Technical innovations of VIMP 6.0

Version 6.0 contains some new functions, but above all many improvements “under the hood”. Read this article to find out which technical innovations may require your attention. As always, you can find the complete list of all changes in our changelog.

Before the update

It is recommended to clear the server cache before updating to VIMP 6.x.

You can initiate this either in the admin panel under the menu item “Empty cache” or in the console in the VIMP directory using the following command:

./symfony cc
Important: The Recalculate task must not be skipped/deactivated during the first update from an older version to VIMP 6.x. If you run the updater normally, everything is correct and the Recalculate task is also executed.

System requirements

Please note the system requirements. The minimum requirements for PHP and MySQL have changed with this version.

  • PHP requires at least version 8.1 as of VIMP 6.0
  • MySQL requires at least version 8.0 as of VIMP 6.0

Please ensure that you have (re)configured your server accordingly before installing or updating.

SourceGuardian Loader

The SourceGuardian Loader must be installed in at least version 15.0 for all VIMP editions in order to install VIMP 6.0.

Performance Verbesserungen

By delivering static content (CSS, JS, etc.) via symlinks, we were able to significantly increase the performance of VIMP when delivering pages.

The complete revision of the determination of file sizes prevents performance bottlenecks when calling up VIMP pages.

The complete revision of the i18n import task significantly reduces the runtime of this task.

The complete revision of the media call count speeds up the execution of the update task enormously, especially for large portals.

Note: The update from an earlier 5.x version to VIMP 6.x can take considerably longer than usual, depending on the number of users and media in the portal, as a very large number of database entries may have to be processed once for the new media count. Therefore, please allow more time for the update to VIMP 6.x. Updates from a 6.x version to subsequent versions will then proceed as quickly as usual.

Component updates

The following components are updated, replaced or optimized with this release:

  • Video.js update
  • jQuery update
  • Symfony Mailer replaces the Swift Mailer
  • Conversion to vimp tasks
  • Admin panel converted to TWIG
  • Revision of the license key check

Video annotations

The video annotations allow you to add text annotations directly in the player window. The function can be switched on and off in the configuration. In addition, the corresponding authorization must be set in the role management for those user roles that should have access to this feature.

Please note: To access and create video annotations, you must assign the appropriate authorizations to the desired user roles (see “New role authorizations” below).

Media type filter

Media type filter

New in VIMP 6.0 is a media type filter, which you can now find in the filter options for each media box.

Here you can filter the respective list by media type (videos, photos, audio, documents).

Note: The media subpages (videos, audios, photos, documents) included by default in previous VIMP versions can thus be deactivated, as filtering is now possible everywhere directly.

Column configuration in the admin panel

In the admin panel, administrators now have the option of individually configuring the columns of the overview tables. This means that from now on, exactly the information that is individually required can be displayed.

The configured columns are saved on a user-specific basis and are therefore retained after a new login to the admin panel.

Security optimizations

This release also contains several security-related optimizations.

“Edited on”

As of VIMP 6.0, there is a new “Edited on” column in the user and media overview, which provides information on when the user or media data record was last edited by the user.

Changes to the embed

The way in which media can be embedded on other websites can now be controlled administratively. You can use the corresponding role authorizations to define whether embedding via iFrame and/or JavaScript should be possible for your users (see “New role authorizations” below).

Direct upload to groups

Previously, only user roles with the “manage group media” authorization were entitled to upload media directly to a group via the upload form.

As of VIMP 6.0, this authorization is no longer necessary; instead, authorization is granted exclusively via the group role. This means that all users who are allowed to add media to a group can now also do so directly via the upload form, provided the option is activated in the group settings.

Hidden publication status

In some cases, you may not want to give your users a choice for setting the publication status (public/private/hidden/password-protected), but rather specify a status. This is now possible via a new configuration and a role permission (see “New role premissions ” below).  If a role does not have this authorization, the default publication status defined in the configuration under Media settings -> “Default media visibility” is entered for new media.

Important: When updating to VIMP 6.0 from an older version, the new role permission (“set media publication”) is not automatically set for the existing roles. Please activate it manually after the update for all roles that should receive this permission.

TWIG admin panel template

With this release, we are introducing the TWIG template engine in the admin panel. Functionally, this does not change the operation, but please note that if you have made individual changes to the admin panel or have your own plugins in use, you must also rewrite them to TWIG in the context of the admin panel.

Conversion to vimp tasks

With VIMP 6.0, tasks on the CLI are called with “vimp” instead of “symfony”. Otherwise, the syntax does not change. As a fallback, the call with the previous “symfony” command also works temporarily.

Livestream optimizations

Livestream owners now have the option of explicitly activating or deactivating their livestreams. When deactivated, they no longer appear in the livestream overview and can therefore only be activated at the desired time.

Furthermore, the automatic collapse of longer livestream descriptions can be deactivated by configuration, as is already the case with media.

And for embedded live streams, the stream is automatically muted if autoplay is activated.

Simplified access to chapter marker creation

With the appropriate authorization, you can now access the editing of chapter markers directly via the media actions on the media page.

Support for SRT subtitles

Until now, VIMP only supported the upload of subtitles via the newer VTT file format.

With VIMP 6.0, we are also making it possible to upload subtitles in the older but still widely used SRT format.

Low Latency Live Streaming (LL-HLS)

From now on, live streams can be explicitly specified whether they are low latency streams or not. If this is the case, the streams are treated separately by the player in order to fully support the advantages of low latency streaming on the player side.

Multi-client capable livestreams

Livestreams can now be restricted to the client to which the creator of the livestream belongs.

New role permissions

  • access media watchhistory: Admin Panel users with this authorization can access the history of the media view count.

  • allow media share embed iframe: Users with this authorization can embed media via iFrame on other pages.

  • allow media share embed js: Users with this authorization can embed media via iFrame on other pages.

  • access videojs annotations: Users with this permission can see video annotations.

  • edit videojs annotations: Users with this permission can create and edit video annotations.

  • set media publication: Users with this permission can set the publication status in the upload and edit forms.

Modified API methods

  • The API method getUser now also contains the “displayName” in the response. The “username” therefore now always contains the stored user name regardless of the configuration and the “displayName” contains the configured name.

  • The API methods getUser and getMedium also contain the “edited_at” date of the data record in the response.

Components no longer supported

  • As the Atlantic template no longer provides any added value compared to the Ocean template, we have decided to discontinue the delivery of this template. You can find all further information on this in our FAQ article.
  • For legacy reasons, we still supplied the authentication option via OpenID 2.0 in the past. With VIMP 6.0, we are now removing support for the corresponding module.
  • Furthermore, the WebTV module is no longer supported as of VIMP 6.0. The playlist function introduced with VIMP 5.1 provides a more convenient and flexible option for creating playlists.
  • The Newsletter module is also no longer supported with VIMP 6.0. We recommend using an external newsletter solution that can guarantee reliable and legally compliant distribution in accordance with your national laws.
If you wish to continue using the unsupported plugins for legacy reasons, please read the following FAQ article, which describes how you can reactivate the plugins.