H.264 profile and level, HLS and Wirecast

Wowza Streaming Engine
1

With Wirecast 4.0.1 it was possible to broadcast in H.264 Main profile to iDevices via Wowza. Since Wirecast 4.1+ this is broken (choppy/jerky/jittery video)

The Wirecast people suggested to verify “Main profile support as a source for HTTP live streaming to iOS devices”. See:

http://forum.telestream.net/forum/messageview.aspx?catid=45&threadid=8702&STARTPAGE=2

Does Wowza support Main profile for HLS live streams?

Most iDevices support Main profile (all devices newer then iPhone 3G with iOS 4.x).

Though in most forum threads you still advice Baseline, also in this tutorial:

https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-install-and-configure-wowza-streaming-engine#cupertinostreaming

(you could even read it as Baseline would be the only thing supported)

For some content, Baseline quality is way inferior compared to Main. So when having capacity to broadcast a single stream, we’d prefer to broadcast in Main profile (and drop support for old iPhone 3G)

2

It’s not what Wowza supports, it’s the devices. Old iOS devices require Baseline 3, so it is an optimal encode for iOS delivery.

Choppy playback in Flash is usually a bitrate/bandwidth issue. I doubt anything is broken in Wirecast. It allows Baseline or Main profile encodes.

You can serve multiple streams using smil with different codec info, so that devices that can handle more complex encoding will do so:

https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-add-resolution-and-codec-metadata-to-ios-streams

Richard

3

Well, I thought its what devices support. But I wanted it to be confirmed by Wowza, because there seems to be much confusion about this (see Wirecast forum thread). And because Wirecast support requested for this confirmation.

You might make this clear in the cupertino tutorial, seems like some people think only Baseline is supported!

Concerning Wirecast: I dare you to do create a good quality live stream with Wirecast 4.1 in Main profile

I’m pretty sure something is broken. Stream in Main profile goes well using 4.0.1 and looks horrible using 4.1 with exactly same settings. Also confirmed by another user. WCST support still investigating this issue, and I got the answer they only tested Baseline since it was listed in the Wowza documentation. See what I mean…

4

Could you please give an “official” response for the Wirecast crew?

http://forum.telestream.net/forum/messageview.aspx?catid=45&threadid=8702

Wowza’s Wirecast tutorial uses Baseline so I believe Telestream developers target and support that only. Wowza’s documentation gives no indication of MainProfile support to iOS devices although it works with FMLE 3.2 and did with Wirecast 4.0.1

I’d also recommend you contact Wowza and get an “official” response from them regarding their server and profile support with iOS devices with the use of Wirecast.

5

Wowza just reflects (and packetizes) streams. It is the iOS devices that have varying support for Baseline and Main profile. The older models require Baseline 3, newer models support Main.

Wowza provides the following method to use several versions in a smil file that a device can use to play the most appropriate option for its capabilities:

https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-add-resolution-and-codec-metadata-to-ios-streams

Richard

6

I’m noticing this jittery issue with Wirecast Pro 4.1 and WMS 2.x as well. Just thought I’d add it.

7

Just chiming in, I recently ran into this problem with Wirecast 4.1 and newer versions on PC. Main profile used to be able to work correctly with iOS devices, now only Baseline profile works. If you run Main profile the video stream is completely jittery. What is interesting though is I am able to recreate this same issue with an older version of Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder 3.0.1, while FME 3.2 works just fine with Baseline or Main. Any insight or solution other than just sending Baseline out of Wirecast is appreciated. Thanks.