AVoD (Audio and Video on Demand) via torrents, a new level!

    Today, still many Internet users can be surprised by the possibility of online playing video and audio content via torrents, without the need to wait for content to be downloaded.
    Of course, this will not surprise the habrasociety anymore, given that even the first topics covering such an opportunity appeared on the hub more than two years ago (for example: habrahabr.ru/post/87509 , where we didn’t pass our first trial work, which in that implementation surpassed all existing solutions in the world, including the flagship solution of torrent clients, namely utorrent with its new stream function).

    So what else can surprise the habrasociety and advanced geeks after two years?

    Believe me, there is something!

    Well, to check, you are welcome under cat.


    To begin with, I want to congratulate our team and all our users on the long-awaited release of the new version of Torrent Stream software (release 1.0.5 Full). It was not just the exit of the client application, it was a change in the architecture of the entire system, its software logic, and even new sites had to be made. So, with pleasure we will accept congratulations from you.

    And now, first things first.

    Considering that for us the release of the Torrent Stream 1.0.5 Full release is a very important and significant event, that's why I will start from it.

    With the release of this release, we want to draw everyone's attention to the fact that TS P2P Multimedia Plug-In is not the only and exclusive foundation of the Torrent Stream system! At the heart of the TS System is only the Torrent Stream engine itself ( TS Engine), which can work with any desktop players (VLC; The KMPlayer; MPlayer, etc.) and Media Centers (XBMC; Mediaportal, etc.), and with web players built on the basis of any technology, including HTML5.

    Version 1.0.5 Full is presented as a Torrent Stream software installation package, which includes the following products:

    TS Engine - The main software product that provides all the functions and capabilities of the Torrent Stream technology (multimedia streaming engine)

    It is the core core of the Torrent Stream platform and can be used, through the API ( TS Engine API ), by any developers when creating their own products, integrating the functionality and capabilities of Torrent Stream into them.

    Comment: We introduced the basic version of the API engine quite recently, about a week ago, but we are pleased that it was already tested by third-party developers from the Russian-speaking XBMC community who made their own implementations for this wonderful media center. You can learn about different crafts for XBMC here: XBMC + Torrent Stream

    TS Player - A multimedia player (a modified and improved version of the VLC player), with the option of online video and audio playback through torrent files, without waiting for content to be downloaded.

    Comment: Now you can start and play torrents in the desktop player, like regular video and audio files, without using different torrent clients and without waiting for downloads. Also, if the user knows the content ID, then it can also be used as a source, indicating it in the corresponding (Content ID, this is essentially an analogue of magnet links).

    The inclusion of the desktop version of the player in this assembly is due to the fact that it is necessary to use the advanced settings of the browser web player (built on the basis of TS P2P Multimedia Plug-), since most of the settings of TS Player are synchronized with it. For example, if you want to use a video accelerator or reassign hot keys for a web player, the user will need to go into the TS Player settings, set these settings and restart the page with the player (preferably a web browser), and the next time you start all the new settings will be work in a web player.

    TS P2P Multimedia Plug-in - Browser plugin (built on the basis of VLC Plug-in)
    It allows you to use the world's most functional web player on all sites using Torrent Stream technology, as well as on popular video hosting sites such as You Tube and others, with full support for all content played by the bittorrent protocol.

    Comment: It is likely for those who installed Flash exclusively for watching videos, this will be a very good alternative, given that bittorrent will also act as an accelerator, ensuring stream stability and maximum speed for a user Internet channel.

    Magic player- Optional extension for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. Allows in its original quality to play online video and audio content on the most popular torrent trackers, without having to download torrent files and without tiring to wait for the content to download.

    Comment: We could not but include this popular extension in the installation package, as many users were simply confused about what needs to be installed and what isn’t, and why it is necessary to install both. Now everything will be installed from the box in a few clicks.

    In the future, other assemblies will be presented, from the base (only the engine itself) to advanced ones, which will contain various interesting products and solutions, so the user will always have the opportunity to choose the software he needs.

    You can find out more detailed information about what's new in version 1.0.5 Full on the page of our website: torrentstream.info/#/whatsnew , but here I will talk about the most important and interesting innovation.

