BASS_HLS_StreamCreateURL

Creates a sample stream from an HLS playlist on the internet, optionally receiving the downloaded data in a callback.

HSTREAM BASS_HLS_StreamCreateURL(
    char *url,
    DWORD flags,
    DOWNLOADPROC *proc,
    void *user
);

Parameters

urlURL of the file to stream. Should begin with "http://" or "https://" or "ftp://". The URL can be followed by custom HTTP request headers to be sent to the server; the URL and each header should be terminated with a carriage return and line feed ("\r\n").
flagsA combination of these flags.
BASS_SAMPLE_FLOATUse 32-bit floating-point sample data. See Floating-point channels for info.
BASS_SAMPLE_3DEnable 3D functionality. The stream must be mono. The SPEAKER flags cannot be used together with this flag.
BASS_STREAM_STATUSPass status info (HTTP tags) from the server to the DOWNLOADPROC callback during connection. This can be useful to determine the reason for a failure.
BASS_STREAM_AUTOFREEAutomatically free the stream when playback ends.
BASS_STREAM_DECODEDecode the sample data, without playing it. Use BASS_ChannelGetData to retrieve decoded sample data. The BASS_SAMPLE_3D, BASS_STREAM_AUTOFREE and SPEAKER flags cannot be used together with this flag.
BASS_SPEAKER_xxxSpeaker assignment flags. These flags have no effect when the stream is more than stereo.
BASS_UNICODEurl is in UTF-16 form. Otherwise it is ANSI on Windows and UTF-8 on other platforms.
procCallback function to receive the file as it is downloaded... NULL = no callback.
userUser instance data to pass to the callback function.

Return value

If successful, the new stream's handle is returned, else 0 is returned. Use BASS_ErrorGetCode to get the error code.

Error codes

BASS_ERROR_INITBASS_Init has not been successfully called.
BASS_ERROR_NOTAVAILThe BASS_STREAM_AUTOFREE flag cannot be combined with the BASS_STREAM_DECODE flag.
BASS_ERROR_NONETNo internet connection could be opened.
BASS_ERROR_ILLPARAMurl is not a valid URL.
BASS_ERROR_PROTOCOLThe protocol in url is not supported.
BASS_ERROR_SSLSSL/HTTPS support is not available. See BASS_CONFIG_LIBSSL.
BASS_ERROR_TIMEOUTThe server did not respond to the request within the timeout period, as set with the BASS_CONFIG_NET_TIMEOUT config option.
BASS_ERROR_DENIEDA valid username/password is required.
BASS_ERROR_FILEOPENThe file could not be opened.
BASS_ERROR_FILEFORMThe file's format is not recognised/supported.
BASS_ERROR_NOTAUDIOThe file does not contain audio.
BASS_ERROR_FORMATThe sample format is not supported.
BASS_ERROR_SPEAKERThe specified SPEAKER flags are invalid.
BASS_ERROR_MEMThere is insufficent memory.
BASS_ERROR_NO3DCould not initialize 3D support.
BASS_ERROR_UNKNOWNSome other mystery problem!

Remarks

HLS streams consist of a media playlist and segments. The media segments usually contain AAC audio data, but MP3 or AC3 are also possible. AAC support is available as standard with BASS via OS codecs on some platforms, but the BASS_AAC add-on can otherwise be used to provide that support; BASSHLS can make use of any add-on that has been loaded via BASS_PluginLoad. The data will usually be in an MPEG-TS container, but it can also be plain audio data, possibly with ID3v2 tags.

The main parts of the HLS spec are supported. The supported playlist tags are: EXTINF, EXT-X-BYTERANGE, EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY, EXT-X-ENDLIST, EXT-X-KEY, EXT-X-MAP, EXT-X-MEDIA, EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE, EXT-X-PROGRAM-DATE-TIME, EXT-X-STREAM-INF, EXT-X-TARGETDURATION. Details can be found in the HLS spec: tools.ietf.org/html/draft-pantos-http-live-streaming

As well as possibly ID3v2 tags, additional HLS specific tags may be available from BASS_ChannelGetTags. A sync can be set to be informed of when a new segment starts downloading, which could be used to refresh the per-segment tags. The current segment's sequence number is available from BASS_StreamGetFilePosition with BASS_FILEPOS_HLS_SEGMENT.

A DOWNLOADPROC callback function can be used to receive the downloaded data from all of the segments. When the data is in an MPEG-TS container and/or encrypted, the audio data will be extracted/decrypted before being passed to the callback function. When a stream contains ID3v2 tags, they will also be received by the DOWNLOADPROC callback function if the BASS_CONFIG_HLS_DOWNLOAD_TAGS option is enabled.

Master playlists are supported. By default, BASSHLS will try the variant streams in listed order, but bitrate-based stream selection is available via the BASS_CONFIG_HLS_BANDWIDTH option. More elaborate stream selection is possible by downloading and parsing the master playlist separately for all available options, and then passing the selected stream's URL to this function.

If the media playlist contains an EXT-X-ENDLIST tag to indicate a complete sequence, the length of the sequence (according to the sum of the EXTINF tags) will be available from BASS_ChannelGetLength and seeking will be possible via BASS_ChannelSetPosition. Seeking will be performed asynchronously and playback will be stalled in the meantime. Except for short forward seeks, seeking will involve reconnecting to the server to fetch the media segment containing the requested position, so it may take some time. If the requested position is not on a segment boundary then additional processing will be required to reach it. The BASS_POS_INEXACT flag can be used to stop at a segment boundary and avoid the additional processing. If another position is requested while seeking is in progress, the existing seek will be cancelled for the new one.

A stream's sample format cannot change, so any discontinuities (with EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY tags) must keep the same sample format (the file format/codec can change). The sample rate can change but the following segments will be played at the wrong speed then.

Any cookies that are set by the server for the master/media playlist will be included in the media segment and key requests, to allow authentication.

See also

BASS_HLS_StreamCreateFile, BASS_CONFIG_HLS_BANDWIDTH, BASS_CONFIG_HLS_DELAY, BASS_CONFIG_HLS_DOWNLOAD_TAGS

BASS_ChannelGetInfo, BASS_ChannelGetTags, BASS_ChannelPlay, BASS_ChannelSetAttribute, BASS_ChannelSetDSP, BASS_ChannelSetFX, BASS_StreamFree, DOWNLOADPROC callback, BASS_CONFIG_NET_AGENT, BASS_CONFIG_NET_BUFFER, BASS_CONFIG_NET_PREBUF, BASS_CONFIG_NET_PROXY, BASS_CONFIG_NET_TIMEOUT