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CasparCG Server

MEETINGS
Velocity0.0

Professional broadcast graphics and video playout server

casparcg.com ↗

Broadcast playout server reaches for HDR and sets a hardware floor to get there

broadcastplayouthdrffmpegdecklinklinux-support
◆Current state
CasparCG Server ships stable releases roughly once or twice a year, with long RC and beta runs ahead of each major. The 2.4 line delivered resolution and control-surface breadth — 8K and 4K DCI frames, custom resolutions, an interlaced mixer pipeline for field accuracy, AMCP command batching. The current 2.5.0 stable turns to colour and deployment: initial HDR support, ffmpeg 7.0, headless Linux operation, and Ubuntu deb packaging.
◆Where it's heading
The project is modernizing the parts of a playout server that determine whether it can sit in a current broadcast chain — colour pipeline, pixel format fidelity, and where it can run. That comes with an explicit hardware bargain: AVX2 is recommended now and becomes a requirement in 2.6, trading compatibility with pre-2013 CPUs for the instruction set HDR and the embedded Chrome renderer need. Alongside, Decklink and NDI integration keep absorbing steady fix work.
◆Prediction
2.6 should complete the AVX2 transition and widen HDR beyond the current subset of producers and consumers, since the 2.5 notes describe HDR as deliberately partial.

◆Recent moves

  1. 8mo ago

    2.5.0 brings initial HDR, headless Linux and an AVX2 baseline

    ⚡ SPARK

    The release that moves CasparCG's colour pipeline forward: initial HDR support, more ffmpeg pixel formats to preserve colour accuracy, reworked mixer transforms, and ffmpeg 7.0. It also changes where the server can run — headless Linux, Ubuntu debs, VS2022 Windows builds — and announces AVX2 as a hard requirement from 2.6.

    View source ↗
  2. 1y ago

    2.4.3 clears crashes across FFmpeg, Decklink and HTML producers

    A fix-only release covering the paths that actually take a channel off air: an FFmpeg crash on invalid frame headers, a Decklink crash with ffmpeg 7, an HTML producer crash on exit, and cross-channel progressive-to-interlaced routes rendering mostly black. Stabilization work ahead of the 2.5 colour rework.

    View source ↗
  3. 1y ago

    2.4.2 restores Decklink driver 14.3 compatibility

    A single-item release fixing support for Blackmagic Decklink driver 14.3 and later. Necessary for anyone on current drivers, but narrow.

    View source ↗
  4. 1y ago

    2.4.1 fixes Decklink subregions, EXIF rotation and NDI source listing

    A broad correction pass: three Decklink subregion bugs affecting frame height and vertical offset, EXIF rotate flags now respected on images, NDI local source listing, and a reverted tbbmalloc removal that had cost noticeable Windows performance. Consolidation immediately after the 2.4.0 major.

    View source ↗
  5. 2y ago

    2.4.0 adds 8K and 4K DCI frames plus AMCP command batching

    The 2.4 major: 8K and 4K DCI frame support, configurable custom resolutions, an interlaced mixer pipeline for field accuracy, 16-channel audio, and a meaningfully expanded AMCP surface including command batching, CLEAR ALL, CALLBG and CLEAR_ON_404. It also drops the undocumented CII and CLK protocols.

    View source ↗
  6. 2y ago

    2.4.0 RC1 preview of the 2.4 feature set

    Release candidate whose contents are folded into the 2.4.0 stable notes — 16-channel audio, absolute config paths, Linux build rework. Ships with a known media-scanner bug requiring a manual replacement, which is why it is a candidate rather than a release.

    View source ↗