Unreal Media Server FAQ


	Media Server

FAQ.

Is there a user forum for Unreal Media Server?
On August 7, 2006 we have launched a user forum where you can share your experience and get advice from other users.

Are there any Streaming Providers/CDN companies offering hosting of Unreal Media Server?
We have partnered with StreamGuys who offer hosting packages based on their premium content delivery network infrastructure.
Other hosting providers:
Streamn
WebcastsUSA

Can I run Media Server and Live Server on the same machine? Absolutely.

Can I run versions 4.0 and 5.0 (5.5) both on the same computer?
It's not possible for Media Server and Live Server. You need to completely uninstall the previous version and install the new one. However you can run all versions of client-side ActiveX control on the same machine.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of playing with your Streaming Media Player as opposed to Windows Media Player?

Consider playing with our player if:

You need low latency live streams.

You need user authentication.

You need to encrypt streaming channel (use HTTPS delivery for that)

You don't want users to save streams on their computers.

You need to stream MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 files. (not supported by MMS)

Consider playing with Windows Media Player or other MMS players if:

You don't want users to install our ActiveX control or player.

You need to play on MAC or Linux.

In fact, you can choose mixed mode and let Windows users play with our player and MAC/Linux users play with MMS players.

How do I play with Windows Media Player?
Use menu item File->Open URL. Type mms link referring to live broadcast or file configured on Media Server. For example, right after the installation of Media Server you can type
mms://localhost:5119/mediaroot/test.avi
If you have a live broadcast with alias "webcam", you need to type mms://localhost:5119/webcam
When playing remotely, you need to specify IP address of server machine: mms://192.168.0.100:5119/webcam

How to play on MAC?
Download and install free Windows Media Components for QuickTime, recommended by Microsoft. Then use your QuickTime player exactly the same way described in the previous answer.

What MMS players are supported on what OS?
We have successfully tested Windows Media Player on Windows; QuickTime player on MAC; MPlayer and Kaffeine player on Linux. Many other open source players such as VLC may be able to play or need slight code change to be able to.

I want my users to play with your player. Is it a must for them to download and install Streaming Media Player?
No, it's not a must, but our ActiveX control still has to be installed on user's machine. As a media publisher, you can avoid having users install Streaming Media Player by providing a Web page that hosts our ActiveX control. The page should reference the CAB installation file that will be automatically downloaded by a browser. When the page is loaded it will prompt the user to install the control. Refer to the Demo pages hosting ActiveX control.

Why Unreal Media Server does not support RTSP?
Because RTSP as a whole is not a codec-independent protocol, but Unreal Media Server sends live and recorded streams encoded with ANY codec.
RTSP usually uses RTP as a data payload protocol. Unfortunately every codec requires it's own custom RTP header. There is a family of RFCs defining how content encoded with MPEG-1, MP3, MPEG-4 and other codecs should be packaged for RTP payload. This invalidates the whole idea of unified, codec-independent delivery protocol, such as our proprietary protocols and powerful Microsoft MMS-ASF protocol.

Is there any software for parsing/analyzing the Unreal Media Server log format?
Sawmill analytical platform supports our log format. If you have version 7.2.13 or earlier, download Unreal Media Server components for Sawmill. Navigate to Sawmill installation folder on your hard drive and put unreal_media_server.cfg file in LogAnalysisInfo/log_formats and lang_stats.cfg in LogAnalysisInfo/language/english.

I can't play MPEG-2 videos and can't find decoder.
Since there is no MPEG-2 decoder that comes with DirectX, users will need to install some 3-rd party DirectShow-friendly MPEG-2 decoder. We recommend version 2 of Moonlight Elecard decoder package.
Official download site.

Can your server stream 3gp, mp4, 3ivx, vp6 ... etc... files?
Our architecture is codec-independent with regards to media files. The server does not do any transcoding while streaming; the client needs to have DirectShow-friendly decoders for appropriate media types. Most of the codec manufacturers do provide such decoders; you just need to install them on the client side. 3gp, mp4, 3ivx, vp6, xvid, even rm files have been successfully streamed with Unreal Media Server, with additional installation of corresponding codecs.

I am not able to view video with Mozilla/Firefox/Netscape browsers.
We have a plugin for those browsers and you should allow it to be installed the first time you load the web page. For any problems with the plugin, please use the support page of our partner, C Systems, who helped us to develop this plugin. If automatic install of the plugin does not work, use manual installation package.

Live Server Configurator doesn't recognize my card as an audio/video provider. Why?
The driver of your card must support DirectX. Some older cards that only support VFW (Video for Windows), will not work with Live Server. The driver should expose DirectShow source filter of Audio/Video capture sources category.

Is there a list of supported analog video capture cards?
List of analog video capture cards recommended for Live Server.

What IP cameras are supported?
Our IP cameras and encoders are ideal choice for true hardware compressed audio/video streaming with no software encoding process involved. Visit our hardware page.
For other IP cameras, use IPCamSourceVideo component available for download. It receives video from all major brands IP cameras but does not support audio.

