about time someone broke the monopoly on rich-media-project.com! lousy support and product upgrades.

thnaks for the comment, as far as open source goes I have no firm stance on that, each to their own. But I do try and share a lot of my work as much as I learn from others. If that's open source then I'm all for it.

I have all of xmoov's files and will post them soon.

Hi Peter,
Sorry to hear that
I zipped the files with a mac, maybe there are compatibility problems? I sure hope not! The Fla source will only be available here as soon as it is posted.

hi , i've got a trouble with the .fla , macromediaflash doesn't open the file.

maybe I am getting this all wrong, but I tried this script to jump at a random position in the flv-file, but it only delivered corrupt data.

am I wrong when I use this script to skip the first (for example) 50 seconds of a flv-file?

but this script only works with bytes and therefore very probably starts in the middle of a sequence and therefore delivers a corrupt flv-file.

how can i jump to a time-position in an flv-file?

Greetings!

I'm just curious and also would like to know "How to use xmoov-php with JW FLV Player?"... It was mentioned that xmoov-php is compatible with JW FLV Player but I was so unfortunate to find any information on how to do this.

@Gerald: there will be more information on implementing xmoov-php with JW FLV Player soon.

The download package is almost plug-and-play. you must publish the FLA, upload the files to your server and call the html document produced while publishing.

if it is not working meaning you see the "buffering" text forever, then try:

xmoov.php?file=video.flv&position=0
to see if the php posts any errors.

sorry for my late reply.

I do use the latest package, but I do not know what you mean by the flashcomguru example player. I used the JW FLV Player.

It works when I use position 0, but it does not deliver me any working data as soon as is set position > 0. I even tried other programs to play the generate flv and did not get it playing.

It is hard for me to imaging, that I do get a working file, if I just jump into that file at a random position and start playing (this is approximately what the program does, right?)

I think I am waiting eagerly for the implementation of the xmoov-php with the JW FLV Player.

best regards

Must be said that streaming flv using php putch huge stress on server since every call reserves an apache/php process until playing is over, not to mention recurrent file open/close operations when users change play position.
Knowing that apache is set by default to handle a maximum of 256 concurrent clients, the scalability of php as streaming engine on the same server as the web application is quit limited, not to mention that HTTP is not very efficient to transfer streaming data...

Clearly this trick is usefull as is for not too visited websites

Thanks for these very helpful posts! I have a newbie question about the role of FLVMDI in all this. In your original post that started all this, in 2005, you said we *need* FLVMDI to inject keyframes or it won't work. I see how FLVMDI injects keyframes (appears to be every 2 seconds) and produces lists of timecodes and file positions. Is there a way to do this by simply reading out (somehow) the file position info for keyframes that were already added in at the time of encoding? I.e., is it strictly necessary for FLVMDI to add lots of *new* keyframes, or if the original encoding specified some keyframe times, can FLVMDI or another tool translate that info into file positions that can then be used? I'm a real beginner with this stuff, and I appreciate anything you can do to make it clearer for me.

Stefan,

Thanks very much! What you're saying was what I was hoping was true. It was confusing to me, though -- I wonder why FLVMDI seems to provide access to keyframe indexing only if you choose the Data Injection option, not if you choose "Extra Metadata -- No injection." It seems as if it *is* only extracting metadata. Or maybe I'm confused about what the concept of "injection" is.

Karen,
the actual and primary feature of flvmdi is to inject metadata into flvs. It is needed as many encoders used to and some still are injecting the wrong metadata (like width, height, duration etc) during the encode. FLVMDI was one way of fixing that. The keyframe indexing was added later and specifically to support this PHP approach. Hope this helps.

Hey Everyone- Thanks for posting this useful code and information.

I have a question- I'm going to be converting my site from using WMV files to FLV so that I can have seeking ability.

I will have to go back and re-render all my movies files as FLV.

My question is this- since I will be having to go back and re-render my files to FLV format, is there a program I can use that will properly inject the keyframe data during the original render

or do I *HAVE* to inject the data using FLVMDI after I have created the FLV files using another program?

Ah OK- thanks for the info.. that definitely clears things up.

