy Rules are now available to help you enhance viewer experience, boost audience engagement, and increase monetization with minimal developer resources.

New Feature

Dynamic Strategy Rules offer various benefits to help you construct viewer experiences and monetization strategies.

Key Benefits:

• Dynamic Personalization: Automatically route viewers to personalized video experiences based on visit context, geography, and custom values.
• Effortless Updates: Manage and implement strategy changes directly from your JWP dashboard, impacting multiple sites without additional coding.
• Minimal Code Deployment: Easily deploy Dynamic Strategy Rules with minimal coding required.
• Improved Engagement: Optimize on-page video placements to increase user engagement and conversions.
• Maximized Revenue: Gain granular control over advertising to maximize revenue potential.

Contact your JWP representative to get started with Dynamic Strategy Rules.

With the 4.18.2 Android release, several issues relating to casting and DVR windows have been addressed.

Bug Fixes

• Content playback begins after a cast connection is established.
• Streams with large DVR windows and numerous timed meta tags play smoothly after the initial load.
• Both side-loaded .vtt captions and the scrub bar display during casting.

With iOS SDK 4.19.2 the JWPlayerViewControllerDelegate has been replaced by several new delegates, the fullscreen exit button can be hidden, and several bugs relating to chapter markers, seeking functionality, and Google ads have been addressed.

New Features

• The JWPlayerViewControllerDelegate has been deprecated in favor of the following new separated delegates: JWPlayerViewControllerFullScreenDelegate, JWPlayerViewControllerUIDelegate, and JWPlayerViewControllerRelatedDelegate.
• The SDK silently fails when only portrait is enabled and rotation is not supported.
• The exit fullscreen button (the "X" button) can be hidden.

Bug Fixes

• When an empty chapter marker(.vtt) file is provided, the app throws an error without crashing.
• The indicator moves to the specified location when seeking through a video.
• Seeking and fetching the thumbnail cues no longer causes a crash.
• Google ads now include all expected query parameters in the ad request.

In this release, several FreeWheel and Google PPS fixes have been released.

Bug Fixes

• The FreeWheel Plugin correctly sets the mode to ad request when the stream is live.
• Mute and unmute behavior in FreeWheel ad pods is now reflected correctly.
• Google Publisher Provided Signals (PPS) values are sent and encoded properly.

The JW Platform now enables you to playback media with Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption in your DRM-enabled properties. 

New Feature

You can now preview DRM-encrypted video-on-demand (VOD) media hosted in your DRM-enabled properties.

• Playback of VOD DRM media will leverage the Low Default DRM Policy. Any changes made to the policy may cause playback failure in the dashboard. 
• You may experience initial playback latency of VOD DRM media in the dashboard.

The JW Platform now enables you to translate content titles, descriptions, and other fields displayed in your app. 

New Feature

Content metadata provides viewers information about a media item, such as the title, description, and genre. From the dashboard, you can add and manage metadata translations in any language. 

Metadata translations offer several benefits:

• Expanding to a global market of viewer groups
• Improving user experience in the native languages of viewers (requires custom implementation)
• Increasing revenue opportunities through language support