Apache FLV streaming done right! (no php) Created Feb 4, 2009

That's my first impression about this. Have to study this further now...

Note that the provider does not need to be named 'lighttpd', any name goes as long as you reference it correctly elsewhere in the configuration:

$f("apache", "/swf/flowplayer-3.0.5.swf", {  
      
    clip: {  
        url:'http://examples-s3.simplecdn.net/videos/Extremists.flv',   
        provider: 'apache_done_right'  
    },  
      
    plugins: {  
        apache_done_right: {   
            url: 'flowplayer.pseudostreaming-3.0.3.swf'   
        }  
    }  

Nice to see professional posts here. We could reference this post on our pseudostreaming plugin documentation. Do you concider this as production stable stuff? I'm not an Apache expert so I cannot judge this myself.

That's correct. Its power comes from its simplicity.
I'll be testing it under heavy load in the next few weeks. And on heavy-traffic live site after that.

Just a handful lines of code, and relies on Apache internal components (i.e. it does not push the data itself, but rather passes the data on to standard components).

It's so simple you can guess all it's way of operation just from function names. It uses Apache2 API so it's future-proof for the next couple of years...

And the original version was coded by Paul Querna. He's an Apache developer, so this is presumably the best way to do it. (he's also coded a bunch of other extensions)

Paul Querna is currently a member of the Apache HTTPD Project
Management Committee(PMC).  He started working on Apache modules 
when he wrote a Custom Authentication module for the MMO Uru: 
Ages Beyond Myst.[...]

I would switch to something like this, but the problem is, how would I control how much bandwidth each viewer used? Does this preoptimize sending at a maximum speed that is NEEDED to view the video. What I mean is, does it send more than it needs, or only when it needs it.

Well the php hack is merely a "delayer". Have you considered one person downloading 5 movies in 5 browser tabs?

To do "preoptimizing" you would really need a streaming server. Why ? because you would need the exact video bandwidth. For this you can analyze the video header (which has average bitrate for audio/video) or analyze frame-by-frame, which would clog any machine. "Real" streaming servers have facilities for that, and for implementing the simpliest form of this in PHP, you would need to analyze flv/mp4 header and extract bitrate, then add 15% overhead and try to delay "echo" to simulate real throttling.

If you want to do REAL bandwidth control you can either:

• Use limiting on http server only - if apache, then mod-cband
• Implement traffic shaping and limiting at router/gateway level (easier than it seems)
• Implement the same directly on your server, using iptables and similar and limiting port 80 or 443 per-user

To use mod-cband you can follow these tutorials:

http://www.howtoforge.com/mod_cband_apache2_bandwidth_quota_throttling_p3 http://tikiwiki.org/HowToApacheModCbandRateLimiting

Mod cband works per-server and per-user. It's fully customizable and works well on huge sites. Remember that limiting badwidth "to fit" will result in user dissapointment. I personally often pre-buffer 2 or 3 movies in tabs before watching. Also take bitrate flow fluctuations (sometimes 500, sometimes 200). If you dedicate tight 500kbps per user with movies averaging in 500kbps bitrate, then they will be choppy. Opening 2 tabs will make video unwatchable and the only explanation on the visitor side would be: "What a goddamn slow site!"

Hi Joust,

While I am certain that your observations are more than correct wrt the server side, I think the bottleneck on the client side is flash and cpu usage. Watch the top output for your browser while the flash player decodes a movie.

So, if you watch 2 or more movies at the same time, they will almost certainly be stuttering.

If you watch 2 or more movies at the same time, it means you've got 2 or more heads (or you're a woman).

Nearly all my friends have 10+ tabs, and most of them pre-buffer video from video services in more than 1 tab. I know h264 is cpu expensive, especially in 720 and 1080p, as I tend to watch.

My videos load but are not seekable. When I try to seek they just go back to the start of the video.

