AVoD (Audio and Video on Demand) via torrents, a new level!
Today, still many Internet users can be surprised by the possibility of online playback of video and audio content through torrents, without having to wait for the content to download.
Of course, this will not surprise the habrasoobshchestvo, given that even the first topics covering this possibility appeared on the Habré more than two years ago (for example: habrahabr.ru/post/87509 , - where our first trial hack, which is already in its own implementation surpassed all existing solutions in the world, including the decision of the torrent client's flagship, namely utorrent with its new function “stream”).
So what else can surprise the habrasoobshchestvo and advanced geeks, after two years?
Believe me, there is something!
')
Well, to check, you are welcome under the cat.
First, I want to congratulate our team and all our users on the long-awaited release of the new version of Torrent Stream software (release 1.0.5 Full). It was not just the output of the client application, it was a change in the architecture of the entire system, its program logic and even new sites had to be done. So, with pleasure we accept congratulations from you.
And now about everything in order.
Considering that for us the release of the Torrent Stream 1.0.5 Full release is a very important and significant event, therefore, I'll start with it.
With the release of this release we want to draw the attention of everyone that TS P2P Multimedia Plug-In is not the only and exclusive basis of the Torrent Stream system! At the heart of the TS System is only the Torrent Stream engine ( TS Engine ), which can work with any desktop player (VLC; The KMPlayer; MPlayer, etc.) and Media Centers (XBMC; Mediaportal, etc.), so with web-players, built on the basis of any technology, including HTML5.
Version 1.0.5 Full is provided in the form of the Torrent Stream software installation package, which includes the following products:
TS Engine - The main software product that provides all the functions and capabilities of the Torrent Stream technology (multimedia streaming control engine)
It is the basic core of the Torrent Stream platform and can be used, through the API ( TS Engine API ), by any developers to create their own products, integrating the functionality and capabilities of Torrent Stream into them.
Comment: The basic version of the API engine was presented to us quite recently, about a week ago, but we are pleased that it has already been tested by third-party developers from the Russian-speaking XBMC community, who made their own implementations for this wonderful media center. Learn about the different crafts for XBMC here: XBMC + Torrent Stream
TS Player - Multimedia player (modified and improved version of the VLC player), with the ability to play video and audio online, via torrent files, without waiting for content to load.
Comment: Now you can run and play torrents in the desktop player, as usual video and audio files, without using different torrent clients and without waiting for downloads. Also, if the user knows the content ID, then it can also be used as a source, indicating it in the corresponding (Content ID is essentially an analogue of magnet links).
The inclusion of the desktop version of the player in this assembly is due to the fact that it is necessary to use the advanced settings of the browser-based web player (built on the basis of TS P2P Multimedia Plug-in), since most of the settings of TS Player are synchronized with it. For example, if you want to use a video accelerator or reassign hotkeys for a web player, the user will need to go into the TS Player settings, set these settings and restart the player page (or better web browser), and the next time you start it, all the new settings will be work and in the web player.
TS P2P Multimedia Plug-in - Browser Plugin (built on the basis of the VLC Plug-in)
Allows you to use the world's most functional web player on all sites using Torrent Stream technology, as well as on popular video hosting sites such as You Tube, etc., and with full support for all content being played with the bittorrent protocol.
Comment: Probably for those who installed Flash solely for watching videos, this will be a very good alternative, given that bittorrent will also serve as an accelerator, ensuring stream stability and maximum speed for a custom Internet channel.
Magic Player - Additional extension for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. Allows you to play online video and audio content on the most popular torrent trackers in the original quality, without the need to download torrent files and without tiring waiting for downloading the content itself.
Comment: We could not help including this popular extension in the installation package, as many users were just confused about what to install and what not and why they should install both. Now everything will be installed from the box in a few clicks.
In the future, other assemblies will be presented, from the basic (only the engine itself) to the advanced ones, which will contain various interesting products and solutions, so the user will always have the opportunity to select the software he needs.
More detailed information about what's new in version 1.0.5 Full can be found on the page of our site: torrentstream.info/#/whatsnew , and here I will tell you about the most important and interesting innovation.
And the most important innovation is the new implementation of http-seeding (HTTP Seeding)!
