I was trying to implement thumbnail preview for our live streams, and stumbled upon the new feature of using HTTPTranscoderThumbnail with Transcoder AddOn to grab thumbnails.
And it worked instantly, so I was very happy! But then, around 15-20 minutes later, it just stopped working. I’ve tried going through every part of the installation again, and it’s all as it should be.
When I fetch the URL that should return a thumbnail, I get a 404 response instead. This is my URL format:
You might check to make sure all elements are correct, i.e. application name is correct and case sensitivity accounted for and the stream name is correct. Also, I see in your URL you have “jpg” try changing this to “jpeg”.
You might check to make sure all elements are correct, i.e. application name is correct and case sensitivity accounted for and the stream name is correct. Also, I see in your URL you have “jpg” try changing this to “jpeg”.
Hi Salvadore. I have checked that everything is correct cased, and I have tried both with jpg, jpeg and png. None of it works.
In the access log on the server, I now find the following entry:
I have solved the issue now, here are my findings.
I have setup the Transcoder AddOn to create a stream called: mp4:${SourceStreamName}_HLS
This gives me a stream called 2103248_HLS, when my stream name is 2103248.
This encode is setup to use pass-through video and convert audio to AAC 48000 bps.
With this setup, it doesn’t work.
I added a second encode to the same profile, and used the name: mp4:${SourceStreamName}_thumb
The name has no significance, but the profile is setup with H.264 instead of pass-through, with the lowest possible bit rate (10000 bps). Audio is set to disabled.
With this encode profile in place, the screen shot works.
So my theory is that either the pass-through video or AAC audio conversion is somehow interferring with the snapshot mechanics. My guess would be the pass-through video, but I will let you guys at Wowza investigate further. I have to deploy this solution tomorrow, but feel free to contact me if you need more info about my setup.
Thanks for putting me on the right track to resolve this issue.
Typically, when calling a stream from the transcoder, you would have created a label for that stream in your transcoder template (i.e. “_360p” which would be “2103248_360p” in your URL). Have you successfully setup the Transcoder? For more information, see this tutorial on How to set up and run Wowza Transcoder AddOn for live streaming.
If this doesn’t help, please create a support ticket by sending an email to support@wowza.com. Include a copy of your [install-dir]/conf and /logs folders as a .zip file (or other archive) so we can take a closer look at your configuration and server activity. Also, please include a reference to this post.
Yes, you have to be running the Wowza Transcoder and actively transcoding the stream you want to extract images from, Passthru of the video will not generate thumbnails from the stream.
There is another technique that does not involve the Transcoder:
Can you offer some assistance? I am having the exact same issue and I have tried the steps Thomas implemented but I am still unable to get any thumbnail/snapshots. I have already made sure my URl is correct and that I am using the encoded stream, (not the original source).
