Any tutorials regarding Linear playlists?

Wowza Streaming Engine
1

Hello to all,

I am new to using and configuring Wowza Streaming Engine. I love this product and look forwards to using it a long time. :cool: I have some issues I really need resolved and I hope I’ve come to the right place. Thanks to everyone who provides me with some guidance regarding this subject.

I have read through different parts of the forum and Wowza Site that it is possible to set up and stream linear playlists. What I am looking for is a complete, step-by-step tutorial on how to create and stream these kinds of playlists. I believe one of the steps has to do with Scheduled Streaming using the ModuleStreamPublisher or ServerListenerStreamPublisher.

Maybe I am not quite understanding the process being described in some of the forum threads and tutorials. To me it looks like the available information only explains part of the process or do not provide the complete process in one place. I hope I am wrong but I have fully search for details about this subject but could not find any.

What I am hoping to find are step by step instructions on how to create linear playlists which begin to playback one after another when the application starts or stream continuosly as on TV.

Thanks for the help!

Rolando

2

Hello,

You have everything you need in the Scheduled Streaming tutorial. You just need to publish a server side stream and add a stream listener.

Then you use the onPlaylistItemStop callback to decide what should play next - using Stream.play(). From there it’s up to you how you manage the playlist (file, database etc.).

3

Hi,

In order to create a playlist that is scheduled to start at a particular time and be available as a live stream (just as a non-live TV channel), you should follow the instructions described in the “How to schedule streaming with Wowza Streaming Engine (ServerListenerStreamPublisher)” forum article.

A server side playlist constructed from different VOD files which can be played back on demand by a streaming client is a feature that is not currently supported by Wowza. However, there is a client side workaround that can be implemented and is described in the following forum articles:

How to do pre-roll and playlist for iOS (a client-side work-around)

How to insert a pre-roll or mid-roll for video on demand playback in Flash RTMP client

I hope that helps.

Zoran

4

Hi,

The URL structure should be the same for VOD or Live streams, but it differs when playing back different streaming protocols.

Here is a useful article explaining how to play back different stream coming from your Wowza server: WOWZA EXAMPLE PLAYERS

I think that Roku devices are able to play back Apple HLS streams. In this case, you should configure your Roku app to request the Apple HLS stream from your Wowza server. The Apl,e HLS playback format is described in the “How to playback on Apple iOS devices (Cupertino/Apple HLS)” forum article.

You can also find some useful information here: How to use Roku with Wowza Media Server

Zoran

5

Hello,

Thank you for sharing your setup steps.

Please do keep us updated of any issues you might find during your production setup.

Zoran

6

Hi Rolando, and welcome to the Wowza support forums.

I will answer your questions in reverse order.

3: The stream type for the application will need to be “live”

2: You can user the server listener, application module, or both on an application.

1: The URL for playing back the stream will be what you name the stream in the .smil file. For example:

<smil>
    <head>
    </head>
    <body><stream name="Stream1"></stream>
              
        <playlist name="pl1" playOnStream="Stream1" repeat="true" scheduled="2013-09-25 16:00:00">
            <video src="mp4:sample.mp4" start="5" length="5"/>
        </playlist>
 </body>
</smil>

to play this schedule you would use “Stream1” as the name of the stream.

I hope this answers your questions.

Kind regards,

Salvadore

7

Thanks for the replies.

I followed the instructions from the ServerListenerStreamPublisher article.

Seems what I want to do is to user the ModuleStreamPublisher at the application level. I believe this will allow the stream to run when the application is loaded. I am not interested in the stream running when the server starts only when the application starts. I also created the “streamschedule.smil” file as per instructions and place that file and the videos within the content folder for the appliaction.

After reading the above mentioned articles I still have the following questions:

  1. What the proper URL to test the stream?

  2. Do I still need the “ServerListenerStreamPublisher” defined at the server level as well?

  3. Is the application I am to create a VOD or LIVE type?

  • If LIVE then which do I select - “LIVE” or “LIVE EDGE”?

Thanks.

Rolando

8

Hi!

Thanks for connecting more of the dots, it was helpful. I feel I am close to getting the stream to work. I chose to use the application module over the server listener.

I suppose I would be able to test the stream in the integrated player. Is this correct? Either way, what would be the URL for the application to be accessed from a Roku channel app?

Any chance there is an article explaining the URL structure for VOD and LIVE playback? With all of the reading I’ve done regarding Wowza, I feel I may still be missing parts of what I need to do to complete this process.

Any help is appreciated. In the meantime, I will continue searching for answers…

Thanks! :slight_smile:

Rolando :cool:

9

Ok, I figured it out!

I finally got the application to stream to the Roku channel. I was kind of on the right track. I had to do the following:

  1. Create a LIVE application

  2. Copy the videos to the content/ folder

  3. Add the ModuleStreamPublisher class on the application (not the Server Listener).

  4. Create and populate the streamschedule.smil file within /content/ folder

  5. Download and copy the Plugin collection java jar file to the /lib folder.

  6. Restart Wowza.

  7. Figure out the correct way to build the URL for the Apple HLS playback type for the Roku channel.

  8. Got it to work!

In all I spent about 2 days reading and re-reading the same articles and finding other threads (outside of Wowza forum) for additional help and references to other articles within this forum. I would like to suggest an article for us “newbies” who need to get a live stream for prerecorded videos within a playlist. Since I am going to be reinstalling on a production server I will document the steps for future Wowza users to follow.

Thanks for all of the help! It is appreciated.

Rolando