Macromedia Media Server - 5.0.6 User Guide

ADOBE®MEDIA SERVER

Developer’s Guide

Legal notices

For legal notices, see http://help.adobe.com/en_US/legalnotices/index.html.

Last updated 9/4/2014

Chapter 1: Getting started streaming media

Supported clients, encoders, codecs, and file formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Pre-built media players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Stream live media (HTTP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Stream live media (RTMP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Stream on-demand media (HTTP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Stream on-demand media (RTMP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Stream on-demand encrypted media (pRTMP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Multicast media (RTMFP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Configure closed captioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Configure alternate audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Configure content protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Configure HTTP Dynamic Streaming and HTTP Live Streaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

HTTP streaming configuration file reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Build custom media players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Offline packaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Troubleshoot issues with streaming media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

iii

Chapter 2: Content protection

Configuring content protection for HDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Configuring content protection for HLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Chapter 3: Getting started developing applications

Application architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Set up a development environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Example: Hello World application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Overview of creating an application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Test an application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Deploy an application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Chapter 4: Developing streaming media applications

Connecting to the server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Managing connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Streaming media files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Checking video files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Handling errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Working with playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Dynamic streaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Reconnecting streams when a connection drops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Fast switching between streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Smart Seeking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Detecting bandwidth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Detecting stream length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

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ADOBE MEDIA SERVER 5.0.6 DEVELOPER’S GUIDE

Contents

Chapter 5: Working with live video

Capturing live video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Adding DVR features to live video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Adding metadata to a live stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Capturing timecode sent from Flash Media Live Encoder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Publishing live video in RAW file format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Multi-point publishing between servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Chapter 6: Building peer-assisted networking applications

Real-Time Media Flow Protocol (RTMFP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

RTMFP groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Distribute peer introductions across servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Chapter 7: Developing social applications

About social applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

About shared objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Remote shared objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

SharedBall example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Broadcast messages to many users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Chapter 8: Securing applications

Allow or deny access to assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Authenticate clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Authenticate users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Chapter 9: Developing Plug-ins

What’s new with plug-ins in Flash Media Server 4.5.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

What’s new with plug-ins in Flash Media Server 4.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Versioning, upgrading, and server editions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Working with plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

General development tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

Developing an Access plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Developing an Authorization plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Developing a File plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

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Chapter 1: Getting started streaming media

Supported clients, encoders, codecs, and file formats

Supported clients and servers for streaming services

Streaming services are pre-built Adobe Media Server applications. Use streaming services to stream media to Flash, AIR, and Apple (iOS and QuickTime) clients. The services are installed to rootinstall/applications/servicename.

The following table lists the streaming services and their earliest supported server versions, server editions, and client runtimes:

Streaming type Service

On-demand streaming over RTMP.

See Stream on-demand media

(RTMP).

On-demand streaming over HTTP.

See “Stream on-demand media

(HTTP)” on page 19.

Live streaming over RTMP.

See “Stream live media (RTMP)” on page 17

Live streaming over HTTP.

See “Stream live media (HTTP)” on page 5.

name

vod 3 All Flash Player 6

None 4.5 All Flash Player 10.1

live 3 All Flash Player 6

livepkgr 4 4—Adobe Media

Server version Server

edition(earliest supported)

Server Extended, Adobe Media Server Professional

4.5—All

Client runtime (earliest supported)

AIR 1

AIR 2

iOS 3.0

QuickTime X

AIR 1

4—Flash Player 10.1, AIR 2

4.5—Flash Player

10.1, AIR 2, iOS 3.0, QuickTime X

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Getting started streaming media

Streaming type Service

Multicast streaming over RTMFP.

See “Multicast media (RTMFP)” on page 36.

name

multicast 4 Adobe Media Server

Server version Server

edition(earliest supported)

Professional supports IP Multicast

Adobe Media Server Extended supports IP Multicast, Application-level Multicast, and Multicast Fusion. Multicast Fusion technology combines IP and Application-level Multicast.

The server editions have changed with server version 5. Adobe Flash Media Streaming Server is Adobe Media Server 5 Standard. Adobe Flash Media Interactive Server is Adobe Media Server 5 Professional. Adobe Flash Media Enterprise Server is Adobe Media Server 5 Extended. Adobe Flash Media Development Server is Adobe Media Server 5 Starter.

Client runtime (earliest supported)

Flash Player 10.1

AIR 2

Important: On Adobe Media Server 5 Standard, you cannot modify the server-side code in the streaming services. In all other editions of the server, you can modify the code.

Supported file formats and codecs

Adobe Flash Platform

For a complete list of supported file formats and codecs, see Supported file formats and codecs.

Live HTTP Dynamic Streaming supports the H.264, VP6, MP3, and AAC codecs.

For on-demand HTTP Dynamic Streaming, the just-in-time packager supports F4V/MP4 files. This document explains how to use the just-in-time packager. To package FLV files for HTTP Dynamic Streaming, use the offline File Packager tool. See

In addition, see the following Flash Platform articles:

Smart phone and tablet video encoding recommendations for Flash Player and AIR by Adobe encoding

evangelist, Maxim Levkov, and Adobe Product Manager, Tom Nguyen.

Video encoding and transcoding recommendations for HTTP Dynamic Streaming on the Flash Platform by

Adobe encoding evangelist, Maxim Levkov.

File Packager reference.

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Getting started streaming media

For a longer list of articles about encoding, see the Video Encoding page on Adobe Developer Connection.

Apple HTTP Live Streaming

Adobe Media Server support for Apple HTTP Live Streaming includes H.264 and AAC/HE-AAC for audio-video content and AAC/HE-AAC for audio-only content.

For more information, see Apple HTTP Live Streaming Overview - FAQ.

For recommended encoding settings, see Best Practices for Creating and Deploying HTTP Live Streaming Media for

the iPhone and iPad and Recommended Encoding Settings for HTTP Live Streaming Media.

Supported encoders

Use the following encoders to publish a live stream to Adobe Media Server:

• Flash Media Live Encoder

• Server-side scripts running on Adobe Media Server Extended, Adobe Media Server Professional, and Adobe Media

Server Starter. When you call the Server-side ActionScript method

• A custom-built Flash Player or AIR application. See “Working with live video” on page 235.

• Third-party encoding solutions. See Adobe Media Server Solution Partners.

Stream.play(), the stream is considered “live”.

Pre-built media players

Flash and AIR media players

Media player Supported protocols Media player location

Flash Media Playback RTMP/x, HTTP

Note: Flash Media Playback doesn’t support Set-level Manifest files.

