I'm not new to webpages but more or less new to installing things on unix servers. I wanted to stream live audio/video on my website, so I read about real players products. I decided to try it since I'm on redhat so I figured the windows streaming was out of the question. Anyways, I downloaded Helix producer from real networks. I was just wondering if anyone else has installed this and got it working.

Their documentation is horrible on the installation stuff. I uploaded the file, and ran it, so it extracted all the files. Then after that I went into a few of the directories it made and can't find anything on how to actually install or run it. Then it didn't say a thing about what program you need to run locally to send the stream to the server.

My question, has anyone installed real players products and got them to work and can help me? or know of a good website that actually explains it better than real.com?

I've searched for hours on google and in the tutorials and readme files, maybe I'm overlooking something but this was my last resort.

I tried it, couldnt get it working though. Probly have to spend more time at it

You say you downloaded the Helix Producer ?

You need the Helix server to stream files, the producer just creates them locally, they then have to be uploaded to the server to stream them.

Plus the 'free' version doesn't allow realtime streaming, just works for multiple bitrate files.

You also need to obtain a server key before the server will run.

I got it running on the third attempt, but I don't use it as the multiple bitrate files are far larger than the equivalent single bitrate files combined !

for example :
56kbps file = 650k
350 kbps file = 6.5 Meg

combined bitrate = 9 Meg !!

If you know your audience then stick to that bitrate, I say.

BTW, this is running on Ensim 3.1, celery 1.3 with 512M ram.


alan

I can tell you for sure that any bandwidth higher than 350 kbps it's not that much better...

Try coding a file at 30 kbps / 45 kbps for dialup users
and 180 kbps / 320 kbps for high speed users...

any thing higher than that it's not such a dif. and the size just get really big so there is no good out off...


If you are getting a $99 server there is not much dif. on price range
You can get plesk our ensim ( I would get plesk )

Yes, the documentation for Helix is a bit lacking. I have been using it for 9 months or so now, and have re-installed it a few times..... practice makes perfect, lol.

Once you get it installed and set-up (you did note what ports you set it up with...right? ) , depending on the directory name, you start it similar to this: cd to /usr/local/rmserver The, a command like this: Bin/rmserver rmserver.cfg &

Might want to use port 8080 (instead of 80) if you also serve web pages on the server

Watch for messages, you may get an error or two. One or two of the errors can be ignored.

Then log in to the Admin area:
[url]http://yourmainIP:aportYOUselected/admin/index.html

There is a bit more to it than that, but that is a start. If you do buy Helix Server, the Support guys are pretty helpful... once you figure out the right number to call. Also, if you buy it, you get the CD's (for both linux and Windows) as well as a set of books.

Glenn

What is some good software to use to push streaming content to the server besides using helix producer?

I'm looking for other software that I can use for live streaming. I never did figure out how to even install helix, I extracted it and never found out in the readme's or installation help exactely how or where the installation files were. Then I wondered if it was really what I wanted.

Basically all I want is a program to sit on my server to catch the live stream I'm sending with another program. If someone knows of a good program to do this, let me know. I've been looking for 2 days straight and it seems like if I do find something the instructions were written for people who code the stuff.

nullsoft's NSV format + DNAS + winamp 2.9x

= free

The A in DNAS stands for Audio.. What about video? I looked at a lot of sites about DNAS and they all just talk about streaming mp3's and music or audio files.

I can't find anything to stream to my Darwin server with. Only quicktime Broadcaster, but I don't use a Mac. Any idea's? Thanks.

It seems to me that if you can't install the software, then you are not ready to deploy streaming video on your web site.

2 minutes work gave me this link

http://service.real.com/help/library/guide...er/realsrvr.htm

Under section 3 , Installation and Quickstart, it tells you about port conflicts etc, and then tells you to execute the binary file you downloaded.

Did you get a binary file ?

When I did it, I wgeted the file straight to my server and the file name looks something like rs900-linux-22libc6-ia32.bin

On the server (via ssh, of course) login as admin and if you have the binary in your home directory, just type

and the setup will start. (remember to chmod the file to 755 first ! )
You will need to have put the licence key file on the server as well, you will be asked where it is !

read the manual for further instructions.

If you don't understand the instructions above, I would suggest you need to learn more about admin tasks and functions on *nix before you go any further.
Its all pretty straight forward really.

BTW, you never said why you need to stream "live" video from your site. What type of content is it ?
Unless you want to run a web tv service, pre-recorded streams are fine and you don't need a streaming server.

Real Producer can make the files and you can just upload them as necessary.

If you want to stream from say, a web cam, then there are other packages out there that can do this out of the box. Mostly thru java I suspect.

What program are you sending the stream to the server with ?
Did you write that program ?
If not, then what recipient is the program expecting to send to ?
What is the purpose of the stream ?
What bitrate quality of stream do you want ?
Which web server are you running ?
Do you have admin rights on that web server ?

All things to answer before you get started, or before anybody can really comment or help.

regards

alan

Have to agree - helix is very simple to install

Not too bad to install at all. However, the first time I did it, I got a rather serious error message. That made me believe I had screwed up somewhere.... so I started over, and got the same message. A phone call to Real cleared it up.... It was a normal error, and safely ignored.

Glenn

Just to verify, I install Helix, I can stream RM, correct?

I have yet to take it on but am looking forward to installing it!

