[Matroska-users] live streaming matroska format using a fifo instead of a real file

[Olivier SIngla]

Hi,

I am using both the Matroska container format and ffmpeg (libavformat) 
in an embedded application, which is based upon a H264 hardware encoder. 
I record the audio and video into a Matroska container. No problem 
there. My problem is with the live streaming. I need to stream over http 
(and eventually https). I am currently streaming an ASF container, 
that's the only way I found to have the live streaming working. On the 
device, I generate an ASF stream on the fly for the sole purpose of 
streaming (the device is not always recording, but can stream all the 
time), which I then send over http (I use a fifo instead of a real file: 
one task produces the ASF stream, the other one send it over http). It 
works like a charm with ASF, I can stream for hours. Unfortunately, I 
have been unable to have it working with the Matroska format. When I 
send the MKV 'file', the player on the other side (vlc) never start to 
play. It is my understanding that the Matroska format was designed from 
the ground up to support streaming.

Is there a way I can use the Matroska format for live streaming ?
Am I missing something ?

Note that I can stream a file being currently recorded, this works actually.
I mean, I can send the file being recorded through http, it will be 
played by vlc
Maybe the fact that I am using a FIFO for live streaming (wich prevents 
lseek operations) is the issue?

TIA for any advices or pointers!
Olivier

PS. I had already posted this on the ffmpeg users forum w/o luck.