Re: WMS source changing issue

Hi Neil!

Thanks a lot for your reply, but the things are slightly more complicated.

I've seen that 'fast forward' and I'm not sure what causes it - its
like the network buffer is being flushed to screen ! I''m checking to
see if there was any change between WS2003 SP2 and WS2003 R2 SP2

Actually we're using WS2003 R2 SP2 with all latested updates -sorry for
misleading information.

I used "FF" term just to say that players show video with more speed than it
should be. We don't use "FF" and Advanced Fast Start on multicast point.

Have a look at this page, which indicates setting WMReconnect=0 on
encoders to minimise the switchover time to the file based source :
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd873850.aspx

It looks like the article is about the event when WMS tryes to swith from
one encoder to another or from file to encoder - we do not have problem with
this situation. And we're setting WMReconnect=0 for encoder source in our
code.

Also, encoder profile : buffer size is indicated to be set at 1
second, for multicast streams.

This parameter is for reducing overall delay in the chain
"encoder-streamer-player" for the live broadast and in the case the server
doesn't drop the stream shoudn't affect on the playback.

Perhaps media player is refilling its complete buffer (5 seconds) ?
Are you already aware of this parameter for your .nsc or WMP URL ?
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/urlmodifiers.aspx#urlmodifiers_multicast

Yes, we use 5 second buffer in WMP. And definitely WMP have to start
buffering after server publishing point started multicaring again.
The question is - why the server is stopping broadcasting for a while (it
clearly seen in network statistic in Task Manager) when switching to file
source? (time to time, not always)
Is there any possibility to force the publishing point to cache the file
into server's RAM let's say for 5 second before the file have to be
broadcasted?

--
Guerman


"Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" wrote:

On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 12:01:01 -0700, Guerman
<Guerman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi all,

we faced the issue related with the changing source by WMS multicast point.
We're streaming the server side playlist containing live source from WME and
files located on network share.
The infrastructure contains WMS server on 8-core Xeon server with 2GB RAM,
network share on 4-core Xeon with 2 GB RAM and 6TB SAS storage, Cisco server
switch (1 Gb full speed fabric high-end device), Windows Media Player 11 on
2-core PC with 1GB RAM under Win XP. All servers are Windows 2003 SP1 Ent.
We're streaming one 5Mbps live stream and one 5Mbps CBR file periodically so
workload on the HW is negligible (less than 1% for CPU and approx 0,5% for
LAN).

When the WMS publish point is switching from file broadcasting to live
source broadcasting everything is almost perfect - content on WMP is changing
smoothly and quick.

The opposite situation is less beatifull - time to time (1-2 times from 5)
server is delaying the beginning of the file streaming for several seconds
after the live video is stopped.
On WMP it looks like this: the several second before the live video ends
player is stopping the video for a while (about a second), after that it show
the rest of stream in "fast forward" mode and the screen goes black. Network


I've seen that 'fast forward' and I'm not sure what causes it - its
like the network buffer is being flushed to screen ! I''m checking to
see if there was any change between WS2003 SP2 and WS2003 R2 SP2

Are you sure you haven't got Advanced Fast Start set on this
publishing point ? It cannot be used with multicast streams :
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772190.aspx

Have a look at this page, which indicates setting WMReconnect=0 on
encoders to minimise the switchover time to the file based source :
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd873850.aspx

Also, encoder profile : buffer size is indicated to be set at 1
second, for multicast streams.


interface statistic on WMP and WMS in that moment is failing deep, after
several seconds (5-8) the stream of the file is starting and the video is
going to screen, but the beginning of the file is delayed.


Perhaps media player is refilling its complete buffer (5 seconds) ?
Are you already aware of this parameter for your .nsc or WMP URL ?
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/urlmodifiers.aspx#urlmodifiers_multicast


It's crytical for our solution as the end of the file in that scenario is
cutted by the next item in playlist (and the black screen and stuttering of
video is not OK too).
We implemented the MS recommendations for remote share sourcing, we did all
possible tweaks in HW. It's looks like time to time WMS is falling behind the
time it have to start the read and broadcast the file.

HTH
Cheers - Neil
------------------------------------------------
Digital Media MVP : 2004-2009
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs

.

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