With multimedia redirection (MMR), the multimedia stream is decoded on the client system. The client system plays the media content so that the load on the ESXi host is reduced.

Remote desktops
For information about operating system requirements and other software requirements and configuration settings, see the topics about Windows Media Multimedia Redirection in the Horizon Remote Desktop Features and GPOs document.
Horizon Client computer or client access device
Because MMR offloads media processing from the server to the client, the client has the following minimum hardware requirements.
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon dual-core
Processor speed: 1.5 GHz for common case, or 1.8 GHz for Full HD
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Video adapter: Hardware accelerated

To avoid video playback issues, install one of the following libraries:

  • GStreamer core library and gstreamer-libav 1.0
  • GStreamer core library and fluendo 1.0
Supported media formats
Media formats that Windows Media Player supports, for example: M4V; MOV; MP4; MPEG-4 Part 2; WMV 7, 8, and 9; WMA; AVI; ACE; MP3.
MP3 is not supported when using MMS and RTSP.
Note: DRM-protected content is not redirected through Windows Media MMR.
GStreamer Framework
Set up the GStreamer environment such that the framework consists of the graphics card, hardware acceleration API, and GStreamer plug-in that allow GStreamer to function properly. GStreamer Framework Setup lists the different possible setup combinations. To ensure the best possible environment, set up your GStreamer environment using the information in GStreamer Framework Setup for the NVIDIA and Intel graphic cards.
Table 1. GStreamer Framework Setup
Graphics Card (including Driver) Hardware Accelerator API GStreamer Plug-in
NVIDIA VDPAU (libvdpau.so) vdpau
Intel VAAPI (libvaapi.so) gstreamer-vaapi
-- OpenMax gst-omx
-- DCE gstreamer-ducati
AMD OVD/UVD Unavailable

To get more detailed information, see https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/tutorials/playback/hardware-accelerated-video-decoding.html.

MMR is not enabled by default. To enable it, you must set the configuration option view.enableMMR. For more information, see Horizon Client Configuration Settings and Command-Line Options.