Strobe Media Playback RTMP/x, HTTP osmf.org/developers.html

Adobe Media Server sample video player

The AMS sample video player is Strobe Media Playback in a wrapper. The wrapper includes sample and generates HTML embed code.

Adobe Media Server multicast sample player

Flash FLVPlayback component RTMP/x fl.video.FLVPlayback

Flex components RTMP/x mx.controls.VideoDisplay

RTMP/x, HTTP

To use this player for multicast playback, use the multicast configurator to create a manifest file. Use the manifest file as the source.

RTMFP rootinstall/tools/multicast/multicastplaye

www.adobe.com/products/flashmediapl ayback/

rootinstall/samples/videoPlayer

FLV playback 2.5 supports DVR

spark.components.VideoPlayer

spark.components.VideoDisplay

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ADOBE MEDIA SERVER 5.0.6 DEVELOPER’S GUIDE

Getting started streaming media

Note: The previous table is not a complete list of supported media players. Many third parties have developed excellent media players. When using a third party media player, please check with the third party to verify which features the media player supports.

Play media in Flash Media Playback

Flash Media Playback is a compiled SWF file hosted on Adobe.com. Flash Media Playback is built on the Open Source

Media Framework (OSMF). Flash Media Playback is not open source, but it is fully configurable and supports

dynamically loaded plug-ins from third-party service providers. It runs in Flash Player 10.1 and AIR 2 and supports multi-bitrate streaming, Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming (streaming over HTTP), and DVR.

Note: Flash Media Playback does not support set-level manifest files; use Strobe Media Playback instead. Or, to use multibitrate HTTP Dynamic Streaming with Flash Media Playback, use a Manifest.xml file.

For more information about Flash Media Playback, see www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaplayback.

1 Load the Flash Media Playback Setup page in a web browser: www.osmf.org/configurator/fmp/.

2 Enter the Video Source.

3 Indicate whether the video uses HTTP Dynamic Streaming or Adobe Access.

4 To use DVR, click the Advanced tab and select Stream Type DVR.

5 Click Preview to update the embed code.

6 Click Play to test the code.

7 To use the player in your own HTML page, copy the embed code and paste it into your page.

Play media in Strobe Media Playback

Strobe Media Playback is built with the Open Source Media Framework (OSMF). It supports progressive download, RTMP streaming, HTTP Dynamic Streaming (including adaptive bitrate manifest files), multicast streaming, and content protection with Adobe® Flash® Access™. You must host Strobe Media Playback on your own server.

Download the latest Strobe Media Playback and its documentation from osmf.org.

Play media in the Adobe Media Server sample video player

The sample player that installs with Adobe Media Server to rootinstall/samples/videoPlayer is based on Strobe Media Playback. You can use the sample player to generate HTML embed code to use in your own HTML page.

Important: To play the sample F4M manifest files in the sample video player, enter a localhost address in the Stream URL box. For example, http://localhost/vod/hds_sample1_manifest.f4m.

Embed the Adobe Media Server sample video player in an HTML file

1 Browse to the sample video player and open it in a browser. The file is located at

rootinstall/samples/videoPlayer/videoplayer.html.

Enter the URL of the video to play and click Stream. The sample player adds the URL of the video file to the embed code.

To play an on-demand file from the vod service, copy the file to the rootinstall/applications/vod/media folder. The URL is something like the following:

rtmp://localhost/vod/mp4:sample1_1500kbps.f4v

For more information, see “URLs for playing on-demand media files over RTMP” on page 26, “URLs for publishing

and playing live streams over RTMP” on page 18, “URLs for publishing and playing live streams over HTTP” on

page 12, and “URLs for playing on-demand streams over HTTP” on page 23.

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3 Find the section on the page labeled “Embed Code”.

4 Copy the code from the text field at the bottom of the page. The code begins and ends with <object> tags.

5 Create a new HTML page.

6 Paste the code from the sample video player into the HTML file between the <body></body> tags.

7 Save the HTML page to the rootinstall/webroot folder.

Important: Do not name the file “index.html”. The Adobe Media Server Start Screen is the index.html file in the webroot folder. If you save a file named index.html to the webroot folder, the file will overwrite the Start Screen.

The embed code looks for the SampleMediaPlayback.swf file at swfs/SampleMediaPlayback.swf. The SampleMediaPlayback.swf is installed to this folder by default. To serve the HTML page from a different web server, use the same folder structure.

8 Open your HTML file in a browser.

Apple media players

Apple HTTP Live Streaming supports both live content and on-demand content.

Media player Supported streaming type

Devices running iOS 3.0 and later include built-in client software.

On Mac OS 10.6 and later, Safari 4.0 and QuickTime X. On-demand and live (HTTP)

For more information about Apple media players, see Apple HTTP Live Streaming Overview.

On-demand and live (HTTP)

Stream live media (HTTP)

Prerequisites for live streaming over HTTP

To use HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) and HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) to serve live streams to clients over HTTP, publish the streams to the HTTP Live Packager service on Adobe Media Server (rootinstall/applications/livepkgr). The livepkgr service ingests the streams, packages them into fragments, and delivers the fragments to Flash and iOS clients in real-time.

To complete these tutorials, use the following software:

• Adobe Media Server 5. See the video Install Adobe Media Server 5 and verify HTTP streaming to Flash and iOS.

• Flash Media Live Encoder

Note: Flash Media Live Encoder on Windows doesn’t support AAC encoding. To add support for AAC, purchase the

MainConcept AAC Encoder.

• (Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming) Adobe Media Server sample video player (which uses Strobe Media Playback)

and Flash Player 10.1.

• (Apple HTTP Live Streaming) iOS 3.0 or later device or Mac OS 10.6 with Safari 4.0 or QuickTime X.

For more information, see “Supported clients, encoders, codecs, and file formats” on page 1 and “Pre-built media

players” on page 3.

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Publish and play a single live stream over HTTP

1 Install Adobe Media Server 5 and choose to install Apache HTTP Server.

2 Install Flash Media Live Encoder and configure it to use absolute time.

a Close Flash Media Live Encoder.

b Open the Flash Media Live Encoder rootinstall\conf\config.xml file in a text editor.

The default installation location on Windows is C:\Program Files\Adobe\Flash Media Live Encoder 3.2.

The default installation location on Mac OS is Macintosh HD:Applications:Adobe:Flash Media Live Encoder 3.2.

c Set the tag //flashmedialiveencoder_config/mbrconfig/streamsynchronization/enable to true:

<flashmedialiveencoder_config>

<enable>true</enable>

d Save the file.

3 To publish a live stream to Adobe Media Server, start Flash Media Live Encoder and do the following:

a In the Encoding Options panel, from the Preset pop-up menu, choose High Bandwidth (800 Kbps) — H.264.

