Your clients want to follow several matches, news channels or cameras at the same time without jumping between channels. A mosaic puts up to 9 of your channels on one screen and publishes it as a normal channel: it shows in your categories and bouquets, and clients watch it in their apps like any other channel.
New in Xtream AI 2.5.0. Requires engine 2.5.0 on your main server.
Requirements
- Engine 2.5.0 on your main server. If Mosaics is not in the Channels menu, update it first. See Update the Engine.
- An active Mosaics plan. Mosaics is a paid add-on (see "The Mosaics plan" below).
- Admins only. A limited admin needs the Mosaics permission. Resellers do not have access.
Create a mosaic
- Open Channels > Mosaics and click New mosaic. The preview is on the left and four steps are on the right.
- Layout: choose 4 equal, 9 equal, 1 big + 3, 1 big + 5, Side by side or Picture in picture.
- Channels: click a tile in the preview (or its row in the list) and pick the channel with the search box. Leave empty keeps that tile blank. The speaker icon marks the tile you hear: click the speaker of another tile to switch the audio, or the same one again to mute the mosaic.
- Look:
- One of the four color themes.
- Title: optional text at the top, up to 60 characters.
- Clock and Channel names: show or hide them.
- Background image: Upload an image. It is cropped to 1920×1080 and compressed for you.
- Output and quality: Resolution (1080p, or 720p, which uses about 40% less CPU), Encoder (CPU, or NVIDIA GPU when every chosen server has an NVIDIA card ready) and Clock time zone.
- Publish:
- Name: also the channel name.
- Category: where the channel appears.
- Bouquets: which clients see it.
- Servers: where the mosaic runs.
- Click Save and apply. The panel creates the mosaic's channel and starts it on the chosen servers. You do not need to create the channel by hand.
Exact preview draws the mosaic exactly as it will look, with names, clock and background, on one of the chosen servers. The text under the image says which server drew it.
Tile snapshots
While you build the mosaic, each tile shows a snapshot of its channel. It is only a reference for the design and does not refresh on its own. While it loads the tile says Taking snapshot…. To take new ones, click the refresh button next to "Tiles show a snapshot from".
If a tile shows Stopped on a server, or a similar notice, that channel is not running there. If it shows Not on any server, no server has that channel on air or on demand, so the tile will have no picture.
Watch it live, start, stop or restart
Once the mosaic is published, the On air block appears at the top of the editor:
- Channel ID of the mosaic's channel, with Open in Edit Stream.
- Server: choose which of the mosaic's servers to watch, with its status (Live, Starting, Down, Stopped or On demand).
- A player that shows the mosaic exactly as your clients see it on that server.
- Stop, Start and Restart for the mosaic's channel on that server.
What each result means when you save
Under the button you get one result per server:
- Channel created or Updated live: done. Design changes apply live without cutting viewers.
- Restarting: the change needs a restart on that server, for example a new resolution, encoder or time zone. Viewers reconnect on their own in a few seconds. The panel warns you before saving.
- Applies automatically: that server picks up the change by itself in about 30 seconds.
- Applies on next start: the channel was not running on that server. It takes the change the next time it starts.
- Starting or Pending: wait a few seconds and click Retry.
- Error: the reason is shown under it.
Where the mosaic's channel lives
- In Channels > Overview, the mosaic's channel has a Mosaic label. Choose ● Mosaics in the status filter to see only those.
- In the channel editor its source reads Mosaic: followed by the mosaic name, with an Open in Mosaics link. It is not edited as a URL: change the design in Channels > Mosaics. Category, bouquets and servers are also set in the Publish step.
- Deleting a mosaic from its card deletes its channel on every server too.
The Mosaics plan
The card at the top of Channels > Mosaics shows your plan. Choose 1, 3 or 12 months and pay with Pay with balance (your Xtream AI balance) or Pay with crypto.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| 1 month | USD 30 |
| 3 months | USD 81 |
| 12 months | USD 288 |
With an active plan you can turn on automatic renewal from your balance and extend it with Extend plan. If the plan expires, your mosaics keep working for a short grace period. After that they become read-only: you can view and delete them, but not create or edit them until you buy a plan again. See Plugins.
Common problems
- "Mosaics need engine 2.5.0 on your main server": update your main server.
- "Your Mosaics plan is not active": buy or renew a plan from the card at the top.
- A tile is black or has no signal: that channel is down, or it is not on air on any server.
- NVIDIA GPU is not offered in Encoder: one of the chosen servers has no NVIDIA card ready. The mosaic uses CPU.
- "Server … cannot run this design" when saving: that server checked the design and cannot run it. The reason is shown under it. Fix it, for example the background image, or choose another server.
- "Too many background uploads in the last hour": wait a while and try again.
- "The live preview is not available right now" in On air: click Try again. If it continues, check that the server is online.
- Leaving without saving: the panel warns you about unsaved changes when you go back to the list or close the tab.