Here's my config. Does anyone see anything amiss? How else can I troubleshoot?

  flowplayer("player", "/flash/player.swf",
  {
    key: 'mykey',
    play:
    {
      url: '/images/player/play_large_red.png',
      width: 83,
      height: 83
    },
    clip:
    {
      url: 'http://path_to_my_video.flv',
      autoPlay: true,
      linkUrl: 'http://somelink',
      linkWindow: '_blank',
      provider: 'backend',
      scaling: 'fit'
    },
    plugins:
    {
      controls:
      {
        url: 'player-controls.swf',
        timeColor: '#A81111',
        progressColor: '#A81111',
        bufferColor: '#D94242'
      },
      backend:
      {
        url: 'pseudo-streamer.swf'
      }
    }
  });

Thanks..

bigred, this sould help you:
http://flowplayer.org/forum/5/16769

1. To be able to click in the timebar you definitely need a video with METADATA and also the CORRECT pseudo code with it.
In this thread http://flowplayer.org/forum/5/16769 I have posted a piece of code which IS WORKING and also a link to flowplayer's video file which has metadata injected.

2. The issue with the skipping back to the start of the video is server issue. Maybe could also be an cache issue of your browser. I have had the same trouble like you and have described it in the thread posted above.

I hope this helps.

I've installed the apache flv module and according to tests with curl, that part works fine.

Where I am lost is the page setup..http://flowplayer.org/demos/streaming/ includes some javascript which I've copied and pasted in a test html file. All I see is the "Show Me" image - not the player. I've made sure all paths point to files that exist on my server.

On a separate page I made the simple non-streaming player, which works fine.

Please help?

Paste us your code inside <flowplayer></flowplayer> and describe what urls you'll be using. Then we'll be able to guide you. Also, it's probably not mod_flvx related, so you should better write at different forum:http://flowplayer.org/forum/1

Okay here is code from a test page.

It was tested from different PCs last night, and I discovered that the entire file is being downloaded. mod_flvx is enabled according to phpinfo.



HTML setup for the player

<!-- include latest Flowplayer javascript file -->
<script language="javascript" src="path/to/flowplayer-3.2.2.js"></script>

<!-- player container with optional splash image -->
<a href="path/to/video_file" id="playerContainer">
	<img src="path/to/splash_image" />
</a>

JavaScript coding

Following script will install Flowplayer into our player container

<script language="javascript">
// our custom configuration is given in third argument
flowplayer("playerContainer", "path/tohttp://releases.flowplayer.org/swf/flowplayer-3.2.2.swf",{
<script src="/swf/flowplayer-3.0.6.min.js"></script>

<style>
/* container has a background image */
a.player {	
	margin-top:40px;
	display:block;
	background:url<a href='/img/player/splash.png)'>http://flowplayer.org/img/player/splash.png)</a> no-repeat;
	width:425px;
	height:298px;
	padding:0 126px 75px 127px;	
	text-align:center;
	color:#fff;
	text-decoration:none;
	cursor:pointer;
}

/* splash image */
a.player img {
	margin-top:115px;
	border:0;	
}

</style>

<a class="player" id="player"></a>

<script type="text/javascript">

$f("player", "/swf/flowplayer-3.0.7.swf", {

	// this will enable pseudostreaming support 
	plugins: { 
		pseudo: { url: '/swf/flowplayer.pseudostreaming-3.1.1.swf' } 
	},
	
	// clip properties 
	clip: {
		
		// make this clip use pseudostreaming plugin with "provider" property
		provider: 'pseudo',				
		
        // all videos under this baseUrl support pseudostreaming on the server side		
		url: 'edited_judi_presentation_cd3.flv'		
	}   
});
</script>
});
</script>

I created a test page here:http://170.140.225.111/flow.html

http://southeastgenetics.org/flow.html doesn't work. I couldn't find a usable flv on your server to test it.

Ok got it, thanks for your help!
http://www.flowplayer.org/forum/users/38700

I, too, am having some problems installing mod_flvx on a Linux box. I've followed steps 1 through 5 using both your .so and Paul's. Upon restarting Apache, I receive this error:

Syntax error on line 38 of /usr/local/apache/conf/httpd.conf:
Cannot load /usr/local/apache/modules/mod_flvx.so into server: /usr/local/apache/modules/mod_flvx.so: undefined symbol: apr_strtoff

Googling "apr_strtoff" is futile - no help there. Am I missing a module that should be installed prior to this?