For Audio Format, choose AAC.

Note: Flash Media Live Encoder on Windows doesn’t support AAC encoding. To add support for AAC, purchase

MainConcept AAC Encoder.

the

Flash Media Live Encoder Encoding Options panel

b Click the wrench next to Format to open Advanced Encoder Settings and do the following:

• Profile—Main

• Level—3.1

• Keyframe Frequency—4 or a multiple of <FragmentDuration> in the

applications/livepkgr/events/_definst_/liveevent/Event.xml file. The default value of

is 4000 milliseconds.

Note: For information about profile and level support, see “Supported file formats and codecs” on page 2.

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Flash Media Live Encoder Advanced Encoder Settings

c In the AMS URL text box enter the following:

rtmp://localhost/livepkgr

Note: Use the RTMP protocol to stream the content to the livepkgr application on Adobe Media Server. You can substitute an IP address or a domain name for “localhost”.

d In the Stream text box enter the following:

livestream?adbe-live-event=liveevent

Note: The applications/livepkgr/main.asc file expects this value.

e Deselect Save to File.

f Click Start.

4 (Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming) To play the media in Flash Media Playback, do the following:

a Open Flash Media Playback in a web browser:

http://www.osmf.org/configurator/fmp/

Note: Flash Media Playback requires Flash Player 10.1 to support HTTP Dynamic Streaming.

b In Video Source, enter:

http://localhost/hds-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent/livestream.f4m

For information about the request URL, see “URLs for publishing and playing live streams over HTTP” on page 12.

c Select Yes under the question “Are you using HTTP Streaming or Adobe Access 2.0?”.

d Click Preview. Click Play.

5 (Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming) To play the media in Strobe Media Playback, do the following:

a Open the Adobe Media Server sample video player in a web browser. Browse to

rootinstall/samples/videoPlayer/videoplayer.html

b In STREAM URL, enter:

http://localhost/hds-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent/livestream.f4m

For information about the request URL, see “URLs for publishing and playing live streams over HTTP” on page 12.

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c Select LIVE and Click PLAY STREAM.

6 (Apple HTTP Live Streaming) Use the following URL:

http://10.0.1.11/hls-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent/livestream.m3u8

For information about where to use the URL to serve various iOS devices, QuickTime, and Safari, see HTTP Live

Streaming Overview in the iOS Reference Library.

For information about the request URL, see “URLs for publishing and playing live streams over HTTP” on page 12.

Note: Replace “localhost” or “10.0.1.11” with the domain name or IP address of the computer hosting Adobe Media Server. If you’re using a Adobe Media Server hosting provider, they can give you this value.

More Help topics

“Troubleshoot issues with streaming media” on page 111

“Disk management” on page 70

“Content storage (HDS and HLS)” on page 56

“Configure HTTP Dynamic Streaming and HTTP Live Streaming” on page 51

“Stream live media (RTMP)” on page 17

Publish and play live multi-bitrate streams over HTTP

1 Install Adobe Media Server 5 and choose to install Apache HTTP Server.

2 Install Flash Media Live Encoder and configure it to use absolute time.

a Close Flash Media Live Encoder.

b Open the Flash Media Live Encoder rootinstall\Conf\config.xml file in a text editor.

c Set the tag //flashmedialiveencoder_config/mbrconfig/streamsynchronization/enable to true:

<flashmedialiveencoder_config>

<enable>true</enable>

d Save the file.

3 Browse to rootinstall/applications/livepkgr/events/_definst_/liveevent and do the following:

• Edit the Event.xml file to look like the following:

<Event> <EventID>liveevent</EventID>

• Remove the Manifest.xml file from the liveevent folder or rename it.

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4 (Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming) For multi-bitrate streaming, Flash and AIR media players request an F4M

manifest file that contains the location and bitrate of each live stream. This type of F4M file is called a set-level manifest. To create an set-level manifest, do the following:

a Open rootinstall/tools/f4mconfig/configurator/f4mconfig.html in a browser.

b Select the f4m file type.

c Stream URIs can be absolute or relative to a Base URI. Enter the following for the Base URI:

http://localhost/hds-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent

d Enter the following for each stream and click Add:

Stream URI Bitrate

livestream1.f4m 150

livestream2.f4m 500

livestream3.f4m 700

e To preview the file, click View Manifest. The manifest file looks like this:

<baseURL>http://localhost/hds-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent/</baseURL> <media href="livestream1.f4m" bitrate="150"/> <media href="livestream2.f4m" bitrate="500"/> <media href="livestream3.f4m" bitrate="700"/>

</manifest>

f Click Save Manifest and save the file as liveevent.f4m to rootinstall/webroot.

The media player requests this file from a web server. This tutorial saves the file to rootinstall/webroot, but the file can be served from any location on any webserver. This file does not need to live on Adobe Media Server. This file can also have any name.

5 (Apple HTTP Live Streaming) iOS devices request an M3U8 variant playlist file that contains the location, bitrate,

and optionally the codec of each stream. To create an M3U8 file, do the following:

a If the Set-level F4M/M3U8 File Generator tool isn’t open, double-click

rootinstall/tools/f4mconfig/configurator/f4mconfig.html to open it in a browser.

b Select m3u8.

c Enter the Stream URI and bitrate for each stream. Stream URIs can be absolute or relative. If they are relative,

they are relative to the m3u8 file.

Note: You can’t use a Base URI when generating an M3U8 file.

This tutorial uses the following Stream URI settings:

Stream URI Bitrate

http://localhost/hls-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent/livestream1.m3u8 150

http://localhost/hls-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent/livestream2.m3u8 500

http://localhost/hls-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent/livestream3.m3u8 700

d For m3u8 files, you can optionally add a codec for each stream.

If one stream is audio-only, specify an audio codec. Specify audio and video codecs for the other streams in the manifest. See

“Publish an audio-only stream (HLS)” on page 11.

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e To view the file, click View Manifest. The m3u8 file looks like this:

#EXTM3U #EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=150000 http://localhost/hls-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent/livestream1.m3u8 #EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=500000 http://localhost/hls-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent/livestream2.m3u8 #EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=700000 http://localhost/hls-live/livepkgr/_definst_/liveevent/livestream3.m3u8

f Save the file as liveevent.m3u8 to the folder rootinstall/webroot.

6 To publish a live stream to Adobe Media Server, start Flash Media Live Encoder and do the following:

a In the Encoding Options panel, from the Preset pop-up menu, choose Multi Bitrate - 3 Streams (1500 Kbps) -

H.264. Choose Audio Format AAC.

