1. A VLC Media Player Plugin enabling Dynamic
Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH)
Christopher Mueller and Christian Timmerer
Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt (AAU)  Faculty of Technical Sciences (TEWI)
Institute of Information Technology (ITEC)  Multimedia Communication (MMC)
Christopher Mueller

2. Outline
• Introduction
– Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP
– DASH Data Model
• DASH VLC Media Plugin
– Plugin Architecture
– Plugin Features
– Demo
• Conclusion and Further Work
Christopher Mueller, Alpen-Adria-Universität
29/11/2011 2
Klagenfurt, Austria

3. Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP
• Problems
– Firewalls
– NAT’s
– Fluctuating bandwidth
– Rebuffering
– No reuse of the internet infrastructure e.g. caches,
proxies, CDNs
– Flexible and easy deployment (Netflix, Hulu etc.)
Christopher Mueller, Alpen-Adria-Universität
29/11/2011 3
Klagenfurt, Austria

4. DASH System Architecture
ISOBMFF … ISO Base Media File Format e.g. mp4)
M2TS … MPEG-2 Transport Stream
MF … Manifest Format e.g. MPD, FMF
DF … Delivery Format e.g. mp4s, 3gs, chopped media content
Christopher Mueller, Alpen-Adria-Universität
29/11/2011 4
Klagenfurt, Austria

5. DASH Data Model
Christopher Mueller, Alpen-Adria-Universität
29/11/2011 5
Klagenfurt, Austria

6. DASH Data Model
• MPD: Top level container with basic
information e.g. EPG
• Period: Separates the content for e.g. ad
insertion or for camera angle changes
• Group: Logical grouping of Representations by
resolution, codec etc.
• Subset: Restricts the combination of groups
e.g. prohibit resolution switching
• Segment: The chopped media content
Christopher Mueller, Alpen-Adria-Universität
29/11/2011 6
Klagenfurt, Austria

7. DASH Plugin Architecture
• Four major
components and
two controller
classes
• Easy Adaptation
Logic Interface for
Researchers and
Developers
• Flexible HTTP
structure for further
improvements e.g.
persistent
connections
Christopher Mueller, Alpen-Adria-Universität
29/11/2011 7
Klagenfurt, Austria

8. DASH Plugin Features
• Officially part of VLC
• Provides a simple interface to integrate new
Adaptation Logics
• Dynamic adaptation to the available bandwidth
• Flexible for further improvements e.g. profiles,
persistent connections and pipelining
• Source code is available through the VLC git
repository and at:
http://www-itec.aau.at/dash
Christopher Mueller, Alpen-Adria-Universität
29/11/2011 8
Klagenfurt, Austria

9. Demo
• Virtual Shaping Network
Christopher Mueller, Alpen-Adria-Universität
29/11/2011 9
Klagenfurt, Austria

10. Conclusion and Further Work
• VLC DASH Plugin
– Officially part of VLC
– Dynamic adaptation
– Provides a simple interface to integrate new
Adaptation Logics
– Flexible for further improvements e.g. profiles,
persistent connections and pipelining
Christopher Mueller, Alpen-Adria-Universität
29/11/2011 10
Klagenfurt, Austria

11. Thank you for your attention
DASH at the Alpen-Adria University of Klagenfurt
http://www-itec.aau.at/dash
Join this activity, everyone is invited – get
involved in and exited about DASH!
Christopher Mueller, Alpen-Adria-Universität
29/11/2011 11
Klagenfurt, Austria