NetStream  - AS3

For RTMFP connections, specifies whether audio is sent with full reliability. When TRUE, all audio transmitted over this NetStream is fully reliable. When FALSE, the audio transmitted is not fully reliable, but instead is retransmitted for a limited time and then dropped. You can use the FALSE value to reduce latency at the expense of audio quality.

If you try to set this property to FALSE on a network protocol that does not support partial reliability, the attempt is ignored and the property is set to TRUE.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

For RTMFP connections, specifies whether peer-to-peer subscribers on this NetStream are allowed to capture the audio stream. When FALSE, subscriber attempts to capture the audio stream show permission errors.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

The number of seconds of previously displayed data that currently cached for rewinding and playback.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

This property is available only when data is streaming from Flash Media Server 3.5.3 or higher; for more information on Flash Media Server, see the class description.

To specify how much previously displayed data is cached, use the Netstream.backBufferTime property.

To prevent data from being cached, set the Netstream.inBufferSeek property to FALSE.

Related API Elements

Specifies how much previously displayed data Flash Player tries to cache for rewinding and playback, in seconds. The default value is 30 seconds for desktop applications and 3 seconds for mobile applications.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

This property is available only when data is streaming from Flash Media Server version 3.5.3 or later; for more information on Flash Media Server, see the class description.

Using this property improves performance for rewind operations, as data that has already been displayed isn't retrieved from the server again. Instead, the stream begins replaying from the buffer. During playback, data continues streaming from the server until the buffer is full.

If the rewind position is farther back than the data in the cache, the buffer is flushed; the data then starts streaming from the server at the requested position.

To use this property set the Netstream.inBufferSeek property to TRUE.

Related API Elements

The number of seconds of data currently in the buffer. You can use this property with the bufferTime property to estimate how close the buffer is to being full — for example, to display feedback to a user who is waiting for data to be loaded into the buffer.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

Specifies how long to buffer messages before starting to display the stream.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

The default value is 0.1 (one-tenth of a second). To determine the number of seconds currently in the buffer, use the bufferLength property.

To play a server-side playlist, set bufferTime to at least 1 second. If you experience playback issues, increase the length of bufferTime.

Recorded content To avoid distortion when streaming pre-recorded (not live) content, do not set the value of Netstream.bufferTime to 0. By default, the application uses an input buffer for pre-recorded content that queues the media data and plays the media properly. For pre-recorded content, use the default setting or increase the buffer time.

Live content When streaming live content, set the bufferTime property to 0.

Starting with Flash Player 9.0.115.0, Flash Player no longer clears the buffer when NetStream.pause() is called. Before Flash Player 9.0.115.0, Flash Player waited for the buffer to fill up before resuming playback, which often caused a delay.

For a single pause, the NetStream.bufferLength property has a limit of either 60 seconds or twice the value of NetStream.bufferTime, whichever value is higher. For example, if bufferTime is 20 seconds, Flash Player buffers until NetStream.bufferLength is the higher value of either 20*2 (40), or 60. In this case it buffers until bufferLength is 60. If bufferTime is 40 seconds, Flash Player buffers until bufferLength is the higher value of 40*2 (80), or 60. In this case it buffers until bufferLength is 80 seconds.

The bufferLength property also has an absolute limit. If any call to pause() causes bufferLength to increase more than 600 seconds or the value of bufferTime * 2, whichever is higher, Flash Player flushes the buffer and resets bufferLength to 0. For example, if bufferTime is 120 seconds, Flash Player flushes the buffer if bufferLength reaches 600 seconds; if bufferTime is 360 seconds, Flash Player flushes the buffer if bufferLength reaches 720 seconds.

Tip: You can use NetStream.pause() in code to buffer data while viewers are watching a commercial, for example, and then unpause when the main video starts.

For more information about the new pause behavior, see http://www.adobe.com/go/learn_fms_smartpause_en.

Flash Media Server. The buffer behavior depends on whether the buffer time is set on a publishing stream or a subscribing stream. For a publishing stream, bufferTime specifies how long the outgoing buffer can grow before the application starts dropping frames. On a high-speed connection, buffer time is not a concern; data is sent almost as quickly as the application can buffer it. On a slow connection, however, there can be a significant difference between how fast the application buffers the data and how fast it is sent to the client.

For a subscribing stream, bufferTime specifies how long to buffer incoming data before starting to display the stream.

When a recorded stream is played, if bufferTime is 0, Flash sets it to a small value (approximately 10 milliseconds). If live streams are later played (for example, from a playlist), this buffer time persists. That is, bufferTime remains nonzero for the stream.

Related API Elements

Specifies a maximum buffer length for live streaming content, in seconds. The default value is 0. Buffer length can grow over time due to networking and device issues (such as clock drift between sender and receiver). Set this property to cap the buffer length for live applications such as meetings and surveillance.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

When bufferTimeMax > 0 and bufferLength >= bufferTimeMax, audio plays faster until bufferLength reaches bufferTime. If a live stream is video-only, video plays faster until bufferLength reaches bufferTime.

Depending on how much playback is lagging (the difference between bufferLength and bufferTime), Flash Player controls the rate of catch-up between 1.5% and 6.25%. If the stream contains audio, faster playback is achieved by frequency domain downsampling which minimizes audible distortion.

Set the bufferTimeMax property to enable live buffered stream catch-up in the following cases:

• Streaming live media from Flash Media Server.
• Streaming live media in Data Generation Mode (NetStream.appendBytes()).

Related API Elements

The number of bytes of data that have been loaded into the application. You can use this property with the bytesTotal property to estimate how close the buffer is to being full — for example, to display feedback to a user who is waiting for data to be loaded into the buffer.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

The total size in bytes of the file being loaded into the application.

Related API Elements

Specifies whether the application tries to download a cross-domain policy file from the loaded video file's server before beginning to load the video file. Use this property for progressive video download, and to load files that are outside the calling SWF file's own domain. This property is ignored when you are using RTMP.

Set this property to true to call BitmapData.draw() on a video file loaded from a domain outside that of the calling SWF. The BitmapData.draw() method provides pixel-level access to the video. If you call BitmapData.draw() without setting the checkPolicyFile property to true at loading time, you can get a SecurityError exception because the required policy file was not downloaded.

Do not set this property to true unless you want pixel-level access to the video you are loading. Checking for a policy file consumes network bandwidth and can delay the start of your download.

When you call the NetStream.play() method with checkPolicyFile set to true, Flash Player or the AIR runtime must either successfully download a relevant cross-domain policy file or determine that no such policy file exists before it begins downloading. To verify the existence of a policy file, Flash Player or the AIR runtime performs the following actions, in this order:

1. The application considers policy files that have already been downloaded.
2. The application tries to download any pending policy files specified in calls to the Security.loadPolicyFile() method.
3. The application tries to download a policy file from the default location that corresponds to the URL you passed to NetStream.play(), which is /crossdomain.xml on the same server as that URL.

In all cases, Flash Player or Adobe AIR requires that an appropriate policy file exist on the video's server, that it provide access to the object at the URL you passed to play() based on the policy file's location, and that it allow the domain of the calling code's file to access the video, through one or more <allow-access-from> tags.

If you set checkPolicyFile to true, the application waits until the policy file is verified before downloading the video. Wait to perform any pixel-level operations on the video data, such as calling BitmapData.draw(), until you receive onMetaData or NetStatus events from your NetStream object.

If you set checkPolicyFile to true but no relevant policy file is found, you won't receive an error until you perform an operation that requires a policy file, and then the application throws a SecurityError exception.

Be careful with checkPolicyFile if you are downloading a file from a URL that uses server-side HTTP redirects. The application tries to retrieve policy files that correspond to the initial URL that you specify in NetStream.play(). If the final file comes from a different URL because of HTTP redirects, the initially downloaded policy files might not be applicable to the file's final URL, which is the URL that matters in security decisions.

For more information on policy files, see "Website controls (policy files)" in the ActionScript 3.0 Developer's Guide and the Flash Player Developer Center Topic: Security.

Learn more

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Specifies the object on which callback methods are invoked to handle streaming or F4V/FLV file data. The default object is this, the NetStream object being created. If you set the client property to another object, callback methods are invoked on that other object. The NetStream.client object can call the following functions and receive an associated data object: onCuePoint(), onImageData(), onMetaData(), onPlayStatus(), onSeekPoint(), onTextData(), and onXMPData().