Note: Flash Media Live Encoder on Windows doesn’t support AAC encoding. To add support for AAC, purchase

MainConcept AAC Encoder.

the

b Click the wrench next to Format to open Advanced Encoder Settings. For Keyframe frequency, select 4 seconds.

Note: This value matches the <FragmentDuration> value in the applications/livepkgr/events/_definst_/liveevent/Event.xml file. The

<FragmentDuration> value is in

milliseconds.

c For Bit Rate, choose 150, 500, and 700.

d In the AMS URL text box, enter the following:

rtmp://localhost/livepkgr

Note: This application is installed with Adobe Media Server and contains a main.asc file and configuration files for live HTTP Dynamic Streaming.

e In the Stream text box, enter the following:

livestream%i?adbe-live-event=liveevent

Note: The applications/livepkgr/main.asc file expects this value. Flash Media Live Encoder uses the variable %i to create multiple stream names: livestream1, livestream2, livestream3, and so on. To use another encoder, provide your own unique stream names, for example, livestream1?adbe-live-event=liveevent, livestream2?adbe-live- event=liveevent.

f Deselect Save to File.

g Click Start.

7 (Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming) Flash Media Playback does not support set-level manifest files. To play the

media, use Strobe Media Playback. Strobe Media Playback is used in the sample video player that installs with Adobe Media Server.

a Copy the videoPlayer directory from rootinstall/samples/videoPlayer to rootinstall/webroot.

b Browse to the sample player in a web browser:

http://localhost/videoPlayer/videoplayer.html

c In Video Source, enter the following:

http://localhost/liveevent.f4m

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8 (Apple HTTP Live Streaming) In iOS, enter the following URL in Safari:

http://localhost/liveevent.m3u8

For information about where to use the URL to serve various iOS devices, QuickTime, and Safari, see HTTP Live

Streaming Overview in the iOS Reference Library.

Note: You can replace localhost with the domain name or IP address of the computer hosting Adobe Media Server. If you’re using a Adobe Media Server hosting provider, they can give you this value.

Setting the record option while publishing to livepkgr

You can define the record option by adding a query parameter string adbe-record-mode. The value of this string can be “record” or “append”. If the parameter is not specified, “append” will be used. In case of “record”, livepkgr overwrites the previous recording for the same stream and event name. In case of “append”, livepkgr application appends to the previous recording for the same stream and event name.

For example, to publish a stream in record mode, use:

livestream%i?adbe-live-event=liveevent&adbe-record-mode=record

To publish a stream in append mode (default case), use:

livestream%i?adbe-live-event=liveevent&adbe-record-mode=append

Packaging an audio-only stream (HLS)

To serve streams over a cellular network, one of the streams must be audio-only. For more information, see HTTP Live

Streaming Overview.

AAC-encoded audio files (MP4/F4V) are packaged as .aac file. Also, the M3U8 file will list the file names as .aac instead of .ts. An audio-only stream functionality will be available only if the M3U8 URL has the following embedded tags:

Tag Description

audio-only Specifies whether the stream/file is audio-only. If the tag is not present, the

audio-only-mp3/audio-only-aac Specifies the audio codec of the requested stream file. If this tag is not present,

Here is an example of a valid M3U8 URL:

http://myserver/hls-vod/audio-only-aac/sample1_1500kbps.f4v.m3u8

Here is an example M3U8 file snippet:#EXTM3U_#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAMID=1,BANDWIDTH=1500000,CODECS="avc1.42001e, mp4a.40.2"http://10.40.23.222/hlsvod/sample1_1500kbps.f4v.m3u8#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAMID=1,BANDWIDTH=150000,CODECS="avc1.42001e, mp4a.40.2"_http://10.40.23.222/hlsvod/sample1_150kbps.f4v.m3u8#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAMID=1,BANDWIDTH=1000000,CODECS="avc1.42001e, mp4a.40.2"_http://10.40.23.222/hlsvod/sample1_1000kbps.f4v.m3u8#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAMID=1,BANDWIDTH=64000,CODECS="mp4a.40.2"http://10.40.23.222/hls-vod/audio-onlyaac/sample1_1000kbps.f4v.m3u8

audio-only stream will be extracted from the A/V stream.

the file/segment will be segmented as TS.

Publish an audio-only stream (HLS)

To publish an audio-only stream, enter the following in the Adobe Media Encoder Stream field:

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livestream%i?adbe-live-event=liveevent&adbe-audio-stream-name=livestream1_audio_only&adbe-audiostream-src=livestream1

If the encoder specifies individual query strings for each stream, use individual stream names instead of the variable %i:

livestream1?adbe-live-event=liveevent&adbe-audio-stream-name=livestream1_audio_only

livestream2?adbe-live-event=liveevent&adbe-audio-stream-name=livestream2_audio_only

Note: You can use the values in italics or replace them with your own values. The default live event is called “liveevent”.

Parameter Description

adbe-audio-stream-name The name of the audio-only stream.

adbe-audio-stream-src The name of the stream from which to extract the audio for the audio-only

stream. If this parameter is not specified, the server uses the stream on which

adbe-audio-stream-name parameter was specified.

the

To generate a set-level variant playlist when using an audio-only stream, specify the audio codec of the audio-only stream. Specify the audio and the video codec of the streams that contain audio and video. For more information about using the Set-level F4M/M3U8 File Generator, see

“Publish and play live multi-bitrate streams over HTTP” on page 8.

Note: It is highly recommended to use the "Audio-only packaging" as mentioned in previous section rather than publishing audio-only streams.

URLs for publishing and playing live streams over HTTP

Important: The format for HDS request URLs has changed in Adobe Media Server 5. The Apache httpd.conf file redirects requests in the 4.0 format to the 4.5 format. The path /live/events/livepkgr/events redirects to the path /hds-live/livepkgr.

Use the following URL to publish a single live stream to Adobe Media Server for streaming over HTTP:

rtmp://ams-ip-or-dns/livepkgr/livestream?adbe-live-event=liveevent

Use the following URL to publish multiple live streams to Adobe Media Server for adaptive bitrate streaming:

rtmp://ams-ip-or-dns/livepkgr/livestream%i?adbe-live-event=liveevent

Note: Publish the stream over RTMP. Clients play the stream over HTTP.

