1) If you install Expression Encoder (even the free version), it comes with an ISMV DirectShow source filter. That’ll allow you play ISMV files locally with any DShow-based player, including WMP.
2) I hear M4Scene’s Scenescope is an excellent tool for probing into MP4-based formats. http://www.m4scene.com/product/show?class=SceneScope
3) Hmm, I’m not aware of one, unfortunately. Though that sounds like it’d make a good ffmpeg or mp4box project for someone. The ISMV format, or the PIFF format as we officially call it, is actually compatible with the UltraViolet CFF format and the ISO Base Media File container described in MPEG-DASH, so supporting this would definitely help beyond just Smooth Streaming.

are you aware of any such tools existing?

the “IIS Smooth Streaming Format SDK API” works great for muxing ssmf files. is there an equivalent API for demuxing?

1) Microsoft provides a Transform Manager task which can convert GOP-aligned MP4s into Smooth Streaming assets. There is no Microsoft-supported way of serving Smooth Streaming video without IIS.

2) DRM encryption is applied on a sample level, rather than a fragment or file level. I also recommend exploring Transform Manager in this case, as it provides a DRM task too.

I had a few questions and would appreciate if you can provide some guidance.

1> Is there an API from Microsoft using which the smooth fragments can be pre-created from the MP4 file? i.e. is there any way to do smooth streaming without using IIS?

2> How is playready DRM to be used here? i.e. can a playready-encrypted file be used as an input to smooth streaming? or is it that once fragments are created, then each fragment will have to be DRM-encrypted?

Thank you-

Thank you for your very helpful explainations !

Do you happen to know when SS client porting kit will be available ?
Could you explain how the client get (or build) the initialization segment (ftyp + moov) ?

Theoretically a single ISMV file could contain multiple video streams and audio streams, so that all streams of an asset are contained in a single file (like we did back in the Windows Media days with ASF files).

I have an 8 layer, 1 audio smooth streaming asset.
In the server manifest (.ism file), audio src is pointed to the highest bitrate .ismv file. Does that mean audio is existing only in that layer?
However, according to MediaInfo analysis, all 8 .ismv files have audio inside.
Can you please elaborate?

Thanks

You have 2 options:

1) You could still use PlayReady DRM, but rather than license your own server you could buy DRM as a service from an ASP such as BuyDRM, EZDRM, iStreamPlanet, etc. Here is a complete list of PlayReady service providers: http://www.microsoft.com/PlayReady/Licensing/licensees.mspx#provider

2) You could use a token-based edge authorization service offered by CDNs, such as http://www.akamai.com/dl/feature_sheets/FS_edgesuite_accesscontrol.pdf. It doesn’t provide true content protection (encryption), but it does provide access authorization on a network level.