Nimble Streamer Live and VOD HLS Support

Highlights of Live and VOD HLS in Nimble Streamer

Nimble Streamer is a streaming platform that provides a full set of capabilities for HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) including Apple Low Latency HLS, live streaming mode, Server-Side Ads Insertion, DVR (Live recording and HLS playback), Video-on-Demand (VOD) via HLS as origin server, HLS audio-only streaming, HLS cache-aware re-streaming, and DRM for HLS. Nimble Streamer supports multiple codecs and containers, including H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC in MP4, MPEG2TS, fMP4 and fragmented MP4. The platform supports multiple audio tracks, transmuxing to various protocols, and HTTP/2 for modern browsers. For live HLS, Nimble Streamer can be used as a live origin for peer-to-peer streaming infrastructure, supports SCTE-35 markers, HLS AES-128 encryption, and SSL. For VOD HLS, the platform supports MP4, MP3, AAC, F4V, remote HTTP storage, adaptive bitrate support, subtitles, audio-only and video-only tracks transmuxing, and SSL. Nimble Streamer is efficient, and cache-aware, and provides a wide range of capabilities for HLS streaming.

Apple Low Latency HLS

Low Latency HLS (LL HLS) is the next-generation protocol designed to minimize streaming latency.

Apple Low Latency HLS is fully supported by Nimble Streamer.
Please read our setup description article to learn more about setup and usage of LL HLS in Nimble Streamer.
Please also watch LL HLS setup video tutorial demonstrating the setup.
Converting NDI to Apple Low Latency HLS also shows how you can turn your NDI source into LL HLS.

Live streaming mode for HLS

Nimble Streamer covers a variety of live streaming scenarios to process and deliver RFC8216 HLS.

• Both H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC are supported.
• Supported containers are MP4, MPEG2TS, audio-only and fragmented MP4 (fMP4) compatible with CMAF.
• Full ABR supportfor available multiple bitrates.
• Read How to Create a Live HLS Feed With HEVC article by Jan Ozer about HEVC HLS streaming.
• Multiple audio tracks are available for multi-language streaming.
• HTTP/2 can be used for HLS live output in modern browsers.
• Transmuxing RTMP to HLS from pulled and published streams with ABR HLS capabilities.
• Using SRT as a source via Listen, Pull and Rendezvous modes.
• Processing NDI input into all supported protocols including HLS.
• New: WebRTC WHIP ingest can be transformed into any live output including HLS.
• HLS can be published to YouTube using "Live Streams Settings" / "Republishing" menu.
• Transmuxing RTSP to HLS from pulled and announced streams.
• Transmuxing MPEG2-TS to HLS for HTTP and UDP streams.
• Pulling HLS to transmux to HLS and any other supported protocols, with fallback URLs.
• Generate thumbnails for output streams.
• CDN-friendly streaming setup is available for outgoing HLS streams.
• If-Modified-Since header is supported for CDNs requests.
• SCTE-35 markers passthrough is supported for MPEG-TS and HLS.
• SCTE-35 markers from MPEG-TS stream can be used for Nimble Advertizer ads insertion.
• HLS AES-128 encryption is available.
• SSL is supported for live HLS output.
• Nimble can also be used as a live origin for peer-to-peer streaming infrastructure.

DVR: Live recording and HLS playback

Nimble Streamer has DVR feature set which allows recording incoming live streams and provide playback via MPEG-DASH and HLS.
DVR HLS supports both HEVC (H.265) and AVC (H.264) codecs for fMP4 and MPEG2TS containers simultaneously.
HTTP/2 will be used for HLS DVR output just as for live streaming.

Streaming Video-on-Demand via HLS as origin server

Nimble Streamer allows efficiently streaming HLS in VOD mode.

• Both H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC are supported.
• Supported formats: MP4, MP3, AAC, F4V.
• Supported MP4 video+audio, video, audio, original MP4, Apple QuickTime extension.
• MPEG2TS, fragmented MP4 (fMP4) and audio-only MPEG2TS containers are supported.
• MP4 transmuxing to HLS in VOD mode. MP4 is effectively re-packaged with low resource usage.
• HTTP/2 can be used for HLS VOD output in modern browsers.
• Remote HTTP storage support allows to effectively stream files if their size exceeds available file system capacity.
• Adaptive bitrate support via SMIL files.
• Supports audio and video tracks selection for MP4 to VOD HLS transmuxing process.
• You can use audio-only and video-only tracks transmuxing.
• Subtitles: WebVTT, SRT and TTML are supported for HLS VOD streams for single files and SMILs.
• MP3 audio to audio-only HLS efficient transmuxing for decreasing traffic overhead of your internet radio.
• Produce audio-only HLS from AAC.
• VOD cache is controlled with several parameters like chunks LRU life time and more.
• If-Modified-Since header is supported for CDNs requests.
• HLS AES-128 encryption is supported for DRM content protection
• SSL is supported for VOD HLS output.
• Same media files can be used for both HLS and MPEG-DASH VOD transmuxing.

HLS audio-only streaming

HLS can also be used to efficiently deliver audio.

• Transmux live Icecast and Shoutcast to HLS and MPEG2TS streams.
• Transmux AAC and MP3 to HLS for VOD.
• Audio-only HLS is produced to reduce overhead.

HLS cache-aware re-streaming

If you have a pre-packetized content, you can set up HLS re-streaming via your edge servers. Efficient caching will allow saving your resources and bandwidth.
Both live and VOD content can be re-streamed efficiently.

Server-Side Ads Insertion for HLS

Nimble Advertizer supports insertion of advertising into live stream HLS on server side in both video+audio and audio-only modes.
It also supports ads insertion for VOD HLS for MPEG-TS and fMP4 containers.
Advertizer allows implementing custom business logic for pre-roll and mid-roll with user-specific customized insertion.
Nimble Advertizer page for technical specs and other details.

DRM for MPEG-DASH

Nimble Streamer DRM provides content protection through digital rights management, supporting Google Widevine and Microsoft Playready via BuyDRM, EZDRM, PallyCon, and custom key servers. The setup is easy and described in detail on the Nimble Streamer DRM page. Both live streaming, VOD, and DVR playback modes are fully supported with DRM.

• Google Widevine for MPEG-DASH via BuyDRM, EZDRM, PallyCon and custom key server.
• Microsoft Playready for MPEG-DASH via BuyDRM, EZDRM and PallyCon.
• Supports Widevine custom key server with key rotation.
• Supports BuyDRM KeyOS.
• Supports EZDRM key management with key rotation.
• Supports PallyCon Multi-DRM SaaS.

Easy setup is described on Nimble Streamer DRM page.