@torrent-tv/proxy 2.9.116 → 2.9.117

package/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+## 2.9.117
+
+- **Fix**: A seek backwards no longer kills playback. How far the encoder is ahead of the viewer was measured as the highest segment number lying in the session's directory, which equals the look-ahead only while a viewer moves forward through one run. Measured 2026-08-06: a seek forward left segments 662-665 on disk, the viewer seeked BACK to 646, and the limiter compared 6950 s of output against a viewer at 6700 s, called it "250s ahead" and suspended the new run **136 ms after it started**, before it had produced anything. With the encoder stopped nothing read the input, so no pieces were requested — `0 selection(s)` with 33 peers connected — and segment 646 was never made; the viewer sat on a spinner for four minutes while a stopped ffmpeg was held back for being too far ahead. The measure is now the unbroken run of segments starting where the viewer is, and a viewer whose own segment is missing is not "zero ahead" but waiting, which resumes the encoder instead of pausing it. Covered by tests, including the field case.
+- **New**: Groundwork for switching quality without interrupting playback: the heights a source can be served at, the master playlist that offers them as HLS variants, and creation of a variant's encoder on first request. Not yet reachable — the routes come with the browser side. Reasoning in `research/seamless-switching-2026-08-06.md`.
+
 ## 2.9.116
 
 - **New**: A progress report says which height is being produced right now. Under automatic quality the proxy steps the resolution down when the host cannot encode in realtime or the viewer's link cannot carry the stream, and nothing said so — the menu read "Auto" whatever it had settled on. Zero when the video is copied, because then nothing is being chosen and the source's own height is what plays.

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@torrent-tv/proxy",
-  "version": "2.9.116",
+  "version": "2.9.117",
   "description": "Torrent proxy client that exposes webseed-like HTTP stream endpoint.",
   "license": "GPL-3.0-or-later",
   "publishConfig": {

