Wowza Community

stuttering playback with jw player but not wowza example player

Hi,

We are evaluating the 30 day wowza trial.

I have set up the server and i have a mp4 file in 1280x720 2200kbit that is used for testing.

I have started the wowza example player for VOD testing and typed in the info and played back the file via RTMP with no problem, its smooth as it can be in playback.

however, i guess that my client will need a player with playlist functions and so on, which i dont think without some more knowledge than i have, that i cant have with the example player that follows with the wowza package, so ive just tried the jw player wizard on longtails homepage, typed in the rtmp streamserver and filename, and tried playing that back there, but the playback is stuttering and is choppy and that happens alot , like every 2 seconds or so. ( ive had stutter problems with jw player with “local” files on a webserver as well in a earlier test)

So if anyone here have any idea why this is, i would be very happy to get some help. It might be a jwplayer support question, but im hoping that someone that has tried using jwplayer here have run into the same problem and can give a hint what is wrong.

Thanks

Perra

Perra,

It’s not JW Player, it’s the bitrate of your video, too high at 2.2mbs. Take a look at the MS Expression presets in this article, also ffmpeg examples, but try the Expression 4 presets if you can with 2 pass encode. 800kbs is plenty for most videos over the internet.

https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-encode-video-on-demand-content

Richard

Perra,

Playback in Wowza example Flash player and JW (also a Flash) player shouldn’t be much or any different if everything is in the same place, i.e., if they are both running on same machine that Wowza is running, or both on the same web server connecting to the same Wowza application. The netstream.bufferLength (JW player Flashvar bufferlength) is about the only thing that would make a significant differrence between them. JW player default is 1 second. If one is running local alongside Wowza and the other is remote, then you are comparing different network profiles.

2.2mbs is too high bitrate for general internet distribution. Your customer will need that much bandwidth at least all the time. You can use the included BWCheck example to see what the actual bandwidth between a client and your Wowza server. No other measure or rating counts.

Richard

That is right, connection is made from the player running browser. It doesn’t matter where the player is served from except that if it is on a web server then remote clients can download the player. I did frame up the comparison wrong or misleading. It is whether the JW player and Wowza player are both running on same client computer, which is either local or remote to the Wowza instance.

Richard

Perra,

You can do anything you want with the Wowza example players. There are Flash CS version in client folder, and Flex examples in clientFlex folder. You will have extend them.

Still there is nothing essentially different about JW player, which has all the production features already. I would work on that, if streaming is okay in Wowza and not in JW, then check bufferlength in JW Player, maybe you have it set to 0. If so, change back to 1, or 2 or 3, but not 0.

Richard

Sure. Send it to support@wowza.com

Include a link to the thread for reference.

Richard

Hi,

thanks for your reply. We do need that quality on this customer. And your wowza shipped player is playing just fine, is it the jw player that cannot handle 2.2mbit? As your player is handeling it, it has to be possible, right? What kind of player are you using that is included as a example player then? Is it created through adobe CS5 or something?

Thanks again!

Perra

ok, i will try BWcheck as well.

The wowza server is on a 100/100mbit fiber connection and they will also have 1Gbit/1gbit at times to serve more clients.

In sweden most people have at least 8mbit download bandwith and its not uncommon with higher speeds, so there shouldnt be any problem streaming to most viewers at 2.2mbit.

I have tried jw player from longtailvideos site, not on the same webserver as your wowza example player is at, but just to get an understanding how it works, please explain this:

When someone is surfing to a page with a flashplayer, it will download the player locally in that clients browser and after it is downloaded it connects directly to the wowza servers rtmp stream, and not via the webserver that is hosting the player files? If it is like this (i might be very wrong though :slight_smile: then it should matter where the player is hosted? Or is there any other parameter that is messing with stutters and so on?

just for the record, the wowza example player test was also on a remote webserver as the longtail video one (although different servers as wowza was on one.com webhosting and jw on longtails webservers.

I also tried setting buferlenght to 20 seconds on jw just for testing but it still is stuttering and not smooth as it should be.

thanks again Richard!

//Perra

ok, yes i was running the test with the same computer at the same time, switching between the browsers, and jw player is not working as it should… your player is very good at this though…

If i will be using the example player that ships with wowza to get this up and running, is it possible to put that on a webpage and have it automatically pick up a live stream or a VOD file instead of ahving to type in the server and file adress manually? also will it be able to not show error if not finding a stream allowing me to start my stream after a viewer has already “started” up the player or surfed to my webpage?

Thanks for your fast replies!!

//Perra

Ok thanks again, i will check it, i did some different buffer numbers, but it didnt do much at that time. Is it possible to send you a email with the wowza ip adress and stream and see if you experience the same problem? I dont know if that is something i can buy from you as a service? Id rather not put the IP adress and stuff public…

//Perra