Thanks,
Tom

Please try adding the following to the beginning of mod_flvx.c file and let me know:

#include "apr.h"
#include "apr_strings.h"

Forget the previous!

http://mirror.facebook.com/apache/apr/CHANGES-APR-1.2

Changes with APR 1.0
[...]
  *) Add apr_strtoff() function for converting numeric strings
 into apr_off_t values.  [André Malo <nd perlig.de>, Joe Orton]

Your apr is too old ! (pre 1.0). I've been compiling under apr-1.3.3 and apr-1.2.11-2. Please update your apr and try again.

Note: this should compile under 2.2.x or higher, judging from this file:http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/httpd/httpd/branches/2.2.x/modules/http/byterange_filter.c

apr_strtoff is still in use, any comments on 2.x users trying to compile this module?

I tried compiling under 2.0.59 without success. I do believe it needs Apache 2.2 minimum.

edit: Compiled great and working in in 2.2.8.

Thank you, joust, for locating and tuning the mod_flvx plugin and writing up the installation procedure for it. I otherwise would never have known what to do :)

BUzz (posted below)... the only modification made to the original mod_flvx are 2 functions. A parameter (the FLV header) was missing from 2 function calls, so joust added the header to the parameter list so it returns the correct amount of file length. At least that is what I see as different.... very minimal, and more like a necessary bugfix :)

I would be interested to know what you have improved over the original plugin, I am currently writing a stand only pseudo streaming server, (codename: froomi) and I'd be intrested to here your views on pseudo streaming and performance improving.

Cheers

BUzz

Hi

I've been trying to use the flowplayer for streaming, works partially.

If i set the start point at the begin there's no problem and the video can be moved around freely.

However if i want the video to start at a specific point in the file, it just does not work.

Eg;
http://nettrackers.net/flv/not_working.html

and

http://nettrackers.net/flv/working.html

I know the FLV is fine and the server is setup ok since we are doing fine with the working.html file..

Even in the access.log i have

logs for;

59.93.246.59 - - [27/Apr/2009:18:17:53 -0500] "GET /t/Extremists.flv?start=100 HTTP/1.1" 200 22921537 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.9) Gecko/2009040821 Firefox/3.0.9 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)"

59.93.246.59 - - [27/Apr/2009:18:17:08 -0500] "GET /t/Extremists.flv?start=15584856 HTTP/1.1" 200 7336781 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.9) Gecko/2009040821 Firefox/3.0.9 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)"

The first log entry is the one that is for starting the file at a certain point -- that doesnt work, however the entry looks fairly normal and it should work.. Unless there's a bug with the flowplayer which requires it to have a complete header at the start or something ..

Any advice is appreciated !

Hi,

The documentation reads:

'The default parameter the pseudostreaming provider uses for start time is simply start. The value of this parameter holds the seek target keyframe number which is compatible with the server's streaming module.'

For H264 files the start parameters is in seconds, but perhaps for FLV files you need to specify byte offsets instead? Could you try to change the ?start=100 in your not_working example to ?start=15584856 ?

Regards,

Hey Arjen , Thanks !

I updated the file at

http://nettrackers.net/flv/not_working.html

as you suggested to set the start point to 15584856

Now i can get the file to start mid point however there are still a few problems.

A> No video! Only Audio

B> I notice i need to be careful with the startpoints, i have to give a keyframe fileposition.

Now if i can get the video stream to start up : )

Thanks again !

I was also unable to get the pseudostreaming to start at a given position. I came up with an easy workaround though which is almost exactly the same:

Immediately after you begin playing, simply seek() to the position you want to start pseudostreaming at. The scrubber will jump to that point and start pseudostreaming properly.

