Video Optimizer Release 5.2.1 (06/12/2024)

Before you download Video Optimizer 5.2.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 5.2.1 System Requirements & Software Prerequisites

• At least 4GB of RAM but suggested is 8GB.
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 24 or above
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• FFMpeg (including FFProbe)
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• Mac requirements
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • Ifuse
  • MacFuse (formerly known as OSXFuse)
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
  • Wireshark
• Linux requirements
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
  • Wireshark

This release includes the resolution of the following issues:

• All video recording options are now supported for Android 14 (and below).
• Deselected flows in a flow group are no longer switched back to "selected" when a trace is closed and reloaded. Selections are now fully retained.
• Multiple reloads of the same trace will not lose any flows assigned to a flow group.
• Flows labels on the Flows tab are retained when a trace is reopened.
• Incompatible versions of Wireshark are identified when launching Video Optimizer, and a download link for compatible versions is provided.

Known Issues in Release 5.2.1

• Running a speed test during Android trace collection may disable device internet connection for the remainder of the trace.
• When using "Time Range Analysis", the Flows tab, the user should trigger a reset to properly display a filtered dataset. And the same for Diagnostics tab when removing 'Streams'.
• In the Flows tab: Flows table and Flows summary, the peak kbps value is displayed incorrectly when the scale is set to 5s in the Diagnostics tab graph.
• Occasionally after Video Optimizer pre-requisite software has been installed and configurated, the user may get a message on startup saying that some dependencies are not installed in their path. If restarting Video Optimizer, you don't see the messages again, then no additional changes are required.
• Extended format list manifests are not supported for versions of JAVA 9 or above. Decoding segments based on these manifests will require java 8 from ORACLE. This primarily impacts opening older traces.
• Given that Domain names are being extracted from DNS queries. If a trace is started after a DNS query, and the connection is made during the trace, the trace will not have the DNS information. In this case the actual domain name will not be available and will simply default to whatever is current on the internet. Over time the domain name query results for a given address may change.
• Secure collection is still done using the old VPN collector implementation. To differentiate the legacy application from the current version of the VPN collector, the legacy VPN collector has a lock symbol on the icon.
• When a trace capture is in progress, if there is a disconnect/crash event that requires Video Optimizer to send a new collection request, the VPN Collector will accept this request and continue to the capture that was already in progress rather than restart the collection.

Video Optimizer Release 5.2 (04/24/2024)

Before you download Video Optimizer 5.2, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 5.2 System Requirements & Software Prerequisites

• At least 4GB of RAM but suggested is 8GB.
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 24 or above
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• FFMpeg (including FFProbe)
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• Mac requirements
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • Ifuse
  • MacFuse (formerly known as OSXFuse)
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
  • Wireshark
• Linux requirements
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
  • Wireshark

This release includes the following new features:

• Auto Flows Tab Export tool that allows the user to export the flows tab details of multiple traces in bulk, to a report folder.
• Options for analyzing in the trace folder location or copying traffic file to a temporary location for analysis.
• Options to use existing flow configuration or rebuild default flow analysis.

Known Issues in Release 5.2

• Running a speed test during Android trace collection may disable device internet connection for the remainder of the trace.
• Low Resolution and No Video trace collection on Android 14 are not supported. (Standard Resolution and High-Resolution trace collection on Android 14 are supported. All video options are supported for Android 13 and below.)
• In the Flows tab: Flows table and Flows summary, the peak kbps value is displayed incorrectly when the scale is set to 5s in the Diagnostics tab graph.
• Occasionally after Video Optimizer pre-requisite software has been installed and configurated, the user may get a message on startup saying that some dependencies are not installed in their path. If restarting Video Optimizer, you don't see the messages again, then no additional changes are required.
• Information entered in the Flows tab: Flows table: Label column is not saved beyond the current instance of the trace being open.
• Deselected flows in a flow group are often switched back to "selected" when a trace is closed and reloaded.
• Remote IP and Domain Name entries in both the Flows tab and the Diagnostics tab might not match in some rare cases due to subsequent DNS query result variations.
• Multiple reloads of the same trace sometimes results in the number of flows assigned to one or more flow groups to be reduced. Choosing the Reset option in the drop down on the Flow Group column will correctly re-display all the flows assigned to those flow groups again.
• When using "Time Range Analysis", the Flows tab, the user should trigger a reset to properly display a filtered dataset. And the same for Diagnostics tab when removing 'Streams'.
• Extended format list manifests are not supported for versions of JAVA 9 or above. Decoding segments based on these manifests will require java 8 from ORACLE. This primarily impacts opening older traces.
• Given that Domain names are being extracted from DNS queries. If a trace is started after a DNS query, and the connection is made during the trace, the trace will not have the DNS information. In this case the actual domain name will not be available and will simply default to whatever is current on the internet. Over time the domain name query results for a given address may change.
• Secure collection is still done using the old VPN collector implementation. To differentiate the legacy application from the current version of the VPN collector, the legacy VPN collector has a lock symbol on the icon.
• When a trace capture is in progress, if there is a disconnect/crash event that requires Video Optimizer to send a new collection request, the VPN Collector will accept this request and continue to the capture that was already in progress rather than restart the collection.

Video Optimizer Release 5.1.1 (01/18/2024)

Before you download Video Optimizer 5.1.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 5.1.1 System Requirements & Software Prerequisites

• At least 4GB of RAM but suggested is 8GB.
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 24 or above
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• FFMpeg (including FFProbe)
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• Mac requirements
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • Ifuse
  • MacFuse (formerly known as OSXFuse)
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
  • Wireshark
• Linux requirements
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
  • Wireshark

This release includes the following enhancements:

• Starting with Wireshark 4.2.0, extracting information via tshark for DNS-answers, protocols, etc. has changed dramatically. Video Optimizer will detect Wireshark versions and use the appropriate methods of handling tshark to obtain the data.

Known Issues in Release 5.1.1

• In the Flows tab: Flows table and Flows summary, the peak kbps value is displayed incorrectly when the scale is set to 5s in the Diagnostics tab graph.
• Information entered in the Flows tab: Flows table: Label column is not saved beyond the current instance of the trace being open.
• Flow Groups where the percentage was very close to 1% might not be displayed in the Flows Summary if the user performs a Reset.
• Deselected flows in a flow group are often switched back to "selected" when a trace is closed and reloaded.
• Remote IP and Domain Name entries in both the Flows tab and the Diagnostics tab might not match in some rare cases due to subsequent DNS query result variations.
• On the Flows tab, if the user clicks the checkbox for a flow that is not assigned to a group, it is instantly assigned to the next available group, and moves offscreen based on the Flow Group sort order (unless a different column is the sort column).
• Multiple reloads of the same trace sometimes results in the number of flows assigned to one or more flow groups to be reduced. Choosing the Reset option in the drop down on the Flow Group column will correctly re-display all the flows assigned to those flow groups again.
• When using "Time Range Analysis”, the Flows tab, the user should trigger a reset to properly display a filtered dataset. And the same for Diagnostics tab when removing 'Streams'.
• Extended format list manifests are not supported for versions of JAVA 9 or above. Decoding segments based on these manifests will require java 8 from ORACLE. This primarily impacts opening older traces.
• Given that Domain names are being extracted from DNS queries. If a trace is started after a DNS query, and the connection is made during the trace, the trace will not have the DNS information. In this case the actual domain name will not be available and will simply default to whatever is current on the internet. Over time the domain name query results for a given address may change.
• Secure collection is still done using the old VPN collector implementation. To differentiate the legacy application from the current version of the VPN collector, the legacy VPN collector has a lock symbol on the icon.
• When a trace capture is in progress, if there is a disconnect/crash event that requires Video Optimizer to send a new collection request, the VPN Collector will accept this request and continue to the capture that was already in progress rather than restart the collection.
• There are latency issues with certain apps on the VPN Collector due to delays associated with recognizing stale connection and renegotiating them.