After I reboot my Live Server computer, I have to open Live Configurator again and connect my dynamic live source to Media Server again. Is there any automated way to do it?
If you check "Reconnect automatically if connection breaks" checkbox, then Live Server will try to stay connected to Media Server as long as Live Server runs. (The Configurator program can be closed but ULiveServer.exe, running as a separate windows service, needs to run.) If you restart Live Server or restart the whole computer, you have to initiate a connection again. To help your Live Server always be connected with Media Server, use LiveReconnect standalone executable included in the SDK package . It accepts command line parameters and calls ULiveServer to initiate a connection. You can run this exe from batch file; run it on system startup; from Windows scheduled tasks etc.

While configuring the Archival Server, I am asked to enter a password for media server. Why?
The Archival Server connects to the Media Server which uses this password for authentication. You have to setup the same password on the Properties page of Media Server Configurator.

I have problems resizing video and/or running in full-screen mode. Streaming Media Player lets DirectX resize video window. DirectX uses hardware acceleration to perform scaling. You have to check two settings on your computer.

Display properties -> Settings -> Advanced -> Troubleshoot -> Full hardware acceleration.

Run DxDiag -> Display tab -> DirectDraw acceleration enabled.
If this doesn't help, try to increase the memory buffer of your video card in BIOS settings.

UHttpProxy does not install properly.
The instructions for manual installation of UHttpProxy are as follows:

Download UHttpProxy.dll and put it under your Inetpub/Wwwroot/UHttpProxy folder. Then use Internet Services Manager to create new virtual directory and name it UHTTPProxy. Make sure that this virtual directory allows anonymous access, and has Execute permissions of "Scripts and Executables".

Additional steps for IIS6 on Windows 2003 Server:
Create and enable new server extension for UHttpProxy (or just enable all ISAPI extensions).
Make sure that the application pool under which UHttpProxy runs, is configured to have 1 process.

Additional steps for IIS7 on Vista and Windows 2008 Server:
Install ISAPI Extensions IIS feature.
Add UHTTPProxy ISAPI by using "ISAPI and CGI Restrictions" global property. Check "Allow extension path execution" check box.
For UHHTPProxy virtual folder enable ISAPI-dll Handler Mapping by setting "Read", "Script" and "Execute" Feature Permissions.
On 64-bit OS enable 32-bit applications for default application pool.

I have a player streaming files or Buffered live sources over HTTP(s); when I lock my desktop and come back after 20 minutes, the player displays message "Media Server dropped connection."
This happens due to IIS connection timeout setting which is 15 minutes by default on IIS 5.x. When you lock your desktop, the player stops playback in order not to waste bandwidth; the HTTP connection to the server is considered "idle" and IIS will close it after the idle time reaches connection timeout setting. Such behavior helps to prevent denial of service attacks; the connection timeout setting can be changed using IIS manager.

RTP Multicast packets are sent with TTL (time to live) of 128. How can I change the TTL?
Create DWORD registry value named TTL, under HKLM\SOFTWARE\UNREAL\SERVER, and set an appropriate TTL for you.

I can't change Multicast Group IP address configured with Media Server configuration tool.
You need to change both IP address and port and make sure no other configured resources use the same IP address/Port. When you install multiple Media Servers on your LAN, make sure all resources have different multicast group addresses.

I can't stream live video from computer that does not have interactive desktop open (no user is logged in).
This can happen if the video capture card that is used has a Video Port. The purpose of the port is to minimize CPU utilization for video capturing & rendering. The problem is that the Video Port requires interactive desktop to work correctly. Gainward GeForce-4 XP graphics cards are known to require the interactive desktop for video capturing.

Only 10 clients can simultaneously get video streams from the server via HTTP. A bug?
Internet Information Server (IIS) running on Windows 2000 Professional or XP is limited to work with only 10 concurrent clients. This is hardcoded in IIS by Microsoft and cannot be changed. If there will be many clients connected via HTTP, then it's recommended to install Unreal Media Server on Windows 2000 or 2003 server platform.

I am using MS Visual Studio 2008 to develop a c# application that hosts your Active-X control. My application crashes or doesn't show video on Vista!
Noble guys from Microsoft have silently introduced mandatory DEP (Data Execution Prevention) in VS 2008 c# compiler. Moreover, VS 2005 installed on the same computer is also affected. This prevents any ActiveX control compiled with ATL 7 from appearing on Vista OS. The executable hosting our ActiveX control needs to be patched to remove the DEP flag. This can be done with EditBin utility as described in the MSDN blog.

I wrote an application that hosts more than two Active-X controls. When I connect all of them via HTTP, only two work.
This is a known issue discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base article 183110. Use client registry setting HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ - DWORD value "MaxConnectionsPerServer" to increase number of simultaneous connections per server within one process.