To associate the client property with an event handler:

1. Create an object and assign it to the client property of the NetStream object:
   Copy

        var customClient:Object = new Object();
        my_netstream.client = customClient;
        

2. Assign a handler function for the desired data event as a property of the client object:
   Copy

        customClient.onImageData = onImageDataHandler;
        

3. Write the handler function to receive the data event object, such as:
   Copy

         public function onImageDataHandler(imageData:Object):void {
                 trace("imageData length: " + imageData.data.length);
         }
        

When data is passed through the stream or during playback, the data event object (in this case the imageData object) is populated with the data. See the onImageData description, which includes a full example of an object assigned to the client property.

To associate the client property with a subclass:

1. Create a subclass with a handler function to receive the data event object:
   Copy

        class CustomClient {
           public function onMetaData(info:Object):void {
               trace("metadata: duration=" + info.duration + " framerate=" + info.framerate);
        }
        

2. Assign an instance of the subclass to the client property of the NetStream object:
   Copy

        my_netstream.client = new CustomClient();
        

When data is passed through the stream or during playback, the data event object (in this case the info object) is populated with the data. See the class example at the end of the NetStream class, which shows the assignment of a subclass instance to the client property.

Related API Elements

The number of frames per second being displayed. If you are exporting video files to be played back on a number of systems, you can check this value during testing to help you determine how much compression to apply when exporting the file.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

For RTMFP connections, specifies whether NetStream.send() calls are sent with full reliability. When TRUE, NetStream.send() calls that are transmitted over this NetStream are fully reliable. When FALSE, NetStream.send() calls are not transmitted with full reliability, but instead are retransmitted for a limited time and then dropped. You can set this value to FALSE to reduce latency at the expense of data quality.

If you try to set this property to FALSE on a network protocol that does not support partial reliability, the attempt is ignored and the property is set to TRUE.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

For RTMFP connections, the identifier of the far end that is connected to this NetStream instance.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

For RTMFP and RTMPE connections, a value chosen substantially by the other end of this stream, unique to this connection. This value appears to the other end of the stream as its nearNonce value.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Specifies whether displayed data is cached for smart seeking (TRUE), or not (FALSE). The default value is FALSE.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Flash Media Server 3.5.3 and Flash Player 10.1 work together to support smart seeking. Smart seeking uses back and forward buffers to seek without requesting data from the server. Standard seeking flushes buffered data and asks the server to send new data based on the seek time.

Call NetStream.step() to step forward and backward a specified number of frames. Call NetStream.seek() to seek forward and backward a specified number of seconds.

Smart seeking reduces server load and improves seeking performance. Set inBufferSeek=true and call step() and seek() to create:

• Client-side DVR functionality. Seek within the client-side buffer instead of going to the server for delivery of new video.
• Trick modes. Create players that step through frames, fast-forward, fast-rewind, and advance in slow-motion.

When inBufferSeek=true and a call to NetStream.seek() is successful, the NetStatusEvent info.description property contains the string "client-inBufferSeek".

When a call to NetStream.step() is successful, the NetStatusEvent info.code property contains the string "NetStream.Step.Notify".

Related API Elements

Returns a NetStreamInfo object whose properties contain statistics about the quality of service. The object is a snapshot of the current state.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

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The number of seconds of data in the subscribing stream's buffer in live (unbuffered) mode. This property specifies the current network transmission delay (lag time).

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

This property is intended primarily for use with a server such as Flash Media Server; for more information, see the class description.

You can get the value of this property to roughly gauge the transmission quality of the stream and communicate it to the user.

Specifies how long to buffer messages during pause mode, in seconds. This property can be used to limit how much buffering is done during pause mode. As soon as the value of NetStream.bufferLength reaches this limit, it stops buffering.

If this value is not set, it defaults the limit to 60 seconds or twice the value of NetStream.bufferTime on each pause, whichever is higher.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

For RTMFP connections, specifies whether peer-to-peer multicast fragment availability messages are sent to all peers or to just one peer. A value of TRUE specifies that the messages are sent to all peers once per specified interval. A value of FALSE specifies that the messages are sent to just one peer per specified interval. The interval is determined by the multicastAvailabilityUpdatePeriod property.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

For RTMFP connections, specifies the interval in seconds between messages sent to peers informing them that the local node has new peer-to-peer multicast media fragments available. Larger values can increase batching efficiency and reduce control overhead, but they can lower quality on the receiving end by reducing the amount of time available to retrieve fragments before they are out-of-window. Lower values can reduce latency and improve quality, but they increase control overhead.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

For RTMFP connections, specifies the time in seconds between when the local node learns that a peer-to-peer multicast media fragment is available and when it tries to fetch it from a peer. This value gives an opportunity for the fragment to be proactively pushed to the local node before a fetch from a peer is attempted. It also allows for more than one peer to announce availability of the fragment, so the fetch load can be spread among multiple peers.

Larger values can improve load balancing and fairness in the peer-to-peer mesh, but reduce the available multicastWindowDuration and increase latency. Smaller values can reduce latency when fetching is required, but might increase duplicate data reception and reduce peer-to-peer mesh load balance.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

For RTMFP connections, returns a NetStreamMulticastInfo object whose properties contain statistics about the quality of service. The object is a snapshot of the current state.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

For RTMFP connections, specifies the maximum number of peers to which to proactively push multicast media.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

For RTMFP connections, specifies the duration in seconds that peer-to-peer multicast data remains available to send to peers that request it beyond a specified duration. The duration is specified by the multicastWindowDuration property.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

For RTMFP connections, specifies the duration in seconds of the peer-to-peer multicast reassembly window. Shorter values reduce latency but may reduce quality by not allowing enough time to obtain all of the fragments. Conversely, larger values may increase quality by providing more time to obtain all of the fragments, with a corresponding increase in latency.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

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For RTMFP and RTMPE connections, a value chosen substantially by this end of the stream, unique to this connection. This value appears to the other end of the stream as its farNonce value.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

The object encoding (AMF version) for this NetStream object. The NetStream object inherits its objectEncoding value from the associated NetConnection object. It's important to understand this property if your ActionScript 3.0 SWF file needs to communicate with servers released prior to Flash Player 9. For more information, see the objectEncoding property description in the NetConnection class.

The value of this property depends on whether the stream is local or remote. Local streams, where null was passed to the NetConnection.connect() method, return the value of NetConnection.defaultObjectEncoding. Remote streams, where you are connecting to a server, return the object encoding of the connection to the server.

If you try to read this property when not connected, or if you try to change this property, the application throws an exception.

Related API Elements

An object that holds all of the subscribing NetStream instances that are listening to this publishing NetStream instance.

Controls sound in this NetStream object. For more information, see the SoundTransform class.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

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The position of the playhead, in seconds.

Flash Media Server For a subscribing stream, the number of seconds the stream has been playing. For a publishing stream, the number of seconds the stream has been publishing. This number is accurate to the thousandths decimal place; multiply by 1000 to get the number of milliseconds the stream has been playing.

For a subscribing stream, if the server stops sending data but the stream remains open, the value of the time property stops advancing. When the server begins sending data again, the value continues to advance from the point at which it stopped (when the server stopped sending data).

The value of time continues to advance when the stream switches from one playlist element to another. This property is set to 0 when NetStream.play() is called with reset set to 1 or true, or when NetStream.close() is called.

Related API Elements

Specifies whether to use hardware accelerated decoding on the stream.

Note: You cannot set this property during video playback. You must set it before you call NetStream.play().

The default value is true.

Related API Elements

Minimize latency for live un-buffered streaming (bufferTime = 0). Instead of conservative push-based catchup mechanism, audio messages are placed in an adaptive jitter buffer. When audio is needed by speaker device, messages are popped from jitter buffer, decoded, and played back. Speex and G.711 always use this pull-based approach, regardless of this settings (useJitterBuffer returns true for Speex/G.711). When enabled in un-buffered mode, all the codecs use jitter buffer, such as Speex, G.711, Nellymoser, MP3 and AAC. This property has no effect in buffered mode (bufferTime > 0), and thus useJitterBuffer returns false.

For RTMFP connections, specifies whether video is sent with full reliability. When TRUE, all video transmitted over this NetStream is fully reliable. When FALSE, the video transmitted is not fully reliable, but instead is retransmitted for a limited time and then dropped. You can use the FALSE value to reduce latency at the expense of video quality.

