Best view tools/settings to use for live streaming?

Wowza Streaming Engine
1

I’m running the latest version of Wowza on Linux, with Adobe Flash Media Encoder 3.2.

I’ve been using an old version of JWPlayer to stream live events.

Unfortunately, nobody with IOS seems to be able to watch the streams.

I figure I need to upgrade.

What are my options out there? I tried the new version of JW player with an rtmp:// url and it doesn’t work - saying stream not available. There appears to be some problems with JW’s servers? I don’t want to go through a third party network if I don’t have to anyway.

Is there any updated tutorial on proper settings for Wowza + encoding + accessing live streams?

Any help would be appreciated.

Is there a more robust a/v encoder that I can use that’s free? If not, I’d prefer to keep the system I have in place - everything seems to work well capturing and sending to the server, but I need new options on setting up web and mobile-based pages and players… Is there a place with a tutorial on settings and options and third-party software I can use? I’m mostly interested in live streaming.

Thanks!!

2

Hi,

Are you able to play the live streams using the Test Players within Wowza Streaming Engine Manager?

JW player is one of the players we recommend for playback of the streams from Wowza and this should work without issue if configured correctly.

Please see the JW player configuration article for reference and compare the example configuration to your own.

Regards,

Jason

3

Hi,

To test that Apple HLS is enabled in the Wowza application you can download and use VLC player which supports it. To play streams via Apple HLS the source must be H.264 video and/or MP3/AAC audio.

If the stream plays in VLC player using a URL which is similar to the on below, this confirms that Wowza is configured correctly and the player is the only thing that needs to be edited.

http://[wowza-ip-address]:1935/live/myStream/playlist.m3u8

With Wowza setup correctly, you will need the JW player code to include URL for Apple HLS playback similar to this example.

<html>
<head>
<title>JW Player 6</title>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/jwplayer/jwplayer.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">jwplayer.key="[jwplayer-key]";</script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="player"><a href="rtsp://[wowza-ip-address]:1935/vod/mp4:sample.mp4">RTSP Link</a></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
	jwplayer("player").setup({
		sources: [{
			file: "rtmp://[wowza-ip-address]:1935/live/myStream"
		},{
			file: "http://[wowza-ip-address]:1935/live/myStream/playlist.m3u8"
		}],
		rtmp: {
			bufferlength: 3
		},
		fallback: false
	});
</script>
</body>
</html>

If you require further assistance after trying the above, please open a ticket by sending an email to support@wowza.com.

When creating a ticket, please provide a ZIP file containing the [Wowza-Install]/conf/ and [Wowza-Install]/logs/ directories for analysis.

Please make sure you provide logs which show Wowza server starting.

If you are not sure how to get this information please see the following tutorial.

How to create a compressed zip file in Windows, OS X, and Linux

Please also include a link to this thread for reference.

Regards,

Jason

4

I haven’t tried other players. Someone else helped set up the server and they’re not around so I’m trying to quickly get up to speed on what to do.

My concern at this point is the player we’ve been using does not appear to be compatible with IOS devices. And the new JW player doesn’t seem to work and I’m not sure why. Where are the Wowza players?

Can I continue to use the software on the broadcast side without changing it out (Adobe) and tweak the stream side to support more devices?

One issue is latency… are there options that reduce latency that I can tweak?

I’ll look at the JW article - but does it cover their newer versions? Because I have it working with an old version but not the new ones.

5

Is there any free player that will work with IOS devices or a guide on how to set that up?

6

Right now I’m running JW Player 6.8 and everything appears to work except IOS people can’t see the stream… I am trying to figure out what to edit to fix this. I’ve read through all the links and am not 100% sure what I need to do? I’m paying $50/month for this service and I’ve used it three times in almost two years. It would be nice if I could get maybe just a little hand-holding? I hate to be a pain, but I’m confused. The person who set this up left and we don’t know what to do. I’m being told we may be better off abandoning Wowza completely and going with YouTube? Thoughts?

Our setup is not using secure tokens - we don’t really care about that. This is just used for live feeds that happen every now and then. I just want as many people to be able to see the live stream as possible and am not sure what’s wrong and would prefer not to change much if I don’t have to?

I hear y’all aren’t fond of helping get jwplayer working but if we can’t view the server, then what’s the point of the server?

Is there something here I can add to make it work on IOS devices??

right now my server is set up for mp4 stream prefix. I do not have a security token.

I do not have any VODs set up - not sure if I need to do that to make it work with IOS/HLS?

  1. What if any changes to I need to make to the server configuration?

  2. What code do I put in my player? I feel if I make changes as indicated in the article they won’t work because there may be something else unspecified on the server side I haven’t set.

please help!

7

Hello trent3,

the JW Player can handle HLS-Streams for iOS only in the Premium-Edition or above. The Free-Version is not able to do that. Next is that HLS-Stream URL´s always begin with http:// and End with /playlist.m3u8 …

Read the Section “Simple RTMP and Apple HLS streaming example” on this Site ->https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-use-jw-player-with-wowza-streaming-engine

8

This Setup can not work with iOS! The Apple OS supports HLS (HTTP LIVE STREAMING) for Livestreams. But it does not support RTMP / Flash Livestreaming. Flash is not avaible for iOS. Your Stream-URL is “rtmp://xxxxxx.com/live/myStream” and this is a Flash-based Livestream. Change the Stream-URL to “http://xxxxxx.com:1935/live/myStream/playlist.m3u8” … then your iOS Users can watch that Stream. If your Wowza Installation is a Standard-Installation, Wowza delivers the HLS Stream.

BUT you can not watch this Stream on any PC without a capable Player. If u want to play this HLS Stream on most Platforms (PC / iOS / Android), for example you need minimum the Premium Edition of JW-Player. If u not sure about the Edition of your JW-Player, make a right-click in the Player-Window. The first line of Context-Menu will show your JW-Player Edition like this for the Premium Edition “About JW Player 6.12.4956 (Premium Edition)” … if your Entry shows like this “About JW Player 6.12.4956 …” … you have the Free Edition without a key. The Free-Edition can not handle HLS-Livestreams for iOS.

I dont know a good free Player (without Brandings), that can handle HLS and Flash.