dash-to-hls

Node.js server to convert DASH video stream manifests to HLS

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Summary of Behavior

• runs an HTTP(S) server
• each inbound request includes:
  • required in URL path:
    • base64 encoded URL for a DASH manifest
  • optional in querystring parameters:
    • &dump=1
      • outputs a dump of JSON data
        • which is mainly useful for me during development
    • &VOD=1
      • HLS master manifest forwards this querystring parameter in URLs for all HLS child manifests
      • HLS child manifests include:
        • prefix: #EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE:VOD
        • suffix: #EXT-X-ENDLIST
      • this overrides the default behavior, which is to determine VOD when the DASH manifest does not include: MPD@type="dynamic"
    • &playlist=bandwidth
      • outputs an HLS child manifest for the given playlist (as identified by its integer bandwidth)
      • media group: VIDEO
    • &group_type=(AUDIO|SUBTITLES)&group_id=id&group_lang=lang&group_index=0
      • outputs an HLS child manifest for the given media group
      • media group: AUDIO|SUBTITLES
    • [default]
      • outputs the HSL master manifest
      • includes URLs to access all HLS child manifests
• when each inbound request is received:
  • the base64 encoded DASH manifest URL is used as a key to lookup whether a parsed data structure representing the DASH manifest is temporarily held in a cache
    • if not, then:
      • download the DASH manifest
        • several command-line options are available to configure HTTP requests made to external servers
      • parse its contents (using mpd-parser library)
      • add the parsed DASH data structure to the cache
      • continue..
  • the querystring parameters are used to determine which HLS manifest to output
    • the parsed DASH data structure is used to produce this result

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Installation and Usage: Globally

How to: Install:

npm install --global "@warren-bank/dash-to-hls"

How to: Run the server(s):

dash-to-hls [--help] [--version] [--tls] [--host <ip_address>] [--port <number>] [--req-headers <filepath>] [--origin <header>] [--referer <header>] [--useragent <header>] [--header <name=value>] [--req-options <filepath>] [--req-secure-honor-server-cipher-order] [--req-secure-ciphers <string>] [--req-secure-protocol <string>] [--req-secure-curve <string>] [-v <number>] [--acl-whitelist <ip_address_list>]

Examples:

1. print help
   dash-to-hls --help

2. print version
   dash-to-hls --version

3. start HTTP server at default host:port
   dash-to-hls

4. start HTTP server at default host and specific port
   dash-to-hls --port "8080"

5. start HTTP server at specific host:port
   dash-to-hls --host "192.168.0.100" --port "8080"

6. start HTTPS server at default host:port
   dash-to-hls --tls

7. start HTTPS server at specific host:port
   dash-to-hls --tls --host "192.168.0.100" --port "8081"

8. start HTTPS server at default host:port and send specific HTTP headers
   dash-to-hls --tls --req-headers "/path/to/request/headers.json"

Options:

• --tls is a flag to start HTTPS server, rather than HTTP
• --host must be an IP address of the server
  • ex: 192.168.0.100
  • used to generate self-referencing URLs in the master HLS manifest to query each child manifest
  • when this option is not specified:
    • the list of available network addresses is determined
    • if there are none, 'localhost' is used silently
    • if there is only a single address on the LAN, it is used silently
    • if there are multiple addresses:
      • they are listed
      • a prompt asks the user to choose (the numeric index) of one
• --port is the port number that the server listens on
  • ex: 8080
  • used to generate self-referencing URLs in the master HLS manifest to query each child manifest
  • when this option is not specified:
    • HTTP server binds to: 80
    • HTTPS server binds to: 443
• --req-headers is the filepath to a JSON data Object containing key:value pairs
  • each key is the name of an HTTP header to send in in every outbound request
• --origin is the value of the corresponding HTTP request header
• --referer is the value of the corresponding HTTP request header
• --useragent is the value of the corresponding HTTP request header
• --header is a single name:value pair
  • this option can be used multiple times to include several HTTP request headers
  • the pair can be written:
    • "name: value"
    • "name=value"
    • "name = value"
• --req-options is the filepath to a JSON data Object
  • exposes the options Object passed to low-level network request APIs:
    • http.request(options)
    • https.request(options)
  • advanced https request options:
    • context of the secure request is obtained by passing the request options Object to: tls.createSecureContext(options)
    • configuration for the context of the secure request can be merged with the request options Object
    • configuration keys of particular interest:
      • honorCipherOrder
        • default value: false
      • ciphers
        • default value: "ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:HIGH:!aNULL:!eNULL:!EXPORT:!DES:!RC4:!MD5:!PSK:!SRP:!CAMELLIA"
      • secureProtocol
        • default value: "TLS_method"
      • ecdhCurve
        • default value: tls.DEFAULT_ECDH_CURVE
          • the exact value depends on the version of node
          • most commonly:
            • older versions of node: "prime256v1"
            • newer versions of node: "auto"
• --req-secure-honor-server-cipher-order is a flag to set the following key in the request options Object to configure the context for secure https requests:
  • {honorCipherOrder: true}
• --req-secure-ciphers is the value to assign to the following key in the request options Object to configure the context for secure https requests:
  • {ciphers: value}
• --req-secure-protocol is the value to assign to the following key in the request options Object to configure the context for secure https requests:
  • {secureProtocol: value}
• --req-secure-curve is the value to assign to the following key in the request options Object to configure the context for secure https requests:
  • {ecdhCurve: value}
• -v sets logging verbosity level:
  • -1:
    • silent
  • 0 (default):
    • show errors only
  • 1:
    • show an informative amount of information
  • 2:
    • show technical details
  • 3:
    • show an enhanced technical trace (useful while debugging unexpected behavior)
• --acl-whitelist restricts server access to clients at IP addresses in whitelist
  • ex: "192.168.1.100,192.168.1.101,192.168.1.102"

