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An update to the movingimage Platform is now available to any customer who wishes to try out some new features in our file system. The features described below effect any type of file asset available in the Platform (i.e. videos, thumbnails, chapter thumbnails, attachments, subtitles, etc). If you would like to try this beta, please contact our Professional Services team.

The information below details the changes you can explore if you decide to try out the beta update.

Files can now be downloaded using dynamic URLs. The benefit to using dynamic URLs is that you don't need to use the API to look up the exact download URL for every file when a file is not protected (as described in the next section). It is possible to locate the file if you know the asset type's URL scheme and have information about the asset (i.e. IDs). If the file is protected, you would need to look up the download URL to have a valid token. Additionally, you would need to re-check the URL every time the token expires (they are valid for 10 minutes).

The following table provides the dynamic URL scheme for each asset type:

{DOMAIN}/public/videos/{VIDEO_ID}/source

{DOMAIN}/public/videos/{VIDEO_ID}/formats/{PROFILE_KEY}

{DOMAIN}/public/videos/{VIDEO_ID}/thumbnails/active?quality={QUALITY(e.g. 720p)}

{DOMAIN}/public/videos/{VIDEO_ID}/thumbnails/{THUMBNAIL_ID}?quality={QUALITY(e.g. 720p)}

{DOMAIN}/public/videos/{VIDEO_ID}/chapters/{CHAPTER_ID}/thumbnails?quality={QUALITY(e.g. 720p)}

{DOMAIN}/public/videos/{VIDEO_ID}/subtitles/{SUBTITLE_ID}?source=VTT

{DOMAIN}/public/videos/{VIDEO_ID}/attachments/{TYPE_NAME}/{FILENAME}

{DOMAIN}/public/channels/{CHANNEL_ID}/attachments/{TYPE_NAME}/{FILENAME}

File protection refers to a user's ability to access files on the movingimage Platform. When the user is logged into the Platform, the ownership features of VideoManager Pro control this. The logged in user can access files according to their rights. The new feature in this beta, however, concerns the protection of files from users who are not logged into the Platform.

By default, files are protected from non-logged-in users via the use of tokens provided in the file's download URL (tokens are valid for 10 minutes). The download URLs can be acquired from the movingimage Platform API. The following is an example download URL for a protected/private video thumbnail file:

https://asset-out-cdn.video-cdn.net/private/videos/-civ9qE3JUjntKQM1HnGtU/thumbnails/78912?quality=360p&__token__=exp=1519826701~acl=***~hmac=***

File protection of this variety can now be disabled if desired. This would allow the file to be accessible on the public domain, without a token:

https://asset-out-cdn.video-cdn.net/public/videos/-civ9qE3JUjntKQM1HnGtU/thumbnails/78912?quality=360p

Note that the unprotected file specifies "/public/" in the URL instead of "/private/", and does not include a token.

All files are protected by default and only a user with admin rights in VideoManager Pro can disable file protection. Unpublished files are only accessible via VideoManager Pro or the movingimage Platform API. File protection can be disabled either for all assets within a VideoManager, channel, or video; or for a video or channel's specific asset type (i.e. thumbnail, chapter thumbnail, attachment, subtitle, etc.). 

Use the following API endpoints to disable file protection: 

VideoManager Level Requests

This endpoint allows you to get or modify file protection for all files within a VideoManager.

{
	 "scope": "private",
	 "videos": {},
	 "channels": {}
 }

{
    "scope": "private",
    "videos": {
        "8TbWUvoW6Pf3rieuLtiozy": {
            "assetTypes": [
                "VIDEO_SOURCE",
                "VIDEO_FORMAT"
            ],
            "scope": "private"
        }
    },
    "channels": {
        "31519": {
            "assetTypes": null,
            "scope": "public"
 }       }
    }
}

Channel Level Requests

This endpoint allows you to remove file protection for assets at the Channel level. Note that there are two possible POST requests which work differently (see details in the table below) but have the same result at the moment:

{
	 "scope": "public"
 }

{
	 "assetTypes": [
		 "ATTACHMENT"
	 ]
 }

Video Level Requests:

This endpoint allows you to remove file protection for assets at the Video level. Note that there are two possible POST requests which work differently (see details in the table below):

{
	 "scope": "public"
 }

{
	 "assetTypes": [
		 "VIDEO_SOURCE",
		 "VIDEO_FORMAT",
		 "STILL_SOURCE",
		 "STILL_RESOLUTION",
		 "SUBTITLE",
		 "ATTACHMENT"
	 ]
 }