Video Optimizer Release 5.1 (11/30/2023)

Before you download Video Optimizer 5.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 5.1 System Requirements & Software Prerequisites

• At least 4GB of RAM but suggested is 8GB.
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 24 or above
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• FFMpeg (including FFProbe)
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• Mac requirements
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • Ifuse
  • MacFuse (formerly known as OSXFuse)
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
  • Wireshark
• Linux requirements
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
  • Wireshark

Video Optimizer 5.1 Features

This release includes the following features:

A new tab called Flows is now available for analysis of individual traffic flows and flow groups. It makes intelligent guesses about which flows in a trace are important and how they should be grouped. It then graphs and summarizes these traffic groups, while allowing the user to tweak the assumptions made and edit the groupings.

The first time you open a VO trace, your computer will automatically assign a color sequence for the Flows tab graph. If you would like to use our customized color sequence, you can download it from Github and add it to the VideoOptimizerLibrary folder, replacing the auto-generated flowGroupLibrary.json file. Here is the link
https://github.com/attdevsupport/VideoOptimzer/blob/master

• The following are the sections that will be present in the flows tab:

• Graph Panel

  The graph represents the total throughput of each flow group listed in the flows table in a separate color for easy visibility.

• Flows Panel

  This table displays the individual flows and color codes the discovered flow groups, while allowing the user to make changes to the groups and the graphed display.

• Flows Summary table

  This table shows the summary of all the flow groups. Flow groups typically represent more than one flow as found in the flows table. Default grouping is done either by Server Name Indicator, Domain, or Remote IP.

Known Issues in Release 5.1

• In the Flows tab: Flows table and Flows summary, the peak kbps value is displayed incorrectly when the scale is set to 5s in the Diagnostics tab graph.
• Information entered in the Flows tab: Flows table: Label column is not saved beyond the current instance of the trace being open.
• Flow Groups where the percentage was very close to 1% might not be displayed in the Flows Summary if the user performs a Reset.
• Deselected flows in a flow group are often switched back to "selected" when a trace is closed and reloaded.
• Remote IP and Domain Name entries in both the Flows tab and the Diagnostics tab might not match in some rare cases due to subsequent DNS query result variations.
• On the Flows tab, if the user clicks the checkbox for a flow that is not assigned to a group, it is instantly assigned to the next available group, and moves offscreen based on the Flow Group sort order (unless a different column is the sort column).
• Extended format list manifests are not supported for versions of JAVA 9 or above. Decoding segments based on these manifests will require java 8 from ORACLE. This primarily impacts opening older traces.
• Given that Domain names are being extracted from DNS queries. If a trace is started after a DNS query, and the connection is made during the trace, the trace will not have the DNS information. In this case the actual domain name will not be available and will simply default to whatever is current on the internet. Over time the domain name query results for a given address may change.
• Secure collection is still done using the old VPN collector implementation. To differentiate the legacy application from the current version of the VPN collector, the legacy VPN collector has a lock symbol on the icon.
• When a trace capture is in progress, if there is a disconnect/crash event that requires Video Optimizer to send a new collection request, the VPN Collector will accept this request and continue to the capture that was already in progress rather than restart the collection.
• There are latency issues with certain apps on the VPN Collector due to delays associated with recognizing stale connection and renegotiating them.

Video Optimizer Release 5.0 (09/12/2023)

Before you download Video Optimizer 5.0, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 5.0 System Requirements & Software Prerequisites

• At least 4GB of RAM, but suggested is 8GB
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 24 or above
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• FFMpeg (including FFProbe)
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• Mac requirements
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • Ifuse
  • MacFuse (formerly known as OSXFuse)
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
  • Wireshark
• Linux requirements
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
  • Wireshark

Video Optimizer 5.0 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• The new VPN collector for Android was rebuilt from the ground up using a lightweight, fully non-blocking, event driven framework. This allows the VPN collector to use memory more efficiently while supporting much higher throughputs, enabling high speed 5G network trace collection.
• Extracting SNI data, domain names, and video protocols for traces has been enhanced for improved speed and accuracy when capturing video.
• When loading traces, Domain information is populated by prioritizing DNS queries already present in the traffic file rather than current network data. This is so that the data reflects information at the time of collection rather than DNS changes that may have happened since then.
• Better determination of TLS protocol versions in the TCP/UDP Streams table. Protocols are displayed in lowercase when a connection was established before the trace was started.
• User can go directly to any folder in the trace history without opening the trace first.
• Auto-detection of local IP address is now enabled for any trace or captured file regardless of how it was captured. This enables accurate identification of upload vs download traffic.

Enhancements:

• Mac users are prompted with their current BREW version if an update is available.
• Advanced troubleshooting details are now provided for RVI related errors for Mac users.

Known Issues in Release 5.0

• Extended format list manifests are not supported for versions of JAVA 9 or above. Decoding segments based on these manifests will require java 8 from ORACLE. This primarily impacts opening older traces.
• Given that Domain names are being extracted from DNS queries. If a trace is started after a DNS query, and the connection is made during the trace, the trace will not have the DNS information. In this case the actual domain name will not be available and will simply default to whatever is current on the internet. Over time the domain name query results for a given address may change.
• Secure collection is still done using the old VPN collector implementation. To differentiate the legacy application from the current version of the VPN collector, the legacy VPN collector has a lock symbol on the icon.
• When a trace capture is in progress, if there is a disconnect/crash event that requires Video Optimizer to send a new collection request, the VPN Collector will accept this request and continue to the capture that was already in progress rather than restart the collection.
• Protocols for some IPV6 connections are displayed in lower case even when the connection was established after the trace started. This mostly exists in Android traces.

Video Optimizer Release 4.6 (12/15/2022)

Before you download Video Optimizer 4.6, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 4.6 System Requirements

• At least 4GB of RAM, but suggested is 8GB
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 23 or above
• FFmpeg & FFprobe
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Wireshark
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• Mac requirements
  • Xcode
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • macFUSE, libimobiledevice, and ifuse
• Linux requirements
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8

Video Optimizer 4.6 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

Native support for Apple silicon (M1/M2) with a dedicated aarch64 installer.

SNI information is now available for TCP and QUIC sessions.

Date/Time/Time Zone are recorded as part of trace collection to improve video synchronization.

Network and Device IPs are recorded for each trace for better categorization of uplink/downlink data.

Carrier Name/ Radio Cell ID is recorded during the trace collection for Android devices.

Export feature for various tables and graphs auto-populate with the appropriate trace name.

Support multiple time resolutions (.1s,.2s,.5s,1s,2s,5s) with the default set to 1 second for graphs on the diagnostics tab.

The Time Range analysis dialog now displays maximum throughput for both Uplink and Downlink data.

Filters applied to the diagnostics tab are automatically applied to the Time Range analysis.

Graphs on the video tab can be minimized by double-clicking the graph pane.

Developed a script to automatically install libimobile dependencies for Video Optimizer.

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/attdevsupport/VideoOptimzer/master/vo_dependency_installer.sh

The preferences dialog autodetects installed dependencies and populates the path.

Video Optimizer automatically checks installed versions of dependencies and raises an alert if updates are available.

Brew version updates are displayed to the user when installing a new version of Video Optimizer.

Known Issues in Release 4.6

Tools>Edit Metadata is disabled. Double-clicking the trace notes is the workaround.

File>open trace with time range is not saving custom time ranges when used for analysis.

A workaround is to manually add a custom time range to the time-range.json file.

When Video Optimizer is not able to parse the Remote or Host IP, for some QUIC video scenarios, SNI is not available.

Live screen capture window from the iPhone relies on the Command Line Tools from XCode. Recent changes make it much slower to receive a screenshot. Sometimes the live screen capture will be delayed by 2 secs.

