Basic PlayList Guide From Zero to Hero

[mekya]

Hey Guys,

We've introduced a new REST method to skip playing the next item in the playlist so we think it's helpful some guys there to have a full guide for playlist with a step by step way.

Step 1: Configure Ant Media Server for Better Playlist Experience

1. Login to your Ant Media Server Web Panel in. The url is like this https://YOUR_ANT_MEDIA_SERVER:5443/
   
   
   
   
   

2. Click the LiveApp on the left
   
   
   
   
   

3. Click theSettings tab and scroll bottom
   
   
   
   
   
   

4. Uncheck the Delete HLS files after the stream is finished
   
   
   
   
   

5. Scroll bottom and Click Save button
   
   
   
   
   

6. Scroll top and Choose the mode from Basic to Advanced
   
   
   
   
   

7. Find hlsflags and change its value to delete_segments+append_list+omit_endlist

Make Ant Media Server Respond all REST calls (Only For Testing)

If you're going to test the things programmatically, just open the REST API for world. Pay attention that we'll open Ant Media Server to respond all REST methods for testing purposes. It's not something acceptable for production environments.

1. Find REST API Security section and add 0.0.0.0/0 to the textarea.
   
   
   
   
   

2. Click Save button.

Step 2: Upload Some VoD Files for Testing

1. Click the VoD Tab for LiveApp and then click the Upload VoD button
   
   
   
   
   

2. Upload some MP4 VoD Files from your computer
   
   
   
   
   

3. We've added 3 VoD files
   
   
   
   
   

4. Copy the VoD Urls through context menu. We'll use them below.

So my VoDs are accessible through this links and I'll use them below.
http://localhost:5080/LiveApp/streams/243170266880429550645296.mp4
http://localhost:5080/LiveApp/streams/794333965265876491918328.mp4
http://localhost:5080/LiveApp/streams/823913410113173360449884.mp4

Step 3: Manage PlayList Programmatically

This section requires very basic knowledge about terminal usage.

1. Open a shell terminal in your Linux or Mac
2. Define your own values for variables below. ITEM1, ITEM2 and ITEM3 are VoD URL that we copied. You can copy and paste one line at a time.

  export MY_ANT_MEDIA_SERVER=localhost
  export MY_PLAYLIST_ID=myPlaylistId
  export ITEM1=http://localhost:5080/LiveApp/streams/243170266880429550645296.mp4
  export ITEM2=http://localhost:5080/LiveApp/streams/794333965265876491918328.mp4
  export ITEM3=http://localhost:5080/LiveApp/streams/823913410113173360449884.mp4

3. Create a Playlist with the items above. Just Copy and Paste the command below

curl -X 'POST' \
  "http://${MY_ANT_MEDIA_SERVER}:5080/LiveApp/rest/v2/broadcasts/create" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{ 
          "streamId": "'"${MY_PLAYLIST_ID}"'", 
          "type": "playlist",
          "playListItemList": [
            {
              "streamUrl": "'"${ITEM1}"'",
              "type": "VoD"
            },
            {
              "streamUrl": "'"${ITEM2}"'",
              "type": "VoD"
            },
            {
              "streamUrl": "'"${ITEM3}"'",
              "type": "VoD"
            }
          ]
        }'

Ant Media Server responds with generated broadcast JSON object. If you don't give streamId in the request above, then Ant Media Server will generate a random streamId.

4. Check that it's also visible on the web panel as shown below

5. Start Playlist

curl -X 'POST' \
  "http://${MY_ANT_MEDIA_SERVER}:5080/LiveApp/rest/v2/broadcasts/${MY_PLAYLIST_ID}/start" 

Go to web panel and check that its state is "Broadcasting"

6. Open a new tab in your browser and visit the http://{MY_ANT_MEDIA_SERVER}:5080/LiveApp/play.html?id={MY_PLAYLIST_ID}&playOrder=hls

Pay attention that we use HLS to playback because it provides better experience in playlists and no need to have ultra low latency with WebRTC.

7. Skip the item in the Playlist

  curl -X 'POST' \
  "http://${MY_ANT_MEDIA_SERVER}:5080/LiveApp/rest/v2/broadcasts/playlists/${MY_PLAYLIST_ID}/next" 

Check that the player that it's skipped. It may take about 10-15 seconds to see that the effect because HLS has this latency.

8. Stop the Playlist

curl -X 'POST' \
  "http://${MY_ANT_MEDIA_SERVER}:5080/LiveApp/rest/v2/broadcasts/${MY_PLAYLIST_ID}/stop"

9. Check that it's stopped

Bonus: If you give index query parameter when skipping the item in the PlayList, it will skip to that item directly in the playlist. You can add index query parameters by just appending with question mark to the url as follows.

http://${MY_ANT_MEDIA_SERVER}:5080/LiveApp/rest/v2/broadcasts/playlists/${MY_PLAYLIST_ID}/next?index=0

The Url above just skips to the first item in the list.

Please try and let me know if you have any questions or stuck in anywhere.

Cheers
Oguz