Updates

Core Player

• Added the ability to configure when live streams time out. The new liveTimeout configuration option accepts a number. The default, undefined behavior is dependent upon segment length and differs slightly across providers. To configure a stream to never time out, set this value to 0.
• Added the ability to modify headers mid-stream with a new licenseRequestFilter configuration option in Fairplay DRM blocks. This option already works with Widevine and Playready.

Recommendations

• Added a new recommendations interface called Recommendations Shelf, which allows viewers to browse JW Recommended videos throughout the playback experience. This feature, available to all customers with a Recommendations entitlement, will provide more paths for engaging with content that is most relevant to your audiences, ultimately deepening engagement and powering additional monetization opportunities. To enable the shelf, include "displayMode": "shelf" within the related block in your setup configuration. The current overlay interface remains default behavior when displayMode is undefined or set to overlay.
• Added a new localization option, localization.close to customize the text of the close button added in the recommendations shelf. The default text is “close.”
• Updated the default localization.related text to “More videos.” This localization option affects the Recommendations Shelf button above the control bar in shelf mode, as well as the tooltip and the overlay title in overlay mode.
• Updated the default discover icon in the control bar to improve discoverability.
• Known issue: We’ll be making the new recommendations shelf fully accessible by keyboard in 8.2.0.

Fixes

Core Player

• Fixed an issue causing single-variant audio streams to error very slowly. Streams now error within 30 seconds.
• Added an ARIA label for the “Live” button, which was erroneously omitted from previous versions.
• Fixed a bug that caused in some audio-only streams to not start in the hlsjs provider.
• Fixed an uncaught type error when loading a Related playlist in conjunction with a manual playlist. Functionality was not affected.
• Fixed an issue where autostarting JW Live streams that return a 404 did not display the fatal error after setting up, resulting in a blank screen.