Adobe Air 3.0 iOS streaming H264/Speex over RTMP -- No Video

Question

Problem:
H264/Speex RTMP stream from Flash Media Server doesn't display video.  Audio plays fine.
Conditions:
Adobe Air 3.0
iOS device (iPad 2, iOS4.3)
App settings:
<renderMode>direct</renderMode>
Flash Builder 4.5.1 compiler settings:
-swf-version=13
-target-player=11.0.0
I have tried using both stageVideo and the regular Video object to render an H264 signal streaming from Flash Media Server over rtmp, but with no luck.  I can hear the audio, but the video is never rendered.
I CAN see H263 video when streamed over RTMP using this setup (with just the Video object). 
I can also stream a locally stored mp4 (H264/AAC) file over rtmp from the iOS device and play it locally just fine (using a stageVideo object).
I have attempted this with both stageVideo (which works fine when streaming an mp4 file from the iOS device) and with the regular Video object (the regular Video object handles H263 just fine streaming down from FMS over rtmp).  I've also played around with backgroundAlpha = "0" for this case, all with no luck.
I've followed all the online instructions and tutorials to get this working for the past week, but have not had any luck.  I'm happy to post more code, but this approach is fairly straight forward and has been described multiple times around these forums and in the adobe blog posts.  It goes like this:
     - instantiate NetConnection (_nc) to FMS and wait for successful connection:
               _ns = new NetConnection();  
               _nc.connect(serverAddress);
     - instantiate NetStream (_ns) and connect using NetConnection: 
               _ns = new NetStream(_nc);
     - setup listener for StageVideoAvailabilityEvent; if stageVideo becomes available, attach _ns: 
              _stageVideo = stage.stageVideos[0];
              _stageVideo = _stageVideo.attachNetStream(_ns);
     - if stageVideo ISN'T available, fall back to Video object:
               _video = new Video();
               _video.attachNetStream(_ns);
               stage.addChild(_video);
     - play netStream app:
               _ns.play(appName);
My renderMode is set correctly ("direct"), and from what I can tell, this isn't a backgroundAlpha issue.
I have seen this problem described elsewhere on this forums and on the net. 
I'd like to know from Adobe: are there any compatibility issues with this approach?  There doesn't seem to be any type of compatibility chart listing which video codecs and transport protocols are available on the different mobile platforms.  Since mobile deployment is so heaviliy fragmented, a descriptive chart or table like this would be helpful for those of us developing -- at least for the main mobile platforms predominantly in use.
Other forum posts similar to this problem:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3981541#3981541
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3954578#3954578
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I do hope someone from Adobe is "hearing" this, guys. The lack of RTMP-based H.264 video on the Air for iOS is a major problem, indeed.
As Fabio Sonnati mentioned in http://sonnati.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/air-2-6-for-ios-and-video-play back/, AIR for iOS does support HTTP streaming (via HLS) of h.264 videos. However, when streaming via RTMP, AIR for iOS only supports VP6 and Spark – a couple of old, retired codecs.
While HTTP streaming (HLS) seems to be a good option for those who simply want to “play a video” in iOS, I do believe it has some severe limitations, especially for live-communications. I’d like to share some of these thoughts with you.
1. HLS has ridiculously high latency for live videos (around 40 seconds), when compared to RTMP. Although this may not be a problem for on-demand videos, it sure is a great problem for anyone doing serious live-communications applications (such as webconferencing, live webcasting with audience interaction or Skype-like video chats), which require near-zero latency.
2. Perhaps someone can correct me on this (hopefully!), but as far as I know, HTTP streaming will not allow cuepoints to be read from videos. This is particularly painful for anyone doing video-triggered actions, such as slide changes (for webinar apps), subtitling or live closed captioning, etc. I read somewhere that OSMF player allows cuepoints (or "temporal metadata". See http://blogs.adobe.com/osmf/2009/11/cue_point_support_in_osmf.html), but I haven't been able to test it myself.
3. Although HLS it is quite compatible with firewalls (since it flows through port 80), RTMP with tunnelling also flows through port 80 or 443, which adds great compatibility, even on very restricted networks. Our experience with very large clients proves that, hands down.
In other words, HTTP/HLS streaming is Ok. But it simply does *not* fit into every shoe that RTMP does. We do believe that RTMP remains as our best option for live streaming or serious streaming-oriented *apps* (in which things more complex than “mere video playing in a window” actually happen).
That all said, I do believe we should let Adobe know about this need. The fact that RTMP streaming in AIR for iOS is limited to VP6 and Spark, which are two “dead” codecs, still puts us, Air developers, in a very fragile position in terms of what we can accomplish with video in iOS.
I’m sure some of you cheered when you heard about Flash Player 11 having h.264 video encoding. This, (plus the echo cancellation feature that came in 10.3) opened great doors for great Unified-Communication applications to be developed for Flash/Air. Now, it’s undeniable that clients want those applications running on tablets, especially the iPad.
Not being able to use h.264 via RTMP on iOS is certainly a huge step backwards. Anyone shares this same opinion? What do you guys believe to be the best option to let Adobe really know about this need? Is this limitation a simple lack-of-a-feature (which can be fixed by Adobe) or is this some imposed thing by Apple?
Just one final note: Air for Android does *not* have the same limitation. It does allow RTMP streaming of h.264.
Thanks for your attention,
Helder Conde