Use the following URLs to play live streams over HTTP:

Client Single stream or

Adaptive Bitrate

Adobe HDS Single stream http://<ams-dns-or-ip>/hds-

Apple HLS Single stream http://<ams-dns-or-ip>/hls-

Adobe HDS Adaptive bitrate The media player requests a set-level manifest file:

Request URL

live/livepkgr/<instname>/<eventname>/<streamname>.f4m

live/livepkgr/<instname>/<eventname>/<streamname>.m3u8

http://<webserver-dns-or-ip>/<set-level-manifest>.f4m

The set-level manifest file contains URLs for each live stream in the following format:

http://<ams-dns-or-ip>/hds- live/livepkgr/<instname>/<eventname>/<streamname>.f4m

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Client Single stream or

Adaptive Bitrate

Apple HLS Adaptive bitrate The media player requests a set-level variant playlist file:

Request URL

http://<webserver-dns-or-ip>/<set-level-variant-playlist>.m3u8

The set-level variant playlist contains URLs for each live stream in the following format:

http://<ams-dns-or-ip>/hls- live/livepkgr/<instname>/<eventname>/<streamname>.m3u8

Important: To play streaming media over HTTP, a media player requests a manifest file (F4M or M3U8). The server generates manifest files in real-time. The files are not written to disk; you cannot see them on the server.

The path /hds-live is a <Location> directive in the Apache httpd.conf file that tells the server to package the content for Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS).

The path /hls-live is a <Location> directive in the Apache httpd.conf file that tells the server to package the content for Apple HTTP Live Streaming (HLS).

For adaptive streaming, the client requests a set-level manifest. For HDS, this file is a .f4m file. For HLS, this file is a .m3u8 file. The set-level manifest can live on any web server. You can create multiple set-level manifest files for a single set of live streams.

The set-level manifest contains the paths to the F4M manifest files (HDS) and M3U8 variant playlists (HLS) of each live stream. The paths must begin with /hds-live or /hls-live to tell the server to package the streams for HTTP.

Note: Do not include /hds-live or /hls-live in the URL that requests the set-level manifest.

You can configure the <Location> directive settings and the content location in the Apache httpd.conf file. For more information, see

Content storage (HDS and HLS).

Differences in HTTP live URLs from Flash Media Server 4.0 to Adobe Media Server 5

The default URL to play a live stream over HTTP has changed in Adobe Media Server 5. In Flash Media Server 4.0, the URL to play a live stream was http://<servername>/live/events/livepkgr/events/<eventname>. The Adobe Media Server 5 Apache httpd.conf file uses a 301 redirect to redirect requests that use a 4.0 URL to the 4.5 URL.

For more differences, see “Differences in HTTP Dynamic Streaming between Flash Media Server 4.0 and 4.5” on page 54.

Configure DVR (HDS)

Configure DVR on the server

1 Open the Set-level F4M/M3U8 File Generator in a browser:

rootinstall/tools/f4mconfig/configurator/f4mconfig.html.

2 In addition to entering values for Stream URI and Bitrate, enter a value for DVR Window Duration. This value sets

the amount of viewable content, in minutes, before the live point.

Use the following guidelines to set a Window Duration:

• Set Window Duration to a value greater than 0.

Setting the Window Duration to 0 can cause a bad user experience.

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• A value of -1 indicates that the available recorded content behind the live point is unlimited.

3 In the Event.xml file, configure the DiskManagementDuration element to specify the amount of content the server

caches. By default, the server caches 3 hours of content. Use the following formula to determine the value of the Window Duration in relation to the value of

HDSWindowDuration <= (DiskManagementDuration - SegmentDuration)

DiskManagementDuration:

For more information about disk managment, see “Disk management” on page 70.

Publish a DVR stream

To publish a DVR stream from Flash Media Live Encoder, do not click Record or check DVR Auto Record. Publish the stream just as you publish any live stream.

Play DVR streams

Strobe Media Playback supports DVR streams by default.

Note: Flash Media Playback does not support set-level manifest files. To use Flash Media Playback, configure a Manifest.xml file. See

“Manifest.xml” on page 86.

Configure a sliding window (HLS)

Configure a sliding window on the server

A sliding window is the seekable portion of the stream for Apple HTTP Live Streaming. Clients cannot seek beyond the sliding window length. HTTP Live Streaming clients use the sliding window to configure the seek bar.

Configure a sliding window at the following levels:

Level Configuration file

Server rootinstall/Apache2.2/conf/httpd.conf

Application rootinstall/applications/livepkgr/Application.xml

The livepkgr application is the default application for HTTP streaming. You can duplicate and rename this application.

Event rootinstall/applications/livepkgr/events/_definst_/liveevent/Event.xml

The liveevent folder is the default live event. You can create multiple live events within an application.

Use the following parameters:

Parameter Configuration file Description

HLSSlidingWindowLength httpd.conf The number of TS files available for seeking

SlidingWindowLength Application.xml and Event.xml The number of TS files available for seeking

HLSMediaFileDuration httpd.conf The length of a TS file, in milliseconds.

in a sliding window.

MediaFileDuration Application.xml and Event.xml The length of a TS file, in milliseconds.

The time within the sliding window is:

HLSSlidingWindowLength * HLSMediaFileDuration SlidingWindowLength * MediaFileDuration

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By default, HLSSlidingWindowLength is set to 6 and HLSMediaFileDuration is set to 8000 milliseconds. Therefore, by default, all HLS live events are seekable within a window that is 48 seconds wide.

The sliding window is relative to the current position of the live stream. For example, if sliding window is configured to have 15 minutes of data and the event starts at time 0, when the live stream is at 30, the last seek position possible is 15.

To make an entire live event seekable, set SlidingWindowLength or HLSSlidingWindowLength to 0. However, doing so may impact performance.

Configure the sliding window to be smaller than the duration of content cached on disk. In the Event.xml file, the

DiskManagementDuration element specifies the amount of content the server caches. By default, the server caches 3

hours of content. The size of the HLS sliding window must be as follows:

HLSSlidingWindow <= (DiskManagementDuration - SegmentDuration)

For more information about disk managment, see “Disk management” on page 70.

Configure a sliding window at the event level

The following Event.xml file creates a 1 hour sliding window for a single HLS live event:

<Event>

<EventID>liveevent</EventID> <Recording>

</Event>

Configure a sliding window at the application level

The following Application.xml file creates a 1 hour sliding window for all HLS live events within the livepkgr application:

<Live>

</Live> </StreamManager> <HLS>

</Application>

Reload the livepkgr application.

Configure a sliding window at the server level

The following Apache configuration sets HLSSlidingWindowLength to 450. This configuraiton creates a 1 hour sliding window for all HLS live events on the server:

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... <IfModule hlshttp_module> <Location /hls-live>

HLSHttpStreamingEnabled true HttpStreamingLiveEventPath "../applications" HttpStreamingContentPath "../applications" HLSMediaFileDuration 8000 HLSSlidingWindowLength 450 HLSFmsDirPath ".." HLSM3U8MaxAge 2 HLSTSSegmentMaxAge -1 Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks

</Location>

Restart Apache HTTP Server.

