We’ve designed it to be easy-to-use, and it is optimized and HTML5-ready for all mobile platforms. The best thing is that our current Influxis FMS customers can sign up for a complimentary upgraded free Influxis Mobile account right from the Influxis Wizard, and easily import all their video files over to our Mobile delivery service.  A standard free account is also available on the Influxis Mobile website (yeah, let your friends know). These free accounts have no expiration or contract to worry about. You can simply sign up and start using Influxis Mobile and experience firsthand what we call the “Easy Mobile Streaming”.

Check it out today at MOBILE.INFLUXIS.COM.

Easy Mobile Streaming!

I am very excited Influxis is attending and bringing you the Voodoo Lounge, streamed live during the 3 days.

Hope to see you all there. If you need an excuse to attend, here are 10 good reasons:

http://www.fitc.ca/news/?p=856

It has finally happened, haXe is now supported by fdt! Influxis has believed for a couple of years now that haXe is an excellent, optimized language for coding web applications and has the potential to become a new standard. We are very glad to have helped make possible the haXe fdt plugin. Thank you very much to PowerFlasher and many friends in the community for all of your feedback, assistance and support.

http://fdt.powerflasher.com/blog/?p=2233

http://ncannasse.fr/blog/haxe_support_in_fdt

http://mashable.com/2010/07/20/android-video-calling/

Of course we need to wait for Android devices that not only have forward cameras (EVO) but also access to FroYo (Android OS 2.2).  But once that happens you can port your own Video Chat code you’ve been using for years with FMS to AIR for Android within 5 minutes!

First, open your Video Chat App and change the Publish Settings to AIR Android.  Then add this to your VideoChatApp-app.xml:
<android>
<manifestAdditions>
<manifest>
<data><![CDATA[
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO"/>
]]></data>
</manifest>
</manifestAdditions>
</android>

And that’s it!  You’ve got your Flash based version of Facetime, but it’s a little bit better, because ours goes to the Web as well.  Pretty awesome right?  I’ll be updating tomorrow with code for RTMP based Mobile Video Chat and RTMFP based Mobile Video Chat, Multicasting, Audio Chat (Skype), and Text Chat.

Stay tuned!

Log in to your Influxis account, click on the ‘Influxis Player Builder’ on left hand menu (option is highlighted in white in picture below).

1. Add Videos

In the Add Videos section, click the ‘Add’ button to select a video to upload.  To add more videos, simply click the ‘Add’ button again and select additional videos.

To remove a video from the upload list, click on the video name and click the ‘Remove’ button.  Or click the ‘Clear’ button to clear all videos on the upload list.  Once you have added all your desired videos, click the ‘Upload’ button to upload your videos to the player.

2. Preview

Click ‘Show’ on the right side of the Preview bar to display a preview of your player.

Then click ‘Show’ on the right side of the Customize Player bar to view your player settings.  You can customize your player by altering the different settings.

Click the ‘Update Player’ button to view and save your settings.  Or click ‘Restore Defaults’ to return the player back to the default settings.

3. Publish

Click ‘Show’ on the right side of the Publish bar to display the URL and Embed Tag for your player.

Click the ‘Copy’ button to copy the URL, which you can then paste in to an email, etc.  Or click the ‘Launch’ button to display your player in your web browser.

Click the ‘Copy’ button to copy the Embed Tag, which you can paste into the HTML code for website.

You can click the ‘Download’ button to download the SWF file to your computer.

It’s that simple!

The only way to add a SWF to Facebook is on a “Page,” i.e. Fan Page, or Business Page.  These are Public profile pages because no privacy settings can be defined and are open to everyone.

The first step of this process is to create a page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

After you have created the page, click on the “Edit Page” tab.  Once here scroll down through “Applications” and click on “Static FBML,” click add, then press the “Add to My Page” button.

Once this is done go back to your page and click the “Edit Page” button again.  If you scroll down you will see the new application “FBML” and click “Edit.”  This is where you can add the title of your SWF and add the embed code.

The embed code will need to be set up according to Facebook’s outline.  The code is similar – at least in structure – to standard <object> <embed> code used in HTML. There are, however, more specific attributes that must be used.  The only necessary attribute is swfsrc – which defines the URL that points to your SWF file.  For more information on this here is a link to their developer page:

http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Fb:swf

Here is the basic embed code for our tv2beta application with a few variables added:

<fb:swf
swfbgcolor="000000"
swfsrc='http://66.135.33.137/apps/hhrtzasokq0urnka5ppa/tv2beta/tvstation_viewer_v2.swf'
imgsrc="http://labs.influxis.com/vidtuts/Influxis.jpg"
flashvars='RTMP=rtmp://XXXXXXX.rtmphost.com/tv2beta'
width='700px'
height='600px'
waitforclick='true'
/>

Once you have saved the page you can go back to your profile and add a “Tab” (Wall, Info, Photos, etc.) to link it to your FBML application.

