Developsigner

How to connect to a multi bitrate encoded live stream from Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder. What follows is the easiest way to connect to a multi bitrate live stream produced from FMLE 3.0 and played back through the FLVPlayback 2.50015 component along with some tips I picked up while trouble shooting.

What you will need:

• Flash Media Server 3.5
• Adobe Flash Main Encoder 3
• FLVPlayback 2.50015 this was recently updated to fix a bug in connecting to multiple supplied streams.

This post assumes you have all of these installed properly and you are able to connect to a single stream without issue. For information on getting started with any of these refer to their accompanying documentation. More info can be found at the Adobe Developer Connection FMS resources page including some tutorials to get you started. Any issues you find that are not covered in this post should be referred to the forums.

*Disclaimer: I am using Edgecast as my CDN. They make it very easy to find all of the info needed. Different CDN’s may vary. Things you will need to know that will be specific to your CDN are:

• how to enable an authentication token
• how to add your authentication token to your stream name in FMLE
• What version of FMS they are running ( You will need 3.5 )

I wanted to take a minute and share a development approach I find is very useful. I call it Sandboxing. All it really is is a separate project that you do all of your figuring out in. It might seem obvious to a lot of people, but to those who don’t use this approach, it is amazing how much more productive you are once you set it up.

How to set up a Sandbox

• Create a new project ( I use a plain old vanilla Actionscript project )
• Create a new class for whatever you are figuring out
• In your Sandbox class constructor add a new WhateverTheTestClassIs()
• Comment it our once you are done ( just in case you want to reference it later )
• Rinse Repeat

Seems dead simple I know but t keeps you focused on the problem at hand instead of mucking around with whatever larger project you are working on. I don’t even deal with packages, just throw them in the root. Fast, easy, done.

Demo Sandbox Project

As promised here are links to my slides and demo application from my talks on May 12th and 14th for SILVAFUG. The focus of this talk was creating a common language between designers ( or anyone not familiar with Flex ) and the Flex Framework. This was an introduction level talk to get people ready for Flash Builder 4 ( I love the new name ) and Flash Catalyst concepts since they will both be building on current Flex patterns.

Thanks for everyone who attended. A special thanks to all the San Jose users group members who got involved in the discussion.

Links

• Slides
• Demo source

Resources

• Tour de Flex