How to implement the Adobe HTTP Streaming spec without using their Streaming server

Question

As of Flash 10.1, they have added the ability to add bytes into the NetStream object via the appendBytes method (described here http://www.bytearray.org/?p=1689). The main

Answer 1

I recently found a similar project for node.js to achieve m3u8 transcoding (https://github.com/andrewschaaf/media-server) but have yet to hear of one besides Wowza doing it outside of Origin module for Apache. Since the payloads are nearly identical you're better off looking for a good mp4 segmenting solution (plenty out there) than looking for f4m segmenting. The problem is moov atoms especially on larger mp4 video are difficult to manage and put in their proper initial (near beginning of file) location. Even using optimal ffmpeg settings and 'qtfaststart' you end up with noticeably slower seeking, inefficient bandwidth usage (usually greedy), and a few minor headaches relating to scrubbing/time that you don't get with flv/f4v playback.

In my player I have or intend to switch between HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) and MP4 based on load and realtime log parsing Apache using awk/cron instead of licensing Adobe's Access product for stream protection .. both have unique 'onmetadata' handlers.. but in the end I receive sequenced time/byte hashes virtually equivalent. Just MP4 is slower. So mod_origin is just a synchronizer / request router for Flash clients (over http). I'm still looking for ways to speed up mp4-container-based playback. One incredible solution I read this recently and was rather awestruck by it http://zehfernando.com/2011/flash-video-frame-time-woes/ where a video editor (guy) and flash developer came up with their own mp4 timecoding solution that literally added (via Adobe Premiere script) about 50 pixels to the bottom of every video frame with a visual 'binary' stamp like a frame barcode.. and those binary values translate into highly-accurate timecode values. So Flash could analyze the video frames as they were painted (realtime) and determine precisely where the player was and what bytes were needed from any kind of mp4 byte-segmenting-friendly webserver. The thing is (and perhaps I'm wrong here) Flash seems to arbitrarily choose when it gets to moov data, especially on large video files (.5-1.5gigs). Even if you make sure to run your mp4 through MP4Box (i.e. MP4Box -frag 10000 -inter 0 movie.mp4) I guess this has been a problem OSMF and HDS have worked on quite well now, though it is annoying that you need Apache and a proprietary closed-source module to use it imo. Its probably just a matter of time before open source implementations arrive as HDS is only 1-2 years old, and it just needs a little reverse engineering like that Andrew Chaaf guy with node.js + mpegts streaming (live or not). In the end I may just end up using OSMF exclusively beneath my UI as it seems to have similar virtues to HDS if not more so i.e. Strobe if you need sick extensible HDS or MP4 open player platform to hack from to realize your own custom player.