    And the most important innovation is the new implementation of http-siding (HTTP Seeding)!

    The main innovative feature in version 1.0.5 is the inclusion of http-siding. Today there are two main implementations of this support ( bep_0017 ; bep_0019) We decided to combine the capabilities of these add-ons, and also complement this with our implementation, which is actually innovative, allowing us to erase the edges, in terms of quick start and response when rewinding during online playback of video and audio content, between media platforms based on such technologies like flash or silverlight and media platforms using the bittorrent protocol, based on Torrent Stream technology

    Well, in order not to be unfounded, I suggest that you independently verify this by making comparative tests:

    Option No. 1 . Visit our test page with a demo player and start playing it. After that, also try how rewinding works. (rewinding works only for registered users. Registration and activation is very fast)Test page for a web player

    Variant No. 2 If you doubt that this playback is through a regular torrent, then go to the test page of the desktop player and download a test torrent from it and launch its TS Player
    ( Test page for a desktop player )

    Option No. 3 Use your own torrents in which the http-seed will be written, with a high-quality source of stream support (for which the upload speed will not be less than the bitrate of the file you are playing), and even better, several http-seeds, which will provide even greater reliability flow rates.

    If you wish, you can try to start playing torrents on many resources known as ex.ua (for Ukraine) or fex.net (for Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union) Given that these resources have not yet been able to fully recover from the troubles that comprehended them and fully restored, then probably the quality and reliability of the support for http-siding may be lame, but worth a try.

    Option number 4 For a more detailed comparison of the player based on Flash technology and Torrent Stream, you can install our test add. Mozilla Firefox Browser Extension: P2P You Tube. With this extension, you can play all the video on the You Tube website directly through torrents, in our web player (implemented full support for P2P, via BitTorrent protocol) You will receive You Tube through torrents!
    Attention! If the speed of the return of the http-sid or the total speed of all http-sides will be less than the bit rate, then the software will work in normal mode and you will not feel a significant difference from such support. This restriction will also apply if the speed of your Internet connection is lower than the bit rate, so choose for testing only the content that will be possible for your Internet channel and torrents for which high-quality http support is provided.

    And yet, it is very important:When testing, turn off the option “enable playback of entertainment clips during pre-buffering” in the menu (the Torrent Stream icon in the system tray), since the minute trailers will be shown when this option is enabled, which will not allow you to start the speed test

    After these tests, you can conclude Is the Torrent Stream platform inferior in terms of start and response when rewinding to other platforms on which AVoD services are created today.

    Well, if you want to conduct a comparative test and clearly see the advantage of Torrent Stream over any other programs, just start playing our test torrent filethrough the torrent clients known to you that have the function of playing video without waiting for a full file download. After that, you can compare the indicator by the waiting time before starting playback and compare the response when rewinding, if it is somewhere else implemented.

    I advise you to use the flagship client "utorrent 3" for a comparative test, which uses the correct implementation of the algorithm for online streaming through torrents.

    I will briefly explain:

    By the correct implementation of the algorithm, I mean solutions in which algorithms are applied that do not use the required sequence of loading pieces. This allows you to provide users with the ability to play content without waiting for it to be fully downloaded, while using all the advantages of the bittorrent protocol and in no case harming the P2P swarm, in the form of possible traffic jams.

    Probably, for many this will seem like a discovery, but today there is a sufficient number of torrent clients on the market using more primitive algorithms to provide their users with such an opportunity. These are so-called by me: - "second-tier customers of online streaming." They use a simple algorithm, in the form of downloading the first and last pieces, and then cut the mandatory sequential download. Actually, this was realized a long time ago in the same utorrent, but it was well hidden from the eyes of ordinary users, since its developers understood that the general use of such an algorithm could cause very significant harm to the entire P2P community, leveling all the advantages and unique features of the bittorrent protocol.

    I apologize that I left the main essence a little, but often encountering a misunderstanding of this very significant difference even among advanced geeks, I just found it necessary to explain this.

    Actually, the main feature that now makes it possible to use torrents to create high-quality AVoD services, with minimal infrastructure costs, I already revealed, so I won’t bother you with any other stories today. Well, whoever has questions, I will answer with pleasure.

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