If you try to set this property to FALSE on a network protocol that does not support partial reliability, the attempt is ignored and the property is set to TRUE.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

For RTMFP connections, specifies whether peer-to-peer subscribers on this NetStream are allowed to capture the video stream. When FALSE, subscriber attempts to capture the video stream show permission errors.

Note: This property is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Related API Elements

Specify stream compression properties. For more information, please see VideoStreamSettings. When no camera is attached to your system, null is returned.

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Creates a stream that you can use to play media files and send data over a NetConnection object.

It is considered invalid to not handle a NetStream object's netStatus event. To avoid errors, register a listener for the netStatus after creating the NetStream object and before calling its play() method.

Related API Elements

var my_video:Video = new Video();
addChild(my_video);
var my_nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
my_nc.connect(null);
var my_ns:NetStream = new NetStream(my_nc);
my_video.attachNetStream(my_ns);
my_ns.play(videoURL);

var my_video:Video = new Video();
addChild(my_video);
var my_nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
my_nc.connect("rtmp://www.yourfmsserver.com/someappname");
var my_ns:NetStream = new NetStream(my_nc, NetStream.CONNECT_TO_FMS);
my_video.attachNetStream(my_ns);
my_ns.play(videoURL);

Passes a ByteArray into a NetStream for playout. Call this method on a NetStream in "Data Generation Mode". To put a NetStream into Data Generation Mode, call NetStream.play(null) on a NetStream created on a NetConnection connected to null. Calling appendBytes() on a NetStream that isn't in Data Generation Mode is an error and raises an exception.

Note: This method is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

The byte parser understands an FLV file with a header. After the header is parsed, appendBytes() expects all future calls to be continuations of the same real or virtual file. Another header is not expected unless appendBytesAction(NetStreamAppendBytesAction.RESET_BEGIN) is called.

A NetStream object has two buffers: the FIFO from appendBytes() to the NetStream, and the playout buffer. The FIFO is the partial-FLV-tag reassembly buffer and contains no more than one incomplete FLV tag. Calls to NetStream.seek() flush both buffers. After a call to seek(), call appendBytesAction() to reset the timescale to begin at the timestamp of the next appended message.

Each call to appendBytes() adds bytes into the FIFO until an FLV tag is complete. When an FLV tag is complete, it moves to the playout buffer. A call to appendBytes() can write multiple FLV tags. The first bytes complete an existing FLV tag (which moves to the playout buffer). Complete FLV tags move to the playout buffer. Remaining bytes that don’t form a complete FLV tag go into the FIFO. Bytes in the FIFO are either completed by a call to appendBytes() or flushed by a call to appendBytesAction() with the RESET_SEEK or RESET_BEGIN argument.

Note: The byte parser may not be able to completely decode a call to appendBytes() until a subsequent call to appendBytes() is made.

Parameters

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Indicates a timescale discontinuity, flushes the FIFO, and tells the byte parser to expect a file header or the beginning of an FLV tag.

Note: This method is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Calls to NetStream.seek() flush the NetStream buffers. The byte parser remains in flushing mode until you call appendBytesAction() and pass the RESET_BEGIN or RESET_SEEK argument. Capture the "NetStream.Seek.Notify" event to call appendBytesAction() after a seek. A new file header can support playlists and seeking without calling NetStream.seek().

You can also call this method to reset the byte counter for the onSeekPoint()) callback.

Parameters

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Attaches a stream to a new NetConnection object. Call this method to attach a NetStream to a new NetConnection object after a connection has dropped and been reconnected. Flash Player and AIR resume streaming from the playback point when the connection was lost.You can also use this method to implement load balancing.

This method requires Flash Media Server version 3.5.3 or later.

To use this method to implement stream reconnection, see the Flash Media Server 3.5.3 documentation.

To use this method to implement load balancing, do the following:

1. Attach a connected stream to a NetConnection object on another server.
2. After the stream is successfully attached to the new connection, call NetConnection.close() on the prior connection to prevent data leaks.
3. Call NetStream.play2() and set the value of NetStreamPlayOptions.transition to RESUME. Set the rest of the NetStreamPlayOptions properties to the same values you used when you originally called NetStream.play() or NetStream.play2() to start the stream.

Parameters

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Attaches an audio stream to a NetStream object from a Microphone object passed as the source. This method is available only to the publisher of the specified stream.

Use this method with Flash Media Server to send live audio to the server. Call this method before or after you call the publish() method.

Set the Microphone.rate property to match the rate of the sound capture device. Call setSilenceLevel() to set the silence level threshold. To control the sound properties (volume and panning) of the audio stream, use the Microphone.soundTransform property.

     var nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
     nc.connect("rtmp://server.domain.com/app");
     var ns:NetStream = new NetStream(nc);
     
     var live_mic:Microphone = Microphone.get();
     live_mic.rate = 8;
     live_mic.setSilenceLevel(20,200);
     
     var soundTrans:SoundTransform = new SoundTransform();
     soundTrans.volume = 6;
     live_mic.soundTransform = soundTrans;
     
     ns.attachAudio(live_mic);
     ns.publish("mic_stream","live")
     

To hear the audio, call the NetStream.play() method and call DisplayObjectContainer.addChild() to route the audio to an object on the display list.

Parameters

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Starts capturing video from a camera, or stops capturing if theCamera is set to null. This method is available only to the publisher of the specified stream.

This method is intended for use with Flash Media Server; for more information, see the class description.

After attaching the video source, you must call NetStream.publish() to begin transmitting. Subscribers who want to display the video must call the NetStream.play() and Video.attachCamera() methods to display the video on the stage.

You can use snapshotMilliseconds to send a single snapshot (by providing a value of 0) or a series of snapshots — in effect, time-lapse footage — by providing a positive number that adds a trailer of the specified number of milliseconds to the video feed. The trailer extends the display time of the video message. By repeatedly calling attachCamera() with a positive value for snapshotMilliseconds, the sequence of alternating snapshots and trailers creates time-lapse footage. For example, you could capture one frame per day and append it to a video file. When a subscriber plays the file, each frame remains onscreen for the specified number of milliseconds and then the next frame is displayed.

The purpose of the snapshotMilliseconds parameter is different from the fps parameter you can set with Camera.setMode(). When you specify snapshotMilliseconds, you control how much time elapses between recorded frames. When you specify fps using Camera.setMode(), you are controlling how much time elapses during recording and playback.

For example, suppose you want to take a snapshot every 5 minutes for a total of 100 snapshots. You can do this in two ways:

• You can issue a NetStream.attachCamera(myCamera, 500) command 100 times, once every 5 minutes. This takes 500 minutes to record, but the resulting file will play back in 50 seconds (100 frames with 500 milliseconds between frames).
• You can issue a Camera.setMode() command with an fps value of 1/300 (one per 300 seconds, or one every 5 minutes), and then issue a NetStream.attachCamera(source) command, letting the camera capture continuously for 500 minutes. The resulting file will play back in 500 minutes — the same length of time that it took to record — with each frame being displayed for 5 minutes.

Both techniques capture the same 500 frames, and both approaches are useful; the approach to use depends primarily on your playback requirements. For example, in the second case, you could be recording audio the entire time. Also, both files would be approximately the same size.

Parameters

Stops playing all data on the stream, sets the time property to 0, and makes the stream available for another use. This method also deletes the local copy of a video file that was downloaded through HTTP. Although the application deletes the local copy of the file that it creates, a copy might persist in the cache directory. If you must completely prevent caching or local storage of the video file, use Flash Media Server.

When using Flash Media Server, this method is invoked implicitly when you call NetStream.play() from a publishing stream or NetStream.publish() from a subscribing stream. Please note that:

• If close() is called from a publishing stream, the stream stops publishing and the publisher can now use the stream for another purpose. Subscribers no longer receive anything that was being published on the stream, because the stream has stopped publishing.
• If close() is called from a subscribing stream, the stream stops playing for the subscriber, and the subscriber can use the stream for another purpose. Other subscribers are not affected.
• You can stop a subscribing stream from playing, without closing the stream or changing the stream type by using flash.net.NetStream.play(false).

Related API Elements

Releases all the resources held by the NetStream object.

The dispose() method is similar to the close method. The main difference between the two methods is that dispose() releases the memory used to display the current video frame. If that frame is currently displayed on screen, the display will go blank. The close() method does not blank the display because it does not release this memory.

