Cache a live stream

[Tyrone]

I have a 3 camera live production that i want to stream from my main venue to another venue on the same network, the standard pull stream works just fine the problem is the second venue cant always start watching the moment the main production starts, is there a way to cache the live stream either on the remote pc or on a server that would allow them to play the production from the beginning when they are ready. I can find very little info on how exactly the steaming works. I have a TriCaster Studio, 3 Sony EX1's, and i have a Win Server '08 Box on hand (on which i have installed WMS, but that is not very well supported in my country and is not cacheing my stream for some odd reason). please i need help urgently!

[joseburgos]

Try this as it works but not sure about network stress/load.
Start your pull WMV stream and also write the stream to disk and choose a folder on the network server/shared folder. So while you stream you are creating a WMV file of the stream (you may or may not already be doing this). Now users that can start watching at the beginning would use the normal windows stream link "mms:" you already use but persons wanting to watch a delayed broadcast would use the file name link to the network shared folder. This file, although not finalized since it is still being written, is viewable. I know it sounds crazy but seems the wmv, flv and f4v files can be viewed while they are being written and not finalized. The best part is they always start from the beginning of the video file.
Don't know what kind of stress it will put on your network but it is a down and dirty way of doing exactly what you are requesting. I am sure there is a more elegant way to do this but try this in the mean time.

Since it is all being viewed on a LAN, you could make to HTML start page saying Live in Progress and From Start Delayed. These two links would open two HTML pages that seem identical except one has the mms: link to the stream and the other a //folder/stream.wmv link. All you need do is always cut and paste the daily video wmv from the shared folder and into a archive folder. This allows you to not have to change the file name in TriCaster and in the delayed HTML page.

PS This "hack" does not seem to work on Mac and only Windows based systems.

Good luck,

[Tyrone]

Thanks, it seems to work very well in testing, will be going live to the other venue on sunday. just one point which makes no difference to me now as I'm not going to need WMS but is interesting to note is that Windows Media Services '08 does not allow you to select the archived file as a source till the stream is disconnected, but media player works just fine.

[joseburgos]

I tested with WMP and just assume it would work inside a web page embedded WMP with a link. Did you try that?
Anyway glad it may solve your problem and note, this also works for flash files. Don't know exactly why it works only can theorize the nature of a stream file allows playback in chunks without the file be finalized as would normally be need. But it works and that is all that counts I guess :)

Please post back your real world results as I have been toying with this, playing a stream file without a stream server, for a little while now and you are the first person that has a practical use for it.