VOD file as looping live stream: ingest or media cache?

Wowza Streaming Engine
1

For testing purposes, I’d like to loop an existing mp4 file on a single Wowza server to simulate forthcoming live content. It should behave as a live stream for anyone connecting, so you join the playback at its current point when you connect.

Does it make the most sense to ingest this using something like VLC (running on the same Linux server with Wowza) or can I easily do this using the MediaCache add-on? The looping VLC ingest concerns me for reliability reasons (needs to run unattended on the server 24/7 during test), though its ingest approach is more “realistic” in terms of how the ultimate content will eventually hit Wowza. The MediaCache approach I’ve done with VOD files, but I’m not 100% certain yet how to implement that on the latest Wowza release in a simulated live / looping manner.

Honestly, I’d appreciate the learning process of getting the MediaCache approach going if its feasible.

Ultimately, the testing will move to this being a multi-server load balanced arrangement and possibly involve multicasting to local clients. That comes later.

For now, though, I’d just like to get the most reliable VOD-as-live configuration up and running.

Any guidance highly appreciated! :slight_smile:

  • Aaron
2

Hi Aaron, you can use the scheduler to stream static content as the source for a live streams:

How to do scheduled streaming with Wowza Streaming Engine (StreamPublisher)

Or you can use ModuleLoopUntilLive to loop a video file until a live stream starts:

How to loop a pre-roll until a live stream starts (ModuleLoopUntilLive)

Salvadore

3

Aaron, you can use MediaCache to retrieve the file for the loop, but I dont think this will be advantageous. It may be best to have the file local instead of on a web server. You may decide to experiment though.

Salvadore

4

Hi Aaron, you can use the scheduler to stream static content as the source for a live streams:

How to do scheduled streaming with Wowza Streaming Engine (StreamPublisher)

Or you can use ModuleLoopUntilLive to loop a video file until a live stream starts:

How to loop a pre-roll until a live stream starts (ModuleLoopUntilLive)

Salvadore

Thanks for the quick reply, Salvadore! Worked like a charm.

Was my idea of using the MediaCache totally idiotic? Just curious as I get a sense of how best to use all of Wowza’s zillion features. :slight_smile:

Thanks!

  • Aaron