Load time of a MediaPackage livestream

Question

Hello,

We experience very slow loading for ".m3u8" endpoints generated in MediaPackage. It can take up to a minute to show the livestream. 
Is there a way to improve the player loading time even by adding some delay of some sort?

We use Apple HLS with default configuration:
```json
{
  "Id": "endpoint-camera-4",
  "ChannelId": "output-camera-4",
  "Description": "",
  "StartoverWindowSeconds": 0,
  "TimeDelaySeconds": 0,
  "ManifestName": "index",
  "White...list": [],
  "HlsPackage": {
    "SegmentDurationSeconds": 6,
    "PlaylistWindowSeconds": 60,
    "PlaylistType": "EVENT",
    "AdMarkers": "NONE",
    "AdTriggers": [
      "SPLICE_INSERT",
      "PROVIDER_ADVERTISEMENT",
      "DISTRIBUTOR_ADVERTISEMENT",
      "PROVIDER_PLACEMENT_OPPORTUNITY",
      "DISTRIBUTOR_PLACEMENT_OPPORTUNITY"
    ],
    "AdsOnDeliveryRestrictions": "RESTRICTED",
    "ProgramDateTimeIntervalSeconds": 0,
    "IncludeIframeOnlyStream": false,
    "UseAudioRenditionGroup": false,
    "IncludeDvbSubtitles": false,
    "StreamSelection": {
      "StreamOrder": "ORIGINAL"
    }
  },
  "Origination": "ALLOW"
}
```

Answer

What is the source that is providing the input HLS stream to AWS MediaPackage? Is it AWS MediaLive or some other encoder? MediaLive (perhaps other encoders as well) may take time to start the encoding channel that provides the HLS segments to MediaPackage. Please verify that the encoding source channel is running before checking MediaPackage endpoints.

Also, please note that MediaPackage endpoints should not be used to provide HLS streams to public viewers directly. A CDN, such as CloudFront, should be used to deliver HLS content from MediaPackage endpoints.

Answer

Depending on the player used, players usually have to cache 3 segments before starting to play the live stream. Try to reduce the segment size to reduce the amount of time the player is downloading segments before starting to play the live stream.

Load time of a MediaPackage livestream

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