SimpleCDN / Highwinds SMIL Created Apr 7, 2009

I'm working with Flowplayer now to get this implemented.

Thanks,
Chris Bray

Thanks Chris, any idea on an eta - SimpleCDN removing some of their old services on April 30th has left us with a few problems.

Do you know of any temporary workarounds while the functionality is being built for flowplayer, we've been looking at using AJAX to grab the playlist data but haven't had any luck due to it being a cross site request.

Cheers

I don't have an ETA, unfortunately -- it's up to the Flowplayer team. That said, the parsing itself isn't that complicated so it can likely be completed quickly.

Thanks, I'm assuming there is no workround that you know of?

There are some workarounds that I can think of but nothing clean that would cover all edge cases. The best route is to get proper support into the player itself -- I would suggest that you make a formal request to Ansii to ensure that he understands your need for urgency.

This will happen after our 3.1 release that is scheduled to ship latest 15th this month. We will integrate Highwinds that's for sure but cannot include this into the 3.1 scope since we don't want to delay it.

Chris, I've received your email about the integration and will follow up on it.

Anssi

Thanks Anssi.

What would be useful as a temporary workaround is the ability to pass the users ip within the smil request to your server. We could then capture that from the user and make the request server side including their ip, so you could use that ip to send back the best address for playback.

Any chance this can be implemented in the interim?

We've looked at implementing this exact service in the past, but CDN release schedules generally run a few weeks as we need to do extensive QA before rolling out any changes. So, unfortunately this route wouldn't get you the functionality any faster. If it's an option for you I would suggest continuing down the AJAX route -- you should be able to get this to work. Where are you hosting your player?

Hello,

I'm french and i use Highwinds with flowplayer very well :)
Sorry for my english,

What's problem ?

<?php
if($row_produits['video']!=""){
$xml_listeplaylist = $url.'/fms/'.$urlfms.$row_produits['video'].'.'.$row_produits['type'].'.smil';
$listplaylist = simplexml_load_file($xml_listeplaylist);
foreach($listplaylist->body->video->attributes() as $videoz){
	$video = $videoz;
}
foreach($listplaylist->head->meta->attributes() as $rpm){
	$rtmp = $rpm;
}
?>

Thanks Pascal. Ian, have you tried this code sample? Does it work for you?

Thanks for that Pascal / Chris.

We have implemented something similar at our end (using perl), it's ok for a temporary solution but both these solutions are server side, so are passing the ip of the server to yourselves so it's not ideal if the user is in a very different location to the server. At least it works for now though!

We looked at using Ajax as that would be able to pass the users ip to you, but we didn't find a way to make it work because of the fact it's cross site scripting.

Right -- doing it on the server side will obviously not produce a localized IP for the user, so you'll want to update this as soon as possible.

I think there's very little else that can be done from our or anyone elses end - Ajax is the only way to do it locally and pass the user's ip to highwinds but that won't work due to the fact it's cross site scripting.

The only way forward is to either allow the request to manually include the user's ip so it can be sent server side with that within the request or for flowplayer itself to support highwinds in the same way jw player does.

So in short, the ball's definitely back in your court!! :-D

Just thought I'd throw a +1 in for supporting SMIL files from within Flowplayer.

Excited about the new bandwidth plugin in 3.1. Checking that out now.

Thanks,
-Alex

I now have a plugin ready for Highwinds integration. Does anyone have a sample stream that I could use for testing? A url pointing to the SMIL file and the associated video stream are both needed here.

I'm planning to release this right away once I have tested it.

Anssi

That's great news about the plugin Anssi!

Here's a sample SMIL file you can test with.

http://hwcdn.net/y5n4y3e8/fms/sample.flv.smil

You asked for the "associated video stream" as well. I'm not sure I know what that is in this situation.

Let me know if you need something else.

Thanks for working on this so quickly.

-Alex

Here it is now. The current version of this plugin is here.



HTML setup for the player

<!-- include latest Flowplayer javascript file -->
<script language="javascript" src="path/to/flowplayer-3.2.6.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-3.2.7.swf",{
clip: {
  url: 'http://hwcdn.net/y5n4y3e8/fms/sample.flv.smil',
  connectionProvider: 'highwinds',
  provider: 'rtmp'
},
plugins: {
  highwinds: { url: 'flowplayer.smil-3.1.0-dev.swf' },
  rtmp: { url: 'flowplayer.rtmp.swf' }
}
});
</script>

Thanks Anssi, does this only work on the 3.1 version of the player, or can we use it with 3.0.7?

It requires version 3.1 since in it we introduced the concept of connection providers that is used by this plugin.

Anssi

Hey Anssi,

This is great progress! I have three quick questions:

1. Where is the flowplayer-3.1.0.js file? I can't seem to find it, and don't see it being referenced in your sample.

2. What is the role of the href in the container? Your sample has it set to the FP sample video (http://player-e7.simplecdn.net/flowplayer.flv). Should this typically point to the FLV itself? Obviously in our case it will produce the SMIL, so what would you define as best practice here?

3. Have you tested this with a live stream?

Thanks,
Chris

Hi Chris,

1. flowplayer.js is used to embed the player in HTML pages. It is the default embedding method but you can also use SWFObject and other embedding methods.