Video Optimizer Release 4.5 (6/9/2022)

Before you download Video Optimizer 4.5, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 4.5 System Requirements

• At least 4GB of RAM, but suggested is 8GB
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 23 or above
• FFmpeg & FFprobe
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Mac requirements
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • Ifuse
  • MacFuse (formerly known as OSXFuse)
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
  • Wireshark
• Linux requirements
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
  • Wireshark

Video Optimizer 4.5 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

New graph options for viewing Upload or Download throughput separately or singly in the diagnostics tab.

Video Optimizer is now able to convert a folder containing a pcap file and a video file into a trace folder and synchronize the two files’ timelines. It can also covert just a pcap file alone into a trace folder with no video.

Open recent menu item will display recently opened PCAP file information in addition to recent traces opened.

Open PCAP file menu item will remember the location of the last PCAP file opened.

Network type (5G Sub-6/5G mmWave/Advanced pro LTE/LTE/WiFi) is displayed across all applicable tabs and in the diagnostics graph.

Re-organized summary panel on the best practices tab makes better use of available space.

DNS and UDP packet information is displayed when the user hovers over the packet info.

ARO secure certificate will be visible to the user for Samsung devices.

Known Issues in Release 4.5

After a trace video file has been played all the way to the end in VO, the video position scroll bar cannot be clicked until video playback is started again using the Play button. Additionally, subsequent video playback might not start from the beginning of the video. However, the workaround is to use the video position scroll bar and scroll back to the beginning.

Video Optimizer Release 4.4 (1/27/2022)

Before you download Video Optimizer 4.4, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 4.4 System Requirements

• At least 4GB of RAM, but suggested is 8GB
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 23 or above
• FFmpeg & FFprobe
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Mac requirements
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • Ifuse
  • MacFuse (formerly known as OSXFuse)
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
  • Wireshark
• Linux requirements
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
  • Wireshark

Video Optimizer 4.4 Features

This release includes the following features:

Automatic DNS lookup now assigns names to the endpoints associated with a session regardless of the session type (when available).

The SNI (server name indicator) is now automatically determined for all TLS flows and can be quickly ascertained by double clicking a flow and copying it from the pop-up window.

Filter options have been added to Time Range Analysis to allow for IPv4, IPv6, TCP, UDP and DNS filtering. The statistics button will display results based on selected filters. Reanalysis will be done based on selected filters.

Complete environment details are captured and stored in json format that is searchable without opening a trace. Details include:

• Video Optimizer version
• VPN Collector version
• Device make/model and OS
• Host machine OS and Java versions
• Xcode, Libimobiledevice and dumpcap versions (for Mac)

Optional trace details can now be added directly in the Start Collector window when launching a trace, or hidden if not needed.

VO now detects any missing application dependencies during the installation process. A pop-up window will indicate anything missing.

Enhancements include:

Improved accuracy of the throughput graph for throttled Android traces.

When performing pcap analysis, if the user opts to not retain the sub-directory VO creates, the original path is remembered, where the file was saved.

Addition of a Trace Notes section in the trace summary where the user can add useful trace info which can later be read or searched without even opening a trace.

Enhancements to allow easier viewing and editing of trace metadata, including simple double-clicking the notes field.

Automatic restart of VO upon receiving a memory exception, followed by an informational pop-up box explaining the crash and recovery.

Video Enhancements:

Segment Buffer display is populated based on VO estimated startup time even if the user does not manually set a startup time in the StartupDelay Dialog.

Video Best-Practices now show Pass/Fail results based on VO estimated startup time even if the user does not manually set a startup time in the StartupDelay Dialog.

VO now shows segments that failed to download in the Video Stream tables, in addition to successfully downloaded segments. "TCP state" column indicates "Failed" for these segments.

Network type graph now displays user friendly names for 5G Sub-6, 5G mmWave and Advanced pro LTE network types.

Clicking on the Configuration Required icon next to each of the video best practices on the Best Practices/Results tab navigates to the Video tab.

Known Issues in Release 4.4

Video analysis can display incorrect results if the Stall Pause Point, and Stall Recovery fields in the File->Preferences->Video tab use the default value of 0. We suggest changing this to a value of 0.1 or greater to get a proper analysis. This will also resolve the issue of the Stalls, Startup Delay, and Buffer Occupancy results showing that Startup Delay has not been set even when it has.

Video Optimizer Release 4.3.1 (12/16/2021)

Before you download Video Optimizer 4.3.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 4.3.1 System Requirements

• At least 4GB of RAM, but suggested is 8GB
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 23 or above
• FFmpeg & FFprobe
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Mac requirements
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • Ifuse
  • MacFuse (formerly known as OSXFuse)
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
  • Wireshark
• Linux requirements
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
  • Wireshark

Video Optimizer 4.3.1 Features

This release includes the following Enhancement:

Switching the iOS packet collection from RVICTL based collection to Wifi hotspot based collection. This addresses collection issues seen on Macs with Xcode 13.0 and 13.1.

This release supports an iOS packet capture mechanism via Wifi hotspot, the same method Video Optimizer uses for iOS secure traces and attenuated traces. It identifies the interface where the hotspot is setup and uses TCPDUMP/DUMPCAP to collect packets from that interface.

Known Issues in Release 4.3.1

Running 32 bit VLC on a 64 bit system is not compatible with Video Optimizer and can cause the application to become unresponsive.

Video Optimizer Release 4.3 (10/12/2021)

Before you download Video Optimizer 4.3, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 4.3 System Requirements

• At least 4GB of RAM, but suggested is 8GB
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 23 or above
• FFmpeg & FFprobe
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Mac requirements
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • Ifuse
  • MacFuse (formerly known as OSXFuse)
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
  • Wireshark
• Linux requirements
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
  • Wireshark

Video Optimizer 4.3 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• New feature of open trace with Time range is implemented in the preferences window
  • Time Range Editor/ Time Range Setup windows are displayed to the user
  • New feature to open trace with Default or Manual time range is implemented
  • Json file is created in the trace folder with the all the saved time range
• New feature of Display Resolution of the device used is added to the best practice page first section of the results.
• Preferences> logging level will have a new feature of "WARN"

Enhancements:

• User can allocate Max heap size in GB
• Export Results should consist of HTML, JSON and EXCEL
• Export Results will include all the throughput information according to the Time range setup
• A functional StartupDelayDialog without having to change the screen resolution density
• Time Range Analysis options have been clarified and merged into one menu
• CSI fixes for QUIC and TCP.

Known Issues in Release 4.3

Running 32 bit VLC on a 64 bit system is not compatible with Video Optimizer and can cause the application to become unresponsive.

Known Issues with Mac OS Big Sur

Recent versions of Mac OS Big Sur have a known issue with the rvictl that enables Video Optimizer to collect packet data from iOS devices. We are actively assisting customers with workarounds while awaiting a fix from Apple. A link to request support is available from the Video Optimizer Help menu.

