Access URL Syntax

This article describes the syntax of Access URLs embedded into yospaceCDS feeds. An access URL provides end-user access to an individual video title. When an Access URL is called, yospaceCDS invokes the yospaceCDS device targeting system, on-the-fly transcoder, and the advertisement splicing system.

Why do I need to understand Access URLs?

Understanding the syntax of an Access URL may be useful, for those who wish to:

  • Programmatically manipulate the URL to adjust the quality and delivery method of a video. This may be needed if the client system has access to additional information about the user's context that may give rise to adjusting the delivery of the video. For example, a handset-based application that is able to detect WiFi versus mobile network coverage.
  • Use yospaceCDS in a hybrid mode, where content is ingested into yospaceCDS using MediaItem API (an unstructured format) rather than using the higher-level feed-based ingestion mechanisms. In this case, the client application doesn't need to use feeds, it can determine the URLs itself.

The GUID-mapping Access Proxy provides a convenient way of creating Access URLs from the GUIDs you specify on your input feeds. This is useful if you want to ingest content using the standard feeds-based mechanisms, but still wish to construct your own Access URLs.

Access URL Syntax for Input Feed Ingested Content

Direct Access URL Syntax

Use this URL scheme to access videos using a specific method (download or stream) and quality.  Please note, that these preferences are ignored for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) as the "Apple Access Mode" settings defined in the feed override these.  

Content ingested via an Input Feed set-up in the Content Management Console is given a unique identifier known as a Media Item ID. You must use this ID to reference the video in the Access URL.

The basic form is:

http://cds1.yospace.com/access/{d|s|a}/quality/u/{0|1}/1/[media item ID][?f={feedID}]

Where:

  • {d|s|a} is one of d, s or a to determine the delivery style. d is for HTTP download (which can include progressive download if the device supports it), s is for RTSP/RTP streaming (see note below on Streaming URLs). a is for audio only. This mode will strip out the video track and provide the audio track as an MP3 download (this style of URL is embedded in Audio Podcast feeds, for example).
  • {quality} should be replaced with the desired quality. yospaceCDS supports 50, 100, 200, 400, 600, and 800 quality thresholds (the numbers refer to the total bandwidth in kbps for the combined audio and video file). If you specify a quality not in this list, yospaceCDS will snap to the closest lower quality (for example, 350 will snap to 200, not 400).
  • {media item ID} is the content ID of the video.
  • {feedID} is the ID of the Output Feed to which the access should be attributed. It is optional, however it allows you to attribute the download to an Output Feed for reporting purposes.

Example

The following example will download a medium quality (200kbps) video without DRM.

http://cds1.yospace.com/access/d/200/u/0/1/17281236482?f=14244563

User Choice Access URL Syntax

The previous example used an Access URL syntax that determines the delivery mechanism and quality. An alternative syntax allows the user to choose the method with which to access the video. Refer to this section for more details on the User Choice page.  The User Choice page is not displayed for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch).

http://cds1.yospace.com/access/choice/u/{0|1}/1/[media item ID]?f={feedID}[&stylesheet={stylesheet}]

Where:

  • {0|1} is one of 0 or 1. 1 selects DRM protected download, 0 selects unprotected download (only applies if download mechanism is selected).
  • {media item ID} is the content ID of the video.
  • {feedID} is the ID of the Output Feed to which the access should be attributed. It is optional, however it allows you to attribute the download to an Output Feed for reporting purposes.
  • {stylesheet} is an optional parameter to specify the formatting style of the user choice page. Specify mobile for the default WAP 2.0 style. If you do not set this parameter, XML will be returned. This is useful if you are proxying the choice page through your own formatting system.

Example

The following example offer the same video as the previous example using the User Choice page without DRM.

http://cds1.yospace.com/access/choice/u/0/1/17281236482?f=14244563&stylesheet=mobile

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