Updates

Core Player

• Improved the playback experience by maintaining quality between videos in a playlist. The player starts subsequent videos in an embed with the quality that most closely matches the previous item based on bandwidth comparisons.
• Improved the playback experience by preserving the viewer’s bandwidth estimation and using it to select an initial quality level when playback starts.
• Added a new configuration option, defaultBandwidthEstimate, which sets an initial bandwidth estimate in bits for all viewers. To set the highest quality as an initial estimate, reference the highest bitrate from your manifest.
• Improved the “Auto” quality label in the settings menu to also show the quality being played when “Auto” is selected.
• Improved the experience of watching live streams that do not have a DVR window. Instead of the pause icon, which used to pause the stream and resume behind the live edge, the player now features a new stop icon, which resumes from the live edge when playback resumes. The player appears paused on the last frame watched. Note that for visual clarity, small players will display a pause icon in the center of the screen while exhibiting the new “stop” behavior. Via API, the pause method will achieve the behavior described here, while the stop method will stop playback and put the player in the idle state.
• Live streams without a DVR window no longer get behind the live edge, and the live icon is no longer clickable to return to the live edge.
• Added a new localization option, localization.stop for the new stop icon in live mode.
• Added right click support via long press on iOS and Android devices. Long pressing displays the JW Player right click menu. The menu automatically fades out within three seconds if not interacted with.
• In accordance with GDPR data transparency compliance, added a video information overlay accessible via an option About this video in the right click menu. The viewer’s Client ID is displayed in the lower right corner, which can be used to request data from JW Player.
• Added a new localization, localization.videoInfo, which can be used to localize "About this video" text in the right click menu.

Ads

• For Video Player Bidding, expanded the number of possible bidResults to include expanded error tracking.
• For Video Player Bidding, added the priceInCents to the adImpression and adError events for all mediation layers.

Fixes

Core Player

• Fixed an issue where DASH streams with large gaps at the beginning of the manifest did not play on IE11 and Edge.
• Fixed an issue where HLS streams missing a frame in the first segment would not start playing with HLSjs.
• Fixed an issue with 608 captions in HLS streams where the captions would flicker in and out with HLSjs.

Ads

• Fixed an issue with the Google IMA plugin where second ad in a pod might not unpause after being paused.
• Fixed an issue with the VAST ad plugin where error tracking pixels weren’t firing for all wrapped tags if only included at the root of the XML response.
• Fixed an issue with the VAST plugin where content would display before a preroll ad if scheduling was done at the playlist item level.