I watched your video on how to use FLVMDI and it seems very fast, so it won't be a time consuming task.

Can it process files that are inside subfolders? As my movie files all need to have the same name, but I can put them in individual folders inside one main folder.

How are xmoov-php and flv player connected? as I can't get it to work. The same problem as above : I get is a download popup box downloading flv file when I enter xmoov.php?file=video.flv&position=0 .Hope somebody could explain.

The funny thing is, you get an explanation blog entry to use the VERY SIMPLE flvmdi command line but there is no documentation at all regarding HOW to actually make this think work. Like the people above, I get a download dialog box.

No readme, nothing to help. By Lorenzo:

"The download package is almost plug-and-play. you must publish the FLA, upload the files to your server and call the html document produced while publishing."

Explain me that part: "publish the FLA".

eh?

Thanks.

I am trying get this xmoov-php to work but I have no idea on how to do it. What I do see is many compains about documentation, I have an idea, why dont one of you post the step by step on how to get this work starting from downloading the file and extracting it on a www folder.

I actually did that but I am runing php on windows.
I downloaded the phpstream_update.zip file and extracted it a folder named streaming but I am stock from that point.
When I try http://localhost/streaming/xmoov.php?file=golfers.... I get nothing only errors, here is what I get.

ERROR: xmoov-php could not find (' . $fileName . ') please check your settings.'); exit(); } if(file_exists($file) && strrchr($fileName, '.') == '.flv' && strlen($fileName) > 2 && !eregi(basename($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']), $fileName) && ereg('^[^./][^/]*$', $fileName)) { $fh = fopen($file, 'rb') or die ('ERROR: xmoov-php could not open (' . $fileName . ')'); $fileSize = filesize($file) - (($seekPos > 0) ? $seekPos + 1 : 0); // SEND HEADERS if(!XMOOV_CONF_ALLOW_FILE_CACHE) { # prohibit caching (different methods for different clients) session_cache_limiter("nocache"); header("Expires: Thu, 19 Nov 1981 08:52:00 GMT"); header("Last-Modified: " . gmdate("D, d M Y H:i:s") . " GMT"); header("Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0"); header("Pragma: no-cache"); } # content headers header("Content-Type: video/x-flv"); header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"" . $fileName . "\""); header("Content-Length: " . $fileSize); # FLV file format header if($seekPos != 0) { print('FLV'); print(pack('C', 1)); print(pack('C', 1)); print(pack('N', 9)); print(pack('N', 9)); } # seek to requested file position fseek($fh, $seekPos); # output file while(!feof($fh)) { # use bandwidth limiting - by Terry if(XMOOV_CONF_LIMIT_BANDWIDTH) { # get start time list($usec, $sec) = explode(' ', microtime()); $time_start = ((float)$usec + (float)$sec); # output packet print(fread($fh, $packet_size)); # get end time list($usec, $sec) = explode(' ', microtime()); $time_stop = ((float)$usec + (float)$sec); # wait if output is slower than $packet_interval $time_difference = $time_stop - $time_start; if($time_difference < (float)$packet_interval) { usleep((float)$packet_interval * 1000000 - (float)$time_difference * 1000000); } } else { # output file without bandwidth limiting print(fread($fh, filesize($file))); } } } } ?>


I think the problem is when setting the XMOOV_PATH_ROOT path I am using 'C:/wamp/www/streaming/' but not sure if this is good. Please lets create this step by step doc so all of we can clear our inqueries.

Thanks all for helping people like me to start video streaming, and I sure if we have this step by step a lot of people will come and use it.


:)

the FLA included in the package is an FLV video player. the video player accesses xmoov-php which sends the video to the player rather than accessing the video directly.

YOU MUST PUBLISH THE FLA WITH FLASH 8 or above, upload the files to your server and call the html document produced while publishing.

if it is not working meaning you see the "buffering" text forever, THEN TRY :

xmoov.php?file=video.flv&position=0
to see if the php posts any errors.

THIS IS ONLY TO MAKE SURE XMOOV-PHP IS ACCESSING THE VIDEO FILE ON YOUR SERVER!

the html document you PUBLISH WITH FLASH 8 or above holds the player.
hope this helps.