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Installation and Usage: Working with a Local git Repo

How to: Install:

git clone "https://github.com/warren-bank/DASH-to-HLS.git"
cd "DASH-to-HLS"
npm install

How to: Run the server(s):

# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# If using a port number >= 1024 on Linux, or
# If using Windows:
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
npm start [-- [--help] [--version] [--tls] [--host <ip_address>] [--port <number>] [--req-headers <filepath>] [--origin <header>] [--referer <header>] [--useragent <header>] [--header <name=value>] [--req-options <filepath>] [--req-secure-honor-server-cipher-order] [--req-secure-ciphers <string>] [--req-secure-protocol <string>] [--req-secure-curve <string>] [-v <number>] ]

# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
# https://www.w3.org/Daemon/User/Installation/PrivilegedPorts.html
#
# Linux considers port numbers < 1024 to be privileged.
# Use "sudo":
# ----------------------------------------------------------------------
npm run sudo [-- [--help] [--version] [--tls] [--host <ip_address>] [--port <number>] [--req-headers <filepath>] [--origin <header>] [--referer <header>] [--useragent <header>] [--header <name=value>] [--req-options <filepath>] [--req-secure-honor-server-cipher-order] [--req-secure-ciphers <string>] [--req-secure-protocol <string>] [--req-secure-curve <string>] [-v <number>] ]

Examples:

1. print help
   npm start -- --help

2. start HTTP server at specific host:port
   npm start -- --host "192.168.0.100" --port "8080"

3. start HTTPS server at specific host:port
   npm start -- --host "192.168.0.100" --port "8081" --tls

4. start HTTP server at default host:port with escalated privilege
   npm run sudo -- --port "80"

5. start HTTPS server at default host:port with escalated privilege
   npm run sudo -- --port "443" --tls

6. start HTTP server at specific port and send custom request headers
   

headers_file="${TMPDIR}/headers.json"
echo '{"Origin" : "http://XXX:80", "Referer": "http://XXX:80/page.html"}' > "$headers_file"
npm start -- --port "8080" --req-headers "$headers_file"

7. start HTTPS server at specific port and send custom request headers
   

headers_file="${TMPDIR}/headers.json"
echo '{"Origin" : "http://XXX:80", "Referer": "http://XXX:80/page.html"}' > "$headers_file"
npm start -- --port "8081" --req-headers "$headers_file" --tls -v 1

8. start HTTPS server at specific port and send custom request headers
   

h_origin='http://XXX:80'
h_referer='http://XXX:80/page.html'
h_useragent='Chromium'
h_custom_1='X-Foo: 123'
h_custom_2='X-Bar: baz'
npm start -- --port "8081" --origin "$h_origin" --referer "$h_referer" --useragent "$h_useragent" --header "$h_custom_1" --header "$h_custom_2" --tls -v 1

Options:

• identical to the command-line binary

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Legal:

• copyright: Warren Bank
• license: GPL-2.0