iOS 6 Livestreaming NOT Working, iOS5 and below works fine

[kdamalie]

Using FMS 4.5 to stream to IPAD/IPHONE, it's been working OK, BUT NOT ON NEW iOs 6, Users who have upgraded to iOs 6 cannot access livestream? Any Suggesting? SOS

Thanks

[ShivenK]

Hi,

Can you please provide us with more information such as the devices you are using. Iphone 4/ Iphone 5? What is the error message that you get? What do you see in the Apache logs?

As per our tests, its working smoothly on iOS 6.0.

Thanks,

Shiven

[kdamalie · Accepted solution]

Hi Shiven,

I was able to resolve the issue, went to the apple developer site. I had to specify the codec in the .m3u8 playlist file,

[Krzimmer3404]

Hi kdamalie,

I'm still having difficulty getting HLS streaming to iOS 6.  I've read through the apple dev site related to HLS but had no luck fixing the issue.  Could you please provide more detail?  Do you know what has changed between iOS 5 and 6 which caused HLS to not work properly?

[Krzimmer3404]

P.S.  I'm using Amazon's CloudFormation to stream live video.  I'm not sure if I could modify the .m3u8 file.

[kdamalie]

hi Krzimmer3404, in the m3u8 file you need to specify the codec like so:

#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=500000, CODECS="avc1.4d001f,mp4a.40.2"

there are some other codecs. Please let me know if that fixes the issue, i had to read the HLS specification. Before ios 6 it was not necessary to specify the codecs

[aruser]

So the AMS 5 Server will not stream with iOS 6?

[kdamalie]

yes it should

[Krzimmer3404]

Thanks for the reply.  I'm using Amazon Web Services - CloudFormation to serve the stream.  I don't think I would be able to modify the stream.  Are you familiar with the service? 

AWS builds an on-demand "Stack" which is a linux server.  After the stack is build the requester is provided with a few outputs.  One of the outputs is the location of the .m3u8.  I can download the .m3u8, but I don't think I can modify it.  If this is the case then there are potentially many users that are unable to stream to iOS 6 from AWS.

[ShivenK]

Hi,

The CloudFormation uses Adobe Flash Media Server 4.5 at the back end and, the server that packages your content and readies it for HTTP delivery.

One of the output variables is the m3u8 location. To playback on an iOS device including iOS 6, you have to supply that m3u8 URI to your Safari browser or any other Native app capable of playing the stream. The m3u8 gets created spontaneously as your stream is published and packaged. Modification is not required. Hitting the m3u8 URI from a non-iOS machine will download the file for you.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Shiven

[Krzimmer3404]

Shiven,

Thank you for the information.  I've used CloudFront many times in the past.  Streaming from CloudFront worked before the release of iOS 6.  According to kdamalie, the .m3u8 file will need to be modified to reflect the codec used.  Otherwise iOS 6 will not recognize the stream.  I can't modify the .m3u8 file on the CloudFront server, hense the dilemma.  Any suggested fix for this situation?

[NpComplete]

Hi,

You are talking about adding the codec information in the variant playlist m3u8. AMS support adding the codec information in the variant playlist m3u8. However, it is responsiblity of content publisher who is hosting the content and variant playlist m3u8 on Cloud Front to generate the variant playlist with this information.

AMS tool f4mconfigurator can be used to generate such m3u8

Thanks

[Krzimmer3404]

_________________________________________

5. kdamalie,   

Jan 16, 2013 12:39 PM 

hi Krzimmer3404, in the m3u8 file you need to specify the codec like so:

#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=500000, CODECS="avc1.4d001f,mp4a.40.2"

there are some other codecs. Please let me know if that fixes the issue, i had to read the HLS specification. Before ios 6 it was not necessary to specify the codecs

___________________________________________

I'm not sure if this eariler post was read.  I interpreat this fix as, I have to modify the .m3u8 file in order to stream to iOS 6.  Please correct me if I'm mistaken. 

Here is the dilemma.  Amazon CloudFront does not give the user access to these server side files nor do they provide access to the tools needed to modify the .m3u8 file.  When a user requests a stack to be build on CloudFront and the stack is build, the user is presented with a list of outputs which can be used to stream. 

Here is a link to the how to guide:

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudFront/latest/DeveloperGuide/FMS4.5CreatingLiveStreamingStack.h...

A picture toward the bottom of the first page shows the information provided to the user.

The location of the .m3u8 file is provided, but the file itself cannot be modified.  Does Adobe have a partnership with Amazon?  Perhaps they can work together to generate a "fixed" .m3u8 file for on-demand AMS instances?  Otherwise, users like myself will not be able to stream to iOS 6 using the Amazon service.

[Krzimmer3404]

It looks like this issue was resolved.  I was able to build a stack on AWS and stream HLS to an iOS 6 mobile device.

Thank you all for your help.