How to setup encrypted HLS stream with Amazon Elastic Transcoder

Hi Ahmed,

I apologize – there is a way to create a script for converting larger batches of videos, however we have no experience with it yet. I have found this article that might be helpful to you – How To Convert Videos With Elastic Transcoder.

Thanks,
Eduard

Hi Ahmed,

The Azure media service can be used for hosting a simple MP4 and HLS stream already (you can see it in this demo. We will discuss further integration in our team.

Thanks,
Eduard

Hi Ahmed,

Yes, I did some testing over the last couple of days and it seems more complicated than I first thought + it’s probably more expensive than AWS. We will probably integrate it some time in the future anyway.

If you want a relatively cheap hosting with content protection, you can use KeyCDN. You can serve encrypted videos (as you can see in this demo) that will not be accessible without the proper key even when downloaded. I haven’t tested it with HLS yet, though. Here is a guide on how to start with KeyCDN, how to create the distribution and how to use it with FV Player – Using KeyCDN With FV Player.

Thanks,
Eduard

Hi Ahmed,

You’ve got a point, AWS doesn’t have a minimum payment.

I apologize, because I might have misled you in my previous message – the videos from KeyCDN are not ‘encrypted’. They are protected from downloading and hotlinking by the secure token, but not encrypted per se. That means no one without the unique access key should be able to use the video link for downloading or using the link on their website.

Thanks,
Eduard

Hello Ahmed,

I’ve edited your first post, so the access credentials don’t show up here.

As for your questions:

1) The CloudFront hotlinking protection is not necessary, since the stream is only accessible with the unique decryption key

2) It actually is in the guide, check this part

3) DRM Text shouldn’t be visible. Here is a guide that should explain it – Protecting Videos With DRM Text

4) Adjusting the logo size is currently possible only outside FV Player – meanin you have to edit the original image and then upload the resized version again

Thanks,
Eduard

Hi Ahmed,

I edited your previous posts for you.

That message is a bit outdated and we are planning to remove it, since you don’t need MP4 alternative on desktop thanks to HLS.js.

Interesting idea about the DRM Text. Do you mean that it would kind of rotate, appearing in one corner at a time?

Thanks,
Eduard

Hi Ahmed,

1) I’ll discuss it with the rest of the team. Thanks for the idea.

2) The Access Key stored in the FV Player Pro settings is set only once, but the Encryption Key is different for each transcoding job, therefore for each HLS stream

3) The point of HLS is that it will automatically switch to optimal quality based on the viewer’s bandwidth and the device he’s using, so you don’t have to worry about that. The pre-sets you are using are ok, but you don’t have to limit yourself to them and create your own. But more presets means transcoding and storing more data, so keep that in mind. I think that having about 4-5 qualities should cover all possible devices, maybe except 4k and such.

Thanks,
Eduard

Hi Ahmed,

Sorry, I forgot to add that it’s currently available only in the Beta mode.

Thanks,
Eduard

Hi Ahmed,

We usually use the 600k, 1M, 2M settings, but if you need more variants, you could use 400k, 800k, 1200k and 2200k. It’s easy to create your own profiles, so you can use whatever you want. Here is a https://developer.apple.com/library/content/technotes/tn2224/Art/tn2224_settings_May_2016.jpg made by Apple, that might help you.

As for the license acquisition URL – no, the encrypted stream is created for a specific page only.

Thanks,
Eduard

Hi Bradley,

We have been discussing this in the support ticket you opened, but you can share how you have managed to fix the issue if you have some spare time.

Thanks,
Eduard

Hello Peter,

yes and it should be already present if you start using Elastic Transcoder. Make sure that you are in the correct region when looking at the IAM screen. It has to be a region where you Elastic Transcoder pipeline exists. Just follow that part of our guide step by step: https://foliovision.com/player/securing-your-video/hls-stream#creating-encryption-key

Thanks,
Martin

I found it thanks.

Hello Peter,

I would recommend you to check step 9.

Thanks,
Martin

Hello Vincent,

as long as it’s unique it will work. But it’s best to include the master playlist name. In case of issues you can just edit your m3u8 files in the S3 bucket, no need to reencode the videos.

Thanks,
Martin

Hello Peter,

we did check Amazon Media Convert before. I was really looking forward to it as Elastic Transcoder is not the best interface I have seen. Unfortunately Media Convert is not much better.

But I’m sure it has other advantages. It seems it’s easier to import presets so perhaps we should be offering that.

Thanks,
Martin

Hello, how do I get data key??
From where I can get it?

Hi
What cause/s the hlsjs-lite: Network Error message when using encrypted HLSv4 audio files distributed via CloudFront ? I have checked all my settings CORS, Cross Domain files in the S3 bucket, encryption keys, access keys, Whitehead settings and so on and everything seems to be ok. I have carried out an invalidation to clear the CloudFront Cache but the message continues.
Can you advise what I should check/adjust next to solve this error.
Regards
Neil

Hello Neil,

please ensure that your license acquisition URL parameter matches your m3u8 URL. It should also only match a single m3u8 URL on your website.

You can also just post the URL here and let me check that out.

Thanks,
Martin

Hi Martin
I refreshed the page and my ‘awaiting moderation’ reply disappeared so not sure If you got my reply with the license acquisition URL in it – so here it is again just in case. https://jazz4all.org.au/?fv_player_hls_key=jazz_stream/index
By the way I am working at an annotated document for the other matters we are discussing.
Regards
Neil

Hi Martin
Not sure if you missed my email from late last week with the information you requested. However, I have been checking the various Foliovision player settings under the Hosting Tab. Under Amazon S3 Protected Content I have specified the bucket where the HLS is stored along with encryption keys. However, when I remove either the specified bucket name or the encryption keys, I can no longer access the bucket from within the player editor ‘Add Video’ S3 tab function.
Regards
Neil

Hi Martin
You have probably been very busy but it has now been two weeks since I sent you the information you asked for (18/01/19). If the question involves too much time to answer on a free basis I am happy to submit a professional support request – just let me know.
Regards
Neil Barclay

Hi Martin,
can you also write a similar workflow that is using Amazon Media Convert instead of Elastic Transcoder? In MediaConvert the dialogues are different. You somehow have to select Static key in the DRM encryption for HLS AES encryption. Elastic Transcoder is not developed further by AWS, so it will be good to switch to MediaConvert.
Thank you
Peter

Awesome tutorial, gonna give it a try, thanks for this.