User:TronJavolta/sandbox

= datarhei Restreamer = datarhei Restreamer is a free software media streaming server implemented in Go. It provides services similar to those offered by the proprietary Wowza Streaming Engine and combines it with benefits for restreaming. In addition, the software is optimized for self-hosting and allows live video use without additional streaming providers.

The software's strength is the simple browser operation via the graphical user interface. In addition, various wizards support users in the complicated world of streaming servers to get along. The system is an RTMP, HLS, and SRT server. The SRT server is written natively in Go. Via various publication services, videos can be streamed to all popular social networks. datarhei Restreamer is entirely on the datarhei Core, a native FFmpeg API, which is a unique feature and makes software development straightforward. The software consumes minimal system resources. It can be installed on virtually most single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi and thus consumes little power. Especially for long-term applications absolute plus.

With the significant expansion of home Internet lines in recent years with 5G and fiber, users can deliver video to surprisingly large audiences without needing a data center. This generates low costs and is climate-friendly in the sense of Green IT. Because more and more people care about data privacy, Restreamer supports the self-hosting movement and complies with the GDPR.

History
The project was started in 2015 by Jan Stabenow and Sven Erbeck from Germany. FOSS GmbH from Switzerland took over the project in 2018. After some updates of version 0.x, there was a version jump to 2.x in 2022, which turned the Restreamer into a full-fledged streaming server. In the Docker hub, the project has over 4,000,000 downloads (Q4 2022).

The project name datarhei is inspired by Panta rhei, from Heraclitus' everything flows', together with “data” for matching the analogy of live-streaming video data. The logo uses an almost closed circle in yellow color. It symbolizes a process from outside to inside with a beginning and end like a stream.

New releases are published at regular intervals. Version management is done via GitHub, and the latest source code is available. In addition, the developers provide up-to-date Docker images for different CPU architectures and GPU support.

Immediately after the first release at the end of 2015, a discussion on YCombinator noted that the Restreamer is the first known program based entirely on Docker. The datarhei Restreamer official can only be used via Docker until today. Native installations are possible but not officially supported.

Version 0.x
The original version of the software had a very minimalistic interface with rudimentary functions, which are necessary for live streaming. The focus was on H.264 HLS video. A video player for the delivery of the live video was on board in the system. The Restreamer supported video encoding via GPU via the browser interface. The JSON HTTP API has allowed software developers to develop simple applications. A major drawback was the lack of multi-streaming support. A separate Docker instance had to be created for each stream.

Version 2.x
In 2022 there was a significant new release that skipped a full version. Version 2.x eliminated many of the disadvantages of the old Restreamer. The often missed multi-streaming in the inputs and outputs has enhanced the tool. HLS monitoring of statistical data is displayed in real-time in the system. There are different FFmpeg filters for audio and video. With over 30 different publication services, restreaming is straightforward. On a ready-made website hosted on the system itself, the user can directly publish his video stream without the need for additional website spaces. As a video player, VideoJS is an open-source HTML5 video player that is integrated out of the box ready. Communication from Restreamer to Restreamer is possible in real time with internal cluster management. This is why the Restreamer is also suitable for use in the CDN in the cloud. Starting with version 2.x GPU support is available for VAAPI and CUDA. The open-source library Libvpx supports various codecs for video and audio, including H264, H265, VP8, VP9, MP3, Vorbis. Log files are completely anonymized according to GDPR.

The separation of datarhei Core and Restreamer makes it even easier for software developers to build their applications. To use SRT natively, the developers have redeveloped the SRT protocol from scratch in Go. Another notable feature is that the core of the Restreamer contains FFmpeg via HTTP API and can, therefore, do everything that Ffserver (discontinued) can do.