package/services/hls-session-manager.js

@@ -64,6 +64,60 @@ export function isInputUnavailable(message) {
 }
 
 const PLAYLIST_FILE_NAME = "index.m3u8";
+// The resolutions a viewer may choose between. Only rungs at or below the
+// source are offered: upscaling invents detail and costs the encoder more than
+// the source itself.
+const VARIANT_LADDER = [2160, 1440, 1080, 720, 540, 480, 360, 240];
+
+/**
+ * The last index of the unbroken run of segments starting at `from`.
+ *
+ * Null when `from` itself is absent. A hole matters: segments beyond one are
+ * not look-ahead, because the viewer cannot reach them until it is filled.
+ *
+ * @param {Set<number>} present
+ * @param {number} from
+ * @returns {number | null}
+ */
+export function contiguousEnd(present, from) {
+  if (!present.has(from)) {
+    return null;
+  }
+  let last = from;
+  while (present.has(last + 1)) {
+    last += 1;
+  }
+  return last;
+}
+
+/**
+ * The heights offered for a source of this height, largest first.
+ *
+ * @param {number} sourceHeight
+ * @returns {number[]}
+ */
+export function variantHeightsFor(sourceHeight) {
+  if (!Number.isFinite(sourceHeight) || sourceHeight <= 0) {
+    return [];
+  }
+  const rungs = VARIANT_LADDER.filter((height) => height < sourceHeight);
+  return [Math.round(sourceHeight), ...rungs];
+}
+
+/**
+ * A rough bitrate for a height, in bits per second.
+ *
+ * `BANDWIDTH` is required on every variant by the HLS specification, and the
+ * player uses it to order them. It does not have to be exact — nothing here
+ * adapts on it, because the viewer chooses — so it is the usual H.264 rule of
+ * thumb rather than a measurement we do not have before encoding starts.
+ *
+ * @param {number} height
+ * @returns {number}
+ */
+export function estimatedBitrateFor(height) {
+  return Math.max(400_000, Math.round(height * height * 3.2));
+}
 const CLEANUP_INTERVAL_MS = 30_000;
 const DEFAULT_SEGMENT_DURATION_SEC = 4;
 // How many segments ahead of the current encode head a missing-segment request
@@ -1357,6 +1411,10 @@ export class HlsSessionManager {
         lastLoggedAt: 0
       }
     };
+    // Kept so a variant of this session can take its own hold on the same
+    // source: a variant is another encode of the same file and must keep the
+    // torrent's data alive exactly as this one does.
+    session.acquireSource = typeof acquireSource === "function" ? acquireSource : null;
     if (typeof acquireSource === "function") {
       try {
         session.releaseSource = acquireSource();
@@ -1834,51 +1892,99 @@ export class HlsSessionManager {
     // which nobody was now making — was held for 45.7 s until the viewer gave
     // up and seeked. A segment on disk is something the viewer can be served;
     // a number from ffmpeg is not.
-    const producedThrough = this.#latestProducedSegment(session);
-    if (producedThrough === null) {
-      return;
-    }
-    const encodedTo = this.#segmentStartTime(session, producedThrough + 1);
-    if (!Number.isFinite(encodedTo)) {
+    // Where the viewer is. Before the first segment request, the position the
+    // run started at — so a session nobody has read from yet is bounded too.
+    const viewerSegment = Number.isInteger(session.lastRequestedSegment)
+      ? session.lastRequestedSegment
+      : (session.encodeStartIndex ?? 0);
+
+    // How much is ready CONTIGUOUSLY FROM WHERE THE VIEWER IS — not the highest
+    // segment number lying in the directory. The two are the same only while a
+    // viewer moves forward through one run, and the difference destroyed a
+    // session on 2026-08-06: a seek forward left segments 662-665 on disk, the
+    // viewer then seeked BACK to 646, and the limiter measured 6950 s of output
+    // against a viewer at 6700 s, called it "250s ahead" and suspended a run
+    // 136 ms after it started, before it had produced anything at all. Nothing
+    // was then encoding, so nothing read the input, so no pieces were asked for
+    // — `0 selection(s)` with 33 peers connected — and segment 646 was never
+    // made. Segments beyond a hole are not look-ahead: the viewer cannot reach
+    // them without the hole being filled first.
+    const aheadSeconds = this.#contiguousAheadSeconds(session, viewerSegment);
+    if (aheadSeconds === null) {
+      // The segment the viewer needs does not exist. Whatever else is on disk,
+      // this encoder has work to do right now.
+      if (session.encoderPaused) {
+        this.#resumeEncoder(session, "the viewer needs a segment nobody has made");
+      }
       return;
     }
-    // Worth knowing when the two disagree wildly — it is the only trace of
-    // whatever made ffmpeg report a position it had not reached.
-    // Reported on its EDGES, because it is a state and not a stream: it starts
-    // when the two figures part company and ends when they meet again, however
-    // often this function happens to run. Printing it per call meant printing
-    // it at the rate of segment requests — three hundred times a minute after
-    // one seek — and a limit of one a minute would only have hidden that the
-    // line was in the wrong place. Two lines per occurrence also say how long
-    // it lasted, which no sampled version could.
+
+    // Worth knowing when ffmpeg's own report and what exists disagree wildly —
+    // it is the only trace of whatever made it claim a position it had not
+    // reached. Reported on its EDGES, because it is a state and not a stream.
     const claimed = Number(session.progress?.processedSeconds);
+    const encodedTo = this.#segmentStartTime(session, viewerSegment) + aheadSeconds;
     const disagrees =
       Number.isFinite(claimed) && Math.abs(claimed - encodedTo) > LOOKAHEAD_PAUSE_SECONDS;
     if (disagrees && !session.lookAheadDisagreementSince) {
       session.lookAheadDisagreementSince = Date.now();
       logger.info(
         `transcode ${session.id} ffmpeg claims ${Math.round(claimed)}s processed ` +
-          `but has produced through ${Math.round(encodedTo)}s (segment #${producedThrough})`
+          `but the viewer's own run of segments ends at ${Math.round(encodedTo)}s`
       );
     } else if (!disagrees && session.lookAheadDisagreementSince) {
       const lastedMs = Date.now() - session.lookAheadDisagreementSince;
       session.lookAheadDisagreementSince = 0;
       logger.info(
         `transcode ${session.id} ffmpeg's position and the segments on disk agree again ` +
-          `after ${(lastedMs / 1000).toFixed(1)}s (produced through ${Math.round(encodedTo)}s)`
+          `after ${(lastedMs / 1000).toFixed(1)}s (ready through ${Math.round(encodedTo)}s)`