2. The container href can be used to reference the the video file. In my example it was overridden in the clip object that is in the configuration. With Highwinds the href can can point to the SMIL file, and that would be the best practice to use here.

3. I haven't tested this with a live stream yet. Would love to do it. Can you give me test stream?

This should be compatible with our HTML/Js based playlists and other tools that we have. We will provide documentation and demos once we release this.

Anssi

I'm sure Chris can get you a better live stream, but here's one you can test with for now.

http://hwcdn.net/y5n4y3e8/fls/12761-debug.smil

Here in about an hour or so I will have something streaming that's more entertaining than me at my desk. ;)

Hi Anssi,

I'll send you a link to an SD and HD test stream in a moment.

~ Chris

Anssi,

Just sent those links -- check your inbox.

~ Chris

Here is the live stream. Was just working a sec ago.



HTML setup for the player

<!-- include latest Flowplayer javascript file -->
<script language="javascript" src="path/to/flowplayer-3.2.6.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-3.2.7.swf",{
log: { level: 'debug', filter: 'org.flowplaayer.smil.*, org.flowplayer.rtmp.*' },
clip: {
  url: 'http://hwcdn.net/y5n4y3e8/fls/12761-debug.smil',
  connectionProvider: 'highwinds',
  provider: 'rtmp',
  live: true
},
plugins: {
  highwinds: { url: 'flowplayer.smil-3.1.0-dev.swf' },
  rtmp: { url: 'flowplayer.rtmp.swf' }
}
});
</script>

Yeah, there seems to be something weird with the test stream. It's an issue on my end. Hopefully Chris can get you something shortly.

In the meantime, I am working on getting a more legitimate stream at the above URL.

Sorry

Any news on the release of this one - keen to get it up and running asap!

You can download the current version here. I'm still doing some QA before the final version is out the door.

Thanks, that seems to be working fine for us.

Unfortunately after a little more testing, it doesn't appear to be very stable at all. We're using it with the liverail plugin , I'm not sure if that's related though - it seems to randomly not connect to the stream (testing a live stream currently)

In my tests it works fine with VOD stream (not live), also when using the LiveRail plugin. Again I'm missing a test live stream that I could test this with :-(

Hi Anssi,

The sample live streams that I sent you should still be running -- let me know if they're not, and I'll ask engineering to turn them back on.

Thanks,
Chris

I think you'll find it works fine on a live stream - I may have been jumping the gun a bit on my previous post!

We have been running a stream using it in a live environment for several days and have had no complaints from users at all.

The SMIL plugin was just released together with flowplayer 3.1.1.

Anssi

Just wondering what is happening with this plugin, previously the 3.1.1 version was available to download, but that's since been taken down and the 3.1.0-dev version is on there. Is there a problem with the 3.1.1 version, should we be using it?

I am working on site easystreamingtv. Even the code is the same as the SMIL example, is not working.

I have installed the latest versions of FlowPlayer, and renamed for later updates. Does it has some influence in the execution?

I am using full url path because the code is going to be embeded as frame. You can check it against
original code.

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript" src="http://www.easystreamingtv.com/player/player_actions.js"></script> 
<a id="player" href="http://hwcdn.net/p8v6x3v7/fms/HW_c9ab730f5513206b999ec0d90d1fb.flv.smil" style="display:block; width:480px; height:360px;"></a> 
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> 
  flowplayer("player", "http://www.easystreamingtv.com/player/player.swf", { 
    plugins: { 
      smil: { url: 'http://www.easystreamingtv.com/player/player_smil.swf' }, 
      rtmp: { url: 'http://www.easystreamingtv.com/player/player_rtmp.swf' }, 
      controls: { url: 'http://www.easystreamingtv.com/player/player_controls-tube.swf' } 
      }, 
    clip: { connectionProvider: 'smil', provider: 'rtmp', live: false } 
    }); 
</script>

Are you using the latest version of the SMIL, RTMP and controlbar plugins? Don't use the ones linked in this forum, use the latest released versions available in the plugins section of this site.

Anssi

yes.
Versions are:
player: flowplayer.commercial-3.0.7
player_rtmp: flowplayer.rtmp-3.1.1
player_smil: flowplayer.smil-3.1.2
player_controls: flowplayer.controls-3.1.2
player_controls-tube: flowplayer.controls-tube-3.1.2

You need the latest flowplayer version 3.1.2. Plugins of version 3.1.x do not work with flowpalyer 3.0.x

Anssi

Ok. Commercial version 3.1.2 installed, but still not working.

Looks like the controls plugin gives lots of errors. Did you replace that too?

Anssi

I replace all controls and players, use the normal name, and now is working.

Thank you, :)

hello,

with 3.1.2,

run highwinds smil correctly

with 3.1.4 and now 3.1.5,
not run ...

An idea ?

<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script>
<div id="player" style=" width:320px; height:240px"></div>
<script type='text/javascript'>
$f("player", "flowplayer.commercial-3.1.5.swf", {
	clip: {
		url: 'http://hwcdn.net/v9y9g7k9/fms/elles_400.flv.smil',
		connectionProvider: 'lesmil',  
		provider: 'lertmp'
	},
	plugins: {
		  lesmil: {  url: 'flowplayer.smil-3.1.3.swf' } ,
		  lertmp: {  url: 'flowplayer.rtmp-3.1.3.swf' }
	}	
});