RTMP timestamp overflow

Wowza Streaming Engine
1

This seems to be a flaw in the RTMP specification rather than Wowza, but would like some advise.

My system… FMLE3.2 feeding RTMP (H.264+mp3) to Wowza stops functioning every 20 days.

I have read elsewhere that this is due to the RTMP timestamp labeled in milliseconds as a 32 bit value which overflowing such duration.

Indeed, after about 20 days the uptime indicated in FMLE3.2 drops to zero and stays there.

Once FMLE enters this state, video playback becomes choppy.

Is there a known technique to over come this, hopefully with setting in FMLE or Wowza, or do I have to give up RTMP to stream 24/7?

Thank you.

2

Hi,

I’ve not heard of this issue before, are you able to replicate this issue using a different RTMP based encoder?

Have you contacted Adobe support about these results from FMLE?

When this issue occurs, are you seeing anything in the Wowza logs which may indicate what the issue could be?

Regards,

Jason

3

Hi Jason,

I’ve not heard of this issue before, are you able to replicate this issue using a different RTMP based encoder?

So far this can be reproduced at all times using both the CLI and GUI versions of FMLE3.2.

After about 20days, due to the timestamp over flowing, uptime locks to 00:00:00.

Not relating to this behavior but in the context of discussing the RTMP protocol in general, I have read of the 20 day limitation on a few web sites.

I have not tried other encoders yet.

Would you please recommend any, especially ones known to be used in 24/7 services?

Have you contacted Adobe support about these results from FMLE?

Adobe chat support of my region told me that this product is not officially supported, therefore nowhere to contact.

When this issue occurs, are you seeing anything in the Wowza logs which may indicate what the issue could be?

Nothing in the access log, nor error log.

If Wowza does not concern the timestamp while streaming RTMP, probably it will not notice.

Also, I had no problem recording this illegal stream using Wowza’s recording feature.

The outcome was a video file that does not play on any of the media players I tried.

(Of course, all works fine as expected when the encoder is running normally.)

Lastly to recap, I would appreciate suggestions of (hopefully free) encoders known to work 24/7 on RTMP+H.264, mp3 or AAC.

Thank you.