Video Optimizer Release 4.2 (7/14/2021)

Before you download Video Optimizer 4.2, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 4.2 System Requirements

• At least 4GB of RAM, but suggested is 8GB
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 23 or above
• FFmpeg & FFprobe
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Mac requirements
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • Ifuse
  • OSXFuse
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
  • Wireshark
• Linux requirements
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
  • Wireshark

Video Optimizer 4.2 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• New graph showing device temperature and Thermal mitigation status for Android devices is added to the diagnostics tab. Values are collected every 5 seconds.
• New graph displaying TCP handshake latency per session has been added to the diagnostics tab.
• VO now calculates and displays minimum, maximum, and average TCP handshake latency of a trace on the statistics tab.
• Full support for opening, reading and analyzing pcapng files.
• VO now calculates and displays Total Payload bytes and Percentages for every Application and IP address in a trace. New columns have been added to the End point summary charts for both per Application and per IP address statistics.
• CSI (Chunk Sequence Inferencer) analysis is automatically reloaded every time a trace is re-opened.
• User Interface Enhancements:
  • Time Range Analysis:
    • Start time value can now be entered in minutes: seconds format or hours: minutes: seconds format and automatically converted to seconds format.
    • Analysis details are now selectable and can be copied to another application for comparison and further analysis.
  • Export functions now happens in the background, allowing for a smoother UI experience.
  • Option provided to reload a trace after making changes in the user preferences window.
  • Select IPs/application feature allows for filtering of IPV4/IPV6 data as well as TCP/UDP/DNS packets.
  • Labels have been added to the Y-axis of the Throughput graph on the Diagnostics tab.
  • When VO opens a raw pcap file, the user is given the option to move it into a self-contained trace folder with the same name as the original pcap file. This feature automates better organization when analyzing multiple pcap files.
• Overall speed improvements when opening traces.
• Video Enhancements:
  • Startup delay values are persistent when traces are reloaded, including for CSI analysis.
  • When segment 0 details are available for HLS video streams, they are now displayed.
  • Segment playtime graphs are now more accurate.
  • Start-up delay label changed to "Startup Time" for clarity.

Known Issues in Release 4.2

• Total bytes count is off in a small percentage of iOS traces, typically by less than 1%.
• CPU temperature is not displayed for certain Android devices, primarily Pixel devices and older Android versions.
• When opening a pcap file, if the user says "No" to create a new directory, no progress bars appear to indicate that VO is opening the file.

Video Optimizer Release 4.1 (3/24/2021)

Before you download Video Optimizer 4.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 4.1 System Requirements

• At least 4GB of RAM, but suggested is 8GB
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 23 or above
• FFmpeg & FFprobe
• Windows requirements
• Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Mac requirements
• Brew (or any similar package manager)
• Ifuse
• OSXFuse
• Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Wireshark
• Linux requirements
• For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
• For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
• Wireshark

Video Optimizer 4.1 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• Analysis of IPV6 data is now supported, increasing the number of apps that allow full video stream analysis.
• Capture of IPV6 data by the VPN collector is now supported, allowing analysis of IPV6 data from Android devices.
• New Segment Progress graph in the Video tab displays the download time progress and the play time progress of the segments.
  • Video segments, Audio segments, Video PlayTime, and Audio PlayTime are displayed for demuxed video.
  • Download_Progress and PlayTime_Progress are displayed for muxed video.
  • Hovering over the points displays the following information - Segment #, Track #, Download Start Time, Download End Time, Play Start Time, Play End Time, Duration, Progress, and the Content (Video/Audio).
  • Different colors and shapes help differentiate between the various graphs.
  • Graph refreshes when each stream is selected.
• New Segment Buffer graph displays information about the playback buffer.
  • Hovering over the points in the graph displays the following information – Segment #, PlayBack Buffer in seconds, and the TimeStamp.
  • The graph refreshes when each selected stream has its startup delay set.
• Redesigned Startup Delay window
  • In the User Touch Event section, navigate through the touch events viewing the simultaneously changing frame images on the right-hand side of the dialog to choose the time stamp of the precise video playback requested time.
  • In the Video Startup Time section, navigate through the startup times viewing the simultaneously changing frame images on the right-hand side of the dialog to set the video startup time to any value greater than the Play requested time
  • Video Startup Time is now saved: Once the startup delay has been set for a stream/streams, the values for the play requested time and the startup delay are saved in a json file in the trace folder. When the trace is opened again, these previously set values are displayed when the Startup Delay window opens for the stream.
• CSI (Chunk Sequence Inferencer) - the CSI feature can be used for analysis if the default video analysis does not provide any results and a manifest is available.
• User Interface Enhancements:
  • A clearer message 'Video segments could not be assigned to a Video Stream', when there are video requests, but no Streams showing in video tab.
  • Enhanced ffmpeg and ffprobe detection.
  • Enhanced Content View tab which displays all the requests and responses in the same order as in Request/Response View.
  • Enhanced handling of 0 value for throttling and stopping data flow during trace collection.

Known Issues in Release 4.1

• Startup Delay window does not display the Set/Cancel button if the vertical resolution of the display is below 1080. Work around is to capture landscape orientation traces for video.
• Trace collection cannot be started when the device is on the lock screen, otherwise the VPN collector app will freeze.

Video Optimizer Release 4.0.1 (1/13/2021)

Before you download Video Optimizer 4.0.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 4.0.1 System Requirements

• At least 4GB of RAM, but suggested is 8GB
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 23 or above
• FFmpeg
• Windows requirements
• Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Mac requirements
• Brew (or any similar package manager)
• Ifuse
• OSXFuse
• Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Wireshark
• Linux requirements
• For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
• For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
• Wireshark

Video Optimizer 4.0.1 Features

This release brings to the Linux version all the following features and enhancements that were brought to the Mac and PC version in release 4.0:

• New Export capabilities includes:
  • Export entire trace results to Excel format, allowing easy comparison of multiple traces.
  • Ability to export all Requests & Responses in the TCP/UDP Flow table.
  • Ability to export multiple tables at once from the Diagnostics tab.
• Redesigned Video tab shows more relevant data, including a new graph showing the download bitrates of all video ∓ audio segments.
• Support for Brotli text compression including:
  • Text Compression Best Practice now calculates potential data savings for using Brotli compression.
  • Ability to view uncompressed Brotli text in the Content View tab.
• Ability to Interpret DASH .mp4/.mpd video stream segments.
• Detection of 5G network connections and type (Sub 6 v mmWave) using the Android Telephony API.
• Color coding of the Set Startup Delay button to indicate when it has been set.
• Detection of Android screen touch events and allowing for setting the Playback initiation time based on touch events.
• Informative popup windows to assist Android 11 users to configure certificates needed for secure trace collection.
• Simplified VPN permissions can be granted via ADB instead of prompting from device.
• Full support for analyzing secure iOS traces.
• Updated calculations of KB and MB to reflect standard 1000 notation (and not 1024).
• General bug fixes for video analysis and best practice analysis.

Known Issues in Release 4.0.1

• The 5g network is not displayed in the Network type graph, unless there is a toggle between WIFI and Data. This is a limitation in the Android Telephony API.
• Trace collection cannot be started when the device is on the lock screen, otherwise the VPN collector app will freeze.
• For occasional traces, HLS video streams show the segment number as "0" for all segments.

Video Optimizer Release 4.0 (12/15/2020)

Before you download Video Optimizer 4.0, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 4.0 System Requirements

• At least 4GB of RAM, but suggested is 8GB
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 23 or above
• FFmpeg
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Mac requirements
  • Brew (or any similar package manager)
  • Ifuse
  • OSXFuse
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
  • VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
  • Wireshark
• Linux requirements
  • Linux version is not being release for 4.0 and will be available with the subsequent 4.0.1 release.
  • For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
  • For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
  • Wireshark

Video Optimizer 4.0 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• New Export capabilities includes:
  • Export entire trace results to Excel format, allowing easy comparison of multiple traces.
  • Ability to export all Requests & Responses in the TCP/UDP Flow table.
  • Ability to export multiple tables at once from the Diagnostics tab.
• Redesigned Video tab shows more relevant data, including a new graph showing the download bitrates of all video & audio segments.
• Support for Brotli text compression including:
  • Text Compression Best Practice now calculates potential data savings for using Brotli compression.
  • Ability to view uncompressed Brotli text in the Content View tab.
• Ability to Interpret DASH .mp4/.mpd video stream segments.
• Detection of 5G network connections and type (Sub 6 v mmWave) using the Android Telephony API.
• Color coding of the Set Startup Delay button to indicate when it has been set.
• Detection of Android screen touch events and allowing for setting the Playback initiation time based on touch events.
• Informative popup windows to assist Android 11 users to configure certificates needed for secure trace collection.
• Simplified VPN permissions can be granted via ADB instead of prompting from device.
• Full support for secure iOS traces.
• Updated calculations of KB and MB to reflect standard 1000 notation (and not 1024).
• General bug fixes for video analysis and best practice analysis.

