Videojs: 0.4.1.1 results in 64k-aac while 0.3.5 results in 2040K-video

[tommyh]

Hi,

I'm working on integrating flashls into videojs. First of all, thanks for all the hard work - we really appreciate it, :).

Issue: When using the forked version of video-js.swf, I get drastically different behavior from release version 0.4.1.1 and 0.3.5. I have a "soccer" video which in 0.4.1.1 plays the 64k audio stream (ie no video), and in 0.3.5 it plays the 2040K video stream.

Expected behavior: In 0.4.1.1 the 2040K video stream should play.
Actual behavior: In 0.4.1.1 the 64k audio stream plays.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Go to my page for 0.3.5 with my soccer video: http://rawgit.com/tommyh/602b085e5f973b09c411/raw/8b439e84ce85ec61dedb294731336d810514b54b/version_0-3-5_with_soccer_video.html
2. Click play and notice how you see video content.
3. Look at the developer console and you should see this:

INFO:https://github.com/mangui/flashls/releases/tag/v0.3.5
INFO:HLSProvider: new level index 0 bitrate=64000, width=0, height=0
INFO:HLSProvider: new level index 6 bitrate=2040000, width=0, height=0
INFO:video size changed to (1024,576)

4. Go to my page for 0.4.1.1 with my soccer video: http://rawgit.com/tommyh/602b085e5f973b09c411/raw/8b439e84ce85ec61dedb294731336d810514b54b/version_0_4_1_1_with_soccer_video.html
5. Click play and notice how hear the audio but see no video content.
6. Look at the developer console and you should see this:

INFO:https://github.com/mangui/flashls/releases/tag/v0.4.1.1
VM334:1 INFO:HLSProvider: new level index 0 bitrate=64000, width=0, height=0

For reference, I also made test pages with your sample video, but your sample video plays fine in both versions:
http://rawgit.com/tommyh/602b085e5f973b09c411/raw/8b439e84ce85ec61dedb294731336d810514b54b/version_0-3-5_with_demo_video.html
http://rawgit.com/tommyh/602b085e5f973b09c411/raw/8b439e84ce85ec61dedb294731336d810514b54b/version_0_4_1_1_with_demo_video.html

Environment: Mac OS X 10.8.5, Chrome 44.0.2403.125 (64-bit), Good internet connection

Can you reproduce this behavior as well? Or is it just me?

Note: For right now I am sticking with version 0.3.5 and that looks good to me. But wanted to reach out with this issue as soon as I could to put it on your radar.

Thanks,
Tom

PS: I've started to make a videojs plugin for flashls to make the integration slightly easier. The main thing it does is register a source handler w/ videojs, so the developer can set the content type of their m3u8 source to "application/x-mpegURL": https://github.com/tommyh/videojs-flashls/blob/master/videojs.flashls.js. Do you think you'd want to put this into the flashls readme?

[hparra]

Is your first rendition audio only? I've had problems with hls_capleveltostage enabled and staying stuck on the first rendition.

RE: application/x-mpegURL, been wondering where change really belongs.

[hparra]

@tommyh I've confirmed it's staying on level 0, which is audio only. Setting hls_capleveltostage to false allows auto level switch to work as expected.

[tommyh]

@hparra, when i view the m3u8 for my soccer video, I see this:

#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=2040000
272deb0e2c488b98-2040k.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=1540000
272deb0e2c488b98-1540k.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=1040000
272deb0e2c488b98-1040k.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=640000
272deb0e2c488b98-640k.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=440000
272deb0e2c488b98-440k.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=240000
272deb0e2c488b98-240k.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=64000
272deb0e2c488b98-64k.m3u8

So wouldn't the first stage be "2040000"? Or am I reading the m3u8 playlist wrong?

[hparra]

Level indexing goes by sorted bandwidth, so in this case the 64k is 0. That is traditional bitrate for audio-only.

FlasHLS Levels vector also retains the original (file) indices as well, in case you ever needed that.

[tommyh]

In regards to "application/x-mpegURL", if you register a source handler with videojs for m3u8, then it allows you to have both a m3u8 and an mp4 source in your video tag. Then when videojs wakes up, it will loop through the sources for the first tech (in this case techOrder[0] => "Flash"). The source handler says that the Flash tech can play an m3u8 file, so videojs won't look at the mp4 resource or the Html5 tech.

<video id="my-player" preload="none" class="video-js vjs-default-skin" width="{{ width }}" height="{{ height }}" poster="{{ poster_url }}">
  <source src="{{ video_hls_url }}" type="application/x-mpegURL" />
  <source src="{{ video_url }}" type="video/mp4" />
</video>

All the end user has todo is invoke the flashls plugin for videojs: videojs.flashls({swfUrl: "http://localhost:3000/path/to/flashls/video-js.swf"});

Not sure if that's what you were asking or not, but hoping to add context. :)

[tommyh]

@hparra - gotcha on the indexing being sorted by bandwidth. :) Very new to HLS, so still trying to get my bearings.

As far as setting hls_capleveltostage, I'm assuming based on my interpretation of these lines, that I need to set a <param> for capLevelToStorage on the object. I'll try that out. If you know of any documentation/examples that'd be super helpful too.

[hparra]

Pass them in as flashvars via VideoJS. See https://github.com/pivotshare/videojs-levels/blob/master/example.html for example.

[tommyh]

@hparra - very cool. thanks!

[tommyh]

confirmed that changing the configuration value fixes it:

    videojs.options.flash.flashVars = {
      hls_capleveltostage: false
    };

Does that mean that 0.4.1.1 is broken for "hls_capleveltostage=true" and my soccer video is a reproducible case? Or is there something broken with my m3u8 file in regards to width/height?

[hparra]

I've had problems with this feature and my streams as well. It's part of FlasHLS itself, so I figure that is doesn't work properly with VideoJS. I am unsure if the feature in FlasHLS proper requires the RESOLUTIONs in the manifest file. That's a good question for @mangui

[mangui]

you should use configuration params if you want to tweak the start level, please refer to https://github.com/mangui/flashls#configuration