Author Archives: Olivier

Precision about HTTP streaming format in Adobe Media Server

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ams To begin this new year, I make this post on a subject which can introduce misunderstandings. Previously, Adobe named it streaming server : Flash Media Server (aka FMS) v4.5. In october 2012, Adobe release a new version and recalled the server: Adobe Media Server (aka AMS) v5.0.1. Some acronym used in FMS are the same in AMS, but this is not the same “products” (e.g. PHLS). In this post, I will give some input on live streaming format and especially about security applied on. Continue reading →

Adobe Flash Media Server 4.5 – Setup PHLS live stream

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FMS
Here is a How to, the objective is to demonstrate the setup of a PHLS live stream. PHLS means Protected HLS : the custom format of HLS by Adobe. The protection is realized with a AES-128 encryption on the content. To make this configuration, you need a streaming server which will push content via RTMP. Some live transcoders are available from ElementalLive to ffmpeg. And you need too a Adobe Media Server 4.5 installed to complete this how to.  All I write in this post is available via the FMS documentation.

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Mistserver – a new multimedia streaming server – First overview

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Mistserver is a open-source multimedia streaming server developed by DDVTech a company based in Netherlands. This server will support some technologies : HLS, HDS, Smooth Streaming, RTMP, …

For the moment, HDS, RTMP and progressive download are available. You can push too livestream via RMTP. The company have two others solutions : MistSteward, MistCenter.

DDVTech positions his solution in a competitive market with some actors : Adobe Media Server, Wowza, Red5, Apache, …

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Packaging adaptive bitrate VOD content on the fly

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The actual market on the OTT use Adaptive Bit Rate video format over HTTP (Smooth Streaming, HTTP Dynamic Streaming, HTTP Live Streaming and MPEG-DASH soon) to deliver the content. I make this analyse without integrate the DRMs system which is a big topic itself. Here is an overview of the different format available for each platform.

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The matrix is a kind complex; all this technologies are multibitrate, so for one asset, you need to transcode for each bitrate. Each technology is different and use his own specification :

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If I follow the specifications given by the manufacturers (HLS) or if I’m basing on 4 bitrates for the others formats (Smooth Streaming, HDS), I need to transcode more than 20 times the same asset.

There is an option to avoid and reduce significatively the number of transcoding tasks : the packaging on the fly. This article will only analyse the on-demand side, not the live. Continue reading →

Microsoft Azure Media Services – How to encode in the Azure Cloud – Part 2

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After the first post which give an overview and explain how set-up a WAMS environment, I continue the discovery of WAMS World (sorry for the pun ;-)). In this post, we will see how we can transform a video from a input format to another format. It’s possible to generate multiple output format or to encrypt the video. But we will see it in a next posts.

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