Multicast Support via Haivision Helper and Multicast Agent

Important

To configure browser-based multicast using Media Gateway, the Haivision Helper application must be installed on each user's computer (either by single/manual install or mass-deployment via an .MSI package). Haivision Helper is a cross-platform (Windows and OSX) utility that launches a multicast agent to enable multicast support.

The Haivision Helper application is available from the Haivision Support Portal.

With Multicast Support on systems running the Haivision Helper application, HMP delivers a multicast agent to the user who receives a multicast Transport Stream and delivers a Web standard stream to the user's local Web browser. This helps reduce overbandwidth consumption on multicast enabled LANs.

Following is a description of the process by which the Helper launches the multicast agent and enables multicast support:

1. Request to Watch Multicast Video: The end user clicks a link to a live video asset in their browser (on the HMP Portal or embedded player).

   

   Note

   The remaining steps are invisible to users.

2. If the event is available as a multicast stream, Haivision Helper on the end user's PC/Mac takes over. If the event is not multicast, or Haivision Helper is not available, the end user receives standard unicast in the browser.
3. Request for Multicast Agent: On HMP, Haivision Helper executes the multicast agent. If this is the user's first multicast request, Haivision Helper "fetches" the multicast agent from the nearest Media Gateway or HMP. The multicast agent is then held in cache for future use.
4. Multicast TS Video: The multicast agent joins the Multicast Group, and negotiates access and encryption for the video.

Note

For the latest information, please refer to the Haivision Helper Documentation.