Every capability, on one page
The full Bilbycast feature list, no curation. If you're evaluating against a procurement checklist or a competitive matrix, this is the page to bookmark. Read top-to-bottom or jump to the headlines on the four pillars.
Twelve Protocols, One Gateway
SRT, RIST (VSF TR-06-1), RTP, UDP, RTMP/RTMPS, RTSP, HLS, WebRTC (WHIP/WHEP), and SMPTE ST 2110-20/-23/-30/-31/-40. Inputs, outputs, and flows are independently managed entities — reuse outputs across flows, attach multiple inputs to one flow, and swap them mid-stream.
Hot Input Switching
Flows with multiple inputs support zero-gap cutover via a single API call. A shared TS continuity fixer resets CC state, injects the new input’s PAT/PMT with a bumped version, and forwards immediately — receivers keep playing without a glitch. Fully format-agnostic: switch between different codecs, containers, and transports (H.264, HEVC, JPEG XS, uncompressed ST 2110) on the same flow.
Video Transcoding
In-process H.264 / HEVC transcoding on SRT, RIST, UDP, RTP, RTMP, and WebRTC outputs via libx264, libx265, or NVIDIA NVENC. TS outputs use a streaming PMT rewriter that preserves non-video PIDs. WebRTC auto-transcodes HEVC sources to H.264 so every browser can play. Shipped bundled in the release binary as an AGPL-3.0-or-later combined work under the GPL portions.
Audio Gateway + Channel Router
Per-output sample-rate, bit-depth, and channel-routing transcode (via rubato). Built-in presets for 5.1→stereo BS.775 downmix, stereo→mono sum, and arbitrary matrix routing. IS-08 channel maps hot-reload without restarting flows — shuffle, swap, or remix audio channels live. SMPTE 302M LPCM-in-MPEG-TS for byte-identical interop with ffmpeg, srt-live-transmit, and broadcast hardware decoders.
Compressed-Audio Bridge
AAC carried in MPEG-TS over RTMP, RTSP, SRT, UDP, or RTP decodes in-process via Fraunhofer FDK AAC (AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1/v2, multichannel up to 7.1). Land it on ST 2110-30/-31, rtp_audio, or SMPTE 302M outputs — or re-encode to AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1/v2, Opus, MP2, or AC-3 on any RTMP, HLS, WebRTC, SRT, UDP, RTP, or RIST output. All codecs encode in-process via FDK AAC and libavcodec — no external ffmpeg subprocess on the default build.
Output Delay & Path Sync
SRT, RIST, RTP, and UDP outputs accept a delay block so parallel paths with different processing latencies stay aligned. Pick fixed millisecond delay, a self-adjusting target end-to-end latency, or a frame-accurate target using auto-detected frame rate. Keep a clean feed in lockstep with a commentary-processed variant, or compensate for a downstream transcode box.
Secure IP Tunneling
Forward any TCP or UDP traffic through encrypted QUIC tunnels between edge nodes. Monitor devices, control equipment, or extend your network across NAT — all managed from the bilbycast-manager UI with per-tunnel HMAC bind tokens and ChaCha20-Poly1305 AEAD.
Broadcast Standards
SMPTE 2022-1 FEC encode/decode, SMPTE 2022-7 hitless redundancy merge, TR-101290 transport-stream analysis, SMPTE RP 2129 trust-boundary metrics, and VSF TR-06-1 / TR-07 awareness. RIST is a first-class protocol, not a subset of SRT.
End-to-End Encrypted
ChaCha20-Poly1305 AEAD between edge nodes (relay is zero-knowledge), AES-CTR/GCM for SRT, TLS 1.3 via QUIC, optional certificate pinning, and secrets encrypted at rest. Memory-safe core with tight, static binaries for simple deployment.
NMOS Integration
IS-04 Discovery & Registration, IS-05 Connection Management, IS-08 Audio Channel Mapping, and BCP-004 receiver capability sets. Best-effort PTP integration via external ptp4l. Seamless drop-in to existing NMOS facilities for both audio and uncompressed ST 2110-20/-23 video.
MPTS / SPTS Handling
Full MPEG-TS multi-program passthrough on UDP, RTP, SRT, RIST, and HLS. Per-output program_number filter rewrites the PAT and drops unrelated PIDs — fan one MPTS input out as a full MPTS plus several filtered SPTS outputs from the same flow.
Flow Assembly — TS from N Inputs
Build a fresh MPEG-TS (SPTS or MPTS) from elementary streams pulled off any of a flow’s inputs: mix video from input A with audio from input B, compose a multi-program feed from N sources, or stand up a pre-bus hitless merger between two ingress legs. PCM and AES3 inputs (ST 2110-30/-31, rtp_audio) become TS carriers via input-level audio_encode (AAC-LC, HE-AAC v1/v2, SMPTE 302M). The assembly plan is hot-swappable at runtime — PMT versions bump in place, unchanged slots keep running, no packet gap.
Node Bus Matrix
One edge becomes a full distribution matrix. The PID bus is node-wide — any flow’s assembly pulls elementary streams from inputs owned by any sibling flow, with a master-clock-identity preflight that refuses cross-PTP-domain / cross-PCR-PLL mixes before they hit the wire. A three-pane crosspoint authoring surface (Sources / Matrix / Inspector) replaces nested form-pickers entirely. Click-to-wire and drag-and-drop equally first-class. Lawo-style orange marks pending; blue marks committed. Apply (N) commits per-flow atomic. Save salvo captures the routing as a Switcher preset.
PES Switch — Access-Unit-Aligned Splice
Switch sources without going to black AND without re-acquire glitches. Per-slot splice_mode = "pes_aligned" holds the outbound stream at the from-leg’s last fully-emitted PES boundary, then commits on the to-leg’s next clean access unit — audio splices wait for a PUSI=1 PES with monotonically-past PTS; video splices additionally require an H.264 / HEVC IDR. AAC ADTS / LATM + H.264 / HEVC SPS sentinels refuse the splice on codec-parameter mismatch (sample rate, profile, resolution, bit-depth) and fall back to PMT-bump with a structured Warning. Per-Take splice_mode_override on any preset action.
AI-Assisted Configuration
Built-in AI assistant understands your network topology and can create, analyze, and troubleshoot media flows via a driver-aware action system. Supports OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini providers — credentials stripped before any LLM context.
Extensible Device Drivers
Bring third-party broadcast devices into the bilbycast manager via lightweight API gateway sidecars. Reference implementation for Appear X encoder/gateway platforms — same WebSocket protocol, same UI, same AI actions.
Set it up in 10 minutes.
Runs on commodity off-the-shelf hardware. Edge and relay are free under AGPL 3; manager is free for up to 10 nodes. No sign-up wall, no credit card. The same binaries you'd run in production.