Any way to get the player to keep streaming during a temporary internet lapse

Wowza Player
1

Hey guys, I’m not very knowledgeable so I would love it if you could answer a couple questions for me. Right now, I am using the HTML player, which I am learning now is going away, but if my internet dips for even a second, the player will stop and the viewers need to refresh the web page to get it going again. Is there a setting that would have it just be blank for a second and then restart instead of freezing up? Would using a 3rd party player fix this? Will there be any player available on Wowza? I know there are 2 options, the wowza player and the HTML player, but it seems that a 3rd party player will be needed next year. Does that mean both player options are going away?

2

Hi @Nathan Ethington, happy to help you find a solution. So, the FLASH player is going away, but you can still stream in an HTML5 player. Here is our doc on how to use the

https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-play-video-using-the-html5-video-tag

Would you mind telling me more about your streaming workflow so I can help you? What is your camera source, what protocol are you using and how big of an audience? Is this live or vod?

Are you trying to stream directly from the browser and need close to real time? Please share what you can and then I can direct you.

Depending on your workflow, I can offer solutions for the network dips. Thanks…

3

Some additional info: If the stream is shaky or unstable but does NOT drop, you could consider using SRT which is a streaming protocol that reduces dropped frames and prevents the stream from buffering or having a choppy playback.

https://www.wowza.com/low-latency/SRT-secure-reliable-transport

4

Hi Rose, thank you for helping. I am live streaming events from a Yolobox which requires me to set up a rmtp to stream to Wowza. My audience isn’t that big, usually a hundred people or so watching important events like weddings and funerals at home. And that is why I can have internet dips at times. I have been working on adding internet bonding and that should help. But I would love a way to make it so if the internet does dip the viewers at home will just see a black screen for a second and then the video resumes. Right now the video stops all together until they refresh the page. And I’m using the web page that you provide, and it was a nice feature, I’m surprised it is going away. I have been telling a lot of event videogs to use wowza because of it. Did realize they couldn’t.

5

Well if you are using Streaming Engine, then there is a solution that we offer for just that situation when an internet fluctuation causes the stream to drop. It’s called the loop until live module and it basically will allow you to stream an mp4 of any length even just seconds and it loops until you’re live again. You can also have an mp4 with an image in that says “we will back in just a moment”. Once your video reconnects, it switches from the “filler” mp4 back to the live stream in an instant.

This will happen again should the stream disconnect again. So, once you have that mp4 set up as the backup, you’ll be good and it keeps the connection going with the viewers and you won’t lose them.

Here is a blog on how to set it up that I made awhile ago.

https://www.wowza.com/blog/loop-a-pre-roll-until-a-live-stream-starts

And here is the doc on it:

https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-loop-a-pre-roll-until-a-live-stream-starts-loopuntillive

6

As far as Wowza Player, we want to focus on our main Products like Streaming Engine, Streaming Cloud and ClearCaster, but we work with many other reliable and robust players.

You can see them all here and they work very well with Wowza.

https://www.wowza.com/docs/use-theoplayer-with-wowza-streaming-engine

When you click on the article above, look in the nav bar to the left to see the long list of players you can use with Wowza.

7

Thanks for the answer, but I am not using the engine I am using the Streaming Cloud. Is there any way to do something similar with the Streaming Cloud?

Thanks

8

You can use SRT with Streaming Cloud and it is for stable video streams in fluctuating network environments. No loop until live with module though with Cloud.