Forum Moderators: phranque

Message Too Old, No Replies

The new "audio" element in HTML 5

How can the new "audio" element in HTML 5 be used

         

Hugene

3:56 pm on May 17, 2010 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hi all

I was reading about the new <audio> element in HTML 5 ([dev.w3.org ]) but I can not understand if the source can be a live feed from a microphone attached to the PC, or can the osurce only be a file that is server-side?

Thanks a lot

Demaestro

4:58 pm on May 17, 2010 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



I don't think it cares what the source file is, you just have to define a source file.

I am not sure what the supported formats are but for a live stream it would be something like .asx or .pls

You just have to look into creating a streaming file for your microphone input.

Hugene

3:37 pm on May 18, 2010 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Thanks Demaestro.

What I am wondering is, does the browser handle the I/O with the microphone input? Maybe this isn't implemented yet?

Demaestro

3:54 pm on May 18, 2010 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Hugene,

What you need to do is take the mic I/O and use a streaming type of solution with your server. There has to be a file, you can't connect directly to the mic output.

There is a program called icecast, it will do the work of taking input from a mic and creating a streaming file. Then all you have to do is point your audio tag to the streamer file.

Also if you have a control panel on your site check if there is a something called "Darwin Streamer" that you can install. That will also work for doing steaming and I have noticed a lot more hosting companies offer it in their control panel.

Post back with questions.

Samizdata

7:21 pm on May 18, 2010 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



As mentioned by Demaestro, you need streaming server software to create the stream from your microphone (or other) input - IceCast, Darwin and VLC are free examples.

However, two problems immediately arise:

1. Bandwidth - dividing your actual upstream bandwidth by the bitrate you choose will determine how many simultaneous listeners you can have - for serious broadcasting a relay server at a remote location is generally used. Note also that some ISPs explicitly prohibit running servers from domestic accounts.

2. Compatibility - the Firefox and Opera implementations of HTML5 currently only support OGG streams, while most other browsers only support MP3 streams - so you would need to offer both, which is probably not practical in the domestic setup you describe.

Live streams are certainly supported in the HTML5 audio tag but I don't use it myself at the moment due to the compatibility issues.

...