iOS broadcasting live to Azure Media Services

Question

I am trying to make a Periscope-like app (not practically, but technical requirements are alike) where users can start streaming quickly from their iPhone to an unknown amount of users, both mobile. I am trying to use Azure Media Services for live video streaming, but even after reading pages of documentation I'm stuck.

I'm using VideoCore ( https://github.com/jgh-/VideoCore ) to publish from iOS device to the RTMP server. On local (using Wowza) I can just connect to the local server with my set username and password as shown:

vcSession = [[VCSimpleSession alloc] initWithVideoSize:CGSizeMake(1280, 720) frameRate:30 bitrate:1000000 useInterfaceOrientation:NO];
[self.view addSubview:vcSession.previewView];
vcSession.previewView.frame = self.view.bounds;
vcSession.delegate = self;
[vcSession startRtmpSessionWithURL:@"rtmp://172.20.10.2:1935/live?rtmpauth=test:test" andStreamKey:@"test"];

Where the rtmpauth parameter has the username:password format, which I've set both to test on my local server. It works. In Azure, I've created a channel named test , and I've got the following Ingest URL:

rtmp://test-myappname.channel.mediaservices.windows.net:1935/live/some-long-hexadecimal-string

In Wirecast, I'm able to stream to URL (though EXTREMELY slow and connection frequently lost, don't know why) by selecting Azure Media Services in Output Settings and typing that Ingest URL. In iOS, I have no idea how to connect to Azure Media Services.

In startRtmpSessionWithURL:andStreamKey: method, I've tried all the possible combinations of URL and a stream key, but no luck. I have no idea what my username/password is (nothing is given at the Azure side), what the stream key is (I've tried test , live , empty string) and what that long hexadecimal string is (some sources say that it's called a locator, though).

What is the correct format of RTMP URL and stream key when connecting to Azure Media Services for streaming?

Answer 1

I'll find someone to help you. I think you are just missing a stream name after the long hex string in the URL.

rtmp://test-myappname.channel.mediaservices.windows.net:1935/live/some-long-hexadecimal-string/ [YOUR-CUSTOM-STREAM-NAME-Anything Really!]

Also, do you have any control over the encoding settings? Its possible that some encoding settings are not right. We have not tested with that VideoCore library, so it may also be that there is a slight variation in the RTMP protocol (since it is very poorly documented and there is a lot of missing information out there).

I'm curious why your Wirecast setup is having trouble as well. That doesn't sound good to start with. Network issue? Are you setting it to the proper Encoder preset with H.264 and NOT x264 set?

Review your settings in Wirecast against Cenk's blog post here: http://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/09/18/azure-media-services-rtmp-support-and-live-encoders/