Distributed encoding using output locking in AWS Elemental Live

You can set up output locking to implement distributed encoding. A typical use case for distributed encoding is to build an ABR stack that consists of different renditions (resolutions) of the same video content.

You can set up two or more events, each on a separate appliance. All the events handle the same sources, but each event produces different parts of the ABR stack. The source content for all the events is always identical, so the video picture in all the outputs is identical.

You set up all the events so that their outputs are locked together. In this way, all the outputs are frame accurate with each other—the exact same frame has the exact same timecode.

The downstream system receives all of the outputs. The downstream system has been set up to put the ABR stack together. The downstream system can use the timecodes to synchronize the frames. In this way, when the player switches from one rendition to another, the switch occurs with no missing frames and with no duplicate frames.

The following diagram illustrates a setup of several events that together produce the outputs for an ABR stack.