add a config param (autoStartLoad, default to true)

if set to false, hls.startLoad() needs to be invoked to start level playlist/fragment loading after MANIFEST_PARSED event

API.md

@@ -127,9 +127,9 @@ each error is categorized by :
 
 hls.js provides means to 'try to' recover fatal network and media errors, through these 2 methods:
 
-##### ```hls.recoverNetworkError()```
+##### ```hls.startLoad()```
 
-should be invoked to recover network error
+should be invoked to recover network error.
 
 ##### ```hls.recoverMediaError()```
 
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ configuration parameters could be provided to hls.js upon instantiation of Hls O
 
    var config = {
       debug : false,
+      autoStartLoad : true,
       maxBufferLength : 30,
       maxBufferSize : 60*1000*1000,
       enableWorker : true,
@@ -196,6 +197,12 @@ var hls = new Hls(config);
 setting ```config.debug=true``` will turn on debug logs on JS console.
 a logger object could also be provided for custom logging : ```config.debug=customLogger```
 
+#### ```autoStartLoad```
+(default true)
+
+ - if set to true, start level playlist and first fragments will be loaded automatically, after triggering of ```Hls.Events.MANIFEST_PARSED``` event
+ - if set to false, an explicit API call (```hls.startLoad()```) will be needed to start quality level/fragment loading.
+
 #### ```maxBufferLength```
 (default 30s)
 
@@ -304,6 +311,17 @@ get/set : capping/max level value that could be used by automatic level selectio
 
 default value is -1 (no level capping)
 
+
+
+## Network Loading Control API
+
+by default, hls.js will automatically start loading quality level playlists, and fragments after Events.MANIFEST_PARSED event triggering.
+
+however if ```config.autoStartLoad``` is set to ```false```, the following method needs to be called to manually start playlist and fragments loading:
+
+#### ```hls.startLoad()```
+start/restart playlist/fragment loading
+
 ## Analytics
 
 playback session analytics could be retrieved through two means.
@@ -488,5 +506,6 @@ see sample object below:
   sn: 35,
   start : 30,
   url: 'http://fragURL.com'
+  url2 : 'http://fragURLfailover.com' // if redundant/failover streams detected in Manifest
 }
 ```

demo/index.html

@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ <h4> Playback Control </h4>
       <button type="button" class="btn btn-sm btn-info" onclick="$('#video')[0].currentTime-=10">currentTime-=10</button>
       <button type="button" class="btn btn-sm btn-info" onclick="$('#video')[0].currentTime=$('#seek_pos').val()">seek to </button>
        <input type="text" id='seek_pos' size="8" onkeydown="if(window.event.keyCode=='13'){$('#video')[0].currentTime=$('#seek_pos').val();}"><br><br>
-      <button type="button" class="btn btn-xs btn-warning" onclick="hls.recoverNetworkError()">recover Network Error</button>
+      <button type="button" class="btn btn-xs btn-warning" onclick="hls.startLoad()">recover Network Error</button>
       <button type="button" class="btn btn-xs btn-warning" onclick="hls.recoverMediaError()">recover Media Error</button><br>
     </div>
 

src/controller/buffer-controller.js

@@ -53,16 +53,20 @@
     this.state = this.IDLE;
   }
 
-  start() {
-    this.startInternal();
-    if(this.lastCurrentTime) {
-      logger.log(`resuming video @ ${this.lastCurrentTime}`);
-      this.startPosition = this.lastCurrentTime;
-      this.state = this.IDLE;
+  startLoad() {
+    if(this.levels && this.video) {
+      this.startInternal();
+      if(this.lastCurrentTime) {
+        logger.log(`resuming video @ ${this.lastCurrentTime}`);
+        this.startPosition = this.lastCurrentTime;
+        this.state = this.IDLE;
+      } else {
+        this.state = this.STARTING;
+      }
+      this.tick();
     } else {
-      this.state = this.STARTING;
+      logger.log(`cannot start loading as either manifest not parsed or video not attached`);
     }
-    this.tick();
   }
 
   startInternal() {
@@ -658,8 +662,8 @@
     this.video.addEventListener('seeking',this.onvseeking);
     this.video.addEventListener('seeked',this.onvseeked);
     this.video.addEventListener('loadedmetadata',this.onvmetadata);
-    if(this.levels) {
-      this.start();
+    if(this.levels && this.config.autoStartLoad) {
+      this.startLoad();
     }
   }
   onVideoSeeking() {
@@ -702,8 +706,8 @@
     this.levels = data.levels;
     this.startLevelLoaded = false;
     this.startFragmentRequested = false;
-    if(this.video) {
-      this.start();
+    if(this.video && this.config.autoStartLoad) {
+      this.startLoad();
     }
   }
 

src/hls.js

@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ class Hls {
 
   constructor(config = {}) {
    var configDefault = {
+      autoStartLoad : true,
       debug : false,
       maxBufferLength : 30,
       maxBufferSize : 60*1000*1000,
@@ -122,9 +123,8 @@ class Hls {
     observer.trigger(Event.MANIFEST_LOADING, { url: url });
   }
 
-  recoverNetworkError() {
-    logger.log('try to recover network Error');
-    this.bufferController.start();
+  startLoad() {
+    this.bufferController.startLoad();
   }
 
   recoverMediaError() {