LiveTV on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

    Becouse air stream stopped working and after every update i had troubles to get ffmpeg working correct i switched to another project.


    i'm using the following script now.


    http://www.sat4all.com/forums/…__p__1693604#entry1693604


    But i have modifyed it a bit.



    + Wokring on new ruby version (FileUtil fix)
    + Fixed zapping problems with the openPLI enigma2
    + WORKS WITH HD CHANNELS!!
    + made de layout a bit smaller so it fits better in the iphone stream.
    + Tuned some coding parts
    + Added some regex stripping in enigma1 boxes so it looks better
    + Ffmpeg multi theading so it works good on a old dualcore cpu


    This i need to do:


    + Add security option (Access key or username/pass)
    + Add more bitrates
    + Multi dreambox support



    This scrips works very good over wifi and 3G. Setting it up can be a pain in the ass but i'm planning to make a linux (Centos) install script for easy install.


    If u guys are intresed in this i can post it on google code so its easy to commit changes by multiple users.

    Sounds very interesting but, as i am running a WHS Server and my linux knowledge ist quite limited (but at least i have some :winking_face: ). I think its useless to me, as i do not have the time to learn (again, thats the problem if you use linux only once or twice per year) configure it.


    I need a simple solution running under Windows.


    Thx anyway for your input, it might be very helpfull to others.

    Zitat

    Originally posted by jockyw2001
    You can expect a live TV streaming solution soon. It will be able to stream to PC, iPhones, iPads, Blackberry Playbook and Android devices. The server part will be web server, php scripts and VLC. It should be able to stream HD channels as well. The client part is just the web browser. No need for Air Video anymore when it comes to streaming live TV.


    Is there any news on this solution ? I would love to get my Dreambox channels and recordings working again.

    Hmm, the airvideo server running on Mac still works.
    Streaming live video to iOS 5.1 without problems.


    That would mean that the problem lies with the windows version of FFmpeg !


    So, Jockyw2001, can you have another look at your FFmpeg version for the windows platform ? That's where the problem is located, not with Airvideo or the thunbnails etc.


    Thanks,
    Red

    So helpful users are only reporting this now hehe. If I have some time I will try to verify this behaviour. As far as I remember with my iMac streaming of liveTV stopped after a few seconds.


    EDIT1: I tested with my iMac Air Video server 2.4.3 with latest patched ffmpeg and iPhone 4S iOS 5.0.1 and Air Video client 2.4.10
    LiveTV stream play for about 7 seconds, then stops and then plays for another 0,5 second and then stops.


    EDIT2: I tested again with my iMac Air Video server 2.4.5-beta6 with latest patched ffmpeg and iPhone 4S iOS 5.0.1 and Air Video client 2.4.10
    LiveTV stream (ZDF) plays fine. Only after the first about 6-7 seconds there is a very short interrupt and a similar short interrupt after about 12-14 seconds. After that the stream plays perfect.


    redneck eyeball : what is your configuration?


    So if all works well on Mac and Linux with Air Video server 2.4.5-beta6, then it should also work fine on Windows. I don't have time to test that as I don't have a windows box at my disposal.


    EDIT3: apparently some channels (e.g RTL) don't resume after the first short interrupt, the stream stops and your thrown back in the dialog with the Play and Play with Live Conversion buttons. I tested quite a few channels and there is always an interrupt after about 7 sec. If the player survives that interrupt then it continues to play just fine. Even some HD channels are playing fine (ZDF HD), although sound and video are not in perfect sync ! It seems the built-in iOS5 videoplayer that is called by the Air Video client app is very sensitive in the first seconds when it is initially buffering the stream. I wouldn't know what to change in ffmpeg to improve things. Perhaps Inmethod can improve their player, but I don't think they will do that now since they work on a complete new solution that includes live streaming.


    EDIT4: one more observation, if I play a channel that can survive the first interrupt (e.g. ZDF) then the Air Video client will show some kind of scrolling balls in the status bar at the top side of the player during the short period where it reconnects the stream. When these balls appears the stream will continue to play without any further interrupts. It seems to me the Air Video client invokes some kind of stream reconnect handler which can easily fail under iOS5 because of a too short timeout value. I will point this out to the author of Air Video.


