Live (Sliding Window) Playlist (with rewindable DVR buffer) support for Android and iOS

2
votes

I have a DVR playlist (Not "live" and not "vod"). From a "spec" and playlist standpoint, this is like a "live stream" that can be rewound... to an amount equivalent to its buffer size. So, for example, if it is 8pm, I can watch the video that aired at about 8:00 pm (probably 7:59 to precise) and I can rewind it by 2 hours to 5:59. I would like this functionality enabled on Android and iOS. Visually the feature should look like this...Look at the orange scrub bar - which has the word "Live" but is also clearly rewindable

Currently, it is NOT supported by Android and is no longer supported by iOS 8. I want a player that I can include in an Android app that supports the DVR playlist. I know this is possible because YuppTV has managed to do this with their player.

If there is another Android or iOS player or another way to support a DVR playlist, I would greatly appreciate some advice!

Thank you.

CLARIFICATION:

This is NOT an event Playlist. An event, by definition ends at some point - i.e. there is an ENDLIST. This stream has no ENDLIST. It is continuously "LIVE" (recorded) Playlist. It is called "sliding window" because you can rewind.

1
android-mediaplayermedia-playerhttp-live-streamingwowza
There is NO DVR playlist in official HLS documentation. This thing called "EVENT" playlist. – dasar
Please drop me a line if you find a solution. I am facing the same problem. JW Player says it's a limit from browser, which makes sense. – Rio Wing

1 Answers

0
votes

As I understand you are talking about "EVENT" playlist type which is available for HLS protocol version 3 and above. HLS version 3 is supported by Android 4.0 and above.

Playlist type

From official spec: "Furthermore, the Playlist file MAY contain an EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE tag with a value of either EVENT or VOD. If the tag is present and has a value of EVENT, the server MUST NOT change or delete any part of the Playlist file (although it MAY append lines to it)."

All this means your HLS server just have to provide correct playlists, append new segments to it, etc. according to spec. Also to support old Android versions you can try Vitamio SDK for Android which is basically based on FFMpeg library.