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Multimedia/Discussion/General/Stream to external device over WiFi/List of Posts
Forum Topic - Stream to external device over WiFi: (6 Items)
   
Update
Simon S(deleted)
04/29/2015 10:22 AM
post113755
Stream to external device over WiFi   
Hello, I'm really new to QNX. I'm trying to figure out if and how it would be possible to stream media contents from QNX
 Car Platform to an external device over WiFi.

Any help or pointers are greatly appreciated.
Ryan Allen(deleted)
04/29/2015 1:53 PM
post113759
RE: Stream to external device over WiFi   
Simon,

There are a few different possible meanings to this. Can you describe what you are hoping to achieve with a little more 
detail?

-- 
Ryan J. Allen
QNX Software Systems
Simon S(deleted)
04/30/2015 3:41 AM
post113761
Re: RE: Stream to external device over WiFi   
Hi Ryan,

thanks for your reply. Sure I'll try to describe my scenario a little bit better,  unfortunately I am not very familiar 
with the subject therefore I might be missing obvious things.

I am working on a project running on QNX Car Platform and I've been asked to assess the feasibility to stream (or more 
generally, display) media stored on USB keys / DVD disks connected to the unit on external devices connected to the unit
 via the WiFi access point exposed by the unit.

I'm trying to figure out what options are available and what would be a quick and cost-effective way to do that. I 
understand DLNA might be a viable option although I've been informed that developing a solution based on DLNA would be 
expensive due to licensing costs, so I'm looking at custom options like building a simple media server, capable for 
example of doing HTTP streaming. But again, I am probably missing many things here hence why I'm asking for advice.
Ryan Allen(deleted)
05/04/2015 1:12 PM
post113773
RE: RE: Stream to external device over WiFi   
Hi Simon,

It isn't clear to me if you're just trying to access the media contents from the headunit on the external device, or if 
the expectation is that the headunit will "render" content to the external device. The former tends to be more 
straightforward, while the latter is more complicated. In the latter case there's also the question of media 
synchronization (ie, do you need to synchronize audio and/or video across multiple devices).

The other question is whether the external devices are purpose-built or if they may be consumer devices. If you have to 
support a consumer tablet, for example, this might further restrict your options.

-- 
Ryan J. Allen
QNX Software Systems
Simon S(deleted)
05/04/2015 1:28 PM
post113774
Re: RE: RE: Stream to external device over WiFi   
Hi Ryan,

Thanks for the follow up.

I'm talking about the former option, the external device would need to render the contents and the head unit would need 
to make the media contents available for browsing and playing on the device connected via WiFi.

I've done some research by looking into the CAR platform documentation and I'm trying to understand the options, but 
your help is much appreciated.

The external device would need to be a consumer device running common mobile OSes (iOS, Android). I was going in the 
direction of doing streaming over HTTP and having the external device use a HTML5 user interface to control and render 
the videos, but I'm certainly open to other options as I don't currently have a clear idea of what this entails, 
especially on the QNX side.

Thanks for your support so far.
Ryan Allen(deleted)
05/05/2015 8:04 AM
post113776
RE: RE: RE: Stream to external device over WiFi   
For rendering remote content on consumer devices, I think your idea of HTTP is the most versatile. The downside is that 
the application logic is on the headunit and often that means it's non-trivial to update in the field. Even though OTA 
updates are technically possible, each update often has testing and release process overhead.

Another option might be to have the content be available via HTTP (not unlike DLNA), but have a custom application on 
the consumer device. This can provide some extra flexibility compared to the software being fully on the HU, but then 
means maintaining client application software (for better or worse). Your API for browsing and getting the content might
 look a lot like DLNA, which means you might be better off to leverage that, but creating your own API could also allow 
for extensions.

If going the route of a custom app on the consumer devices you could also establish your own API to talk to a server 
application on the HU, but this comes with added complexity and I'm not sure it buys you much unless HTTP is a limiting 
factor for your design.

Aside from HTTP, I don't know of any file sharing type API that would work for both iOS and Android (not to mention 
other mobile OS's ;) ).

-- 
Ryan J. Allen
QNX Software Systems

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