Invoked when a peer-publishing stream matches a peer-subscribing stream. Before the subscriber is connected to the publisher, call this method to allow the ActionScript code fine access control for peer-to-peer publishing. The following code shows an example of how to create a callback function for this method:

     var c:Object = new Object;
     c.onPeerConnect = function(subscriber:NetStream):Boolean {
      if (accept)
          return true;
      else
          return false;
      };
      m_netStream.client = c;
     

If a peer-publisher does not implement this method, all peers are allowed to play any published content.

Parameters

Pauses playback of a video stream. Calling this method does nothing if the video is already paused. To resume play after pausing a video, call resume(). To toggle between pause and play (first pausing the video, then resuming), call togglePause().

Starting with Flash Player 9.0.115.0, Flash Player no longer clears the buffer when NetStream.pause() is called. This behavior is called "smart pause". Before Flash Player 9.0.115.0, Flash Player waited for the buffer to fill up before resuming playback, which often caused a delay.

Note: For backwards compatibility, the "NetStream.Buffer.Flush" event (see the NetStatusEvent.info property) still fires, although the server does not flush the buffer.

For a single pause, the NetStream.bufferLength property has a limit of either 60 seconds or twice the value of NetStream.bufferTime, whichever value is higher. For example, if bufferTime is 20 seconds, Flash Player buffers until NetStream.bufferLength is the higher value of either 20*2 (40), or 60, so in this case it buffers until bufferLength is 60. If bufferTime is 40 seconds, Flash Player buffers until bufferLength is the higher value of 40*2 (80), or 60, so in this case it buffers until bufferLength is 80 seconds.

The bufferLength property also has an absolute limit. If any call to pause() causes bufferLength to increase more than 600 seconds or the value of bufferTime * 2, whichever is higher, Flash Player flushes the buffer and resets bufferLength to 0. For example, if bufferTime is 120 seconds, Flash Player flushes the buffer if bufferLength reaches 600 seconds; if bufferTime is 360 seconds, Flash Player flushes the buffer if bufferLength reaches 720 seconds.

Tip: You can use NetStream.pause() in code to buffer data while viewers are watching a commercial, for example, and then unpause when the main video starts.

Related API Elements

Plays a media file from a local directory or a web server; plays a media file or a live stream from Flash Media Server. Dispatches a NetStatusEvent object to report status and error messages.

For information about supported codecs and file formats, see the following:

• Flash Media Server documentation
• Exploring Flash Player support for high-definition H.264 video and AAC audio
• FLV/F4V open specification documents

Workflow for playing a file or live stream

1. Create a Video object that will display the video and call addChild() to add it to the stage.

2. Create a NetConnection object and call NetConnection.connect().

   To play a file from a local directory or web server, pass null.

   To play a recorded file or live stream from Flash Media Server, pass the URI of a Flash Media Server application.

3. Call the NetConnection object's addEventListener() method to listen for the netStatus (NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS) event.
4. On "NetConnection.Connect.Success", create a NetStream object and pass the NetConnection object to the constructor.
5. Call the Viceo object's attachNetStream() method and pass the NetStream object.

6. Call the NetStream object's play() method.

   To play a live stream, pass the stream name passed to the NetStream.publish() method.

   To play a recorded file, pass the file name.

Note: As a best practice, you should always add the Video object to the stage, then attach the NetStream to it, then call the NetStream object's play() method.

Enable Data Generation Mode

Call play(null) to enable "Data Generation Mode". In this mode, call the appendBytes() method to deliver data to the NetStream. Use Data Generation Mode to stream content over HTTP from the Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming Origin Module on an Apache HTTP Server. HTTP Dynamic Streaming lets clients seek quickly to any point in a file. The Open Source Media Framework (OSMF) supports HTTP Dynamic Streaming for vod and live streams. For examples of how to use NetStream Data Generation Mode, download the OSMF source. For more information about HTTP Dynamic Streaming, see HTTP Dynamic Streaming.

When you use this method without Flash Media Server, there are security considerations. A file in the local-trusted or local-with-networking sandbox can load and play a video file from the remote sandbox, but cannot access the remote file's data without explicit permission in the form of a URL policy file. Also, you can prevent a SWF file running in Flash Player from using this method by setting the allowNetworking parameter of the the object and embed tags in the HTML page that contains the SWF content. For more information related to security, see the Flash Player Developer Center Topic: Security.

Parameters

Related API Elements

     ns.play("mp4:samples/record1.f4v", 0, 100, true);
     

     ns.play("livestream");
     

var MyVideo:Video = new Video();
addChild(MyVideo);
 
var MyNC:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
MyNC.connect(null);
 
var MyNS:NetStream = new NetStream(MyNC);
MyVideo.attachNetStream(MyNS);
MyNS.play("http://www.helpexamples.com/flash/video/clouds.flv");

//the clouds.flv video has metadata we're not using, so create
//an error handler to ignore the message generated by the runtime
//about the metadata
MyNS.addEventListener(AsyncErrorEvent.ASYNC_ERROR, asyncErrorHandler); 

function asyncErrorHandler(event:AsyncErrorEvent):void 
{ 
   //ignore metadata error message
} 

Switches seamlessly between files with multiple bit rates and allows a NetStream to resume when a connection is dropped and reconnected.

This method is an enhanced version of NetStream.play(). Like the play() method, the play2() method begins playback of a media file or queues up media files to create a playlist. When used with Flash Media Server, it can also request that the server switch to a different media file. The transition occurs seamlessly in the client application. The following features use play2() stream switching:

Dynamic streaming

Dynamic streaming (supported in Flash Media Server 3.5 and later) lets you serve a stream encoded at multiple bit rates. As a viewer's network conditions change, they receive the bitrate that provides the best viewing experience. Use the NetStreamInfo class to monitor network conditions and switch streams based on the data. You can also switch streams for clients with different capabilities. For more information, see "Dynamic streaming" in the "Adobe Flash Media Server Developer Guide".

Adobe built a custom ActionScript class called DynamicStream that extends the NetStream class. You can use the DynamicStream class to implement dynamic streaming in an application instead of writing your own code to detect network conditions. Even if you choose to write your own dynamic streaming code, use the DynamicStream class as a reference implementation. Download the class and the class documentation at the Flash Media Server tools and downloads page.

Stream reconnecting

Stream reconnecting (supported in Flash Media Server 3.5.3 and later) lets users to experience media uninterrupted even when they lose their connection. The media uses the buffer to play while your ActionScript logic reconnects to Flash Media Server. After reconnection, call NetStream.attach() to use the same NetStream object with the new NetConnection. Use the NetStream.attach(), NetStreamPlayTransitions.RESUME, and NetStreamPlayTrasitions.APPEND_AND_WAIT APIs to reconnect a stream. For more information, see the Flash Media Server 3.5.3 documentation.

Parameters

Related API Elements

Extracts any DRM metadata from a locally stored media file.

Use preloadEmbeddedMetaData() as the first step in downloading and caching the DRM vouchers needed for offline playback. When embedded DRM metadata is detected in a media file, a DRMContentData object is passed to the NetStream client onDRMContentData function. This DRMContentData object contains the information needed to obtain the voucher required to play the content. Pass the DRMContentDataObject to the DRMManager loadVoucher() method to download the voucher.

The steps for preloading a DRM voucher include:

• Create a new NetStream object for preloading the metadata.

• Assign a callback function to the onDRMContentData property of the NetStream client.
• Create a new NetStreamPlayOptions object and set its streamName property to the the URL string of the local video file.
• Call preloadEmbeddedMetadata(), passing in the NetStreamPlayOptions object.
• In response to the onDRMContentData callback, call the DRMManager loadVoucher() method, passing in the DRMContentData object. If the authenticationMethod property of the DRMContentData object has the value, userNameAndPassWord, authenticate the user on the media rights server before loading the voucher.
• Close the NetStream used for preloading.

Note: To use the same NetStream object to both preload metadata and play content, wait for the onPlayStatus call generated by the preload operation before starting playback.

Downloaded vouchers are stored in a local cache. Playing content online also downloads and caches vouchers. When a DRM-protected content file is viewed, a cached voucher is retrieved from the local store automatically. Use the DRMManager to manage the voucher cache.

Notes: Preloading DRM metadata through HTTP, HTTPS, or RTMP connections is not supported. You can only preload metadata from files stored on the file system.

Parameters

Related API Elements

Sends streaming audio, video, and data messages from a client to Flash Media Server, optionally recording the stream during transmission. This method dispatches a NetStatusEvent object with information about the stream. Before you call NetStream.publish(), capture the "NetConnection.Connect.Success" event to verify that the application has successfully connected to Flash Media Server.