Thank you very much Lorenzo I am running it now, very good.

You are the man ;)

And another question, if we want to use this swf player for other flv, we must publish another player again and again ? can I control the flash variables via the FlashVars ?
if so how can i do that ? because when i use FlashVars the swf player still showing looping buffer text...

I agree, this is definitely not the place to learn about the usage of flashvars or the basics of Flash. Thanks for your understanding.

Hai Stefan,
Nice work, is it possible to make it auto play on the first time you load your website? Because my lack of knowledge in actionscript, been tried couple time and no progress what so ever.
Thanks for any reply.

Hi, and thanks a lot for your work, very precious.
I'm trying to modify actionscript to reach a precise point in the flv when I click on a button (and restart loading from that point). It's the same of when you drag the cursor but from a link.
Is it possible?

I tried with this code on a button:
on (press) {
ns.seek(10);
}

to start from the 10 second, but it goes there only when the loading has reached that point..

Thanks in advance for your help

Giuseppe

HELLO BUDDY,

I AM NEW AND DONT KNOW HOW TO USE IT. HOW TO CREATE A PLAYER.

PLEASE HELP ME conctact : globalprompt@gmail.com

THanks

great tool, but i have a problem with my videos, there is a moment when i see that the load bar become completely full in a second, and when the video is in that moment the video stop.
any idea ?
thanks
kavia

When i run xmoov.php, i got invalid characters as display. Please help me

Do we need to have Macromedia Flash Media Server installed in the php server get it working. can you please also elaborate publushing FLA.

I am new to this and your help is much apprfeciated

Thanks Stefan,
Thanks for response. I know I am asking very basics becaue media and flash is totally new for me.

Can you please help me to connect FLA, php and publishing part as well and how they work all together. publishing FLA means generating swf file? and how php file gets connected to it?

can you send me link to nay document which can help me to come upto speed on this?

thanks a lot

I could open FLA file with adobe cs3.

I got everything working except where to add php file information. I have created actionfile but don't know where to add. When I am trying to add with player it says the actionscript 2 mist be created outside.

please help.

am, google for 'flashvars'

I'm using Flash 8 PRO/WinXP PRO, I'm wondering why when I double click on the golfers.FLV file, it doesn't play in the flash player, all I see is a white flash player box.

You mentioned that the source includes a CS version. I've had a look and I'm forced to assume that you didn't mean CS3.

Is there an AS3.0 version in the works at all?

I didn't try it. ...once I saw "_root" and "createEmptyMovieClip" in the code, it was obvious that it was NOT written for use with AS3.0.

I'll be working on it over the next week. I'll try to keep you updated.

Hi!
Is there a way to get it work with external FLVs? Which means xmoov.php and the player (SWF) are on one Domain (www.server1.de) and the FLV is on another domain (www.server2.com)? At the moment it does not seem to work.

I have been trying to get the phpstream_update working on my localhost.
i keep getting the msg 'ERROR: xmoov-php could not find (golfers.flv) please check your settings.'

url: http://127.0.0.1/phpstream_update/xmoov.php?file=g...

video: http://127.0.0.1/phpstream_update/video/golfers.fl...


i have added
   //define('XMOOV_PATH_ROOT', 'C:\\Program Files\\EasyPHP 2.0b1\\www');
   //define('XMOOV_PATH_ROOT', 'phpstream_update/');
   //define('XMOOV_PATH_ROOT', '../../');
   define('XMOOV_PATH_ROOT', 'www/');



   // points to the folder containing the video files.
   define('XMOOV_PATH_FILES', 'phpstream_update/video/');



could anyone help + i updated the fla and puiblished it - looked at the html too - the player appears but no video???

i added this to get it working..

   define('XMOOV_PATH_ROOT', $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'/phpstream_update/');
   echo XMOOV_PATH_ROOT."<br/>";
   // points to the folder containing the video files.
   define('XMOOV_PATH_FILES', 'video/');
   echo XMOOV_PATH_FILES."<br/>";

i updated the fla file too and published it as flash 8 - now when i load the html - i get a progress bar doing something but i dont get any video - does anyone else get this???