    EDIT5: I found a work-around for the 7 sec playback problem that works most of the times for me:
    - start the stream
    - right after playback starts press the Pause button
    - wait for about 7 seconds and then press the Play button again
    - the stream will continue to play without interrupts


    This work-around clearly shows there is a buffering issue with the Air Video client under iOS5 when playing liveTV streams.

    Kathrein UFS910 (AAF E2)
    Dbox2 (latest Petze)

    7 Mal editiert, zuletzt von jockyw2001 ()

    Zitat

    Originally posted by jockyw2001
    EDIT2: I tested again with my iMac Air Video server 2.4.5-beta6 with latest patched ffmpeg and iPhone 4S iOS 5.0.1 and Air Video client 2.4.10
    LiveTV stream (ZDF) plays fine. Only after the first about 6-7 seconds there is a very short interrupt and a similar short interrupt after about 12-14 seconds. After that the stream plays perfect.


    redneck eyeball : what is your configuration?


    It's the same. But with iOS 5.1
    That hickup after 7 seconds has always been in there, at least with the windows version.
    The Mac version I've tested belongs to a friend and was setup just for testing if it worked differently Mac vs Windows.



    I've been able to get that to work only once, but yes, it's always when this buffer should be re-newed that the stream gets cut-off.
    I'm still not 100% convinced that this is something that is entirely a client problem. Since the same clients works when the server side is Mac.


    So maybe it's something that can be tweaked in FFmpeg ?


    It certainly can't hurt to ask the AirVideo devs to help fix the problem, but I don't have the impression that things are moving fast at their end. They have been realy slow in releasing new versions, so this solution that they are building with built in stream support might take another year.

    The response from the air video dev is:

    Zitat

    I'm not sure about this. The issue is we have zero control of how the iOS player loads the segments. We did build the UI from scratch, but the actual playback implementation is 100% Apple (it is the only way to get streaming over internet approved)


    So don't expect anything from him. I already tried a couple of times before.


    The short hickup has always been there and even with Mac it depends on the tv channel if the ios player survives and continues playback or not. Furthermore it depends on the performance of the server and the delay and jitter of the internet connection.


    If I have some time I will see if I can tweak ffmpeg in that is does some kind of "buffer amplification" in the first 7-10 seconds.

    Kathrein UFS910 (AAF E2)
    Dbox2 (latest Petze)

    Thanks !


    Don't worry about the hickup :)
    I would already be very happy if the stream would just work with some FFmpeg tweaking.


    If you can't find what's wrong, then maybe you could share your source diffs, so someone else could take a look.


    PS :Did they give you any feedback regarding their own streaming solution ?

    Hi, I'am running Air Video Server on iMac with Snow Leopard 10.7.4.


    Version 2.4.3 with patched ffmpeg gives 13sec of stream then freeze. Even if I pause the video right after start it will alway play about 13sec after I put in on play..


    Version 2.4.5beta6 with patched ffmpeg does NOT give any picture into my ios 5.0.1 devices.


    Would love to have this working..

    Zitat

    Originally posted by jambooh
    Version 2.4.5beta6 with patched ffmpeg does NOT give any picture into my ios 5.0.1 devices.


    Sounds like you are not using the correct patched ffmpeg version. Download the ffmpeg again from first page and rename it to ffmpeg.tgz
    Then do a tar -xzvf ffmpeg.tgz and put the resulting ffmpeg in the appropriate folder on your mac

    Kathrein UFS910 (AAF E2)
    Dbox2 (latest Petze)

    Well i know for a fact some of there other streaming solutions have had to implement this differently. I know for IOS devices it takes up to 12-18 seconds before streaming starts, maybe if it can be edited to take a little longer to buffer before streaming might solve the issue?


    Just a thought.

    Zitat

    Originally posted by jockyw2001
    If I have some time I will see if I can tweak ffmpeg in that is does some kind of "buffer amplification" in the first 7-10 seconds.


    Any update ? Have you had the time to look into this ?

    A first version of the new live TV streaming solution will be published very soon. Eta 1-2 wk.

    Kathrein UFS910 (AAF E2)
    Dbox2 (latest Petze)

    Zitat

    Originally posted by jockyw2001
    A first version of the new live TV streaming solution will be published very soon. Eta 1-2 wk.


    thank you! Your works are amazing! :winking_face:

    Zitat

    Originally posted by jockyw2001
    A first version of the new live TV streaming solution will be published very soon. Eta 1-2 wk.


    any update on the release :)