Shaka packager is a powerful tool for performing encoder-side jobs such as repackaging and encrypting live/VoD contents, inserting ads into video streams, and streaming live videos at low-latency. Previously, I had only used its default application, “packager” for experimenting new features and building demos. I have always been looking for…

This tutorial is about setting up a Low-Latency HLS streaming server using FFmpeg, Apple’s mediastreamsegmenter and NGINX. Apple’s HLS reference tools ([1]) provides instruction on how to run a simple LL-HLS server using tsrecompressor and mediastreamsegmenter. However, this server setup only allows live source streams generated locally from a fixed…

This article shows a proof-of-concept implementation of Low-Latency DASH (LL-DASH) streaming in Video.js, a popular open-source media player for live and VoD OTT streaming. To my knowledge, LL-DASH is only supported by a limited number of players, such as the GPAC player, Dash.js and TheoPlayer. So I guess supporting it…

Overview This article describes a server-side only method to reduce streaming startup delay by using HTTP/2 server push. In the context of OTT video streaming, the startup delay is defined as the time interval between when a viewer clicks the “play” button on the video player UI, and when she/he sees…

In this week, I had spent a few nights to build a low-latency DASH server that can stream live video in a way that conforms to the newly published LL-DASH specification. The server was built completely using open source tools. I also wrote some integration code to glue the different…

A quick latency evaluation of Apple LL-HLS and the community-driven LHLS There is an ongoing battle in the field of low latency live video streaming. Basically, 3 technologies (MPEG LL-CMAF, Apple LL-HLS and a community-driven LHLS) are competing for the title of the fastest live streamer. LL-CMAF is a MPEG-led effort on top of the existing low-latency MPEG-DASH technology. Apple’s LL-HLS…