[Icecast-dev] why HLS/DASH are problematic in an Icecast context

[Daniel James]

Hi Marvin, hi Ralph,

>> One thing I think icecast could do in this space is to provide a way to
>> declare groups of streams as having the same content, but different
>> bitrates or formats. That would let player authors select the best
>> stream for their application and current network conditions. Including
>> implementing that by generating their own HLS manifest. :)
> 
> That sounds like a great Idea, I already thought about similar, seeing
> so many same streams where the only difference are bitrates on the
> stream directory.

Some of the streaming stations I know of use a .pls file for a crude
approximation of this, while adding some redundancy.

The first URL is the main high bitrate stream, the second URL is their
backup streaming server with a lower bitrate, and the third URL is a
static emergency file in case the stream source goes down for both
servers. They rely on the player skipping to the next playlist item when
the stream goes down, but of course there's no sync, and no returning to
the higher bitrate stream without the user restarting the playlist.

Cheers!

Daniel