Known Issues in Release 4.0

• The 5g network is not displayed in the Network type graph, unless there is a toggle between WIFI and Data. This is a limitation in the Android Telephony API.
• Trace collection cannot be started when the device is on the lock screen, otherwise the VPN collector app will freeze.
• For occasional traces, HLS video streams show the segment number as "0" for all segments.
• Intermittently, when there is an issue with video analysis of a trace, some images from the previous trace will still be visible in the following graphs:
  • Throughput (Video tab)
  • Video chunks (Diagnostics tab)
  • Buffer seconds (Diagnostics tab)
  • Buffer Mbytes (Diagnostics tab)

Video Optimizer Release 3.2 (08/26/2020)

Before you download Video Optimizer 3.2, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 3.2 System Requirements

• At least 4GB of RAM, but suggested is 8GB
• Oracle Java 8 or above (open JDK not supported by Video Optimizer)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 23 or above
• FFmpeg
• Windows requirements
• Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Mac requirements
• Brew (or any similar package manager)
• Ifuse
• OSXFuse
• Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Wireshark
• Linux requirements
• For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
• For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
• Wireshark

Video Optimizer 3.2 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• New “Delay” feature is added to Request Response panel under Diagnostics tab. It displays the HTTP Level Delay for every HTTP Request and Response. This new Delay tab will display Request Time Stamp, First Packet Arrival Time, First Packet Delay, Last Packet Arrival Time, Last Packet Delay and Content length
• Export feature in the TCP/UDP table includes timestamps for SYN and SYN-ACK
• In the Diagnostics tab, Session Count graph is updated to reflect the session closure flags
• In the Diagnostics tab, User Input graph includes additional user events such as screen touch, volume, power and screen orientation
• Dynamic Network Attenuator is enhanced to simulate network latency
• Startup delay dialog is enhanced to identify/select the video playback requested time based on user touch
• Video stream table is redesigned to accommodate more information
• Video stream table includes Export feature
• Best Practice test “Network Comparison” results table includes “Declared Manifest Bandwidth” & “Calculated Network Bitrate data”
• Best Practice test “Multiple Simultaneous Connections to One Endpoint” is modified to fail the test if it detects more than 7 connections to the same server
• Best Practice test “Analyzing the Adaptive Bitrate Ladder” results table displays Resolution, Playback %, Segment Count, Total Duration, Segment Position, Declared Bitrate, and Average Bitrate information for each Track
• Best Practice test “HTTPS Usage” includes Total HTTPS Data, percentage of Total HTTPS Data, and Total Unanalyzed HTTPS Data
• macOS users will be able to configure the Wireshark path under Video Optimizer->File->Preferences
• Export options are enhanced with default file name based on the trace and saves the file under the trace folder

Known Issues in Release 3.2

• Playtime propagation and therefore stall detection issues appear intermittently in some traces
• Time stamp shows 0.00 in the Request/Response view for some of the iOS traces

Video Optimizer - Release 3.1 (4/29/2020)

Before you download Video Optimizer 3.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 3.1 System Requirements

• At least 2GB of RAM, but recommend at least 8GB
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 23 or above
• FFmpeg
• Windows requirements
• Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Mac requirements
• Brew (or any similar package manager)
• Ifuse
• OSXFuse
• Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
• VLC media player 3.x.x or higher
• Wireshark
• Linux requirements
• For Ubuntu 18.04.x LTS (and newer) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x
• For Ubuntu 16.04.x LTS (and older) users, use VLC media player version 3.x.x up to 3.0.8
• Wireshark

Video Optimizer 3.1 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• New Best Practice called Adaptive Bitrate Ladder has been added under Video Best practices to help analyze Adaptive Bitrate and design it to stream files more efficiently over HTTP networks
• VPN collector with Secure option now supports Android versions 9 and 10
• HLS Live stream enhancements for wider support of live video streaming applications
• Additional support added to analyze traces supporting HLS and DASH manifest format for traces taken on Android devices
• Improved naming of Video Stream for better clarity - Stream names are displayed based on the URL of the Master manifest
• In Diagnostic Tab, under TCP/UDP table, a new column called “Round Trip Time” is added to calculate TCP session round trip time. For UDP, DNS and QUIC sessions, the round-trip time is not applicable and will show N/A
• Graphic chart in Diagnostic Tab now includes a new label called “Session Count” along with a tool tip that displays the total number of sessions when user hovers on various points on the graph
• ‘Landscape’ option is now enabled when capturing traces using Command-Line Interface
• Save & Close Functionality button under File->Preferences->Video is enhanced to check for precise values before saving it
• VO Installation prerequisites have now been updated for Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms

Known Issues in Release 3.1

• Some of the video traces don’t display Byte and time information under Video Summary table on Windows and Linux platform
• In some traces, not all segment gaps are identified
• Playtime propagation and therefore stall detection issues appear intermittently in some traces
• With Ubuntu LTS Versions 16.x.x, VLC versions greater than 3.0.8 doesn’t allow for video playback on Video Optimizer. Trace Collection and opening the trace will work but Video Player doesn’t play.

Video Optimizer Release 3.0.1 (02/13/2020)

Before you download Video Optimizer 3.0.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 3.0.1 System Requirements

• At least 2GB of RAM, but recommend at least 8GB
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• FFmpeg
• Windows requirements
• Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• VLC media player
• Mac requirements
• Wireshark
• Brew (or any similar package manager)
• Ifuse
• OSXFuse
• Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
• Linux requirements
• Wireshark
• VLC media player

Video Optimizer 3.0.1 Features

This release includes the following fixes:

• Improved Video Analysis to support variance of HLS and DASH manifests for wider support of video streaming applications
• Improved analysis for secure traces collected on both Android and iOS

Known Issues in Release 3.0.1

• Some of the video traces don’t display Byte and time information under Video Summary table on Windows and Linux platform
• In some traces, not all segment gaps are identified

Video Optimizer Release 3.0 (12/26/2019)

Before you download Video Optimizer 3.0, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 3.0 System Requirements

• At least 2GB of RAM, but recommend at least 8GB
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• FFmpeg
• Windows requirements
• Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
• VLC media player
• Mac requirements
• Brew (or any similar package manager)
• Ifuse
• OSXFuse
• Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
• VLC media player
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
• Linux requirements
• VLC media player

Video Optimizer 3.0 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• Audio Analysis
• New Audio Best Practice called “Streaming Separate Audio and Video” has been added as a self-test to the Best Practice tab. Video Optimizer now detects if Audio and Video segments are demuxed into separate audio & video files. Demuxed streaming can save money by requiring less server storage and it can improve CDN usage. To learn more about this Best Practice, click on “learn more” hyperlink under the Best Practice result.
• The Video Stream section of the Video tab now includes separate tables for Audio and Video (when applicable) to better view segments and analyze stalls. Either of these tables can be deselected in order to show additional data fields of the remaining table.
• Device and Desktop OS Support
• Video Optimizer now supports trace collection and analysis on devices with Android 10 OS (Please note additional security warning pops up by Android 10. For additional information, please refer to Video Optimizer User Guide)
• Video Optimizer now supports trace collection and analysis on macOS Catalina
• Video Enhancements
• Video Stall indicator feature has been added to indicate the exact time that stalls occurred. Stalls are displayed precisely in graphs on both Diagnostics tab and Video tab charts.
• The video segment table has been updated to support streams with separate audio & video segments. A “Content” column indicates whether a segment is audio, video, or muxed audio & video.
• A “Stall time” column has been added in the video/audio segment table to indicate the time when the stall occurred.
• A “TCP state” column has been added to the video/audio segment table to indicate when a packet is a “reset” or “finished” packet.
• The “Quality” column in the video/audio segment table was renamed to the more accurate “Track.”
• Any gaps in segments are now identified in the Video Stream section.
• Support has been added for more variance of HLS and DASH manifests for wider support of video streaming applications.
• Other Enhancements
• HD trace collection for iOS has been greatly simplified. Use of Xcode provisioning profiles and signing certificates is no longer required. If your existing version of Xcode supports the device you are taking a trace on, then VO will automatically prompt you to start the video on your device when you start your trace.
• Export option in diagnostics tab is enhanced to support exporting only rows selected by the user.
• Sorting feature has been added to the tables in the Statistics tab.