While publishing, you can record files in FLV or F4V format. If you record a file in F4V format, use a flattener tool to edit or play the file in another application. To download the tool, see www.adobe.com/go/fms_tools.

Note:Do not use this method to play a stream. To play a stream, call the NetStream.play() method.

Workflow for publishing a stream

1. Create a NetConnection object and call NetConnection.connect().
2. Call NetConnection.addEventListener() to listen for NetStatusEvent events.
3. On the "NetConnection.Connect.Success" event, create a NetStream object and pass the NetConnection object to the constructor.
4. To capture audio and video, call the NetStream.attachAudio()method and the NetStream.attachCamera() method.
5. To publish a stream, call the NetStream.publish() method. You can record the data as you publish it so that users can play it back later.

Note: A NetStream can either publish a stream or play a stream, it cannot do both. To publish a stream and view the playback from the server, create two NetStream objects. You can send multiple NetStream objects over one NetConnection object.

When Flash Media Server records a stream it creates a file. By default, the server creates a directory with the application instance name passed to NetConnection.connect() and stores the file in the directory. For example, the following code connects to the default instance of the "lectureseries" application and records a stream called "lecture". The file "lecture.flv" is recorded in the applications/lectureseries/streams/_definst_ directory:

     var nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
     nc.connect("rtmp://fms.example.com/lectureseries");
     nc.addEventListener(NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS, netStatusHandler);
     
     function netStatusHandler(event:NetStatusEvent):void
     {
       if (event.info.code == "NetConnection.Connect.Success")
       {
            var ns:NetStream = new NetStream(nc);
            ns.publish("lecture", "record");
       }
     }
     

The following example connects to the "monday" instance of the same application. The file "lecture.flv" is recorded in the directory /applications/lectureseries/streams/monday:

     var nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
     nc.addEventListener(NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS, netStatusHandler);
     nc.connect("rtmp://fms.example.com/lectureseries/monday");
     
     function netStatusHandler(event:NetStatusEvent):void
     {
       if (event.info.code == "NetConnection.Connect.Success")
       {
            var ns:NetStream = new NetStream(nc);
            ns.publish("lecture", "record");
       }
     }
     

Parameters

Related API Elements

package {
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.events.*;
    import flash.media.Video;
    import flash.media.Camera;
    import flash.net.NetConnection;
    import flash.net.NetStream;
    import fl.controls.Button;
    import fl.controls.Label;

    public class NetStream_publish extends Sprite {
        private var connectionURL:String = "rtmp://localhost/live/";
        private var videoURL:String = "liveVideo";
        private var nc:NetConnection;
        private var ns_publish:NetStream;
        private var ns_playback:NetStream;
        private var video_publish:Video;
        private var video_playback:Video;
        private var cam:Camera;
        private var b:Button;
        private var l:Label;

        public function NetStream_publish() {
            setUpUI();
            
            nc = new NetConnection();
            nc.addEventListener(NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS, netStatusHandler);
            
            // Add bandwidth detection handlers on the NetConnection Client to
            // prevent Reference Errors at runtime when using the "live" and "vod" applications.          
            var clientObj:Object = new Object();
            clientObj.onBWDone = onBWDone;
            clientObj.onBWCheck = onBWCheck;
            nc.client = clientObj;
            
            // Connect to the "live" application on Flash Media Server.
            nc.connect(connectionURL);
        }

        private function netStatusHandler(event:NetStatusEvent):void {
            trace(event.info.code + " | " + event.info.description);
            switch (event.info.code) {
                case "NetConnection.Connect.Success":
                    // Enable the "Publish" button after the client connects to the server.
                    b.enabled = true;
                    break;
                case "NetStream.Publish.Start":
                    playbackVideo();
                    break;
            }
        }
    
        private function publishVideo(event:MouseEvent):void{
            // Disable the button so that you can only publish once.
            b.enabled = false;
            // Create a NetStream to send video to FMS.
            ns_publish = new NetStream(nc);
            ns_publish.addEventListener(NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS, netStatusHandler);
            // Publish (send) the video to FMS.
            cam = Camera.getCamera();
            ns_publish.attachCamera(cam);
               ns_publish.publish(videoURL);
        }

        private function playbackVideo():void {
            // Create the Video object to show the video on the stage
            video_playback = new Video(cam.width, cam.height);
            video_playback.x = cam.width + 20;
            video_playback.y = 10;
            addChild(video_playback);
            // Create a NetStream to receive the video from FMS.
            ns_playback = new NetStream(nc);
            ns_playback.addEventListener(NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS, netStatusHandler);
            // Display the video that was published to FMS.
                  video_playback.attachNetStream(ns_playback);
            ns_playback.play(videoURL); 
        }
        
        
        private function setUpUI():void { 
      b = new Button(); 
      b.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, publishVideo);
      b.width = 150;
            b.label = "Publish video to server";
            b.move(10, 150);
            b.enabled = false;
            
            l = new Label();
            l.width = 150;
            l.text = "Playing back from server"
            l.move(190, 150);
            
            addChild(b);
            addChild(l);
        }
        
        // Handlers called by the Flash Media Server "live" and "vod" applications.
        public function onBWDone(... rest):Boolean {
            return true;
        }
        
        public function onBWCheck(... rest):Number {
            return 0;
        }
    }
}

Specifies whether incoming audio plays on the stream. This method is available only to clients subscribed to the specified stream. It is not available to the publisher of the stream. Call this method before or after you call the NetStream.play() method. For example, attach this method to a button to allow users to mute and unmute the audio. Use this method only on unicast streams that are played back from Flash Media Server. This method doesn't work on RTMFP multicast streams or when using the NetStream.appendBytes() method.

Parameters

Specifies whether incoming video plays on the stream. This method is available only to clients subscribed to the specified stream. It is not available to the publisher of the stream. Call this method before or after you call the NetStream.play() method. For example, attach this method to a button to allow users to show and hide the video. Use this method only on unicast streams that are played back from Flash Media Server. This method doesn't work on RTMFP multicast streams or when using the NetStream.appendBytes() method.

Parameters

Specifies the frame rate for incoming video. This method is available only to clients subscribed to the specified stream. It is not available to the publisher of the stream. Call this method before or after you call the NetStream.play() method. For example, call this method to allow users to set the video frame rate. To determine the current frame rate, use NetStream.currentFPS. To stop receiving video, pass 0.

When you pass a value to the FPS parameter to limit the frame rate of the video, Flash Media Server attempts to reduce the frame rate while preserving the integrity of the video. Between every two keyframes, the server sends the minimum number of frames needed to satisfy the desired rate. Please note that I-frames (or intermediate frames) must be sent contiguously, otherwise the video is corrupted. Therefore, the desired number of frames is sent immediately and contiguously following a keyframe. Since the frames are not evenly distributed, the motion appears smooth in segments punctuated by stalls.

Use this method only on unicast streams that are played back from Flash Media Server. This method doesn't work on RTMFP multicast streams or when using the NetStream.appendBytes() method.

Parameters

In AIR applications this deletes all locally cached digital rights management (DRM) voucher data. For browser based applications this is only available during 3322 errors, and behaves like the Protected Content Playback Settings panel.

The application must re-download any required vouchers from the media rights server for the user to be able to access protected content. Calling this function is equivalent to calling the resetDRMVouchers() function of the DRMManager object.

Related API Elements

NetStream.resetDRMVouchers();

Resumes playback of a video stream that is paused. If the video is already playing, calling this method does nothing.

Related API Elements

Seeks the keyframe (also called an I-frame in the video industry) closest to the specified location. The keyframe is placed at an offset, in seconds, from the beginning of the stream.

Video streams are usually encoded with two types of frames, keyframes (or I-frames) and P-frames. A keyframe contains an entire image, while a P-frame is an interim frame that provides additional video information between keyframes. A video stream typically has a keyframe every 10-50 frames.

Flash Media Server has several types of seek behavior: enhanced seeking and smart seeking.

Enhanced seeking

Enhanced seeking is enabled by default. To disable enhanced seeking, on Flash Media Server set the EnhancedSeek element in the Application.xml configuration file to false.

If enhanced seeking is enabled, the server generates a new keyframe at offset based on the previous keyframe and any intervening P-frames. However, generating keyframes creates a high processing load on the server and distortion might occur in the generated keyframe. If the video codec is On2, the keyframe before the seek point and any P-frames between the keyframe and the seek point are sent to the client.