Publish streams with a sliding window

You don’t need to configure any encoder settings to publish a stream with a sliding window.

Play streams with a sliding window

Devices that support HTTP Live Streaming support the sliding window feature by default.

Duplicate the livepkgr service

The server supports an unlimited number of instances of the livepkgr service.

❖ Duplicate the rootinstall/applications/livepkgr folder in the applications folder and give it a new name, for example,

livepkgr2. In this case, the new livepkgr service is located at rootinstall/applications/livepkgr2.

You can create as many instances of the livepkgr service as you need.

Modify server-side code in the livepkgr service

Note: You cannot modify server-side code on Adobe Media Server Standard.

❖ Remove the rootinstall/applications/livepkgr/main.far file and replace it with the

rootinstall/samples/applications/livepkgr/main.asc file.

Removing all HDS segments

To remove all the existing HDS segments when the application unloads, you can use the clearOnAppStop tag as shown below:

</config> </ApplicationObject>

</ScriptEngine>

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Stream live media (RTMP)

Tutorial: stream live media (RTMP)

To complete this tutorial, install the following software:

• Flash Media Live Encoder

Flash Media Live Encoder captures live audio and video, encodes it, and streams it to Adobe Media Server. Flash Media Live Encoder is free so it’s a good idea to download the latest version.

• Adobe Media Server

You can use any edition of Adobe Media Server to stream live media, including the free developer edition. For information about installing the server, see

• Flash Player

This tutorial uses a video player that requires Flash Player 10.

For more information, see “Supported clients, encoders, codecs, and file formats” on page 1 and “Pre-built media

players” on page 3.

Installing the server.

Publish a live stream to Adobe Media Server

1 Connect a camera to the computer.

2 Open Flash Media Live Encoder and do the following in the Encoding Options panel:

a From the Preset menu, choose High Bandwidth (300 Kbps) - H.264.

You can choose any of the single stream options (not Multi Bitrate) from the Preset menu. The information on the left side of the panel is filled in when you choose a preset.

b Select Stream to Adobe Media Server.

c For AMS URL, enter rtmp://localhost/live.

Use localhost for testing when Flash Media Live Encoder and Adobe Media Server are on the same computer. In a production environment, use the domain name or IP address of the computer hosting Adobe Media Server, for example, rtmp://ams.mycompany.com/live.

If you’re using a Adobe Media Server hosting provider, they can give you the domain name or IP address of the server.

You must use the name live in the AMS URL unless you duplicate and rename the live service. The live service is a pre-built application on Adobe Media Server installed to rootinstall/applications/live. For more information,

“Duplicate the live service” on page 18.

see

d For Stream, enter livestream.

e To save a recording of the stream on your hard drive, select Save to File, click Browse, and choose a location. If

you chose an H.264 preset, use an .f4v filename extension. If you chose a VP6 preset, use an .flv filename extension.

Note that the server is not recording the file; Flash Media Live Encoder is recording the file. To serve the file ondemand when the live event is over, copy the file to the local disk of the server. For more information, see “Stream on-demand media (RTMP)” on page 24.

To play an F4V file recorded by Flash Media Live Encoder without streaming it from the server, use the F4V

Flattener tool to flatten the file. You can play FLV files without flattening them.

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f Click Start to connect to the server and start streaming.

Use the Adobe Media Server sample player to play a live stream

1 Double-click the rootinstall/samples/videoPlayer/videoplayer.html file to open the sample video player in a

browser.

Note: Substitute the Adobe Media Server installation directory for rootinstall.

2 In the sample video player, do one of the following:

• In the list of videos, click “livestream”.

• Enter rtmp://localhost/live/livestream, check the LIVE checkbox, and click PLAY STREAM.

If the media player isn’t on the same computer as Adobe Media Server, replace localhost with the domain name or IP address of the computer hosting Adobe Media Server.

Use this URL to play this stream from any compatible video player, including Flash Media Playback and Strobe Media Playback. For more information about the sample video player and other video players, see

“Pre-built

media players” on page 3.

Use Flash Media Playback to play a live stream

1 Load the Flash Media Playback Setup page in a web browser: www.osmf.org/configurator/fmp/.

2 Enter the Video Source:

rtmp://localhost/live/livestream

You can replace localhost with the domain name or IP address of the server.

3 Click Preview to update the embed code.

4 Click Play to test the code.

5 To use the player in your own HTML page, copy the embed code and paste it into your page. Flash Media Playback

is a compiled SWF file hosted by Adobe.

More Help topics

“Troubleshoot issues with streaming media” on page 111

“Stream live media (HTTP)” on page 5

URLs for publishing and playing live streams over RTMP

Use the following values to publish a single live stream to Adobe Media Server for streaming over RTMP:

AMS URL: rtmp://ams-ip-or-dns/live

Stream: streamname

Use the following URL to play a live stream:

rtmp://ams-ip-or-dns/live/streamname

Duplicate the live service

You can create as many instances of the live service as you need.

1 Create a folder in the rootinstall/applications folder, for example, rootinstall/applications/live2

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2 Copy the main.far, Application.xml, allowedHTMLdomains.txt, and allowedSWFdomains.txt files from the

rootinstall/applications/live folder to the live2 folder.

3 Open the ams.ini file (located in rootinstall/conf) and add a parameter to set the content path for the new service,

for example:

LIVE2_DIR = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Media Server 5\applications\live2

4 Open the Application.xml file in the rootinstall/applications/live2 folder and edit the virtual directory to the

following:

5 Restart the server.

6 Clients can connect to the new publishing point at the URL:

rtmp://ams-ip-or-dns/live2

Modify server-side code in the live service

Note: You cannot modify server-side code in the live service on Adobe Media Server Standard.

❖ Remove the rootinstall/applications/live/main.far file and replace it with the

rootinstall/samples/applications/live/main.asc file.

Disable live services

❖ Move any live services folders out of the applications folder.

Stream on-demand media (HTTP)

Prerequisites for streaming on-demand media (HTTP)

To complete these tutorials, use the following software:

• Adobe Media Server 5. See the video Install Adobe Media Server 5 and verify HTTP streaming to Flash and iOS.

• (Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming) Adobe Media Server sample video player (which uses Strobe Media Playback)

and Flash Player 10.1

• (Apple HTTP Live Streaming) iOS 3.0 or later device or Mac OS 10.6 with Safari 4.0 or QuickTime X

For more information, see “Supported clients, encoders, codecs, and file formats” on page 1 and “Pre-built media

players” on page 3.