SWF files are initially inactive. The user must click on the SWF in order to activate it. You can define an image file in the FBML code that displays a static image that the user can click on to initialize the SWF file.

We hope that this helps all you Facbookers and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Click here for the live demo

The next update to TVStation2 is finally out. This version has several bug fixes, new features, and a new viewer skin.  Here is a rundown of all the changes:

The following issues have been resolved:

1. [admin] Category in admin settings was resetting when settings were saved.
2. [viewer] When selecting a channel with no list the SharedObject saved channel feature creates a bug.
3. [viewer] Video controls next works but doesn’t highlight next item.
4. [viewer] Video controls previous does not work.
5. [viewer] When changing channels on the viewer sometimes the activity events would not come in resulting in no playback. This was more noticeable when specifying a specific channel to connect to.
6. [viewer] The aspect sizing isn’t working properly at times when streaming live.
7. [viewer] Mute bar still doesn’t come off sometimes when you roll off screen.
8. [viewer] The close(x) but in the viewer is not displaying correctly when only one panel is available.
9. [viewer] Seek scrubber acts weird when changing or seeking media.
10. [admin]  The launch viewer button was not working.

The following changes have been made:

1. [viewer] Control fade now responds to screen roll over/out.
2. [both] Wirecast is now fully supported.
3. [viewer] StylesLoader api has been removed.
4. [viewer] A reconnect prompt has now been added when the connection is dropped.
5. [viewer] The tabs can now be ordered using the settings api.
6. [viewer] Channel order can now be customized through the settings api.
7. [both] OnDemand content can now be ordered through the playlists in the Media tab on the admin.
8. [viewer] Chat has been moved into the tabs.
9. [both] User profile has been taken out temporarily.
10. [admin] Broadcast settings are now saved.
11. [admin] Auto login can now be configured through FlashVars/settings.xml.
12. [admin] Start/Stop TVStation has been moved to appear only in settings and channels tab.
13. [admin] Broadcast icon from the live tab was changed.
14. [both] Skins and display have been optimized for better performance.
15. [viewer] All new skin.
16. [viewer] Scheduled content can now be paused and rewound.
17. [viewer] Guide toggle has been moved to control bar.
18. [viewer] Buffer icon added between media changes.
19. [both] Labels XML has been updated to reflect changes.
20. [both] Documentation and help tab have been updated to reflect changes.
21. [viewer] Bottom right display has been removed.
22. [viewer] Videos are now clickable when a URL is assigned to them.
23. [viewer] Rolling over the title displays the description, if available.

The update is available now through the Influxis Wizard. Get it while it’s hot.

For a while now, I’ve been talking about the awesome new Real Time Media Flow Protocol (RTMFP), and how it’s a major evolution for the Flash Player.  Unfortunately, Peer to Peer server systems are not the easiest things to be blown away by.  Who really knows how amazing a Distributed Hash Table is?  Or that NetGroups are essentially using a Ring Topology?   Answer: less than 100 people.

So, what does that mean for the rest of us?  How should we get everyone else excited about this mysterious new technology?  Easy. . .

RTMFP driven applications consume around 80% less bandwidth than the regular old RTMP apps, and less bandwidth equals less cost.

And on top of that, due to the nature of Peer 2 Peer systems they are massively scalable.  I mean, this is on the magnitude of broadcasting a Presidential inauguration with no problems and better yet, a fraction of the bandwidth.

I built a little site for you to test drive the new Multicast Streaming system, and a new Peer 2 Peer based Video Chat here:

http://www.smashstream.com

If you want to read a good overview of the technology behind RTMFP and what it’s doing check this out:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashmediaserver/articles/p2p_rtmfp_groups.html

Please check back soon for more applications I’ll be releasing using RTMFP at their core.

We’re going to show you how you can toggle between multiple broadcasted streams.

source files

Let’s begin by first importing the classes we’re going to use on our client-side:

import fl.data.DataProvider;
import fl.events.ListEvent;

We then define the connection path use in the application and establish a NetConnection to the streaming server:

var RTMP:String="rtmp://XXXXXX.rtmphost.com/ApplicationDirectory";

var nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
nc.addEventListener(NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS,netConnectionHandler);
nc.connect(RTMP);

Upon a successful NetConnection, we will call the createNetStream and createSharedObject methods:

function netConnectionHandler(event:NetStatusEvent):void {
switch (event.info.code) {
case "NetConnection.Connect.Success" :
createNetStream();
createSharedObject();
break;
default :
trace("Not Connected");
}
}