If enhanced seeking is disabled, the server starts streaming from the nearest keyframe. For example, suppose a video has keyframes at 0 seconds and 10 seconds. A seek to 4 seconds causes playback to start at 4 seconds using the keyframe at 0 seconds. The video stays frozen until it reaches the next keyframe at 10 seconds. To get a better seeking experience, you need to reduce the keyframe interval. In normal seek mode, you cannot start the video at a point between the keyframes.

Smart seeking

To enable smart seeking, set NetStream.inBufferSeek to true.

Smart seeking allows Flash Player to seek within an existing back buffer and forward buffer. When smart seeking is disabled, each time seek() is called Flash Player flushes the buffer and requests data from the server. For more information, see NetStream.inBufferSeek.

Seeking in Data Generation Mode

When you call seek() on a NetStream in Data Generation Mode, all bytes passed to appendBytes() are discarded (not placed in the buffer, accumulated in the partial message FIFO, or parsed for seek points) until you call appendBytesAction(NetStreamAppendBytesAction.RESET_BEGIN) or appendBytesAction(NetStreamAppendBytesAction.RESET_SEEK) to reset the parser. For information about Data Generation Mode, see NetStream.play().

Parameters

Related API Elements

Sends a message on a published stream to all subscribing clients. This method is available only to the publisher of the specified stream. This method is available for use with Flash Media Server only. To process and respond to this message, create a handler on the NetStream object, for example, ns.HandlerName.

Flash Player or AIR does not serialize methods or their data, object prototype variables, or non-enumerable variables. For display objects, Flash Player or AIR serializes the path but none of the data.

You can call the send() method to add data keyframes to a live stream published to Flash Media Server. A data keyframe is a message a publisher adds to a live stream. Data keyframes are typically used to add metadata to a live stream before data is captured for the stream from camera and microphone. A publisher can add a data keyframe at any time while the live stream is being published. The data keyframe is saved in the server's memory as long as the publisher is connected to the server.

Clients who are subscribed to the live stream before a data keyframe is added receive the keyframe as soon as it is added. Clients who subscribe to the live stream after the data keyframe is added receive the keyframe when they subscribe.

To add a keyframe of metadata to a live stream sent to Flash Media Server, use @setDataFrame as the handler name, followed by two additional arguments, for example:

     var ns:NetStream = new NetStream(nc);
     ns.send("@setDataFrame", "onMetaData", metaData);
     

The @setDataFrame argument refers to a special handler built in to Flash Media Server. The onMetaData argument is the name of a callback function in your client application that listens for the onMetaData event and retrieves the metadata. The third item, metaData, is an instance of Object or Array with properties that define the metadata values.

Use @clearDataFrame to clear a keyframe of metadata that has already been set in the stream:

     ns.send("@clearDataFrame", "onMetaData");
     

Parameters

Related API Elements

package {
   import flash.display.Sprite;
   import flash.net.NetConnection;
   import flash.net.NetStream;
   import flash.events.NetStatusEvent;
   import flash.media.Video;
   import flash.utils.setTimeout;

 
   public class TestExample extends Sprite
   {
     var nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
     var ns1:NetStream;
     var ns2:NetStream;
     var vid:Video = new Video(300,300);
     var obj:Object = new Object();
 
     public function TestExample() {
        nc.objectEncoding = 0;
        nc.addEventListener("netStatus", onNCStatus);
        nc.connect("rtmp://localhost/FlashVideoApp");
        addChild(vid); 
     }
  
     function onNCStatus(event:NetStatusEvent):void {
       switch (event.info.code) {
           case "NetConnection.Connect.Success":
               trace("You've connected successfully");
               ns1 = new NetStream(nc);
               ns2 = new NetStream(nc);
               
               ns1.client = new CustomClient();
               ns1.publish("dummy", "live");
    
               ns2.client = new CustomClient();
               vid.attachNetStream(ns2);
               ns2.play("dummy");
               setTimeout(sendHello, 3000);
               break;
              
           case "NetStream.Publish.BadName":
               trace("Please check the name of the publishing stream" );
               break;
        }   
     }

     function sendHello():void {
         ns1.send("myFunction", "hello");
     }       
   }
 }
 
 class CustomClient {
    public function myFunction(event:String):void {
       trace(event);
    }
 }

private function netStatusHandler(event:NetStatusEvent):void {
     switch (event.info.code) {  
        case "NetStream.Publish.Start":
            var metaData:Object = new Object();
            metaData.title = "myStream";
            metaData.width = 400;
            metaData.height = 200;
            ns.send("@setDataFrame", "onMetaData", metaData);
            ns.attachCamera( Camera.getCamera() );
            ns.attachAudio( Microphone.getMicrophone() );        
    }
}

 public function onMetaData(info:Object):void {
    trace("width: " + info.width);
    trace("height: " + info.height);
 }

 // Create a NetStream for playing
 var my_ns:NetStream = new NetStream(my_nc);
 my_video.attachNetStream(my_ns);
 
 // Play the stream record1
 my_ns.play("record1", 0, -1, true);
 
 // Switch to the stream live1 and play for 5 seconds.  
 // Since reset is false, live1 will start to play after record1 is done.
 my_ns.play("live1", -1 , 5, false);

 //To play at normal speed
 var my_ns:NetStream = new NetStream(my_nc);
 my_ns.play("log", 0, -1);
 
 //To get the data messages all at once
 my_ns.play("log", 0, -1, 3);

Sets the DRM authentication credentials needed for viewing the underlying encrypted content.

The setDRMAuthenticationCredentials() method must provide credentials that match those known and accepted by the content provider or the proxy server. These are the same credentials used by the user when obtaining the permission to view the content.

Parameters

Related API Elements

Steps forward or back the specified number of frames, relative to the currently displayed frame. Specify a positive number to step forward and a negative number to step in reverse. Call this method to create accurate fast forward or rewind functionality.

Note: This method is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

This method is available only when data is streaming from Flash Media Server 3.5.3 or higher and when NetStream.inBufferSeek is true. Also, the target frame must be in the buffer. For example, if the currently displayed frame is frame number 120 and you specify a value of 1000, the method fails if frame number 1120 is not in the buffer.

This method is intended to be used with the pause() or togglePause() methods. If you step 10 frames forward or backward during playback without pausing, you may not notice the steps or they'll look like a glitch. Also, when you call pause() or togglePause the audio is suppressed.

If the call to NetStream.step() is successful, a NetStatusEvent is sent with "NetStream.Step.Notify" as the value of the info object's code property.

Parameters

Related API Elements

Pauses or resumes playback of a stream. The first time you call this method, it pauses play; the next time, it resumes play. You could use this method to let users pause or resume playback by pressing a single button.

Related API Elements

Dispatched when an exception is thrown asynchronously — that is, from native asynchronous code. This event is dispatched when a server calls a method on the client that is not defined.

This event has the following properties:

Related API Elements

Dispatched when a NetStream object tries to play a digital rights management (DRM) encrypted content that requires a user credential for authentication before playing.

Note: This event is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

Use the setDRMAuthenticationCredentials() method of the NetStream object to authenticate the user. If user authentication failed, the application retries authentication and dispatches a new DRMAuthenticateEvent event for the NetStream object.

This event has the following properties:

Related API Elements

Dispatched when a NetStream object, trying to play a digital rights management (DRM) encrypted file, encounters a DRM-related error. For example, a DRMErrorEvent object is dispatched when the user authorization fails. This may be because the user has not purchased the rights to view the content or because the content provider does not support the viewing application.

Note: This event is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

This event has the following properties:

Related API Elements

Dispatched when the digital rights management (DRM) encrypted content begins playing (when the user is authenticated and authorized to play the content).

Note: This event is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

DRMStatusEvent object contains information related to the voucher, such as whether the content is available offline or when the voucher expires and users can no longer view the content.

This event has the following properties:

Related API Elements

Dispatched when an input or output error occurs that causes a network operation to fail.

This event has the following properties:

Dispatched when playing video content and certain type of messages are processed.

A NetDataEvent is dispatched for the following messages:

• onCuePoint
• onImageData
• onMetaData
• onPlayStatus (for code NetStream.Play.Complete)
• onTextData
• onXMPData

Note: This event is not dispatched by content running in Flash Player in the browser on Android or Blackberry Tablet OS or by content running in AIR on iOS.

