Wowza: Dynamically transcode (and save) multiple bitrate-versions of one stream

Question

I'm trying to setup Wowza + JWPlayer to allow streaming of VOD files (from S3 servers).

Let's say my file is called "video1.f4v" and is located at rtmp://server:1935/vod/mp4:amazons3/bucket/video1.f4v.

• Is there a way to setup Wowza so it generates different versions (e.g. 240p, 360p, 720p) of a stream, which I can add to my (JWplayer) video player instance? Does Wowza save the files after encoding them the first time somewhere or will it have to transcode everytime a user requests the file?

• Or do I have to encode all 3 versions by myself, upload it to s3 and then create a custom playlist for JWplayer?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You need to transcode the videos to the required bitrates manually by using a transcoder.

ie sample.mp4 to sample_240.mp4, sample_360.mp4, sample_720p

Wowza do not have VOD transcoder by this time. Since you are using AWS S3 buckets, I'm suggesting you to transcode all the videos using AWS Elastic Transcoder.

You should create two S3 buckets. let's say : uploadvideofiles, transcodedvideofiles

You need to upload all of your videos to "uploadvideofiles" bucket and by using transcoder you need to transcode it and save in the "transcodedvideofiles".

Here is the AWS Elastic Transcoder Guide : http://docs.aws.amazon.com/elastictranscoder/latest/developerguide/introduction.html

Now you can use the transcoded videos for streaming.