Setting up a Media Player

Setting up a HLS or MPEG-DASH-compatible media player requires pointing it to a live stream via a playback URL. This playback URL may be constructed using either of the following types of URL:

• CDN URL: Instance-specific playback URLs are provided on the Dynamic Cloud Packaging - Live page.

• Edge CNAME URL: Use this type of URL to generate a friendlier playback URL.

  Add TLS support to an edge CNAME to allow live streams to be served over HTTPS.

To construct a playback URL (CDN URL)

1. Navigate to the Dynamic Cloud Packaging - Live page. How?From the main menu, navigate to HTTP Large | HTTP Streaming | Dynamic Cloud Packaging.

2. Copy a base playback URL from the desired instance.

   1. Expand an instance by clicking on it.
   2. In the Playback URL option, select either "HLS" or "MPEG-DASH."
   3. Copy the playback URL displayed directly to the right of it.

3. If the encoder was configured to publish to a relative path, append the same relative path to the playback URL.

   Learn more.

4. Replace "<streamName>" with the stream name defined in the encoder's publishing session.

   If a stream name contains a suffix, then it should be appended after the last comma.

   Single vs. Multiple Streams

   A media player can request a stream generated from a single H.264 bit rate stream or it can analyze a user's environment at frequent intervals and dynamically choose from a set of streams of varying quality the one that will provide the best user experience. The number of streams referenced in the player URL determines the media player's behavior.

   Multiple Streams

   Use the following syntax to playback multiple streams of varying quality (i.e., bit rates):

   BaseStreamName,BitRate1,BitRate2,BitRateN,.FileNameExtension

   Learn more.

5. Verify that the playback URL looks similar to one of the following URLs:

   HTTP Live Streaming (Dynamic Streaming):

   http://wpc.0001.{Base Domain}/240001/myinstance/mystream,750,500,250,.m3u8

   MPEG-DASH (Dynamic Streaming):

   http://wpc.0001.{Base Domain}/240001/myinstance/mystream,750,500,250,.mpd

HTTPS Streaming

Live streams may be served over HTTPS. The two main benefits of streaming content over HTTPS are:

1. It allows end-to-end encryption. This ensures secure communication between the viewer and the CDN.
2. It improves the user experience by eliminating the web browser-generated security warning that pops up when a HTTPS web page contains content delivered over HTTP (e.g., audio/video).

An important caveat to HTTPS streaming is that only certain media players (e.g., iOS devices and QuickTime) support this capability. Refer to the media player's documentation to find out whether it supports streaming over HTTPS.

Use encrypted HLS to apply additional security to your live streams.
Learn more.

Setup

Setting up HTTPS streaming involves the following steps:

1. Prepare for HTTPS delivery by requesting a TLS certificate through Certificate Provisioning System.

2. Once the TLS certificate has been installed on our network, create or update an edge CNAME for the HTTP Large platform.

   Set the edge CNAME's Origin Directory option to:

   /24ANThis term represents your customer account number (e.g., 0001) which can be found in the upper right-hand corner of the MCC. (Dynamic Cloud Packaging Live Playback Instance)

3. From your DNS service provider, update a CNAME record to point the edge CNAME to your certificate's target CNAME.

   Learn more.

4. Point the desired media player to a playback URL that leverages the above edge CNAME.

   Learn more.

Basic Playback URL Information

Basic information on playback URLs is provided below.

• A unique playback URL is assigned to each instance.

  View an instance's playback URL (CDN URL) from the Dynamic Cloud Packaging - Live page.

• Leverage an edge CNAME configuration to provide a friendlier playback URL.

• An encoder may publish to either of the following locations:

  Publishing Location	Description
  Root Folder	An encoder may publish to the default publishing point location as defined by an instance's publishing point URL. Sample publishing point URL: rtmp://fso.oxr.0001.{Base Domain}/240001/myinstance
  Relative Path	An encoder may publish to a subdirectory of the location defined by the instance's publishing point URL. This type of setup requires that an identical relative path be appended to the playback URL. Sample publishing point URL: rtmp://fso.oxr.0001.{Base Domain}/240001/myinstance/sales/videos Sample playback URL: http://wpc.0001.{Base Domain}/240001/myinstance/sales/videos

• The stream name defined in the playback URL varies according to whether the media player will play back a single or multiple streams.

• The player's URL file extension determines the streaming solution that will be leveraged by the media player.

  HTTP Live Streaming:

  http://wpc.ANThis term represents your customer account number (e.g., 0001) which can be found in the upper right-hand corner of the MCC..{Base Domain}/24ANThis term represents your customer account number (e.g., 0001) which can be found in the upper right-hand corner of the MCC./Instance/Path/StreamName.m3u8

  MPEG-DASH:

  http://wpc.ANThis term represents your customer account number (e.g., 0001) which can be found in the upper right-hand corner of the MCC..{Base Domain}/24ANThis term represents your customer account number (e.g., 0001) which can be found in the upper right-hand corner of the MCC./Instance/Path/StreamName.mpd

Single Stream

Configure a media player to playback a specific stream by modifying the desired instance's playback URL to point to the stream generated by the encoder. This stream name should exclude the specified live authentication key.

Encoder's Stream Name:

Playback URL's Stream Name:

Multiple Streams (Dynamic Streaming)

Encoding multiple streams of varying quality and then referencing them within a playback URL allows a media player to vary the stream's bit rate quality to provide an optimal viewing experience. Specifically, the media player will analyze a user's environment at frequent intervals and dynamically choose the stream that provides the highest bit rate quality that the client can support without causing buffering or stuttering.

This capability requires the following:

• An encoder must publish several streams of varying quality.
• The base stream name defined in the encoder must be the same for all streams. Use the %b parameter to identify each stream by its total bit rate level.
• Each bit rate level must be indicated in the player URL. A media player's initial request will be for the first bit rate specified in the player URL.

Syntax

The player URL for multiple streams must identify each stream generated by the encoder. Multiple streams can be specified within a single URL by following the file naming conventions described below.

The terms prefix and suffix refer to the portions of the stream name that appear before and after, respectively, the %b parameter.

Filename Conventions:

• All streams must have a common prefix.

  Example:

  video100, video200, and video300

• The end of the prefix should be indicated with a comma. This should be followed by a comma-delimited list of the bit rate values used to identify each unique stream. Append a comma after the final bit rate level.

  Example:

  video,100,200,300,

• Each specified bit rate stream should only include the total bit rate quality in Kbps. Including any other data or using different units will generate a malformed playlist.

• A suffix identifies the portion of the stream name that extends beyond the comma-delimited list of bit rate values used to identify each unique stream. If a suffix has been specified, then it may be appended after the last comma.

  The suffix for the following sample streams is "kbps."

  video100kbps, video200kbps, and video300kbps

  Append the suffix after the last comma.

  Example:

  video,100,200,300,kbps

Edgecast CDN