Dispatched when a NetStream object is reporting its status or error condition. The netStatus event contains an info property, which is an information object that contains specific information about the event, such as if a connection attempt succeeded or failed.

This event has the following properties:

Related API Elements

Establishes a listener to respond when an embedded cue point is reached while playing a video file. You can use the listener to trigger actions in your code when the video reaches a specific cue point, which lets you synchronize other actions in your application with video playback events. For information about video file formats supported by Flash Media Server, see the www.adobe.com/go/learn_fms_fileformats_en.

Note: This event is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

onCuePoint is actually a property of the NetStream.client object. IThe property is listed in the Events section because it responds to a data event, either when streaming media using Flash Media Server or during FLV file playback. For more information, see the NetStream class description. You cannot use the addEventListener() method, or any other EventDispatcher methods, to listen for, or process onCuePoint as an event. Define a callback function and attach it to one of the following objects:

• The object that the client property of a NetStream instance references.
• An instance of a NetStream subclass. NetStream is a sealed class, which means that properties or methods cannot be added to a NetStream object at runtime. Create a subclass of NetStream and define your event handler in the subclass. You can also make the subclass dynamic and add the event handler function to an instance of the subclass.

The associated event listener is triggered after a call to the NetStream.play() method, but before the video playhead has advanced.

You can embed the following types of cue points in a video file:

• A navigation cue point specifies a keyframe within the video file and the cue point's time property corresponds to that exact keyframe. Navigation cue points are often used as bookmarks or entry points to let users navigate through the video file.
• An event cue point specifies a time. The time may or may not correspond to a specific keyframe. An event cue point usually represents a time in the video when something happens that could be used to trigger other application events.

The onCuePoint event object has the following properties:

You can define cue points in a video file when you first encode the file, or when you import a video clip in the Flash authoring tool by using the Video Import wizard.

The onMetaData event also retrieves information about the cue points in a video file. However the onMetaData event gets information about all of the cue points before the video begins playing. The onCuePoint event receives information about a single cue point at the time specified for that cue point during playback.

Generally, to have your code respond to a specific cue point at the time it occurs, use the onCuePoint event to trigger some action in your code.

You can use the list of cue points provided to the onMetaData event to let the user start playing the video at predefined points along the video stream. Pass the value of the cue point's time property to the NetStream.seek() method to play the video from that cue point.

var video:Video = new Video();
addChild(video);
 
var nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
nc.connect(null);
 
var ns:NetStream = new NetStream(nc);
ns.client = {};
ns.client.onMetaData = ns_onMetaData;
ns.client.onCuePoint = ns_onCuePoint;

video.attachNetStream(ns);
ns.play("http://www.helpexamples.com/flash/video/cuepoints.flv");

 
function ns_onMetaData(item:Object):void {
    trace("metaData");
    // Resize video instance.
    video.width = item.width;
    video.height = item.height;
    // Center video instance on Stage.
    video.x = (stage.stageWidth - video.width) / 2;
    video.y = (stage.stageHeight - video.height) / 2;
}
 
function ns_onCuePoint(item:Object):void {
    trace("cuePoint");
    trace(item.name + "\t" + item.time);
}

Related API Elements

Establishes a listener to respond when AIR extracts DRM content metadata embedded in a media file.

Note: This event is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

A DRMContentData object contains the information needed to obtain a voucher required to play a DRM-protected media file. Use the DRMManager class to download the voucher with this information.

onDRMContentData is a property of the NetStream.client object. This property is listed in the Events section because it responds to a data event when preloading embedded data from a local media file. For more information, see the NetStream class description. You cannot use the addEventListener() method, or any other EventDispatcher methods, to listen for, or process onDRMContentData as an event. Rather, you must define a single callback function and attach it directly to one of the following objects:

• The object that the client property of a NetStream instance references.
• An instance of a NetStream subclass. NetStream is a sealed class, which means that properties or methods cannot be added to a NetStream object at runtime. However, you can create a subclass of NetStream and define your event handler in the subclass or make the subclass dynamic and add the event handler function to an instance of the subclass.

Related API Elements

Establishes a listener to respond when Flash Player receives image data as a byte array embedded in a media file that is playing. The image data can produce either JPEG, PNG, or GIF content. Use the flash.display.Loader.loadBytes() method to load the byte array into a display object.

Note: This event is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

onImageData is actually a property of the NetStream.client object. The property is listed in the Events section because it responds to a data event, either when streaming media using Flash Media Server or during FLV file playback. For more information, see the NetStream class description. You cannot use the addEventListener() method, or any other EventDispatcher methods, to listen for, or process onImageData as an event. Define a single callback function and attach it to one of the following objects:

• The object that the client property of a NetStream instance references.
• An instance of a NetStream subclass. NetStream is a sealed class, which means that properties or methods cannot be added to a NetStream object at runtime. Create a subclass of NetStream and define your event handler in the subclass. You can also make the subclass dynamic and add the event handler function to an instance of the subclass.

The associated event listener is triggered after a call to the NetStream.play() method, but before the video playhead has advanced.

The onImageData event object contains the image data as a byte array sent through an AMF0 data channel.

package {
    import flash.display.*;
    import flash.net.*;
    import flash.media.*;
    import flash.system.*;
    import flash.events.*;

        public class OnTextDataExample extends Sprite {
                                              
            public function OnTextDataExample():void {

                var my_video:Video = new Video();
                addChild(my_video);

                var customClient:Object = new Object();
                customClient.onImageData = onImageDataHandler;           
                customClient.onTextData = onTextDataHandler;               

                var my_nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
                my_nc.connect(null);
                var my_ns:NetStream = new NetStream(my_nc);
                my_ns.client = customClient;

                my_video.attachNetStream(my_ns);
                my_ns.play("yourURL");
            }

            public function onImageDataHandler(imageData:Object):void {

                trace("imageData length: " + imageData.data.length);
                var imageloader:Loader = new Loader();           
                imageloader.loadBytes(imageData.data); // imageData.data is a ByteArray object.
                addChild(imageloader);
            }

    
            public function onTextDataHandler(textData:Object):void {

                trace("--- textData properties ----");
                var key:String;

                for (key in textData) {
                    trace(key + ": " + textData[key]);
                }
            }

        }

}

Related API Elements

Establishes a listener to respond when Flash Player receives descriptive information embedded in the video being played. For information about video file formats supported by Flash Media Server, see the www.adobe.com/go/learn_fms_fileformats_en.

onMetaData is actually a property of the NetStream.client object. The property is listed in the Events section because it responds to a data event, either when streaming media using Flash Media Server or during FLV file playback. For more information, see the NetStream class description and the NetStream.client property. You cannot use the addEventListener() method, or any other EventDispatcher methods, to listen for or process onMetaData as an event. Define a single callback function and attach it to one of the following objects:

• The object that the client property of a NetStream instance references.
• An instance of a NetStream subclass. NetStream is a sealed class, which means that properties or methods cannot be added to a NetStream object at runtime. You can create a subclass of NetStream and define your event handler in the subclass. You can also make the subclass dynamic and add the event handler function to an instance of the subclass.

The Flash Video Exporter utility (version 1.1 or later) embeds a video's duration, creation date, data rates, and other information into the video file itself. Different video encoders embed different sets of meta data.

The associated event listener is triggered after a call to the NetStream.play() method, but before the video playhead has advanced.

In many cases, the duration value embedded in stream metadata approximates the actual duration but is not exact. In other words, it does not always match the value of the NetStream.time property when the playhead is at the end of the video stream.

The event object passed to the onMetaData event handler contains one property for each piece of data.

var video:Video = new Video();
addChild(video);
 
var nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
nc.connect(null);
 
var ns:NetStream = new NetStream(nc);
ns.client = {};
ns.client.onMetaData = ns_onMetaData;
ns.client.onCuePoint = ns_onCuePoint;

video.attachNetStream(ns);
ns.play("http://www.helpexamples.com/flash/video/cuepoints.flv");

 
function ns_onMetaData(item:Object):void {
    trace("metaData");
    // Resize video instance.
    video.width = item.width;
    video.height = item.height;
    // Center video instance on Stage.
    video.x = (stage.stageWidth - video.width) / 2;
    video.y = (stage.stageHeight - video.height) / 2;
}
 
function ns_onCuePoint(item:Object):void {
    trace("cuePoint");
    trace(item.name + "\t" + item.time);
}

Related API Elements

Establishes a listener to respond when a NetStream object has completely played a stream. The associated event object provides information in addition to what's returned by the netStatus event. You can use this property to trigger actions in your code when a NetStream object has switched from one stream to another stream in a playlist (as indicated by the information object NetStream.Play.Switch) or when a NetStream object has played to the end (as indicated by the information object NetStream.Play.Complete).

onPlayStaus is actually a property of the NetStream.client object. The property is listed in the Events section because it responds to a data event, either when streaming media using Flash Media Server or during FLV file playback. For more information, see the NetStream class description. You cannot use the addEventListener() method, or any other EventDispatcher methods, to listen for, or process onPlayStatus as an event. Define a callback function and attach it to one of the following objects:

• The object that the client property of a NetStream instance references.
• An instance of a NetStream subclass. NetStream is a sealed class, which means that properties or methods cannot be added to a NetStream object at runtime. Create a subclass of NetStream and define your event handler in the subclass. You can also make the subclass dynamic and add the event handler function to an instance of the subclass.

