Wowza Community

RTSP + Android + Wowza.v3 = Keeps Cutting Out After 90 sec

After upgrading to v3 of Wowza, I am unable to keep video playing for more than a minute or so on an Android device (via RTSP). It starts to play and works for about a minute (90 seconds actually) then just stops.

Can anyone give some guidance? I’ve tried it on a couple different Android devices. One of which has Android v2.3.6.

Thank you,

Steven

Is it same playing on VLC? Any clue in the Wowza access log?

Richard

After upgrading to v3 of Wowza, I am unable to keep video playing for more than a minute or so on an Android device (via RTSP). It starts to play and works for about a minute (90 seconds actually) then just stops.

Can anyone give some guidance? I’ve tried it on a couple different Android devices. One of which has Android v2.3.6.

Thank you,

Steven

Steven or Wowza support - I have the same problem. Did you determine a fix?

Tim

I just tried your stream on my Android Thunderbolt on Verizon network in USA and it plays for me longer than 90 seconds. My phone is running Android 2.3.4. I tried on both wifi and 4G. I played the following URL:

rtsp://media10.sa-media.com:1935/vod/_definst_/mp4:sample.mp4

Charlie

As I understand your discomfort, but today in a android 2.2.2, ADSL wifi if it works. I already reviewed or corrected the case, if we have you moved accounts.

I had the same problem, only Wowza engineers said it was because of my server. The data center blame the software.

The truth is divided opinion but. I send my a little annoying server accesses to take and tell me what the problem is real.

  • I who installed and configured.

  • The server and / or data center

  • The software “Wowza”

It was unfortunate and got no results and I simply left the case.

Be grounds for further analysis with more time.

Here I put my discomfort when not having answers and eventually came to nothing. http://www.wowza.com/forums/showthread.php?16536-unrecognized-problem-ask-the-server-diagnostics-yet-I-have-no-answer&highlight=

NOTE: pc works fine with VLC

I really don’t understand what you are trying to say here. Is there still a problem? Is there something we need to look at?

Charlie

Steven,

Android 2.2 or higher supports Flash. What version are you using?

Follow this guide thoroughly:

https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-troubleshoot-rtsp-rtp-playback

This guide also has links to RTSP setup guide (step 3), and the Mobile test page that. Make sure you setup your application according to that RTSP guide (step 3)

Richard

Download BigBuckBunny_175k.mov and test with that:

http://www.wowza.com/_h264/BigBuckBunny_175k.mov

Richard

Steven,

I don’t have one. RTSP with VLC works and Flash RTMP.

I’m not sure what we will be able to tell, it is obviously a player or network issue, but we will take a look if you zip up and send conf and logs folders to support@wowza.com.

Add this Property to /conf/[app-name]/Application.xml /RTP /Properties

debugRTSPSession

true

Boolean

Then, if you can, stop Wowza, delete or rename the current access log, then restart Wowza and test with the device, a test where this occurs at least once. Send just that access log with the conf folder.

Richard

As I understand your discomfort, but today in a android 2.2.2, ADSL wifi if it works. I already reviewed or corrected the case, if we have you moved accounts.

I had the same problem, only Wowza engineers said it was because of my server. The data center blame the software.

The truth is divided opinion but. I send my a little annoying server accesses to take and tell me what the problem is real.

  • I who installed and configured.

  • The server and / or data center

  • The software “Wowza”

It was unfortunate and got no results and I simply left the case.

Be grounds for further analysis with more time.

Here I put my discomfort when not having answers and eventually came to nothing. http://www.wowza.com/forums/showthread.php?16536-unrecognized-problem-ask-the-server-diagnostics-yet-I-have-no-answer&highlight=

NOTE: pc works fine with VLC

Is it same playing on VLC? Any clue in the Wowza access log?

Richard

I just tried it with VLC (same RTSP URL) and it works perfectly. Still running after 5 minutes of running. So, it’s obviously an Android-related issue?

Does it have anything to do with KeepAlive or UDP ports? I have all UDP ports on my firewall by the way.

Thanks,

Steven

Possibly an encoding issue?

What happens when you play the Wowza sample file?

rtsp://[wowza-address]:1935/vod/mp4:sample.mp4

Same thing. It plays for about a minute – then cuts out (on the Android). It must be something fairly simple I’m missing. Have any other suggestions?

Steven

I examined the Wowza log and found this interesting line:

RTPStream.idle[1369684105:savideo/definst:sermons102/128081142583.mp4]: Close RTSP/RTP session. Session timeout: 90000

Does this seem to indicate that Wowza is disconnecting the session because it thinks the client is no longer there? I found the corresponding “90000” value in the application.xml. But I don’t know why it would be timing out. Unless whatever packets that the Android client is supposed to send (to keep-alive) are not making it to the server?

I tried turning off the server firewall completely (running Windows 2008), but it still didn’t work. There must be something else.

Do you have any more ideas?