       );
     }
-    // Where the viewer is. Before the first segment request, the position the
-    // run started at — so a session nobody has read from yet is bounded too.
-    const viewerAt = Number.isInteger(session.lastRequestedSegment)
-      ? this.#segmentStartTime(session, session.lastRequestedSegment)
-      : this.#segmentStartTime(session, session.encodeStartIndex ?? 0);
-    const ahead = encodedTo - viewerAt;
-    if (!session.encoderPaused && ahead > LOOKAHEAD_PAUSE_SECONDS) {
-      this.#pauseEncoder(session, `${Math.round(ahead)}s ahead of the viewer`);
-    } else if (session.encoderPaused && ahead <= LOOKAHEAD_RESUME_SECONDS) {
-      this.#resumeEncoder(session, `${Math.round(ahead)}s ahead of the viewer`);
+
+    if (!session.encoderPaused && aheadSeconds > LOOKAHEAD_PAUSE_SECONDS) {
+      this.#pauseEncoder(session, `${Math.round(aheadSeconds)}s ahead of the viewer`);
+    } else if (session.encoderPaused && aheadSeconds <= LOOKAHEAD_RESUME_SECONDS) {
+      this.#resumeEncoder(session, `${Math.round(aheadSeconds)}s ahead of the viewer`);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Seconds of playback ready without a gap, starting at the segment the viewer
+   * is on.
+   *
+   * Null when that very segment is missing — which is not "zero ahead" but
+   * "the viewer is waiting", and the two call for opposite decisions.
+   *
+   * @param {HlsSession} session
+   * @param {number} viewerSegment
+   * @returns {number | null}
+   */
+  #contiguousAheadSeconds(session, viewerSegment) {
+    let present;
+    try {
+      present = new Set();
+      for (const name of readdirSync(session.dirPath, { withFileTypes: false })) {
+        if (!this.segmentFormat.isSegmentFileName(name)) {
+          continue;
+        }
+        const index = this.segmentFormat.segmentIndexFromName(name);
+        if (index >= 0) {
+          present.add(index);
+        }
+      }
+    } catch {
+      return null;
+    }
+    const lastCovered = contiguousEnd(present, viewerSegment);
+    if (lastCovered === null) {
+      return null;
     }
+    const from = this.#segmentStartTime(session, viewerSegment);
+    const to = this.#segmentStartTime(session, lastCovered + 1);
+    if (!Number.isFinite(from) || !Number.isFinite(to)) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    return Math.max(0, to - from);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -3000,6 +3106,97 @@ export class HlsSessionManager {
     return highest;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * The session that produces a given height for the same file, created on
+   * first request.
+   *
+   * A variant IS a session — same source, same file, a different encode — so
+   * this makes one rather than inventing a parallel object. It is created only
+   * when its playlist is actually asked for, which is what keeps a weak host
+   * running one encoder: with the player's own bitrate adaptation off, no
+   * variant is ever requested unless the viewer picked it.
+   *
+   * @param {string} baseSessionId
+   * @param {number} height - Encode height; must be one of the offered rungs.
+   * @returns {Promise<HlsSession | null>} Null when the base session is unknown.
+   */
+  async getVariantSession(baseSessionId, height) {
+    const base = this.sessionsById.get(baseSessionId);
+    if (!base || base.state === "disposed") {
+      return null;
+    }
+    if (!Number.isInteger(height) || height <= 0) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    // Where the viewer is now, so a variant created mid-film starts there
+    // rather than at the beginning.
+    const processed = Number.isFinite(base.progress?.processedSeconds)
+      ? base.progress.processedSeconds
+      : 0;
+    return this.createOrGetSession({
+      sourceKey: base.sourceKey,
+      fileIndex: base.fileIndex,
+      transcodeVideo: true,
+      transcodeAudio: base.transcodeAudio,
+      fileName: base.fileName,
+      targetWidth: 0,
+      targetHeight: height,
+      startPositionSeconds: processed,
+      audioTrackIndex: base.audioTrackIndex,
+      // A variant is a resolution the viewer chose, so it is encoded at exactly
+      // that size and the realtime budget does not move it — otherwise two
+      // variants could drift onto the same height and the choice would mean
+      // nothing.
+      manualQuality: true,
+      segmentFormatId: base.segmentFormat?.id ?? "",
+      acquireSource: base.acquireSource
+    });
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * The master playlist: every resolution this file can be served at, as HLS
+   * variants.
+   *
+   * This is what makes a change of quality seamless. Our media playlist is VOD
+   * and terminated with `#EXT-X-ENDLIST`, and hls.js only re-reads a playlist
+   * that is live — so rewriting it underneath the player achieves nothing, and
+   * a switch had to tear the player down and build a new session. Offered as
+   * variants instead, the switch is the player's own: it fetches the other
+   * variant, appends it after what is already buffered, and changes the
+   * decoder's type if the codec parameters differ.
+   *
+   * @param {string} sessionId
+   * @returns {string | null} The playlist text, or null when there is nothing
+   *   to choose between — a copied video, or a source too small to step down.
+   */
+  buildMasterPlaylist(sessionId) {
+    const session = this.sessionsById.get(sessionId);
+    if (!session || session.state === "disposed" || !session.transcodeVideo) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    const sourceHeight = Number(session.sourceHeight) || 0;
+    const rungs = variantHeightsFor(sourceHeight);
+    if (rungs.length < 2) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    const sourceWidth = Number(session.sourceWidth) || 0;
+    const lines = ["#EXTM3U", "#EXT-X-VERSION:7"];
+    for (const height of rungs) {
+      const width = sourceHeight > 0 && sourceWidth > 0
+        ? Math.round((sourceWidth / sourceHeight) * height / 2) * 2
+        : 0;
+      lines.push(
+        `#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=${estimatedBitrateFor(height)}` +
+        (width > 0 ? `,RESOLUTION=${width}x${height}` : "")
+      );
+      // A subdirectory, so every relative name inside the variant's own
+      // playlist — its segments and its init — resolves to that variant
+      // without any of them having to change.
+      lines.push(`v/${height}/${PLAYLIST_FILE_NAME}`);
+    }
+    return `${lines.join("\n")}\n`;
+  }
+
   /**
    * How many times the viewer has moved since this session started.
    *

