Creating a broadcast description file

    The broadcast description file is a text file that specifies how the media should be broadcast, the playlist file, the IP address of the Darwin Streaming Server, and other information about the broadcast.

    Example file:
    playlist_file
    /server/local/media/lists/playlist1
    play_mode weighted_random
    sdp_reference_movie /music/jazz/take5.mov
    destination_ip_address 12.123.123.123
    destination_base_port 5004
    recent_movies_list_size 10
    sdp_file /server/movies/playlist1.sdp
    logging enabled
    log_file /server/local/playlist1.log

    To create a broadcast description file, you can use any text editor. You can give the file any name you'd like and you can save the file to any location on your server.

    The file must contain these keywords followed by the appropriate value:

      Keyword   Value    
    playlist_file playlist file name and path; can be complete or relative path
    For example: /server/local/media/lists/playlist1

    play_mode can specify one of three modes: sequential, sequential_looped, or weighted_random

    sdp_reference_movie sdp reference movie file path and name; can be complete or relative path
    For example:
    /music/jazz/take5.mov

    destination_ip_address IP address of the local streaming server you use to broadcast the media
    For example:
    12.123.123.123

    destination_base_port port number
    Default is 5004

    recent_movies_list_size the minimum number of files that must play before a file may be repeated

    sdp_file SDP file path and name; can be complete or relative path
    For example:
    /server/movies/playlist1.sdp

    logging enabled or disabled

    log_file log file path and name
    For example:
    /server/local/playlist1.log

More details about keywords and values

    play_mode:
    You can specify one of three modes:
    sequential
    The media is broadcast in the order it appears in the playlist file. When the last media file is done playing, the broadcast stops.
    sequential_looped
    The media is broadcast in the order it appears in the playlist file. When the last media file is done playing, the playlist repeats in the same order.
    weighted_random
    The media is broadcast in random order using the specified weights to determine how often an item plays.

    destination_ip_address:
    The default value is the IP address of the computer that has PlaylistBroadcaster and Darwin Streaming Server installed. You can also specify the IP address of another computer running Darwin Streaming Server (unicast) or a multicast address.

    destination_base_port:
    The base port number for the broadcast must be an even number. If you do not specify a port number, the default port (5004) is used.

    Each track of the media you broadcast requires two ports. If the media contains more than one track (for example, video and sound), PlaylistBroadcaster uses the destination base port as the starting port number, then assigns (in ascending order) port numbers to other tracks automatically.

    IMPORTANT: Each track of every broadcast you play simultaneously must use a different port number. If you stream more than one broadcast of multitrack media from your Darwin Streaming Server, be sure to assign destination base ports so that tracks do not play on the same port.

    For example, if you use the default destination base port for a broadcast in which the media has three tracks (video, audio, and text), then the broadcast will use ports 5004 through 5009 (two for each track). If you want to broadcast another stream, then you should set the destination base port of the second stream to at least 5010.

    recent_movies_list_size:
    You can specify this only if the play mode is weighted_random. By default this value is zero (0), so that all the media files play randomly based only on the weight you have assigned to each one.

    Be sure to set this value to a number less than the number of media files in the playlist. If you set it to a number equal to or greater than the number of media files, the broadcast will play each media file once then stop.

    sdp_file:
    You must specify a Session Description Protocol (SDP) file. The SDP file must be in the media directory you set up for Darwin Streaming Server. If the SDP file you specify doesn't exist in the location, PlaylistBroadcaster creates one.

    IMPORTANT: If you stop a broadcast and change the broadcast description file, be sure to delete the SDP file from the media directory before you restart the broadcast. Otherwise PlaylistBroadcaster won't create a new SDP file, and your changes won't take effect.

    sdp_reference_movie:
    The complete or relative pathname of the reference movie, which can be one of the media files you are broadcasting. PlaylistBroadcaster uses the reference movie to create an SDP file. See Preparing a reference movie.

    logging:
    If you enable logging, PlaylistBroadcaster records information about the broadcast in the log file, including error messages.

    log_file:
    If you enable logging but do not specify a log file, then PlaylistBroadcaster creates a log file with the name of the broadcast description file followed by ".log" in the same directory as the broadcast description file.

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