A video playback method is provided, including: displaying a video playback interface, and playing a current video on the video playback interface; and in accordance with a determination that the current video is a video clip corresponding to a portion of a the target video and a video playback switching condition is satisfied: playing the target video on the video playback interface starting from a playback start time of the target video.

A video playing control method includes obtaining a video playing policy, where the video playing policy determines information about a control algorithm used for video playing, determining according to the video playing policy, a target control algorithm used for video playing, downloading and playing a video by using the target control algorithm, collecting video playing quality indicator data in a process of downloading and playing the video, and uploading the quality indicator data to a server, to indicate the server to adjust the video playing policy based on the quality indicator data.

A computer-implemented method for generating media manifests may include (i) identifying media files that include different versions of a media item, (ii) identifying manifest standards, where each manifest standard in the manifest standards specifies a format for manifests that list media files that meet predetermined requirements described in the manifest standard, (iii) receiving, from a client, a request for a manifest for the media item in a particular manifest standard, (iv) identifying a subset of the media files that meet the predetermined requirements described in the particular manifest standard, (v) generating a manifest for the media item that lists media files in the subset and does not list media files in the media files that are not in the subset, and (vi) transmitting, to the client, the manifest for the media item in the particular manifest standard. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

A flexible approach to segmenting a resource (e.g., a media resource, such as a media segment, or other resource, such as a resource normally fetched or pushed using general file transfer protocols like HTTP) into a plurality of fragments. By employing such an approach, the delay until the resource can be utilized at the client side is reduced. Certain embodiments are provided which apply the flexible segmentation approach to ISOBMFF media segments for video streaming, such as would be used with Live DASH streaming.

Methods, systems, and media for timing presentation of content are provided. In some embodiments, the method comprises: causing a first video content item to be presented on a user device of a user, wherein the video content item is provided by a video sharing service; identifying a promotion for the video sharing service that is to be presented to the user during a time window; determining a probability that the user will select the promotion if the promotion is presented at a first time point within the time window in connection with the first video content item; determining whether to present the promotion at the first time point based on at least on the probability; in response to determining that the promotion is to be presented at the first time point, causing the promotion to be presented on the user device at the first time point in connection with the first video content item; and, in response to determining that the promotion is not to be presented at the first time point, causing the promotion to be presented on the user device at a second time point in connection with a second video content item, wherein the second time point is within the time window and wherein the second time point is after the first time point.

Systems and methods provide for receiving a request for an alternate data stream of a plurality of individual data streams than an active data stream currently being displayed on a computing device, during display on the computing device of a stitched data steam comprising the plurality of individual data streams associated with a common audio timeline. The systems and methods further providing for determining a subset of the plurality of individual data streams of the stitched data stream associated with a time period of the active data stream in the common audio timeline, selecting the alternate data stream from the subset of the plurality of individual data streams, and providing the alternate data stream to the computing device, wherein the display of the active data stream on the computing device transitions to the alternate data stream on the computing device in the common audio timeline.

In one aspect, a method is performed by a computing system that is in communication with a content-presentation device, where the content-presentation device is scheduled to perform, at a modification start-time, a content-modification operation that comprises modifying a modifiable content-segment that the content-presentation device is scheduled to receive. The method includes determining that the content-presentation device has detected, within a predefined time period after the modification start-time and during performance of the content-modification operation, a mismatch between reference fingerprint data representing the modifiable content-segment and query fingerprint data representing content received by the content-presentation device from a tuner device connected to the content-presentation device. The method also includes determining that the mismatch is due to the tuner device having modified the modifiable content-segment before the modification start-time and, in response to determining that the mismatch is due to the tuner device having modified the modifiable content-segment before the modification start-time, performing an action.

A secondary content such as an advertisement may be inserted based on users' interests in 360 degree video streaming. Users may have different interests and may watch different areas within a 360 degree video. The information about area(s) of 360 degree scenes that users watch the most may be used to select an ad(s) relevant to their interests. One or more secondary content viewports may be defined within a 360 degree video frame. Secondary content viewport parameter(s) may be tracked. For example, statistics of the user's head orientation for some time leading to tile presentation of the ad(s) may be collected. Secondary content may be determined based on the tracked secondary content viewport parameters).

A method for providing media content by a server, the media content comprising media components, each media component comprising initialization data and media data, the method being carried out by the server for a preselection of a plurality of media components, obtaining an indication of which initialization data of the plurality of media components should be used by a client to process media data of the media components of the preselection; and describing the preselection in a media presentation description, the description of the preselection comprising references to each media component of the plurality of media components and the obtained indication.

Embodiments provide for improved stream generation. A target average bitrate (TAB) segment is generated by encoding a first segment, of a plurality of segments in a video, using a first maximum average bitrate (MAB) of a plurality of MABs specified in an encoding ladder. An intermediate average bitrate (IAB) segment is generated by encoding the first segment using a first intermediate bitrate, wherein the first intermediate bitrate is lower than the first MAB. Upon receiving a request for the first segment at the first MAB, the IAB segment is output based at least in part on determining that a first quality score of the IAB segment is within a predefined tolerance of a second quality score of the TAB segment.