Play a single on-demand media file over HTTP

A community member has created a screencast that walks you through similar steps: Stream on-demand video to

Flash and iOS over HTTP.

1 Install Adobe Media Server 5 and choose to install Apache HTTP Server.

2 Copy an F4V/MP4 file to the following location:

rootinstall/webroot/vod

Note: Replace rootinstall with the Adobe Media Server installation folder.

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This tutorial uses the file sample2_1000kbps.f4v which installs with Adobe Media Server to the rootinstall/webroot/vod folder.

3 (Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming) To play the media in Flash Media Playback, do the following:

a Open Flash Media Playback in a web browser:

http://www.osmf.org/configurator/fmp/

Note: Flash Media Playback requires Flash Player 10.1 to support HTTP Dynamic Streaming. To see which version of Flash Player is installed on your computer, go to

b In Video Source, enter:

Adobe Flash Player.

http://localhost/hds-vod/sample2_1000kbps.f4v.f4m

HDS on-demand streaming in Flash Media Playback

Although the media file lives in the /webroot/vod directory, the URL request is /hds-vod. The path /hds-vod is

<Location> directive in the Apache httpd.conf file. When a request URL begins with /hds-vod, the server

a looks for media in the /webroot/vod folder and packages it for HTTP Dynamic Streaming. For information about the request URL syntax, see

c Select Yes under the question “Are you using HTTP Streaming or Adobe Access 2.0?”.

d Clear the text from the Poster frame file location text box.

e Click Preview to update the embed code.

f Click the Play button to test the code.

g To use the player in your own HTML page, copy the embed code and paste it into the body of the page. Flash

Media Playback is a compiled SWF file hosted by Adobe. For more information, see

“URLs for playing on-demand streams over HTTP” on page 23.

Flash Media Playback.

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4 (Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming) To play the media in Strobe Media Playback, do the following:

a Open the Adobe Media Server sample video player in a web browser. Double-click

rootinstall/samples/videoPlayer/videoplayer.html.

b In STREAM URL, enter:

http://localhost/hds-vod/sample2_1000kbps.f4v.f4m

c Select VOD and click PLAY STREAM.

d To use the player in your own HTML page, copy the embed code and paste it into the body of the page.

5 (Apple HTTP Live Streaming) On iOS, enter the following URL in the Safari address bar:

http://10.0.1.11/hls-vod/sample2_1000kbps.f4v.m3u8

HLS on-demand streaming in Safari on an iPad

To test in Safari on Mac OS 10.6, use the following HTML code:

Note: You can replace “localhost” and “10.0.1.11” with the domain name or IP address of the computer hosting Adobe Media Server. If you’re using a Adobe Media Server hosting provider, they can give you this value.

More Help topics

“Troubleshoot issues with streaming media” on page 111

“Supported file formats and codecs” on page 2

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“Content storage (HDS and HLS)” on page 56

“Configure HTTP Dynamic Streaming and HTTP Live Streaming” on page 51

“Stream on-demand media (RTMP)” on page 24

Play on-demand multi-bitrate media files over HTTP

A community member, Jody Bleyle has created a screencast that walks you through similar steps: HTTP adaptive

bitrate streaming to Flash and iOS.

1 Install Adobe Media Server 5 and choose to install Apache HTTP Server.

2 Do one of the following:

• Encode an F4V/MP4 file at 3 different bitrates.

• Use the multi-bitrate sample files that install with Adobe Media Server to the rootinstall/webroot/vod folder.

This tutorial uses the following files installed to the webroot/vod folder:

rootinstall/webroot/vod/sample1_150kbps.f4v

rootinstall/webroot/vod/sample1_700kbps.f4v

rootinstall/webroot/vod/sample1_1500kbps.f4v

3 (Adobe HTTP Dyanmic Streaming) To stream multi-bitrate content, Flash and AIR media players request a set-

level manifest file. This is a .f4m file that contains the location and bitrate of each stream. To create a set-level F4M

file, do the following:

a Open rootinstall/Adobe Media Server/tools/f4mconfig/configurator/f4mconfig.html in a browser.

b Select the f4m file type.

c Stream URIs can be absolute or relative to a Base URI. Enter the following for the Base URI:

http://localhost/hds-vod/

d Enter the following for each stream and click Add:

Stream URI Bitrate

sample1_150kbps.f4v.f4m 150

sample1_700kbps.f4v.f4m 700

sample1_1500kbps.f4v.f4m 1500

e To view the file, click View Manifest. The manifest file looks like this:

f Click Save Manifest to save the file as sample1.f4m to rootinstall/webroot.

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4 (Apple HTTP Live Streaming)For multi-bitrate streaming, iOS devices request a set-level M3U8 variant playlist

file that contains the location, bitrate, and optionally the codec of each stream. To create a set-level M3U8 file, do the following:

a If the File Generator tool isn’t open, double-click rootinstall/Adobe Media

Server/tools/f4mconfig/configurator/f4mconfig.html to open it in a browser.

b Select the m3u8 file type.

c Enter the Stream URI, bitrate, program-ID, and optionally a resolution and codec for each stream. Stream URIs

can be absolute or relative. If they are relative, they are relative to the m3u8 file. The program-ID must be the same for each stream.

Note: For information about supported codecs, see Apple HTTP Live Streaming Overview.

This tutorial uses the following Stream URI settings:

Stream URI Bitrate

http://10.0.1.11/hls-vod/sample1_150kbps.f4v 150

http://10.0.1.11/hls-vod/sample1_700kbps.f4v 700

http://10.0.1.11/hls-vod/sample1_1500kbps.f4v 1500

d To view the file, click View Manifest. The m3u8 file looks like this:

#EXTM3U #EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=150000 http://10.0.1.11/hls-vod/sample1_150kbps.f4v.m3u8 #EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=700000 http://10.0.1.11/hls-vod/sample1_700kbps.f4v.m3u8 #EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=1500000 http://10.0.1.11/hls-vod/sample1_1500kbps.f4v.m3u8

e Click Save Manifest and save the file as sample1.m3u8 to the folder rootinstall/webroot.

5 (Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming) Flash Media Playback does not support set-level manifest files. To play the

media, use Strobe Media Playback. Strobe Media Playback is used in the sample video player that installs with Adobe Media Server.

a Double-click rootinstall/samples/videoPlayer/videoplayer.html to open it in a browser.

b In Video Source, enter the following:

http://localhost/sample1.f4m

6 (Apple HTTP Live Streaming) On iOS, enter the following URL in the Safari address bar:

http://10.0.1.11/sample1.m3u8

To test in Safari on Mac OS 10.6, use the following HTML code:

For more information, see HTTP Live Streaming Overview in the iOS Reference Library.