The main innovative feature in version 1.0.5 is the inclusion of http-seeding. Today, there are two main implementations of this support ( bep_0017 ; bep_0019 ) We decided to combine the capabilities of these add-ons, and also to supplement this with our implementation, which is actually innovative, allowing you to erase the edges in terms of quick start and response during rewind during online playback video and audio content between media platforms built on the basis of technologies such as flash or silverlight and media platforms using the bittorrent protocol, based on Torrent Stream technology
Well, in order not to be unfounded, I suggest you verify this for yourself by making comparative tests:
Option number 1 . Go to our test page with a demo player and start playing it. After that, also try how rewinding works. (rewind works only for registered users. Registration and activation is done very quickly) Test page for web player
Option number 2 If you doubt that this playback goes through a normal torrent, then go to the test page of the desktop player and download the test torrent from it and run it TS Player
( Test page for desktop player )
Option # 3 Use your own torrents in which http-cid will be registered, with a quality source of stream support (whose return rate will not be less than the bitrate rate of the file being played by you), and even better, several http-cedits, which will ensure even greater reliability of the stream speed .
If you wish, you can try to start playing torrents on many well-known resources, like ex.ua (for Ukraine) or fex.net (for Russia and other countries of the post-Soviet space) Considering that these resources could not yet completely recover from those woes that they comprehended and fully restored, it is likely that the quality and reliability of support for http-seeding may be lame, but it’s worth a try.
Option number 4 For a more detailed comparison of the player based on Flash technology and Torrent Stream, you can install our test add. Mozilla Firefox browser extension: P2P You Tube . With this extension, you can play all videos on You Tube directly through torrents, in our web player (full P2P support is implemented, using BitTorrent protocol) You Tube will be you, through torrents!
Attention! If the return rate of the http-sid or the total speed of all http-sids is less than the bit rate, then the software will work as usual and you will not feel a significant difference from such support. This restriction will also be extended if the speed of your Internet connection is lower than the speed of the bitrate, so choose for testing only the content that your Internet channel can do and torrents for which high-quality http support is provided
And yet, it is very important: When testing, turn off the menu option (Torrent Stream icon in the system tray) the option “turn on the playback of entertainment videos during prebuffering”, because when the option is on, the minute trailers will be shown, which will not allow the launch speed test
After these tests, you can make a conclusion yourself, whether the Torrent Stream platform is inferior in terms of start and response when rewinding, to other platforms, on the basis of which AVOD services are being created today.
Well, if you want to make a comparative test and visually see the advantages of Torrent Stream over any other programs, simply play our test torrent file through torrent clients with video playback functions without waiting for the full file download. After that, you can compare the indicator by the waiting time before the start of playback and compare the response during rewinding, if it is implemented somewhere else.
I advise you to use the “utorrent 3” flagship client for the comparative test, where you use the correct implementation of the algorithm for online streaming via torrents.
Briefly explain:
By the correct implementation of the algorithm, I mean solutions that use algorithms that do not use the required sequence of loading the pieces. This allows users to be able to play content without waiting for its full download, while using all the advantages of the bittorrent protocol and in no way harming the P2P swarm, in the form of possible traffic jams.
Probably for many it will seem like a discovery, but today there are a sufficient number of torrent clients using more primitive algorithms to provide their users with this opportunity. These are the so-called: - “second-tier clients of online streaming media”. They use a simple algorithm, in the form of downloading the first and last pieces and then include mandatory sequential downloads. Actually it was already very long ago implemented in the same utorrent, but well hidden from the eyes of ordinary users, as its developers understood that the general use of such an algorithm can cause very substantial harm to the entire P2P community, leveling all the advantages and unique features of the bittorrent protocol. In this segment there are unconditionally bona fide developers and in their clients such function is indicated exactly as a “preview” (for example: qBittorrent, which uses the free libtorrent library as its basis). But there are also developers who probably don’t understand or don’t understand, and on the contrary, they promote this function, in such an implementation as the main feature of their product.
I apologize for leaving the main point a little, but often encountering a misunderstanding of this very significant difference even among advanced geeks, I just found it necessary to clarify this.
Actually, the main feature that now makes it possible to use torrents to create high-quality AVoD services, with minimal infrastructure costs, I have already revealed, so I will not torment you with various other stories today. Well, who has any questions, I will answer with pleasure.