package/test/look-ahead-coverage.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/**
+ * @file What "the encoder is ahead of the viewer" actually means.
+ *
+ * It was measured as the highest segment number lying in the session's
+ * directory. That equals the look-ahead only while a viewer moves forward
+ * through one encoder run, and the difference destroyed a session on
+ * 2026-08-06: a seek forward left segments 662-665 on disk, the viewer then
+ * seeked BACK to 646, and the limiter compared 6950 s of output against a
+ * viewer at 6700 s, called it "250s ahead", and suspended a run 136 ms after it
+ * started — before it had produced anything. With the encoder stopped nothing
+ * read the input, so no pieces were requested (`0 selection(s)` with 33 peers
+ * connected) and segment 646 was never made. The viewer sat on a spinner while
+ * a stopped ffmpeg was held for being "too far ahead".
+ *
+ * The measure is the unbroken run of segments starting where the viewer is.
+ * Segments beyond a hole are not look-ahead: the viewer cannot reach them until
+ * the hole is filled.
+ */
+
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { contiguousEnd } from "../services/hls-session-manager.js";
+
+test("an unbroken run reports its last segment", () => {
+  assert.equal(contiguousEnd(new Set([10, 11, 12, 13]), 10), 13);
+});
+
+test("a hole stops the count, whatever lies beyond it", () => {
+  assert.equal(
+    contiguousEnd(new Set([10, 11, 662, 663, 664, 665]), 10),
+    11,
+    "segments past a gap are unreachable and must not count as ready"
+  );
+});
+
+test("the field case: a backward seek onto a segment nobody has made", () => {
+  // What the directory held after the forward seek, and where the viewer went.
+  const onDisk = new Set([661, 662, 663, 664, 665]);
+  assert.equal(
+    contiguousEnd(onDisk, 646),
+    null,
+    "the viewer's own segment is missing — that is a wait, not a look-ahead"
+  );
+});
+
+test("a single segment counts as itself", () => {
+  assert.equal(contiguousEnd(new Set([5]), 5), 5);
+});
+
+test("nothing on disk is not zero ahead — it is unknown", () => {
+  assert.equal(
+    contiguousEnd(new Set(), 0),
+    null,
+    "zero and null lead to opposite decisions: pause versus encode now"
+  );
+});