URLs for playing on-demand streams over HTTP

Use the following URLs to play on-demand streams over HTTP:

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Client Live or

Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming

Apple HTTP Live Streaming

Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming

Apple HTTP Live Streaming

VOD

VOD Single stream http://<ams-dns-or-ip>/hds-

VOD Single stream http://<ams-dns-or-ip>/hls-

VOD Adaptive bitrate The media player requests a set-level manifest file:

VOD Adaptive bitrate The media player requests a set-level variant playlist file:

Single stream or Adaptive Bitrate

Request URL

vod/<streamname>.<fileextension>.f4m

vod/<streamname>.<fileextension>.m3u8

http://<webserver-dns-or-ip>/<set-level-manifest>.f4m

The URLs in the set-level manifest point to the individual streams and use the following URL:

http://<ams-dns-or-ip>/hds- vod/<streamname>.<fileextension>.f4m

http://<webserver-dns-or-ip>/<set-level-variantplaylist>.m3u8

The URLs in the set-level variant playlist point to the individual streams and use the following URL:

http://<ams-dns-or-ip>/hls- vod/<streamname>.<fileextension>.m3u8

The path /hds-vod is a <Location> directive in the Apache httpd.conf file. The directive tells the server to look for the content in the rootinstall/webroot/vod folder. It also tells the server to package the content for delivery to Flash and AIR over HTTP (called HTTP Dynamic Streaming or HDS).

The path /hls-vod is a <Location> directive in the Apache httpd.conf file. The directive tells the server to look for the content in the rootinstall/webroot/vod folder. It also tells the server to package the content for delivery to Apple HTTP Live Streaming.

Note: Apple HTTP Live Streaming supports live and on-demand streaming.

For adaptive bitrate streaming, the client requests a set-level manifest file. For HDS, this file is an .f4m file. For HLS, this file is a .m3u8 file. Set-level manifest files contain the paths to the physical locations of the media files. The paths to the media files must begin with /hds-vod or /hls-vod to tell the server to package them for HTTP.

More information

“Content storage (HDS and HLS)” on page 56

Stream on-demand media (RTMP)

Tutorial: Stream on-demand media (RTMP)

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial, install the following software:

• Adobe Media Server

You can use any edition of Adobe Media Server to stream on-demand media, including the free developer edition. For information about installing the server, see

Installing the server.

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• Flash Player

This tutorial uses a video player that requires Flash Player 10.

To see which version of Flash Player is installed in a browser, go to www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/.

Copy on-demand files to Adobe Media Server

Use the vod (video on demand) service on Adobe Media Server to stream recorded media to clients. Simply copy recorded media files to the server and clients can stream them. The vod service streams files to media players from the following two folders:

rootinstall/applications/vod/media

rootinstall/webroot/vod

You can also create subfolders of these folders to hold media files. This tutorial creates a subfolder and copies a file to the subfolder to stream.

1 Browse to the following folder:

rootinstall/applications/vod/media

Note: Replace rootinstall with the Adobe Media Server installation folder. For example, on Windows the default

installation folder is C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Media Server 5.

2 Create the folder “tests” in the “media” folder, as follows:

rootinstall/applications/vod/media/tests

3 Copy an F4V/MP4 or FLV file to the /tests folder.

This tutorial uses the following file:

rootinstall/applications/vod/media/tests/polymorphics.f4v

If you don’t have a video file, you can download a file from the Moving Images Archive at

www.archive.org/details/movies. You can also use a sample file included with the server. For learning purposes,

copy a sample file from rootinstall/applications/vod/media to rootinstall/applications/vod/media/tests.

For information about supported file formats and codecs, see Supported file formats.

Use the Adobe Media Server sample player to play an on-demand file

1 To open the sample video player in a browser, double-click the rootinstall/samples/videoPlayer/videoplayer.html

file.

2 Enter the address of the video in the STREAM URL textbox, check VOD, and click PLAY STREAM. This tutorial

plays the following file:

rtmp://localhost/vod/mp4:tests/polymorphics.f4v

If you’re using a Adobe Media Server hosting provider, replace localhost with the domain name or IP address of the server that they provided.

Important: Although you copy the media file to the vod/media folder, you do not need to specify /media in the path when you play the file. The server is configured by default to look for media files in the vod/media folder. If you specify /media in the path, the server looks in the /vod/media/media folder.

Begin paths to F4V/MP4 files with the prefix mp4:. Use the filename extension of the file, whether it’s F4V, MP4, MOV, and so on.

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Use Flash Media Playback to play an on-demand stream

1 Load the Flash Media Playback Setup page in a web browser: www.osmf.org/configurator/fmp/.

2 Enter the Video Source:

rtmp://localhost/vod/mp4:tests/polymorphics.f4v

You can replace localhost with the domain name or IP address of the server.

3 Click Preview to update the embed code.

4 Click the Play button to test the code.

5 To use the player in your own HTML page, copy the embed code and paste it into the body of the page. Flash Media

Playback is a compiled SWF file hosted by Adobe. For more information, see

“Play media in Flash Media Playback”

on page 4.

More Help topics

“Supported file formats and codecs” on page 2

“Troubleshoot issues with streaming media” on page 111

“Stream on-demand media (HTTP)” on page 19

URLs for playing on-demand media files over RTMP

After completing the tutorial once, learn more about how to build a URL that requests a file from the server. Run through the tutorial again using different files and different paths.

The syntax for requesting a file from Adobe Media Server is as follows:

protocol://server-domain-or-IP/ams-app-name/[ams-app-instance-name/][codec-prefix:]filepath[filename-extension]

Element Required Description

protocol Yes The protocol for media delivery. For information about the

server-domain-or-IP Yes The domain name or IP address of the computer hosting Adobe

ams-app-name Yes The Adobe Media Server application that the client connects to.

ams-app-instance-name No Applications can have an unlimited number of instances. For

codec-prefix Required for

F4V/MP4 and MP3 files

protocols Adobe Media Server supports, see

HTTP in the Technical Overview.

Media Server. If the client is on the same computer as Adobe Media Server, you can use localhost for testing purposes.

The default folder that holds Adobe Media Server applications is

rootinstall/applications. This tutorial uses the application rootinstall/applications/vod.

example, you could have clients connect to rtmp://localhost/vod/instance1, rtmp://localhost/vod/instance2, and so on.

The F4V/MP4 and MP3 file formats require a codec prefix in the request URL. For F4V/MP4 files, use the prefix use the prefix

mp3:. FLV files do not require a codec prefix.

RTMP, RTMFP, and

mp4:. For MP3 files,

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