Of course, this will not surprise the habrasoobshchestvo, given that even the first topics covering this possibility appeared on the Habré more than two years ago (for example: habrahabr.ru/post/87509 , - where our first trial hack, which is already in its own implementation surpassed all existing solutions in the world, including the decision of the torrent client's flagship, namely utorrent with its new function “stream”).
So what else can surprise the habrasoobshchestvo and advanced geeks, after two years?
Believe me, there is something!
')
Well, to check, you are welcome under the cat.
First, I want to congratulate our team and all our users on the long-awaited release of the new version of Torrent Stream software (release 1.0.5 Full). It was not just the output of the client application, it was a change in the architecture of the entire system, its program logic and even new sites had to be done. So, with pleasure we accept congratulations from you.
And now about everything in order.
Considering that for us the release of the Torrent Stream 1.0.5 Full release is a very important and significant event, therefore, I'll start with it.
With the release of this release we want to draw the attention of everyone that TS P2P Multimedia Plug-In is not the only and exclusive basis of the Torrent Stream system! At the heart of the TS System is only the Torrent Stream engine ( TS Engine ), which can work with any desktop player (VLC; The KMPlayer; MPlayer, etc.) and Media Centers (XBMC; Mediaportal, etc.), so with web-players, built on the basis of any technology, including HTML5.
Version 1.0.5 Full is provided in the form of the Torrent Stream software installation package, which includes the following products:
TS Engine - The main software product that provides all the functions and capabilities of the Torrent Stream technology (multimedia streaming control engine)
It is the basic core of the Torrent Stream platform and can be used, through the API ( TS Engine API ), by any developers to create their own products, integrating the functionality and capabilities of Torrent Stream into them.
Comment: The basic version of the API engine was presented to us quite recently, about a week ago, but we are pleased that it has already been tested by third-party developers from the Russian-speaking XBMC community, who made their own implementations for this wonderful media center. Learn about the different crafts for XBMC here: XBMC + Torrent Stream
TS Player - Multimedia player (modified and improved version of the VLC player), with the ability to play video and audio online, via torrent files, without waiting for content to load.
Comment: Now you can run and play torrents in the desktop player, as usual video and audio files, without using different torrent clients and without waiting for downloads. Also, if the user knows the content ID, then it can also be used as a source, indicating it in the corresponding (Content ID is essentially an analogue of magnet links).
The inclusion of the desktop version of the player in this assembly is due to the fact that it is necessary to use the advanced settings of the browser-based web player (built on the basis of TS P2P Multimedia Plug-in), since most of the settings of TS Player are synchronized with it. For example, if you want to use a video accelerator or reassign hotkeys for a web player, the user will need to go into the TS Player settings, set these settings and restart the player page (or better web browser), and the next time you start it, all the new settings will be work and in the web player.
TS P2P Multimedia Plug-in - Browser Plugin (built on the basis of the VLC Plug-in)
Allows you to use the world's most functional web player on all sites using Torrent Stream technology, as well as on popular video hosting sites such as You Tube, etc., and with full support for all content being played with the bittorrent protocol.
Comment: Probably for those who installed Flash solely for watching videos, this will be a very good alternative, given that bittorrent will also serve as an accelerator, ensuring stream stability and maximum speed for a custom Internet channel.
Magic Player - Additional extension for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. Allows you to play online video and audio content on the most popular torrent trackers in the original quality, without the need to download torrent files and without tiring waiting for downloading the content itself.
Comment: We could not help including this popular extension in the installation package, as many users were just confused about what to install and what not and why they should install both. Now everything will be installed from the box in a few clicks.
In the future, other assemblies will be presented, from the basic (only the engine itself) to the advanced ones, which will contain various interesting products and solutions, so the user will always have the opportunity to select the software he needs.
More detailed information about what's new in version 1.0.5 Full can be found on the page of our site: torrentstream.info/#/whatsnew , and here I will tell you about the most important and interesting innovation.
And the most important innovation is the new implementation of http-seeding (HTTP Seeding)!