Steven

Ok, then try some more troubleshooting to narrow down the problem:

  1. Play the Wowza VOD RTSP demo in your Android RTSP player. I use the free Doga player.

rtsp://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov

If it works then it would point to a problem with your Wowza installation. If not, possibly a network issue on your end.

  1. Try playing the simple flash demo in your Android browser by going to:

http://www.wowza.com/demo#

Just browse to there and watch the demo right on that page. It works well for me in Android 2.2.1.

I just tried playing your first link on the Android – no problems.

The second link (flash) didn’t work – it seems I don’t have the latest flash plugin perhaps? It just showed an “X” where the flash part is supposed to go.

It seems from this that the problem is with my server’s installation? I guess the next question is, any ideas on what it could be? Possibly something to do with UDP packets being blocked? (But remember, my Windows firewall has all UDP ports open).

Steven

Steven,

Android 2.2 or higher supports Flash. What version are you using?

Follow this guide thoroughly:

https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-troubleshoot-rtsp-rtp-playback

This guide also has links to RTSP setup guide (step 3), and the Mobile test page that. Make sure you setup your application according to that RTSP guide (step 3)

Richard

My Android says “2.3.6” under Settings/About phone/Android version.

I have followed the guide to the best of my ability. And I get the same result. I have tried to change the RTSPBindAddress parameters with slightly better results. But it’s still not really working. Can someone try to stream from my server (on an Android) and see if it works for you?

rtsp://media10.sa-media.com:1935/vod/definst/mp4:sample.mp4

As I said before, it seems to work on the PC (via VLC)… Just not from Android. Can someone give me some more clues?

Steven

Download BigBuckBunny_175k.mov and test with that:

http://www.wowza.com/_h264/BigBuckBunny_175k.mov

Richard

I did. Same result. I mentioned this before – but I really do believe it is an issue with KeepAlive as the log indicates:

RTPStream.idle[880678815:vod/definst:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov]: Close RTSP/RTP session. Session timeout: 90000

… sounds like to me that the Android phone is not able to get the necessary packets through to the server that it’s still connected…?

Steven

Hi

Ok, your firewall on Windows is open for all the necessary ports and protocols but if you are then behind a router they may be blocked from there.

Are you using a router?

Can you also describe “slightly better results”? from this,

“I have tried to change the RTSPBindAddress parameters with slightly better results”

Is the server in a data-centre or are you doing this from home?

Has the data centre got its own firewall?

Jason

Apparently there is no firewall at the datacenter. Before we go too much further, can you verify that you are NOT able to stream this?

rtsp://media10.sa-media.com:1935/vod/definst/mp4:sample.mp4

… from your Android?

Steven

Steven,

I don’t have one. RTSP with VLC works and Flash RTMP.

I’m not sure what we will be able to tell, it is obviously a player or network issue, but we will take a look if you zip up and send conf and logs folders to support@wowza.com.

Add this Property to /conf/[app-name]/Application.xml /RTP /Properties

debugRTSPSession

true

Boolean

Then, if you can, stop Wowza, delete or rename the current access log, then restart Wowza and test with the device, a test where this occurs at least once. Send just that access log with the conf folder.

Richard

OK. I have emailed you all the requested information. Thank you for your willingness to help with this. We’re definitely stuck. I look forward to your analysis.

Steven

Steven or Wowza support - I have the same problem. Did you determine a fix?

Tim

Unfortunately no. I’m hoping that the next patch for Wowza or next update for Android will fix the problem.

Steven

Is anyone willing to offer some one-on-one help with this problem, please? This is very puzzling and hasn’t been solved yet for a number of months. Please contact me directly if you are willing to help.

Thank you,

Steven

Steven,

This problem is most likely related to UDP routing. Wowza Media Server will timeout an RTSP/RTP connection if we have not received any data from the player in the form of either RTCP packets or some sort of GET_OPTIONS request in 90 seconds. We properly signal that we have a 60 second timeout in the RTSP exchange. There is most likely an issue with UDP routing that is blocking the RTCP (UDP packets) from flowing from the player to the Wowza Server. These packets would be sufficient to keep the session alive. Since we are not getting these packets the session is dropped after the timeout. You can test to see if this is the case by editing [install-dir]/conf/[application]/Application.xml and changing the RTP/RTSPSessionTimeout to zero (value is in milliseconds, default is 90000). Changing this value to zero will turn off this mechanism. With this off the stream should continue to play.

<RTSPSessionTimeout>0</RTSPSessionTimeout>

Another test is to try our sample RTSP URL to see if the problem is isolated to your server setup. Try to playback this URL:

rtsp://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov

If it plays for more than 90 seconds then the problem is with the UDP routing/firewall that the Wowa Media Server is behind. There are suggestions in the RTSP Troubleshooting Guide if your server is behind NAT:

If this does not resolve the issue then try turning off all firewalls between your phone and Wowza Media Server. Again, the issue is most likely related to UDP routing/firewall.

-Lisa

Will there be a big problem if I decide to disable the timeout? For example, does that mean all videos will continue to play from beginning to end (thereby tying up CPU and bandwidth) even if clients have long-since disappeared?

Steven