Known Issues in Release 3.0

• Some of the video traces don’t display Byte and time information under Video Summary table on Windows and Linux platform
• In some traces, not all segment gaps are identified.

Video Optimizer Release 2.4 (06/21/2019)

Before you download Video Optimizer 2.4.0, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 2.4.0 System Requirements

• At least 2GB of RAM, but recommend at least 8GB
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• FFmpeg
• Windows requirements
  • Wireshark (Install Npcap addon with Winpcap API-compatible mode)
  • VLC media player
• Mac requirements
  • Brew
  • Ifuse
  • OSXFuse
  • Libimobiledevice & ideviceinstaller
  • For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode and OS X
• Linux requirements
  • VLC media player

Video Optimizer 2.4.0 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• Enhanced Video Analysis for wider support of Video Streaming Applications.
  • Supports wider range of HLS and DASH based video streaming applications on both Android and iOS
  • Enhanced video buffer calculations
• iOS Enhancements
  • Supports VO trace collection for iPhones with EID format
  • iOS Start collector now includes both low resolution and HD options
  • iOS workflow improvements to handle provisioning profile error messages
• UI Enhancements
  • Best Practice “Minify CSS, JS and HTML” results summary is updated to reflect savings in KB
  • The trace name in Best Practices tab, Video Tab and Statistics tab now includes a link which helps user navigate to the trace folder
  • Preferences, under File menu, now has Default buttons under the Video Tab so it helps users to revert to default settings
  • “Select Applications/IPs” option under View menu now includes DNS checkbox that helps user to filter based on DNS packet
  • Helps preserve start collector options between traces

Known Issues in Release 2.4.0

• Application names, CPU usage, signal strength not captured for traces on Android Oreo and above (Known Limitation)
• Live screen display fails intermittently during iOS trace capture
• For Linux:
  • Some Text boxes in Video tab is not easily readable
  • 'Trace Name' link may open multiple windows at once

Video Optimizer Release 2.3 (03/11/2019)

Before you download Video Optimizer 2.3, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 2.3 Installation Requirements

• At least 2GB of RAM
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode
• WinPcap (Windows)
• Brew(Mac)
• Ifuse(Mac)
• OSXFuse(Mac)
• FFmpeg
• VLC media player (Windows & Linux)
• Wireshark

Video Optimizer 2.3 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• iOS Secure Collector
• Attenuate and Secure collection option displayed on the Start Collector window.
• Updates to instructions window
• Secure collection using Command Line Interface
• New Video Best Practice “Resolution and Perception“ tests for video resolution greater than 720p
• New “No data” icon added to indicate that a Best Practice is not applicable when a trace does not have relevant data available for analysis.
• Waterfall Tab enhancements - Displays appropriate domain names and IP addresses, and highlights the Maximum number of Simultaneous Connections for the trace.
• Other Enhancements:
• Startup Delay compares video startup delay graphically against 3 reference apps
• Handling special characters and spaces in adb path and other applicable locations.
• Android versions Oreo and above to stop vpn collector on the device if there is an existing collector instance running on the device.
• Update content viewer.

Known Issues in Release 2.3

1. Application names, CPU usage, signal strength is not displayed for traces taken with Android Version Oreo and above.
2. Video Optimizer is not capable of running a collection on the 2018 iPhone devices. Fixing this requires a few updates.
   1. Apple has to officially release the XCode Update to handle the new ECID's.
   2. User will have to install / update to the latest HEAD of libimobiledevices.
   3. Code changes in VO to support the newer ECID (Should be present in 3.0 release).

Video Optimizer Release 2.2.1 (11/13/18)

Before you download Video Optimizer 2.2.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 2.2.1 System Requirements

• At least 2GB of RAM
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode
• WinPcap (Windows)
• Brew(Mac)
• Ifuse(Mac)
• OSXFuse(Mac)
• FFmpeg
• VLC media player (Windows &Linux)
• Wireshark

Video Optimizer 2.2.1 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• New Best Practice “Variable Bitrate” is added to test if the video stream is using Variable bitrate or not.
• New ‘Configuration Required’ icon added to indicate if the Video Best Practice tests requires additional configuration
• Time Range analysis has been re-designed with addition of Total Payload Data displayed in Best Practices trace summary and Time range analysis results section.
• Attenuator enhancements to support Android 9 “Pie”
• iOS Secure Collector (Beta version)
• Android Secure Collector supports Pie version
• Other enhancements include
• Handling special characters in file names
• Handling missing traces in the recent files
• Updates to the iOS collector installation

Known Issues in Release 2.2.1

• Application names, CPU usage, signal strength is not displayed for traces taken with Android Version Oreo and above.
• Some iOS traces taken using HD show as low resolution.
• No traffic file is displayed for iOS HD traces(intermittent)

Video Optimizer Release 2.1 (09/13/18)

Before you download Video Optimizer 2.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 2.1 System Requirements

• At least 2GB of RAM
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode
• WinPcap (Windows)
• Brew(Mac)
• Ifuse(Mac)
• Xfuse(Mac)
• FFmpeg
• VLC media player
• Wireshark

Video Optimizer 2.1 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• iOS Attenuator enhancements allows to now precisely apply cellular network simulation with throughput which is in 'Kbps' by setting up the MITM proxy on Mac.
• Secure Collector now supports analysis for DIRECTV application
• Collection and Analysis of traces for Devices with Android OS version Pie (9.0)
• Secure Collector now supports devices with Android OS version Oreo
• Other enhancements include:

• Allows to open recent files from the File menu
• User will now be able Select/De-Select the Best Practices using one universal button in Preferences

Known Issues in Release 2.1

• Application names, CPU usage, signal strength is not displayed for traces taken with Android Version Oreo and above.
• Some iOS traces taken using HD show as low resolution.
• EndUTC displays incorrect time on the Metadata panel on the BP tab

Video Optimizer Release 2.0 (05/18/18)

Before you download Video Optimizer 2.0, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 2.0 System Requirements

• At least 2GB of RAM
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode
• WinPcap (Windows)
• Brew(Mac)
• Ifuse(Mac)
• Xfuse(Mac)
• FFmpeg
• VLC media player
• Wireshark

Video Optimizer 2.0 Features

This release includes the following features and enhancements:

• iOS attenuator feature is now available both on the GUI and CLI versions. It currently supports static attenuation for the required speeds.
• Video analysis settings has been added to the Preferences within Video tab. A new option called “Near Stall” is included in video preferences.
• Enhanced support for HLS video streaming.
• Modified Video Parser wizard to easily edit the capture group
• Other Enhancements include:
  • Refresh button is now moved to the TCP/UDP flow table in Diagnostic tab
  • Export JSON has been streamlined and enhanced with additional metadata
  • Percentage savings and verbiage updates have been added to the Best Practices such as Text file compression, Image format and Minify CSS, JS, and HTML

Known Issues in Release 2.0

• Application names, CPU usage, signal strength is not displayed for traces taken with Android Version Oreo and above.
• With iPhone X, intermittent delay in starting the trace.  

