How can I store a video with proper indexing

Question

Hi,

How can I store a video (either in database or file system) so that instead of starting streaming from starting I can start this streaming from any fix index.

Main aim is like I have a large video of roads of New York from one end to other and corresponding map of New York save on a central server. Now a user opens up the website and selects the two points on the map of New York and video of road between those two points starts streaming, not from starting but from first point to second point given by user.

So main requirement is to store a video with its indexes such that I can start streaming from any of the index.

Edited Part : Actually I am planning how to store video of complete city so I can show it to user whenever he selects it on map. So Now Main question in my mind is can I merge video for all roads in one video like various linked lists (Roads). Like if there are two turns at particular point then instead of storing two videos from that point for different path can I store them in a single video such that which video you have to play will depend upon starting and ending point selected by user and shortest path between those two points, But can I store video of all roads as a single video.

How can I do this, will it depend on stream mechanism or on storage ?

Thanks,

GG

Answer 1

I guess that this all depends on the capability of your playing/streaming mechanism. I would find out about these before determining how to store the file and/or "index" points. Ask some specific questions about your streaming technology, such as:

• can you fast forward to a certain point?
• can you stop at a certain point?
• can you play one stream after one ends?
• another play capabilities that may help solve this?

If you can trigger the playing of your video to fast forward to a certain point, you can store the amount of time or frames to fast forward from the beginning and associate these with your map start. You would also need to "abort" the stream at a certain point, that matches your map end point.

However, if you can not fast forward your stream, you many need to break your video file into smaller segments and start at the proper one based on the map point selected. You would then need to play multiple files until you reach the end point.