This event can return an information object with the following properties:

Related API Elements

Called synchronously from appendBytes() when the append bytes parser encounters a point that it believes is a seekable point (for example, a video key frame). Use this event to construct a seek point table. The byteCount corresponds to the byteCount at the first byte of the parseable message for that seek point, and is reset to zero as described above. To seek, at the event NetStream.Seek.Notify, find the bytes that start at a seekable point and call appendBytes(bytes). If the bytes argument is a ByteArray consisting of bytes starting at the seekable point, the video plays at that seek point.

Note: Calls to appendBytes() from within this callback are ignored.

Note: This event is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

The onSeekPoint property is a property of the NetStream.client object. The property is listed in the Events section because it responds to data coming into the appendBytes() method. For more information, see the NetStream class description and the NetStream.client property. You cannot use the addEventListener() method, or any other EventDispatcher methods, to listen for or process onSeekPoint as an event. To use onSeekPoint, define a callback function and attach it to one of the following objects:

• The object that the client property of a NetStream instance references.
• An instance of a NetStream subclass. NetStream is a sealed class, which means that properties or methods cannot be added to a NetStream object at runtime. However, you can create a subclass of NetStream and define your event handler in the subclass. You can also make the subclass dynamic and add the event handler function to an instance of the subclass.

Related API Elements

Establishes a listener to respond when Flash Player receives text data embedded in a media file that is playing. The text data is in UTF-8 format and can contain information about formatting based on the 3GP timed text specification.

Note: This event is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

onTextData is actually a property of the NetStream.client object. The property is listed in the Events section because it responds to a data event, either when streaming media using Flash Media Server or during FLV file playback. For more information, see the NetStream class description. You cannot use the addEventListener() method, or any other EventDispatcher methods, to listen for, or process onTextData as an event. Define a callback function and attach it to one of the following objects:

• The object that the client property of a NetStream instance references.
• An instance of a NetStream subclass. NetStream is a sealed class, which means that properties or methods cannot be added to a NetStream object at runtime. Create a subclass of NetStream and define your event handler in the subclass. You can also make the subclass dynamic and add the event handler function to an instance of the subclass.

The associated event listener is triggered after a call to the NetStream.play() method, but before the video playhead has advanced.

The onTextData event object contains one property for each piece of text data.

package {
    import flash.display.*;
    import flash.net.*;
    import flash.media.*;
    import flash.system.*;
    import flash.events.*;

        public class OnTextDataExample extends Sprite {
                                              
            public function OnTextDataExample():void {

                var my_video:Video = new Video();
                addChild(my_video);

                var customClient:Object = new Object();
                customClient.onImageData = onImageDataHandler;           
                customClient.onTextData = onTextDataHandler;               

                var my_nc:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
                my_nc.connect(null);
                var my_ns:NetStream = new NetStream(my_nc);
                my_ns.client = customClient;

                my_video.attachNetStream(my_ns);
                my_ns.play("yourURL");
            }

            public function onImageDataHandler(imageData:Object):void {

                trace("imageData length: " + imageData.data.length);
                var imageloader:Loader = new Loader();           
                imageloader.loadBytes(imageData.data); // imageData.data is a ByteArray object.
                addChild(imageloader);
            }

    
            public function onTextDataHandler(textData:Object):void {

                trace("--- textData properties ----");
                var key:String;

                for (key in textData) {
                    trace(key + ": " + textData[key]);
                }
            }

        }

}

Related API Elements

Establishes a listener to respond when Flash Player receives information specific to Adobe Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) embedded in the video being played. For information about video file formats supported by Flash Media Server, see the www.adobe.com/go/learn_fms_fileformats_en.

Note: This event is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

onXMPData is actually a property of the NetStream.client object. The property is listed in the Events section because it responds to a data event, either when streaming media using Flash Media Server or during FLV file playback. For more information, see the NetStream class description and the NetStream.client property. You cannot use the addEventListener() method, or any other EventDispatcher methods, to listen for or process onMetaData as an event. Define a callback function and attach it to one of the following objects:

• The object that the client property of a NetStream instance references.
• An instance of a NetStream subclass. NetStream is a sealed class, which means that properties or methods cannot be added to a NetStream object at runtime. However, you can create a subclass of NetStream and define your event handler in the subclass. You can also make the subclass dynamic and add the event handler function to an instance of the subclass.

The associated event listener is triggered after a call to the NetStream.play() method, but before the video playhead has advanced.

The object passed to the onXMPData() event handling function has one data property, which is a string. The string is generated from a top-level UUID box. (The 128-bit UUID of the top level box is BE7ACFCB-97A9-42E8-9C71-999491E3AFAC.) This top-level UUID box contains exactly one XML document represented as a null-terminated UTF-8 string.

Related API Elements

Dispatched when the application attempts to play content encrypted with digital rights management (DRM), by invoking the NetStream.play() method. The value of the status code property will be "DRM.encryptedFLV".

Note: This event is not supported for H.264 video in AIR 3.0 for iOS.

This event has the following properties:

Related API Elements

A static object used as a parameter to the constructor for a NetStream instance. It is the default value of the second parameter in the NetStream constructor; it is not used by the application for progressive media playback. When used, this parameter causes the constructor to make a connection to a Flash Media Server instance.

Creates a peer-to-peer publisher connection. Pass this string for the second (optional) parameter to the constructor for a NetStream instance. With this string, an application can create a NetStream connection for the purposes of publishing audio and video to clients.

In this example, the code that creates the Video and NetStream objects and calls the Video.attachNetStream() and NetStream.play() methods is placed in a handler function. The handler is called only if the attempt to connect to the NetConnection object is successful; that is, when the netStatus event returns an info object with a code property that indicates success. It is recommended that you wait for a successful connection before you call NetStream.play().

package {
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    import flash.events.NetStatusEvent;
    import flash.events.SecurityErrorEvent;
    import flash.media.Video;
    import flash.net.NetConnection;
    import flash.net.NetStream;
    import flash.events.Event;

    public class NetConnectionExample extends Sprite {
        private var videoURL:String = "http://www.helpexamples.com/flash/video/cuepoints.flv";
        private var connection:NetConnection;
        private var stream:NetStream;
        private var video:Video = new Video();        

        public function NetConnectionExample() {
            connection = new NetConnection();
            connection.addEventListener(NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS, netStatusHandler);
            connection.addEventListener(SecurityErrorEvent.SECURITY_ERROR, securityErrorHandler);
            connection.connect(null);
        }

        private function netStatusHandler(event:NetStatusEvent):void {
            switch (event.info.code) {
                case "NetConnection.Connect.Success":
                    connectStream();
                    break;
                case "NetStream.Play.StreamNotFound":
                    trace("Stream not found: " + videoURL);
                    break;
            }
        }

        private function securityErrorHandler(event:SecurityErrorEvent):void {
            trace("securityErrorHandler: " + event);
        }

        private function connectStream():void {
            addChild(video);
            var stream:NetStream = new NetStream(connection);
            stream.addEventListener(NetStatusEvent.NET_STATUS, netStatusHandler);
            stream.client = new CustomClient();
            video.attachNetStream(stream);
            stream.play(videoURL);
        }
    }
}

class CustomClient {
    public function onMetaData(info:Object):void {
        trace("metadata: duration=" + info.duration + " width=" + info.width + " height=" + info.height + " framerate=" + info.framerate);
    }
    public function onCuePoint(info:Object):void {
        trace("cuepoint: time=" + info.time + " name=" + info.name + " type=" + info.type);
    }
}