Video Optimizer Release 1.4 (01/18/18)

Video Optimizer - Release 1.4 (1/18/2018)

Before you download Video Optimizer 1.4, make sure that you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 1.4 System Requirements

• At least 2GB of RAM
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode
• WinPcap (Windows)
• Brew(Mac)
• Ifuse(Mac)
• Xfuse(Mac)
• FFmpeg
• VLC media player
• Wireshark

Video Optimizer 1.4 Features

This release includes the following enhancements:

• Improvements to stability and performance of the Secure Collector.
• Diagnostic tab improvements to ensure the listing on the graph is aligned with the options selection from the menu (view).
• Help button will provide more information about Dumpcap path, FFMPEG, FFPROBE path in the preferences window.
• Command Line improvements to support Dynamic attenuation.

Known Issues in Release 1.4

• Blank screen is displayed when you take the first trace using an iOS collector. User should stop and take a new trace to continue.
• Application names are not displayed for traces taken with Oreo

Video Optimizer Release 1.3 (11/20/2017)

Before you download Video Optimizer 1.3, make sure that you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 1.3 System Requirements

• At least 2GB of RAM
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode
• WinPcap (Windows)
• FFmpeg
• VLC media player
• Wireshark

Video Optimizer 1.3 Features

This release extends the following features to be released with Video Optimizer 1.3:

Secured Collector

This feature allows collection of encrypted data and analysis of the same. It now works with Android versions Marshmallow and Nougat.

New Best Practice: Concurrent Session

Concurrent session is a new best practice that is added to the set of Video Best Practices section. The concurrent session best practice displays the maximum number of concurrent sessions for each manifest in the Video trace. The table displays the manifest name, the maximum number of concurrent sessions for the manifest and the duration that concurrency was active for. If the maximum concurrency occurs more than once in the manifest then the duration of concurrency for each instance is added up and displayed in the table.

New Best Practice: Image Comparison

This best practice compares the dimensions of the downloaded images verses the dimensions displayed on the screen and fails the test if it is greater than or equal to 50% savings of pixels.

New Best Practice: Multiple Simultaneous Connection to Many Endpoints

Opening many connections all at once can cause bottlenecks in slower network conditions. This best practice will help detect those connections that connect to many endpoints. It triggers fail when it detects more than 12 connections in use at the same time.

Best Practice enhancement: Multiple Simultaneous Connections to One Endpoint

A new IP column is added to simultaneous connection to one Endpoint to display all the IP’s along with the domain name.

Video Best Practices Pass Fail Configuration

Startup delay, Stall duration and Segment Redundancy best practices now provide user an option to trigger pass and fail criteria. Users will have an option under File, under preferences to define the custom values.

Command Line option to throttle speed for Network Attenuator

Video Optimizer command line will now accept both Uplink and Downlink parameters applied at the same time via command line options.

DNS Packet Analysis

Now Video Optimizer can analyze the DNS packets along with TCP/UDP packets.

Video Request Table

Video Request Table in Video tab now has an option to export the video requests to an excel sheet and allows to save in user preferred location.

Extend Manifest Dash Format

There is a new MPD(XML) format that is parsed into a ManifestDASH which can handle “.m4a” video segments.

Preferences UI

Preferences UI under the File menu now provides 3 logging levels such as debug, info, and error options to collect the log so it helps in debugging if any issues. It also has configurable paths for ffmpeg, ffprobe and dumpcap.

iOS Enhancements

When collecting iOS traces, user will now have an option to select HD recording. Also, iOS traces now capture the Bluetooth event if it is on and will be displayed in Diagnostics chart.

Known Issues in Release 1.3

• Video Best Practices - Under preferences, when user enters a higher value than the default fail value for any of the video best practices, it saves the value without providing any error message. It instead saves the profile but doesn’t apply. Make sure to enter a value lower than default value.
• Application names are not displayed for traces taken with Oreo version
• User will require to create a new provision file if user deletes provisioning profile and certificate from the preferences

Video Optimizer Release 1.2 (05/11/17)

Before you download Video Optimizer 1.2, make sure that you meet the following system requirements for your operating system:

Video Optimizer 1.2 System Requirements

• At least 2GB of RAM
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode
• WinPcap (Windows)
• FFmpeg
• VLC media player
• Wireshark

Video Optimizer 1.2 Features

This release extends the following features to be released with Video Optimizer 1.2:

New video tab

A new table called ‘Video Results Summary’ is available under the video tab and it includes all the chosen video related information such as Stalls, Start-up delay, Buffer occupancy, Segments info, Bytes buffer/Seconds buffer, IP sessions/addresses, Maximum concurrent sessions, TCP connections, Redundancy etc. It also allows to manage and analyze multiple manifest files in the same trace. ‘Start-up delay reminder’ option is now available whenever we have video in the traffic for analysis. ‘Maximum Concurrent sessions’ is another option available in video tab that will display the maximum number of concurrent video sessions.

Network Attenuator

The user can apply cellular network simulation precisely with Throughput which is in ‘kbps’ instead of delay in ‘ms’. Also notification messages are displayed on the phone denoting applied speed. The user is able to create own profile with required values and use it during trace collection.

UI Window for User Configurable Best Practices

This is a new UI added to the tool to help users choose the best practices they want to test against depending on the application type. This option is available under File/preferences and once the selection is made, analysis will apply to the selected best practices. ADB path can be found under preferences instead of File menu. Additionally, we limit the video segments to be displayed in the diagnostics graph only when any of the Video best practices or any of the Image best practices such as Compression, Metadata or Format is selected for analysis.

New Best Practice: Multiple simultaneous connections to one IP range

This is a new best practice added under “Connections” best practices group that reports unnecessary connections. It checks if the multiple connections can be consolidated into one single connection – which would speed up content delivery and leave connection capacity for additional content. Ensuring that your mobile application’s load can be handled by your back-end server is an important test to follow before you launch your service.

Video Parser

Video parser has the ability to parse any streaming video manifest or video URL to identify key streaming features. Using this tool VO can perform video stream analysis and will allow the user to test any non-encrypted stream of video. Streaming apps often change their profile which causes the developers to stop analyzing the application. Different stream types like video on demand vs. live stream often have a different type of profile and characteristics. This makes individual custom coding untenable for long term sustainability of the tool.

DNS packets capture

Video Optimizer will capture all the DNS packets.

Known Issues in Release 1.2

• Video Tab IP addresses/IP Sessions fields in the Video tab will display all the sessions and addresses related to the entire traffic, not particular for the video traffic. Additionally, it doesn't update when manifest selection changes.
  In the Video Results Summary table under Video tab, the values will remain, even if the manifest file(s) is deselected after setting the startup delay. Workaround is for the user to set the start-up delay/reselect the startup delay of a movie they would like to analyze.
  The fields 'Network Comparison', 'IP sessions', 'IP Address' and 'Mbytes Total' under the video results summary table are displaying results for all videos regardless of video selection.
  For Non-DRM traces, video frame thumbnails are displayed only on a Mac platform. For Windows/Linux we show blobs.
• DNS Packets - Analyzer displays DNS packets as UDP.

Miscellaneous issues

• Unresponsive UI due to specific traces causing exceptions. Workaround is to restart the application.
• Diagnostics tab is sorting the column 'Remote IP End Point' alphabetically instead of numerically.

Video Optimizer Release 1.1 (05/11/17)

Before you download Video Optimizer 1.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system.

Video Optimizer 1.1 System Requirements

Before you download Video Optimizer 1.1, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system.

• At least 2GB of RAM
• Java 8 or above
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• For iOS developers, use latest version of Xcode
• WinPcap (Windows)
• FFmpeg

Video Optimizer 1.1 Features

Release 1.1 extends the features released in the Video Optimizer version 1.0.

Network Attenuator

The Network Attenuator feature supports dynamic attenuation. It lets you add a delay (attenuation) in milliseconds for the download and upload streams. The new enhancement lets you do the following:

• Apply variable attenuation
• Apply static attenuation

 

Variable Attenuation

When a variable attenuation is applied during collection, a preloaded script is used and the attenuation speed changes during the collection. A step chart is displayed on the diagnostic chart for the variable speeds and the values match to the attenuation applied during the collection.