I get this error trying to start Helix basic:

"A: A configuration was found for broadcast distribution, but this server is not licensed for broadcast distribution."

Anyone know what is causing this?

You can stream Realmedia anyway, you don't need a Helix server.

The only point of a helix (real) server is to stream multi bitrate files or live streaming .

As long as your server understands rm files as a mime type (ensim, etc, including redhat std server have it already) then you can stream real media.

Darwin uses QT protocols BTW.

alan

That is one of the messages you can safely ignore.

OK thanks.

One last question

I got the server running, and I'm sending a stream to it using real producer. How do I go about conencting to it to watch it, or rather have my clients conenct to the stream?

Thanks.

Thanks!! So I don't need Helix. My server is a RedHat/Cpanel server.

I just need to be sure to have rm as a MIME type and that's it?? So where do I put the RM file (or is rtsp or something like that with an HTM link)?

How do I do it???? Very interested.

Cant you just make a URL link like: http://servername/movie.rm

then when a client clicks on it, it will open in real player.

Guess I'll have to try it! Couldn't be that easy. What about having it stream on the webpage? Not just in RealPlayer

You must be using real producer or something similar to make the rm files, is gives you an option to create a web page in the program.

Otherwise, for an existing rm file, use the object html tags.

Example :

http://www.nakedfle.sh/test/band.html (view the source to see the format)

BTW, that isn't finished yet ! (and it needs a 512 k minimum connection)

alan

Unfortunately, the visitor will still need realplayer to see the video :-(

But, do a search for smil on google and there are (surprisingly) lots of ways to customise the user experience :-) even inside realplayer !

alan

But just the plug-in. Is that free to the user?

Can anyone help me with my comment above?

yep !!

depends whether you want to embed it in a page or not.

You can link straight to filename.rm or make an object in a page use it as the source.

Read my previous post for an example

alan

How do I know the filename or the path to the file? Im upladoing a live stream with real producer...so I would go rtsp://ip/filename

How do I know the filename of the live stream I am uplaoding? Thanks.

rtsp://IP/broadcast/streamname.rm

BTW, I am not a rep for Real MEdia, or anything, I have been using their encoding software for about 2 years and although it doesn't haven't have the quality of a windows media vid, or the name and accessibility of Quicktime, it does have reasonable quality, and good filesizes, plus its cheap (ish) for the producer software.



alan

my version of realproducer (8.5 paid for ) doesn't do realtime streaming, so sorry, don't know. As far as I know, the free versions don't allow it.

alan

Ok, I am not really getting the info that I need. Let me calrify.

To anyone that has broadcasted a Live video stream to a helix server using real producer 9.0

To start the stream, you open up real producer and choose your device (in my case it's a webcam).

Now on the output side, you want to choose a destination, so I choose to edit a server template, and I get a dialogue box asking me for my settings.

This is where I get confused, since my source stream has no filename (coming straight from a webcam) what do I use as a stream name? Can i put anything like webcam.rm, or do I just put webcam with no extension?

Braocast method is Push, account based, so I enter in the IP my account credentials etc, but what port do I send it to? DO I send it to port 554, or port 80? How do I know.

Anyhow, I click ok, and hit the encode button and it starts encoding the file to the server.

Now how do I connect to it with realplayer? I am guessing it goes something like this: rtsp://serverip/webcam.rm (provided that I used webcam.rm as the stream name.

Anyhow, with all this done, I am still not able to connect to my stream. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

that all seems reasonable, post your address, and I'll have a look

You must have to name the file, coz Iknow you can also make a back up at the same time as the stream

Good luck

alan

Use a descriptive name. Do NOT forget the .rm at the end. IE: test.rm

Braocast method is Push, account based, so I enter in the IP my account credentials etc, but what port do I send it to? DO I send it to port 554, or port 80? How do I know.

554 IIRC

Anyhow, I click ok, and hit the encode button and it starts encoding the file to the server.

Now how do I connect to it with realplayer? I am guessing it goes something like this: rtsp://serverip/webcam.rm (provided that I used webcam.rm as the stream name.

I provided the sample URL earlier

Anyhow, with all this done, I am still not able to connect to my stream. Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

I provided the sample URL earlier



rtsp://myiphere/broadcast/webrcam.rm does not work for me

does is mattter where I install helix for this to work? I installed it under /root/helix/

NSV Is a newer format but it IS supported by the DNAS. You need winamp 2.9.x or winamp3 to stream such media. The latest version of DNAS can stream pretty much anything else as well.

Check http://forums.winamp.com/ under NSV and learn! =)

http://forums.winamp.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=152

Should work. I just reinstalled it on another of my servers... just for fun. The steps outlined above... or the Docs from Real should get ya going.

As proof.... here is a Cam in my office *right now*. Will not leave it going for too long though.


rtsp://69.57.156.62/broadcast/home.rm

(paste the URL right in to RealPlayer
Hey, you are in BC right? come down to the San Juans Islands in Washington... I will help you get it going..
Glenn

hmm, ok thanks for the help.

Yep Im in bc, probably be going to seattle instead

I'll look into those docs though, thanks.

Seattle is two hours South of here... but that is where the Real company is.... go get em.

Edited my post above, forgot my stream URL.
Glenn

File not found

You have to paste it in to Real Player.... as it is not embedded in to a web page.