Media player in Webinterface
Media player in Webinterface
Hey guys and specifically @emcodem for the Webinterface dev
Maybe you already have this in a to-do list... but I wanted to ask if a Media player integration in the Webinterface is possible at all.
I made a mockup just to give an idea:
If you think this would be possible, I'd like to help!
Giacomo
Maybe you already have this in a to-do list... but I wanted to ask if a Media player integration in the Webinterface is possible at all.
I made a mockup just to give an idea:
If you think this would be possible, I'd like to help!
Giacomo
Re: Media player in Webinterface
Hey Giacomo 
well, what can i say, a few weeks ago i asked @momocampo what feature he wants to have next in the webui,
1) a player
2) farm controlling
He decided for farm controlling
(just kidding Benjamin, you know) 
OK, so a player on the webui is something thats really complicated but doable after all.
Let me ask you some questions @ArsenioV
Are you aware that:
1) A browser cannot access any local file, so the files would need to be retrieved via http from the client to the webinterface server
2) A browser can only play certain containers and codecs, e.g. h264, so either we can only play formats that the browser supports OR
3) the server would need to "live transcode" the played video for the browser
Usually this is done using live transcoding on the server using Graphics card encoder, e.g. Intel Quicksync or Nvidia NVENC.
The problem is that the webinterface is usually hosted on the same server where FFAStrans is running and consuming all resources. So we'd need to control how many users view videos over the webinterface at the same time.
Alternatively, we could just have a "rightclick->openin player" and open a local video player. But again, the user would need to have direct access to where the files are and at least read access to that location.
What you think?

well, what can i say, a few weeks ago i asked @momocampo what feature he wants to have next in the webui,
1) a player
2) farm controlling
He decided for farm controlling


OK, so a player on the webui is something thats really complicated but doable after all.
Let me ask you some questions @ArsenioV
Are you aware that:
1) A browser cannot access any local file, so the files would need to be retrieved via http from the client to the webinterface server
2) A browser can only play certain containers and codecs, e.g. h264, so either we can only play formats that the browser supports OR
3) the server would need to "live transcode" the played video for the browser
Usually this is done using live transcoding on the server using Graphics card encoder, e.g. Intel Quicksync or Nvidia NVENC.
The problem is that the webinterface is usually hosted on the same server where FFAStrans is running and consuming all resources. So we'd need to control how many users view videos over the webinterface at the same time.
Alternatively, we could just have a "rightclick->openin player" and open a local video player. But again, the user would need to have direct access to where the files are and at least read access to that location.
What you think?
emcodem, wrapping since 2009 you got the rhyme?
Re: Media player in Webinterface
Damn! It is my fault.... Sorry Giacomo but I didn't know what was my favourite...
Anyway, I confirm the web interface player is in mind of our dear Emcodem
he never runs out of ideas!

Anyway, I confirm the web interface player is in mind of our dear Emcodem
Re: Media player in Webinterface
Haha! Looking forward to the future development of the webui 
RE video player @emcodem:
Yes I know all of that and that's why I first asked if this is possible at all theoretically.
I guess the "easy" way would be to send a stream to an external player like you say, which would be more than nothing for sure! The main usage of this, in my experience at least, is to check if the file we're shooting in transcoding is the correct one. We often receive many versions of the same content and most of the time there is just 1 which is correct and usable without issues, so we visually check them before encoding and select the correct one. Having a player in the UI or accessible through it would save a lot of time.
I know that playing with web-based players can be a little tricky, I don't have much knowledge on that specific part unfortunately but I guess it would be quite time-consuming. Main problem would be the variety of containers and codecs and probably the need of creating a specific set of commands for the "non-h264" codecs?
I'm also wondering: have you investigated the possibility of working with DASH creating very small and low-bitrate h264 proxies when there is no other process running in FFAStrans? Don't know, maybe a <500k bitrate? That shouldn't get too heavy on the disk resources of the users, right?
Just guessing here.
Also wanted to ask: would you accept a little help on making the webui look better graphically? That's one of my few abilities
Giacomo

RE video player @emcodem:
Yes I know all of that and that's why I first asked if this is possible at all theoretically.
I guess the "easy" way would be to send a stream to an external player like you say, which would be more than nothing for sure! The main usage of this, in my experience at least, is to check if the file we're shooting in transcoding is the correct one. We often receive many versions of the same content and most of the time there is just 1 which is correct and usable without issues, so we visually check them before encoding and select the correct one. Having a player in the UI or accessible through it would save a lot of time.
I know that playing with web-based players can be a little tricky, I don't have much knowledge on that specific part unfortunately but I guess it would be quite time-consuming. Main problem would be the variety of containers and codecs and probably the need of creating a specific set of commands for the "non-h264" codecs?
I'm also wondering: have you investigated the possibility of working with DASH creating very small and low-bitrate h264 proxies when there is no other process running in FFAStrans? Don't know, maybe a <500k bitrate? That shouldn't get too heavy on the disk resources of the users, right?
Just guessing here.
Also wanted to ask: would you accept a little help on making the webui look better graphically? That's one of my few abilities

Giacomo
Re: Media player in Webinterface
Yeah i already played with the thought to just provide http access to the source files but it will not be the final solution because of the option to have 800Mbit files on the server. No worries about that, i did this stuff multiple times over the last years and i am sure that this time i will do it even better again
But i'll finish the metrics stuff before looking into this.
Regarding help on styling, read PM

Regarding help on styling, read PM

emcodem, wrapping since 2009 you got the rhyme?
Re: Media player in Webinterface
Cool! Keep us posted 

Re: Media player in Webinterface
Okay, i am working on this now and have some really promising results using mpeg-1 live encoding with vlc. Initially it might be restricted to play the first audio track and such but hey, it's a start..
I wonder what features besides the sheer play functionality could be interesting for the initial implementation?
I wonder what features besides the sheer play functionality could be interesting for the initial implementation?
emcodem, wrapping since 2009 you got the rhyme?
Re: Media player in Webinterface
@ArsenioV it is done.
emcodem, wrapping since 2009 you got the rhyme?