Re: HLS, DASH, MPD and LMS future version

Lots of points brought up in the post and may need separate posts to
isolate the key points. It'll be a bit of brain dump so some time to
write - I'll post later this evening.

First current status.

There are two version of PlayHLS V1.* and V2.*.  

PlayHLS V1.* uses ffmpeg and so can handle most HLS streams. It is in
stadard 3rd party repo.
PlayHLS V2.* is an allPerl LMS implementation.  To get V2 need to add
private repo.

The V1 solution was quick and dirty and a fallback for stream V2 cannot
handle. 
The V2 can only handle HLS V3 playlist and cannot handle fMPEG4 stream
(i.e. support PackedMP3, PackedAAC, MPEG2-ts MP3, AAC but not AC3)

The V1 solution require ffmpeg (right build with right options) for the
platform and outputs Flac/PCM/MP3. So greater load on server and
network.  No metadata - cover images, artist, track data.
The V2 solution all Perl in LMS.  No unnecessary transcoding of MP3 or
AAC - passed straight to player.  Metadata support with proprietary
extension (e.g. iHeart radio covert art and track details)

I have nearly completed a V3 of PlayHLS which support fMPEG4 and HLS V7
variants.  To test I am scouring internet for streams with "interesting"
interpretations of HLS as it is a not a proper standard.
I have recently come across some issues in LMS which made me wonder
about whether changes to LMS are needed or rewrite (again) part of
PlayHLS.  
For example, m3u8 playlist for mixcloud video podcast of say 3 hours
long typically has 2 lines per 6 sec segment which means about 1800
lines of text so playlist can be big 80k is frequent. Because these
m3u8playlist can be very big - server often gzip them   LMS currently
has a limit of playlist of 128k and does not support gzipped playlist
(i.e plugin has a hack to unzip).


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