[Live-devel] Trick mode

[Ross Finlayson]

When you talk about "trick mode support", are you referring to RTSP client 
support, or RTSP server support.

RTSP *client* support for 'trick play' has been in place for several 
months.  Note the "start", "end" and "scale" parameters to 
"RTSPClient::playMediaS(ubS)ession".

RTSP *server* support for 'trick play' has also been in place for several 
months, but note that parts of this are (necessarily) media type 
specific.  I.e., there has to be some new code added for each different 
type of media file that you wish to stream.

In particular, to support 'trick mode' when streaming from a media type, 
changes need to be made to the corresponding subclass of 
"ServerMediaSubsession()":
1/ To add support for seeking within a stream, you will need to implement 
the following virtual functions:
	virtual float duration() const;
		Returns the file's duration, in seconds
	virtual void seekStreamSource(FramedSource* inputSource, float seekNPT);
		(Attempts to) seek within the input source.
2/ To add support for 'fast forward' and/or 'reverse play', you will also 
need to implement the following virtual functions:
	virtual void testScaleFactor(float& scale);
		Inspects the input value of "scale", and, if necessary, changes it to a 
nearby value that we support.  (E.g., if the input value of "scale" is 3.3, 
you might change it to 3 (an integer).)  If there's no 'nearby' value that 
you support, just set "scale" to 1 (the default value).
	virtual void setStreamSourceScale(FramedSource* inputSource, float scale);
		Actually sets the scale factor for a specific input source.  (The value 
of "scale" will previously have been passed in and out of 
"testScaleFactor()", so we know that it is a value that we support.)

This functionality has currently been added to 
"MP3AudioFileServerMediaSubsession" (fast forward only; no reverse play), 
and "WAVAudioFileServerMediaSubsession", for streaming from MP3 files and 
WAV audio file, respectively.

Support for other file types is ongoing.  (As always, requests by paying 
customers take priority.)


	Ross Finlayson
	LIVE.COM
	<http://www.live.com/>