Mailing-List: contact users-help@httpd.apache.org; run by ezmlm
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: users@httpd.apache.org
Received-SPF: neutral (nike.apache.org: local policy)
Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:58:52 +1100
Message-ID: <ECDC314DC0401D44898A14B6E61D963C0B288D21@EXCHANGE.ltu.edu.au>
In-Reply-To: <26733531.post@talk.nabble.com>
Thread-Topic: [users@httpd] http video streaming
Thread-Index: Acp50sbcGOrChZSoTK2jWYd8y8lapgAQMtbA
References: <26733531.post@talk.nabble.com>
From: "Robert Mattson" <R.Mattson@latrobe.edu.au>
To: <users@httpd.apache.org>
Subject: RE: [users@httpd] http video streaming

Hi Ted,

I have a bit of experience as I've just set up a system to stream mp4
video files, and other hinted media.

1. The best advice I can give is to use VLC media player as the client.
It is pretty good, and when included as a plug-in for Mozilla firefox,
it's pretty darn good. Check out http://vlc.revolunet.com/ for examples
- I used the ext.us example for eye-candy value.

2. Where I set this system up, it was very important for us to maintain
open standards to avoid vendor lock-in. What is vogue today (cough,
cough, flash) may not be tomorrow (cough, cough, HTML5). So we convert
everything using mencoder on gentoo to mp4.
What you're after is a hinted media file. Hints are a section at the
header of the media file that tell the browser/decoder what timeslot is
at what byte offset. When VBR encoded files are streamed, offsets are
damn hard (impossible?) to calculate - so the whole file must be
downloaded then parsed until the correct time offset when skipping. But
if you're client is brain-dead, there is no telling what it will do.

3. I needed to stream the file from a php script to control a few things
dynamically and found this code to be of great use:
http://mu.wordpress.org/forums/topic/14757

Apache + VLC + script + mp4(with hints) =3D SWEEEET

Good luck,
Rob

p.s. if you're deploying streaming with VLC over https, don't forget to
put the root certificates in the correct folder. There is little / no
doco on this.


<snip />

Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this
email?


-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Byers [mailto:r.ted.byers@gmail.com]=20
Sent: Friday, 11 December 2009 6:55 AM
To: users@httpd.apache.org
Subject: [users@httpd] http video streaming


Presently running Apache's httpd v 2.2.9 on Windows Server (and also on
XP,
but my tests in question were run on the server).

I have attempted to get httpd video streaming working by making a wvx
file
pointing at the video file I want to stream.  When I then point my
browser
at it, the dialog asking to open media player appears, and when I click
ok,
th eplayer opens immediately, but it waits until the entire file (a WMV
file) has been transferred, showing the progress of its being buffered
by
the player, before it actually plays the file.

Perhaps I am misinformed, but I thought streaming video would start
immediately.  What did I miss?  Does the wmv file need to be constructed
in
a particular way? Does a special module need to be added before http
streamed video works as I'd expected?

The thing is that I am attempting to reduce the time between when a user
clicks a link to our video and the time when it starts to play and I
don't
see a benefit between the way this streaming is behaving and my original
option (make the video and deploy it to a fast host that has good
bandwith),
which has the video opening on my workstation in just under 20 seconds.

So, while my test works in the sense I do see the video eventually, I
see no
improvement because the client waits until the entire file has been
transfered before playing it.

Can this be improved using only the httpd server or do I have to resort
to
either Adobe's streaming video server or Apple's streaming video server
and
buy tools to convert ASF or WMV or mpg files into flash or quicktime
files?

Thanks

Ted
--=20
View this message in context:
http://old.nabble.com/http-video-streaming-tp26733531p26733531.html
Sent from the Apache HTTP Server - Users mailing list archive at
Nabble.com.


---------------------------------------------------------------------
The official User-To-User support forum of the Apache HTTP Server
Project.
See <URL:http://httpd.apache.org/userslist.html> for more info.
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscribe@httpd.apache.org
   "   from the digest: users-digest-unsubscribe@httpd.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-help@httpd.apache.org


---------------------------------------------------------------------
The official User-To-User support forum of the Apache HTTP Server Project.
See <URL:http://httpd.apache.org/userslist.html> for more info.
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscribe@httpd.apache.org
   "   from the digest: users-digest-unsubscribe@httpd.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-help@httpd.apache.org