HTTP Live Streaming Service like LiveStream/Ustream/Twitch/Youtube Live - ios

Question

I'm new to live streaming and it's quite hard to find good information for beginners. Could anyone recommend resources to HLS besides Apple's documentation?
I'm trying to make an app similar to LiveStream where videos can be broadcasted to multiple users in real-time.
I've run into some services like encoding.com, heywatchencoding.com, and wowza, but I'm having difficulties with what each platform provides as the documentations for each seem to be for more intermediate/experienced users.
How difficult is it to create a more simple site like LiveStream/Ustream/Twitch/Youtube live? I'm trying to start simple with ios devices and the web, but it's harder to look for online resources. Any tips are helpful
By any chance, do anyone of you guys also know if I can use wowza with Parse.com services?
Thanks

Answer 1

Here is a very simple Node.js media server which spins up a HTTP server to stream most any video or audio format file from server to browser . Once you have nodejs installed just execute
node file_containing_below_code.js
then point your browser at URL
http://localhost:8888/
Your browser has baked in a slider widget for forward/reverse which auto sends traffic back to this server to respond in kind
enjoy ... btw no doc required just point and shoot
var http = require('http'),
fs = require('fs'),
util = require('util');
var path = "/path/to/audio/or/video/file/local/to/server/cool.mp4"; // put any audio or video file here
var port = 8888;
var host = "localhost";
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
var stat = fs.statSync(path);
var total = stat.size;
if (req.headers.range) { // meaning client (browser) has moved the forward/back slider
// which has sent this request back to this server logic ... cool
var range = req.headers.range;
var parts = range.replace(/bytes=/, "").split("-");
var partialstart = parts[0];
var partialend = parts[1];
var start = parseInt(partialstart, 10);
var end = partialend ? parseInt(partialend, 10) : total-1;
var chunksize = (end-start)+1;
console.log('RANGE: ' + start + ' - ' + end + ' = ' + chunksize);
var file = fs.createReadStream(path, {start: start, end: end});
res.writeHead(206, { 'Content-Range': 'bytes ' + start + '-' + end + '/' + total, 'Accept-Ranges': 'bytes', 'Content-Length': chunksize, 'Content-Type': 'video/mp4' });
file.pipe(res);
} else {
console.log('ALL: ' + total);
res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Length': total, 'Content-Type': 'video/mp4' });
fs.createReadStream(path).pipe(res);
}
}).listen(port, host);
console.log("Server running at http://" + host + ":" + port + "/");