Fix: Transform Manager ignoring media files added to watch folders

I’ve been puzzled for some days now with the IIS Transform Manager installation we have at ClipFlair for automating the conversion of media files (for example using Microsoft Expression Encoder) into IIS Smooth Streams.

The watch folder I’ve set up for this task was ignoring some of the media files I was dropping in for no apparent reason (e.g. it was picking up some .MP4 files but not other .MP4 ones).

Eventually I realized that the files it wasn’t picking up didn’t have at their Properties/Security tab access rights for the user account that has been assigned to the Transform Manager service, while the processed files (it keeps them at the “WorkQueue/Finished” subfolder” under the watch folder for the respective job [e.g. “Smooth (VC1)”]) had full access rights for that account.

Obviously by dropping them in the watch folder that had those rights assigned they also got the same rights, but not all the filed did. Maybe it is some Windows Server 2008 R2 bug when dropping multiple files together into a folder, not sure though. Adding the needed rights to each of those files, Transform Manager watch folder task immediately pulled them for processing (and soon put them into the “WorkQueue/Running”)

Another thing I noted was that at the Watch Folder task’s (say the “Video files to VC-1 Smooth Streams” ) “Scheduler” tab, at “Concurrent Jobs”, the default setting was set to 1. If you control how many files are placed in the watch folder (e.g. users aren’t uploading files there themselves) you can even check the value “Unlimited” there to process all the dropped files in parallel.

Collection of Smooth Streaming Video URLs

Here are some Smooth Streaming URLs I found on the Internet that you could use during development to test your smooth streaming players (like those based on SMF).

If you haven’t yet started building your SMF-based player you can try the following URLs here: http://www.smoothhd.com/livetestplayer/

Update: you can also try Smooth Stream URLs at ClipFlair Studio Silverlight-based application, turning over its Clip component (using the “Wrench” button on its titlebar) and pasting the Media URL there. Alternatively, you can launch it directly using a URL of the form http://studio.clipflair.net?video=http://smoothstreamer.doit.wisc.edu/doit-nms/BBB_carbon/BBB.ism/Manifest

http://smoothstreamer.doit.wisc.edu/doit-nms/BBB_carbon/BBB.ism/Manifest

http://streams.smooth.vertigo.com/BigBuckBunny_30sec/bigbuck.ism/manifest

http://streams.smooth.vertigo.com/elephantsdream/Elephants_Dream_1024-h264-st-aac.ism/manifest (this one also features multiple audio streams, director’s comments in english and also english and spanish dialogs)

http://playready.directtaps.net/smoothstreaming/TTLSS720VC1/To_The_Limit_720.ism/Manifest

http://playready.directtaps.net/smoothstreaming/SSWSS720H264/ SuperSpeedway_720.ism/Manifest

At the same test server one can also find two audio-only smooth streams:

http://playready.directtaps.net/smoothstreaming/ISMAAACLC/Taxi3_AACLC.ism/Manifest

http://playready.directtaps.net/smoothstreaming/ISMAAACHE/Taxi3_AACHE.ism/Manifest

http://mediadl.microsoft.com/mediadl/iisnet/smoothmedia/Experience/ BigBuckBunny_720p.ism/Manifest

http://ecn.channel9.msdn.com/o9/content/smf/smoothcontent/bbbwp7/big%20buck%20bunny.ism/manifest

http://ecn.channel9.msdn.com/o9/content/smf/smoothcontent/elephantsdream/ Elephants_Dream_1024-h264-st-aac.ism/manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com.edgesuite.net/ondemand/Big%20Buck%20Bunny%20Adaptive.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Turner_Sports_PGA.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Turner_Sports_NASCAR.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Turner_Sports_MLB.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Akamai_ASP_Cutdown.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/mix1/mix1.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/mix2/mix2.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Big%20Buck%20Bunny%20Adaptive.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/ElephantsDream.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Got_Imagination_(Indo).ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Got_Imagination_(California).ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Coral_Reefs.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/eHow_Wakeboard.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/eHow_Baseball.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/eHow_Alligator.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/NBA.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Changeling.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Livestrong_ThyroidCancer.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Livestrong_BeginnerGuideExercising.ism/Manifest

http://video3.smoothhd.com/ondemand/Livestrong_Autism.ism/Manifest

Also found some (probably) Bollywood movie:

http://az280594.vo.msecnd.net/athadu/athadu480.ism/Manifest

You can use the following search query to search for “.ism/Manifest”:
http://www.google.com/?q=%22http%22+%22.ism%2FManifest%22&oq=%22http%22+%22.ism%2FManifest%22

A good source found is http://www.smoothhd.com/content/smoothhd/smoothhd.xml

which seems to be from http://wwwns.akamai.com/hdnetwork/demo/silverlight/default.html

Some more URLs (use the unencrypted ones that write CLEAR) are found at:

http://playready.directtaps.net/smoothstreaming/

Troubleshoot: WCF HTTP Error 404–Not Found

Copying from MPPVE (formerly RCE) documentation:

…might indicate that WCF is not correctly configured.

To resolve the WCF issue

• The error returned is a “HTTP Error 404 – Not Found”. This might be due to an issue with the WCF scriptmaps registrations. To solve this issue:
  1. Open a command line console as Administrator
  2. Browse to “%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.0\Windows Communication Foundation\”
  3. Run the command “ServiceModelReg.exe –i”

btw, for some more troubleshooting tips regarding MPPVE and the CSM (Composite Stream Manifests) files the latest version creates in specific, checkout:

http://blogs.southworks.net/ejadib/2010/02/05/common-mistakes-issues-when-creating-and-using-composite-stream-manifests-csm/