The createNetStream method will handle the creation of the NetStream used to subscribe to the incoming live feeds. The createNetStream will also attach the NetStream to the Video Object so that the selected feed may be viewed:

function createNetStream():void{
ns = new NetStream(nc);
ns.addEventListener(NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS,netStreamHandler)

vid.attachNetStream(ns);
}

The createSharedObject method will generate a remote shared object which we will use to populate a list of active incoming streams:

function createSharedObject():void{
so = SharedObject.getRemote("myList", nc.uri, false);
so.addEventListener( SyncEvent.SYNC, syncHandler );
so.connect(nc);
}

The syncHandler is pretty much the heart and soul of the viewer. When the SYNC event is fired, the syncHandler will clear the aList array and re-populate the array with the information stored within the SharedObject.

function syncHandler(event:SyncEvent):void {
aList = [];

for (var prop in so.data) {
aList.push({label:"User: "+prop+"  Stream:"+so.data[prop] , stream:so.data[prop]});
}

if(bInit == true ){
sName = aList[0].stream;
playStream();
bInit = false;
}

vidList.dataProvider = new DataProvider(aList);

}

When a viewer clicks an item within the list component in order to switch between active broadcasts, the onSelectedItemHandler will first close the NetStream, set the sName variable according to the stream property of the item selected, and finally call the playStream method:

function onSelectedItemHandler( event: ListEvent ):void{
ns.close();
sName = event.item.stream;
playStream();
}

The playStream method simply plays the NetStream using the sName variable as the stream name parameter:

function playStream():void{
ns.play(sName);
}

Server-side used for our sample is fairly basic. When the application is first loaded, the onAppStart function will create a SharedObject, which is used to store the list of active broadcasts.

application.onAppStart = function() {
application.so = SharedObject.get("myList",false);
};

When a client broadcasts/publishes a stream to an application, the onPublish function is invoked, using the client id as the property for the SharedObject and the stream name as the value for the unique SharedObject property:

application.onPublish = function(clientObject,streamObject){
var id = clientObject.id;
application.so.setProperty(id.toString(), streamObject.name);
}

The onUnpublish function is invoked when a client stops broadcasting to an application. In the onUnpublish state the client id is used to refer to the property within the SharedObject. It is then given a value of null to remove it from the SharedObject:

application.onUnpublish=function(clientObject,streamObject){
var id = clientObject.id;
application.so.setProperty(id.toString(), null);
}

Hope this is helpful and please let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Influxis

Company: Ricca Racing (www.riccaracing.com)

Ricca Racing Contact: Matt Espinoza, Chief Technology Officer

Influxis Contact: Grant Garrett, VP of Global Business Development (Twitter: @influxisgrant)

The video camera aboard the race car to stream the video live.

Challenges

• Ricca Racing, a subsidiary of 240SXMotoring, needed a reliable streaming host to distribute the live audio/video stream coming out of their race car. It had to be cost effective and customizable to their needs with a no-nonsense solution in addition to top-notch customer support. The landscape of Redline Time Attack is fast paced and unpredictable so proven reliability is a must. This all went down at the New Jersey Motorsports Park in Melville on April 10 ~ 11.

• The connection to the FMS server needed to be straight forward and able to recover quickly from rapid connects and disconnects since the live streaming location was switched rapidly between the car and the pit during the race.

Solutions

• Influxis provided FMS hosting and application development consulting along with custom server-side scripting support, which enabled Ricca Racing to develop this project rapidly.

• Influxis also provided customer support throughout the project development and implementation.  Since this wasn’t an off the shelf solution – the scope of the project couldn’t be defined. Working closely with Ricca Racing, Influxis was able to keep the project moving with quick solutions to their needs.

• Ricca Racing utilized its own purpose-built and completely solid state streaming computer made from the smallest parts with enough horsepower to handle the encoding and upstream. With a setup consisting of a high-quality onboard camera and a microphone selected specifically for its sturdy construction and its ability to record high sound pressure levels they were able to capture the experience of being in the passenger seat of a race car.

• After much testing at the track, Ricca Racing was able to dial in the bitrates and feed the live streaming media content to the FMS server via a 3G broadband connection at 356 kbps.

Results

• Ricca Racing was able to live-stream its Super Modified division win with 100% reliability.

• The streaming switch between the car and the pit was seamless, and the automated boot cycle of the on-board computer had no issue connecting to the server every time before publishing the stream.

• Ease of use with Flash Media Live Encoder enabled Ricca Racing to make adjustments to bitrates and audio/video levels right at the track.

• Throughout the live streaming, Influxis provided intuitive analytics for benchmarking purposes for future live streaming projects.

• Influxis provided excellent customer service and FMS expertise required for the complexity of the project.

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