The main innovative feature in version 1.0.5 is the inclusion of http-seeding. Today, there are two main implementations of this support ( bep_0017 ; bep_0019 ) We decided to combine the capabilities of these add-ons, and also to supplement this with our implementation, which is actually innovative, allowing you to erase the edges in terms of quick start and response during rewind during online playback video and audio content between media platforms built on the basis of technologies such as flash or silverlight and media platforms using the bittorrent protocol, based on Torrent Stream technology
Well, in order not to be unfounded, I suggest you verify this for yourself by making comparative tests:
Option number 1 . Go to our test page with a demo player and start playing it. After that, also try how rewinding works. (rewind works only for registered users. Registration and activation is done very quickly) Test page for web player
Option number 2 If you doubt that this playback goes through a normal torrent, then go to the test page of the desktop player and download the test torrent from it and run it TS Player
( Test page for desktop player )
Option # 3 Use your own torrents in which http-cid will be registered, with a quality source of stream support (whose return rate will not be less than the bitrate rate of the file being played by you), and even better, several http-cedits, which will ensure even greater reliability of the stream speed .
If you wish, you can try to start playing torrents on many well-known resources, like ex.ua (for Ukraine) or fex.net (for Russia and other countries of the post-Soviet space) Considering that these resources could not yet completely recover from those woes that they comprehended and fully restored, it is likely that the quality and reliability of support for http-seeding may be lame, but it’s worth a try.
Option number 4 For a more detailed comparison of the player based on Flash technology and Torrent Stream, you can install our test add. Mozilla Firefox browser extension: P2P You Tube . With this extension, you can play all videos on You Tube directly through torrents, in our web player (full P2P support is implemented, using BitTorrent protocol) You Tube will be you, through torrents!
Attention! If the return rate of the http-sid or the total speed of all http-sids is less than the bit rate, then the software will work as usual and you will not feel a significant difference from such support. This restriction will also be extended if the speed of your Internet connection is lower than the speed of the bitrate, so choose for testing only the content that your Internet channel can do and torrents for which high-quality http support is provided
And yet, it is very important: When testing, turn off the menu option (Torrent Stream icon in the system tray) the option “turn on the playback of entertainment videos during prebuffering”, because when the option is on, the minute trailers will be shown, which will not allow the launch speed test
After these tests, you can make a conclusion yourself, whether the Torrent Stream platform is inferior in terms of start and response when rewinding, to other platforms, on the basis of which AVOD services are being created today.
Well, if you want to make a comparative test and visually see the advantages of Torrent Stream over any other programs, simply play our test torrent file through torrent clients with video playback functions without waiting for the full file download. After that, you can compare the indicator by the waiting time before the start of playback and compare the response during rewinding, if it is implemented somewhere else.
I advise you to use the “utorrent 3” flagship client for the comparative test, where you use the correct implementation of the algorithm for online streaming via torrents.
Briefly explain:
By the correct implementation of the algorithm, I mean solutions that use algorithms that do not use the required sequence of loading the pieces. This allows users to be able to play content without waiting for its full download, while using all the advantages of the bittorrent protocol and in no way harming the P2P swarm, in the form of possible traffic jams.
Probably for many it will seem like a discovery, but today there are a sufficient number of torrent clients using more primitive algorithms to provide their users with this opportunity. These are the so-called: - “second-tier clients of online streaming media”. They use a simple algorithm, in the form of downloading the first and last pieces and then include mandatory sequential downloads. Actually it was already very long ago implemented in the same utorrent, but well hidden from the eyes of ordinary users, as its developers understood that the general use of such an algorithm can cause very substantial harm to the entire P2P community, leveling all the advantages and unique features of the bittorrent protocol. In this segment there are unconditionally bona fide developers and in their clients such function is indicated exactly as a “preview” (for example: qBittorrent, which uses the free libtorrent library as its basis). But there are also developers who probably don’t understand or don’t understand, and on the contrary, they promote this function, in such an implementation as the main feature of their product.
I apologize for leaving the main point a little, but often encountering a misunderstanding of this very significant difference even among advanced geeks, I just found it necessary to clarify this.
Actually, the main feature that now makes it possible to use torrents to create high-quality AVoD services, with minimal infrastructure costs, I have already revealed, so I will not torment you with various other stories today. Well, who has any questions, I will answer with pleasure.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/143008/
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