Playing new HLS streams via iTunes

[johnb]

On the BBC Internet Blog, Jim Simmons (BBC Senior Product Manager) as said:

To play an HLS stream in itunes, replace "http" with "itls"

I am just relaying the information in case it helps someone but I haven't checked it out.

The URLs are are in my post here.

[OldTechie]

Maybe it's OK on a MAC. On my PC it plays for between 0 seconds and about 2 minutes randomly. I've tried all four data rates, and the playback is broken on all of them. I wonder whether Jim Simmons actually tried it.

It has about 8 seconds less delay than my lash-up player which plays perfectly.

[Dave2002]

It has about 8 seconds less delay than my lash-up player which plays perfectly.

What kind of player is that? Can we all make one?

[OldTechie]

Sure - all you need is a copy of Visual Studio, Windows 8.1 and the hls code from http://phonesm.codeplex.com/. I just added the URLs you posted into his sample player code, compiled it and it worked. However it is a Windows RT application so its a pain to use.

[johnb]

It is also very simple to play the HLS streams with ffplay (part of the ffmpeg package):

ffplay <URL>

However it's more convenient to use the BBC website.