 

Static Attenuation

The following options are available for static attenuation:

• Downlink
• Uplink
• Downlink and Uplink

A red straight line is displayed for downlink on the diagnostic chart. A blue straight like is displayed for uplink on the diagnostic chart.

Video Best Practices

This release has enhancements to a group of best practice tests that offer guidance on mobile development issues with video. A new tab “Video” is available on the analyzer where all the manifest and the video segments are listed on this tab. A new pop-up window is displayed where all the video segments are listed when the user sets the startup delay. The stalls are automatically detected after the startup delay is set.

Image Best Practices

This release has enhancements to the best practice tests in the area of image format. Video Optimizer converts all the images to WebP format (for Android) or Jpeg2000 format (for iOS) and it gives a “Pass” if there are no savings after the conversion. This best practice will give a “Pass” when there are no images with a savings of more than 15 percent, and a Fail if there is at least one image with more than 15 percent savings when converted.

Android Device Data Capture – CPU Temperature and GPS Events

This release includes Android device data capture and Diagnostic tab correlation, CPU Temperature, and location events.

 

CPU Temperature

A new option “CPU Temperature” is available under View/Options/CPU Temperature. The thermal temperature of the device is displayed on the diagnostic chart as the CPU Temperature. A green graph is plotted on the diagnostic chart.

 

GPS/Location events

GPS/location events information is collected from the device and displayed on the diagnostic chart. Active, Standby state is plotted on the graph. Pings are also marked on the diagnostic chart. The following information is available by hovering on the pings:

• Time
• Location info
• Latitude
• Longitude
• Locality
• Provider

Performance Enhancements

This release includes performance-related enhancements such as a faster launch for Video Optimizer and support for bigger traces.

Installation Enhancements

This release includes installation-related enhancements such as the vlcj media player, and an updated help document.

Rebranding

This release includes rebranding of the ARO Command Line Utility and folder structures to the Video Optimizer.

Video Parser Utility (Beta version)

The Video Parser utility significantly broadens the reach of video optimization by supporting different video formats. This tool has the ability to parse any streaming video URL to identify key streaming features using regular expressions. By using this tool, Video Optimizer can perform video stream analysis and allow the user to test any unencrypted stream of video. Different stream types like video on demand vs. live stream often have a different type of profile and characteristics.

What are the known issues in Release 1.1?

• Network Attenuator
  • When no attenuation is applied, the diagnostics chart displays some irrelevant values.

• iOS Issues
  • Video Analysis is not available for iOS devices. For this release video analysis is only available for Android.
  • Screen capture is failing while collecting a trace via Command line inertface for iOS devices.
  • A black screen is displayed on the video viewer as soon as the trace is opened instead of an image from the device on which the trace was collected.

• Android Device Data Capture – CPU Temperature
  • CPU temperature is device dependent.

• Video Best Practices
  • In line videos are sometimes captured as part of trace analysis and a single segment is displayed on the diagnostics chart. The user is able to select the segment.
  • When there are two manifest files in the video trace, the buffer graph for bytes and seconds are inaccurate.
  • “Show Video viewer” will still be available for traces with no videos and when clicked, it will open the previous trace video but it will not be playable.

• Video Parser Utility
  • The “search success” message is displayed on top when you launch a new Video Parser Wizard from the menu.
  • In the Video Parser Wizard window, the result section of the wizard does not save the previously chosen XREF options for the data capture group when the next set of capture group is entered.
  • When a user sees a negative segment number, it means that there is no manifest in HLS and no recognized segment number is present in the request.
  • Analyzer is getting stuck while parsing the requests available in the Video requests under the Video tab.

Video Optimizer Release 1.0 (12/30/16)

Video Optimizer Release 1.0 (12/30/16)

Video Optimizer 1.0 is a new developer tool in the new Entertainment Experience Suite, and it is based on the award winning Application Resource Optimizer. Video Optimizer allows mobile application developers to test the network performance of video, images and other files for compression, speed, battery drain and other aspects of performance.

Video Optimizer 1.0 System Requirements

Before you download Video Optimizer 1.0, make sure you meet the following system requirements for your operating system.

• At least 2GB of RAM
• Java 7 or above (should have the latest update of Java 1.7 or above)
• For Android developers, Android SDK Level 19 or above
• For iOS developers, use Xcode 8
• WinPcap
• FFmpeg

Video Optimizer 1.0 Features

Release 1.0 is built for testing on iOS and Android devices, and extends the features released in the Application Resource Optimizer versions 1.0-5.1. Several features have further requirements, as listed here.

VPN Secured Collector (Supported on Android 4.2 to 4.4 (KitKat) only and Mac for collection) The secure collector feature in Video Optimizer can decrypt HTTPS traffic – providing you with a more thorough analysis of the traffic transmitted during your testing.

Network Attenuator (Supported on Android only)

The Network Attenuator feature allows you to vary the attenuation of uplink and downlink network bandwidth, letting you test the impact of slower network speeds and different levels of network congestion on your app’s performance. The Network Attenuator feature can be used with Android devices and the Video Optimizer’s VPN collector.

Video Best Practices

A group of Best Practice tests that offer guidance on mobile development issues with video. These tests let you visualize and diagnose common streaming issues to optimally balance Deliver Quality (DQ) versus Video Quality (VQ). The DQ key performance indicators (KPI) are startup time, stalls, track switches, and latency.

Security Best Practices

A section of Best Practice tests in the area of security help you check that your app is using HTTPS to better secure private data, and that you are using the latest HTTPS version to help you avoid unsecure SSL connections. Other security tests look for weak ciphers to protect the data you are transmitting with a stronger method of encryption and checks that the ciphers you are using support forward secrecy.

Image Best Practices

New best practice tests to help you use images more efficiently. One new test looks at your image metadata to determine if unnecessary metadata is being included. Metadata can greatly increase file size, but has little benefit for the end user. Removing extra metadata makes the images smaller and lets them download faster.

Another new test helps you find the best level of image compression so that the images in your app maintain quality at a smaller size. You can analyze all images (JPG, GIF, PNG, WebP) to ensure that the image was properly compressed.

Peripheral support using the VPN Collector

The VPN collector in Video Optimizer 1.0 can collect data from peripherals.

Support for Android and Apple versions

• Android device (or emulator) running 4.4 or higher
• iOS device running iOS 6 or higher

What are the known issues in Release 1.0?

• Android Emulator
  • Video Optimizer works only with ARM emulators.

• Security Best Practices
  • In our testing, only KitKat devices detected a week cipher.
  • Private data transmission: There is a false positive scenario that Analyzer reports a sixteen digit number as a credit card number.

• Video Best Practices
  • Note: Traces that are collected from a paused video do not capture the manifest file, so the thumbnails are not displayed.
  Some traces do not generate segments as the manifest file is not created.
  • Only stalls have the pass/fail criteria. All the other video best practices are currently informative only.
  • Although there are stalls in the trace, sometimes the buffer occupancy graph doesn't report them.
  • After setting the video start-up delay, you cannot set the recovery time that occurred in the trace.

• HD/SD Video Options
  • HD option is disabled for windows.
  • HD /SD option is disabled for Linux.

• Secured Collector
  • Selecting 'Secure' and not installing a certificate doesn't give an error when browsing occurs through secure websites like Yahoo, Google, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

• Analyzer
  • HTTPS cache statistics tab displays all zeros.
  • When you click the zoom option on the Diagnostics Tab, you are not kept at the same point, for example, the page goes to the starting point.

• Other Issues
  • When the Graph on the Diagnostics Tab is zoomed in, the video in the Image/Viewer may take longer to respond to commands such as Pause.
  • In the Diagnostic chart it shows a delay of the chunk arriving as a stall on the graph. However on the video viewer the spinning wheel is not displayed so it is not really a stall.