Hope this helps.

whai i see is all streaming methods are required metadata injection or index to flv files. Especially we like to click on timeline and like the video start at that point without buffer the whole file. IS there a way to do flv streaming without inject meta or index flv files? thanks

No, you need to inject metadata (or the encoder must do it) if you want to pseudostream using the method(s) in this thread.

All the metadata is injected at the beginning of the file, so flash knows the length, bitrate, cuepoints, and other information right up front. Without metadata, the flash video stream is simply video data and flash has no idea when it will end, so it can't let you seek to any specific point.

That is all related to pseudostreaming. If you are doing TRUE flash STREAMING, you don't need to inject any metadata - but you will need to install a streaming server.

hello phong1085,
please explain how to inject metadata. I am confusing from inject metadata.
Thanks in Advance.

1. Download yamdi:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/yamdi/files/

2. Run yamdi from command line (START > RUN, go to folder with yamdi.exe)

yamdi -i nometa.flv -o withmeta.flv

May be this would be useful.
Sorry for my english :-)

To compile mod_flvx for Windows I need to add this to lines to source:

#include "apr_strings.h"
#include "http_request.h"

(edited source)

If anyone wants compiled module, please take it here:
http://tzone.mag.tc/files/mod_flvx.dll

Compiled for Apache 2.2.13, succesfully tested with 2.2.11.

Thanks a million!!

Hi,
This is how my server looks(is setup) and I want to create a video sharing site for my church organisation. I am not very good with PHP but am learning. I can set up without trouble a Flowplayer cleanly in a website but I want the videos to be uploaded by users, converted on the server and played in the browser like YOUTUBE.

SERVER
- Linux Server (Ubuntu 8.04LTS).
- Apache Web Server
- Support for AcceptPathInfo
- Support for MultiViews
- MySQL 5.x
- PHP 5.x (mod_php)
- Support for GD2 Library
- Support for MySQL
- Support for Curl
- Support for upload_progress

PHP SETTINGS
- safe_mode off
- open_basedir off
- max_execution_time 7200
- max_input_time 7200
- memory_limit (with 1MB more then the maximum video upload size)
- post_max_size (maximum video upload size)
- upload_max_size (maximum video upload size)
- exec() is be allowed

- PHP CLI 5.x (see above + register_argc_argv ON)
- Mencoder 1.0rc1 (support for jpeg, gif, png, freetype, h264, lame, xvid, mad, win32codecs, dv, 3gp, mp4, theora)
- Mplayer 1.0rc1
- FFmpeg (from SVN) (support for jpeg, gif, png, freetype, h264, lame, xvid, mad, win32codecs, dv, 3gp, mp4, theora flvtool2 or yamdi (yamdi recommended)

I am building the site using Expression Engine.

If I use the script above, what will i have to do. Now thats a dump question but thats how bad I am at this. I just read this today so my apologies if I look bad.

Cheers

Hello,

I only looked briefly at this page http://tperspective.blogspot.com/2009/02/apache-flv-streaming-done-right.html

It looks as though it will "just work" with the flowplayer pseudostreaming plugin.
http://flowplayer.org/plugins/streaming/pseudostreaming.html

I may be misunderstanding your question.

The conversion side of it will have to be done via the site script you're building. That aspect of it has nothing to do with flowplayer.

Also something worth noting, server side conversion uses a ton of cpu resources and a fair amount of ram depending on the settings used for the conversion process. You would need a dedicated server or a vps host that allowed such usage.

Note that the Windows build above requires Debug CRT from Visual Studio 2008 and thus might be difficult to use especially on newer systems like Vista or Windows 7. I can upload a release version somewhere which only requires Release CRT - and this is easy to install.

The tuned mod_flvx is down, any other place to get it?
Thanks!

Does this apache flv method work in a shared hosting environment? You mention editing httpd.conf and using apxs. I don't think that can be done in a shared environment.

I've actually been struggling with this for a while. I'm going to try this, I hope it works!

This the one i have been searching for, now i dont have to rely on you tube anymore.. great

Thanks,
Frederik,