Enchanter

Enchanter is a script which allows the live streaming of random pre-processed and chunked vods stored in S3.

Features

Random Episodes

The default behaviour of the script is set to playing a random episode from any series in the database.

Request Episodes

Requested episodes will be added into the list which will then be played when the current playing vod finishes.

Interrupt Request

An interrupt request can be sent which will halt the vod that is currently playing and start the interrupt request.

How it Works

There are 2 components to this script: RPC Service and Web Service.

Web Service

The web service is used to serve the HLS playlist.

HSL playlist example:

#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-VERSION:3
#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:10
#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE:226
#EXTINF:10.000,
https://s3.example.com/streams/e8013a721b39ba502e10/720/fileSequence60.ts
#EXTINF:10.000,
https://s3.example.com/streams/e8013a721b39ba502e10/720/fileSequence61.ts

e8013a721b39ba502e10 is the folder (as stated in the database) where the chunked vods are stored in your S3 instance.

fileSequence{n}.ts is the sequence of the pre-processed and chunked vod.

RPC Service

The RPC service is used for inter-app communication. For example, Enchanter may be a sub-service to an app which will retrieve current vod and playlist information from the Enchanter RPC.

Database Structure

Enchanter uses MongoDB. An Episode must have a parent Series, but not likewise. For example:

Series
{
	_id: 5ea89d91d678ae502c3babc8,
	name: Nisemonogatari,
	altName: [
		Impostory,
		偽物語
	],
	poster: d6491440703b520ee84c.jpg,
}

Episode
{
	_id: 5ea89d91d678ae502c3babd2,
	name: Tsukihi Phoenix, Part One,
	count: 8, // Episode number.
	duration: 1321, // Duration of episode in seconds.
	parts: 133, // Number of parts in 10-second chunks.
	folder: e8013a721b39ba502e10, // Name of folder where chunks are stored in S3.
	series: 5ea89d91d678ae502c3babc8, // Parent series ID.
	enabled: true, // Will only be played if true.
	hasResolution: [720, 1080], // Pre-processed in available resolution.
}

Setup

Configuration

Rename .env.sample to .env. Most of the variables in the file are self-explanatory.

S3

This will be the S3 service where the vods are stored

S3_URL=http://s3.example.com/streams

The playlist will be rendered centered around the URL. Following the database example:

https://s3.example.com/streams/e8013a721b39ba502e10/720/fileSequence120.ts

Streaming

The name for the sequence of files that you have stored in S3. {n} will be replaced with an integer.

STREAM_FILE_NAME=fileSequence{n}.ts

The set time for every sequence in seconds.

STREAM_SEGMENT_TIME=10

Amount of time before vod can be played again (in hours).

VOD_CUTOFF_TIME=6

A range of available stream resolutions for playlists (separated by commas).

If the vod does not have a resolution in the list, the next lowest will be chosen. For example, if 480 is not available, 720 will be chosen.

STREAM_RESOLUTION=1080,720

Adding Vods

Vods are to be pre-processed into accepted resolutions and cut into chunks specified in STREAM_SEGMENT_TIME and renamed as specified in STREAM_FILE_NAME where {n} is the playing sequence (starting from 0).

For example, Nisemonogatari episode 8 is 1321s long and the vod will be cut into 133 parts of chunks up to 10 seconds (according to STREAM_SEGMENT_TIME).

The files are then to be uploaded into S3 according to the folder variable in the episodes database object.

Running Service

To run it normally: node dist/enchanter.js

Recommended to run it in pm2: pm2 start dist/enchanter.js

Viewing HLS playlist: http://example.com:8080/{STREAM_RESOLUTION}

Libraries Used

Author's Notes

This is created from the boredome of the 2020 ~~lockdown~~ circuit breaker in Singapore. I do not condone the use of this script for illegal means.

If you have any improvements to suggest or bugs discovered to fix, feel free to send a pull request!

Thank you for reading through.

jtpox/Enchanter