Media Player URL Format

When starting to play streaming media the source location of the media and associated source parameters are required. This information is passed in by the application using source URLs. The following describes the format of these URLs for different types of service formats. The current KreaTV extended URI format is explained below:

Scheme: The currently supported schemes include http, rtsp, dvb, rtp and ip. Please note that not all schemes are supported on all KreaTV platform variants. The scheme must be specified.

Streaming source: This part of the URL defines either the DVR asset, tuning parameters or address and port information associated with the source content. The streaming source must be specified for all schemes. For more details see each scheme definition.

Query parameters: This part of the URL definition provides optional parameters. These parameters are initially delimited by using the '?' delimiter. For backwards compatibility, an '&' is still accepted in this position. Additional parameters are delimited by using the '&' delimiter. For more details see each scheme definition.

Optional parameters: This part of the URL definition provides for optional parameters. The beginning of the optional parameter list is delimited by using the '|' delimiter in place of an '&', or if the first parameter, in place of the '?'. This delimiter has a special meaning when constructing streaming sessions; for purposes of session reuse, all parameters after the '|' will NOT be considered when determining if a session URL is duplicated (and can thus be reused). For more details see each scheme definition.

In general, the URL passed in to create a media session will be functionally available to all interested parties by calling ToiMediaSession::getUrl(). This is true except in the case if the URL has "SessionMode" parameter or "Reusable" parameter. When these parameters are included in the URL string, they will be stripped out before the URL is stored in the created media session.

"Reusable" parameter typically used as 'Reusable=NO', indicates the session is exclusively owned by the creator and will not be considered for session reuse."SessionMode" parameter is used to carry session specific details in the url. 'SessionMode=AttachOnly' indicates the session should only be attached to an existing session with the matching URL.

RTSP

RTSP is a session management protocol for streaming and is implemented by many video servers including Kasenna MediaBase, Concurrent and NCUBE. RTSP URLs have the following syntax:

rtsp://<host>[:<port>]/<content path>[?<queryparam>=value][&<queryparam>=value]*][|<parameter>=value[&<parameter>=value]*]

where

• <host> is the video server IP number or host name
• <port> is the relevant port number for the server. If no port is specified, then 554 (the standard for RTSP) is used.
• <content path> is the path and file name for the content
• Player parameters (<parameter>) are optional. For details see the list of parameters.

Example:

rtsp://my-vod-server.com/movies/shrek

Multicast

Multicast streaming is in many ways similar to RTSP but sessions are managed with the standard IGMP multicast join and leave operations. Multicast URLs have the following simplified syntax:

igmp://[<source address>@]<multicast address>:<port>[?<queryparam>=value][&<queryparam>=value]*][|<parameter>=value[&<parameter>=value]*]

where

• <source address> is the IP address of the source in case source-specific multicast (SSM) is used
• <multicast address> is the IP address of the multicast stream

Address digits must be written without initial zeros to be treated as dotted decimal form. The following address is NOT in correct dotted decimal form: 0224.010.01.01 (it is actually in dotted octal form)

• <port> is the destination port number of the multicast stream

Port number must be above 1024

For details see the list of parameters.

Examples:

igmp://239.1.1.1:5201
igmp://10.10.11.2@232.1.1.1:5201
igmp://10.10.11.13:1234|buftime=750

Singlecast

Singlecast streaming accepts unicast UDP encapsulated streams sent to a local IP address. Singlecast URLs have the following syntax:

udp://<singlecast_address>:<port>[?<queryparam>=value][&<queryparam>=value]*][|<parameter>=value[&<parameter>=value]*]

Where

• <singlecast_address> is the destination IP address of the singlecast stream
• <port> is the destination port number of the singlecast stream
• Query parameters (<queryparam>) are optional and may contain 0 or more of the following:
1. "if=<flag>" - Interface binding flag. If present and <flag> is non-empty, destination filtering is performed against the singlecast address and destination port. Otherwise, destination filtering is performed against the destination port only.
2. "source=<sourceIp>:<sourcePort>" - Stream source information. If present, source filtering is performed against the source IP and Port. Otherwise, no source filtering is performed.
• Query parameters and player parameters (<parameter>) are optional. For details see the list of parameters.

Address digits must be written without initial zeros to be treated as dotted decimal form. The following address is NOT in correct dotted decimal form: 192.168.01.02 (it is actually in dotted octal form)

Port number must be above 1024

Examples:

udp://192.168.1.2:5201
udp://192.168.1.2:5201?source=10.10.11.2:46218

RTP

Multicast and Singlecast streaming can also be done using the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP). For this to work the URL must start with rtp://. Other than that, everything that applies to multicast and singlecast applies to RTP as well.

Example:

rtp://239.1.5.10:20000

HTTP

Standard HTTP URLs may be used to stream audio/video from a web server. The file is identified by its MIME type (audio/mpeg, video/mpeg):

http://<host>[:<port>]/<content path>[?<queryparam>=value][&<queryparam>=value]*][|<parameter>=value[&<parameter>=value]*]

where

• <host> is a domain name or an IP address
• <port> is the relevant port number for the server. If no port is specified, then 80 (the standard for HTTP) is used.
• <content path> is the path and file name for the media file.
• Query parameters and player parameters (<parameter>) are optional. For details see the list of parameters.

Example:

http://myserver.mydomain.com/fun_movie.mpg

DVB

DVB sources are specified on the form:

dsd://<dsd>.<original-network-id>.<transport-stream-id>.<service-id>[?<queryparam>=value][&<queryparam>=value]*][|<parameter>=value[&<parameter>=value]*]

where

• <dsd> The delivery system descriptor.
• <original-network-id> The original network id.
• <transport-stream-id> The transport stream id.
• <service-id> The service id.
• Query parameters and player parameters (<parameter>) are optional. For details see the list of parameters.

These parameters can be obtained after performing a channel scan.

Example: (DVB-C)

dsd://440b02900000fff2030068750f.a027.2d.449