Implement RTS-based stream pulling on iOS

Create a player

1. Create a player.

   Create an AliPlayer instance.

   // Create a player instance
   AliPlayer mAliPlayer = [[AliPlayer alloc] init];
   
   // Create a view container for displaying the playback content and set the player's rendering view
   UIView playerView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:self.view.bounds];
   [self.view addSubview:playerView];
   mAliPlayer.playerView = playerView;
   
   [mAliPlayer setTraceID:traceId];

   Note

   The player provides Playback Quality Monitoring, Single-Point Tracing, and Video Playback Statistics features, all of which rely on instrumentation log reporting.

   The available capabilities depend on how you configure the setTraceID parameter:

   • If setTraceID is omitted (default), instrumentation log reporting is enabled. You can use playback quality monitoring and video playback statistics, but not single-point tracing.

   • setTraceID set to a trace ID: The trace ID must be a unique identifier for your user or device, such as a user ID or device ID (IMEI or IDFA). With a trace ID configured, instrumentation log reporting is enabled, and you can use playback quality monitoring, single-point tracing, and video playback statistics.

   • setTraceID set to DisableAnalytics: Disables instrumentation log reporting. Playback quality monitoring, single-point tracing, and video playback statistics are unavailable.

2. Set the playback source.

   The player supports four playback sources: VidSts, VidAuth, VidMps, and UrlSource. To use RTS, set UrlSource with a URL that uses the artc:// protocol.

   AVPUrlSource *urlSource = [[AVPUrlSource alloc] 
   urlWithString:"artc://<streaming URL>"]; 
   [mAliPlayer setUrlSource:urlSource];

   Note

   For more information about setting the playback source, see Basic Features.

3. Configure playback parameters.

   Configure playback parameters to optimize the RTS experience.

   Note

   Starting with version 6.3.0, the player SDK supports automatic optimal low-latency configuration. When the playback URL starts with artc:// and you have not manually modified the MaxDelayTime, HighBufferDuration, or StartBufferDuration values in AVPConfig, the SDK automatically uses the values 1000, 10, and 10 for actual playback.

   To customize these parameters, use the following example:

   //1. Obtain and modify the configuration.
   AVPConfig *config = mAliPlayer.getConfig;
   
   if ([playUrl hasPrefix:@"artc://"]) {
       // The maximum latency. Unit: milliseconds. In this example, set the value to 1000, which is 1 second.
       [config setMaxDelayTime:1000];
       // The buffer duration for playback startup.
       [config setStartBufferDuration:10];
       // The buffer duration for stuttering recovery.
       [config setHighBufferDuration:10];
   } else {
       // You can use default configuration or specify custom values.
   }
   
   //2. Apply the configuration.
   [mAliPlayer setConfig:config];

4. Start playback.

   // Prepare for playback
   [mAliPlayer prepare];
   // After prepare, you can synchronously call the start operation. Playback automatically starts when the onPrepared callback completes.
   [mAliPlayer start];

Control playback

ApsaraVideo Player SDK supports common playback controls such as start, stop, and seek.

 [mAliPlayer start];

[mAliPlayer stop];

// Synchronously destroy the player. The system automatically calls the stop method.
[mAliPlayer destroy];
// Asynchronously destroy the player. The system automatically calls the stop method.
[mAliPlayer destroyAsync];

Use auxiliary features

1. Log Switch

   // Enable logging.
   [mAliPlayer setEnableLog:YES];
   [mAliPlayer setLogCallbackInfo:LOG_LEVEL_TRACE callbackBlock:nil];
   
   // Disable logging.
   [mAliPlayer setEnableLog:NO];
   [mAliPlayer setLogCallbackInfo:LOG_LEVEL_NONE callbackBlock:nil];

2. Live Streaming Fallback

   Note

   • Downgrade applies only to timeout scenarios. If a timeout occurs and you have configured either downgrade option below, the player downgrades automatically. Otherwise, it triggers the onError callback. Errors such as HTTP 404, 403, or streamer disconnection do not trigger downgrade.

   • Automatic RTS downgrade downgrades from RTS to FLV using the same domain. If your RTS and FLV domains differ, configure Custom RTS downgrade to specify the target FLV domain.

   1. Automatic RTS downgrade ( enabled by default )

      If no custom downgrade is configured, the player automatically falls back to the default FLV URL associated with the RTS URL when RTS stream pulling fails. For example:

      // 1 indicates on, and 0 indicates off. The default value is on.
      [AliPlayerGlobalSettings setOption:ALLOW_PRE_RENDER valueInt:1];

   2. Custom RTS downgrade

      Specify a fallback URL (HLS or FLV) for RTS playback. If RTS stream pulling fails, the player automatically switches to the specified URL.

      // Specify the downgrade source URL.
      AVPUrlSource *urlSource = [[AVPUrlSource alloc] urlWithString:downgradeUrl];
      // Optional. Configure other settings.
      AVPConfig *config = [mAliPlayer getConfig];
      // Specify the degraded streaming URL.
      [mAliPlayer enableDowngrade:urlSource config:config];

3. Obtain the Trace ID

   Each low-latency playback session generates a trace ID for troubleshooting. Retrieve it from the player event callback.

   // Listen to the onPlayerEvent callback and parse the DemuxerTraceID message.
   - (void)onPlayerEvent:(AliPlayer*)mAliPlayer eventWithString:(AVPEventWithString)eventWithString description:(NSString *)description {
       switch (eventWithString) {
           case EVENT_PLAYER_DEMUXER_TRACE_ID:
               {
                   NSString *traceId = description;
               }
                   break;
               default:
                   break;
       }
   }