[vlc] Re: vlc streaming howto?

Mark Moriarty mfmbusiness at earthlink.net
Thu Dec 30 02:00:23 CET 2004


Run a chron job that wakes up however often, checks for the vlc process to
be running.  Like any other app, once it's up and running VLC tends to just
churn away, keep running.

Yes, PC2 should be able to pretty much sit hthere, especially if PC1 sources
a UDP stream.  When I;m doing testing I'll often have one client VLC (equal
to your #2) sitting there while I am mucking about with the real source PC
(#1).  We're talking a whole lot of shutdown/restart work on the #1
instance, while I am trying different logos, timestamps, etc.  As long as it
originally gets a connection to the #1 UDP it's entirely happy to sit there,
listening, whether or not it gets new packets, will start displaying them
whenever #1 starts sending them. 

-----Original Message-----
From: vlc-bounce at videolan.org [mailto:vlc-bounce at videolan.org] On Behalf Of
Ricardo Kleemann
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 7:44 PM
To: vlc at videolan.org
Subject: [vlc] Re: vlc streaming howto?

Awesome, thanks!

In the scenario below, "PC2" will actually be a linux server. So I can have
vlc running permanently listening to a particular port, that it should work?

I guess I need some sort of daemon or periodic check to re-launch vlc in
case it drops out for some reason.

Ricardo

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Moriarty" <mfmbusiness at earthlink.net>
To: <vlc at videolan.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 4:25 PM
Subject: [vlc] Re: vlc streaming howto?


> Correct.
> 1)
> You initially launch VLC, or some other application that is the initial
> source of the camera video.  For instance, if I have a Windows PC, with a
> framegrabber card, connected to the camera, I might have a command line
> (batch file, script):
>
> vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Osprey-210 Video Device 1" :dshow-adev="none"
> :no-dshow-config :dshow-size="640x480"
>
:sout=#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,vb=1024,scale=1}:duplicate{dst=std{access=udp,m
> ux=ts,url=239.240.30.40:4567}}
>
> The above is making a 1 megabit per second video stream available on a
> multicast IP address, via UDP.  ANY number of PCs can "tune in" to this
> stream -- it doesn't take any more network bandwidth or CPU power from the
> original VLC PC -- a multicast address is like a radio broadcast -- anyone
> can tune in, as long as they have the right channel (IP address and port
> number) selected.
>
> 2)
> OK, the first PC has sent the stream out.  Turns out that Windows Media
> Player doesn't handle classic multicast worth a darn.  You then, perhaps,
> want a second server, set up to rebroadcast (1), but make it a format that
> can be watched by Windows Media Player clients.  Therefore, on PC 2 you 
> run
> another batch file (or you can set it up through the wxwindows VLC 
> graphical
> user interface:
> Vlc udp://@239.240.20.30:4567
>
:sout=#transcode{vcodec=DIV3,vb=512,scale=1}:duplicate{dst=std{access=mmsh,m
> ux=asfh,url=:1234}}
>
> In the above, I'm only working with video (no acodec, no audio bitrate).
> PC2 has connected to the multicast stream from PC1, and taken the video,
> turned it into a 512 kbps DIV3, ASF encapsulation, mmsh transport 
> mechanism.
>
> 3)  I launch a copy of VLC on PC3.  To tell the truth, personally I would
> normally just connect to the original multicast stream, use vlc
> udp://@239.240.20.30:4567 to hook to it, open a local display window.  If
> you feel like connecting to the PC2 stream, however, you just use:
> Vlc mmsh://pc2_IP_address:1234
>
> 3a)  If someone else has Windows Media Player, they can connect to PC2 by
> doing an Open URL, entering:
> Mms://pc2_IP_address:1234
>
> Multiple clients can indeed connect to PC2.  It costs next to nothing in
> additional processing power, though each additional client will use a 
> chunk
> of bandwidth, since in this case I am using mmsh, a connection-oriented 
> TCP
> method.  Each PC connecting to PC2 will use 500 - 800 K of PC2 bandwidth
> (allowing for packetiuzation overhead); there's variability -- the 512K is
> not a strict limit.  Three clients connecting to PC2 would therefore use
> about 1.5 - 1.8 megabits per second (plus the initial 1 megabit connection
> from PC2 to PC1).
>
> Another, perhaps more normal, case would be that (1) is an IP camera, say
> one of the Axis jobs.  It's serving an MJPEG stream, each client taking up
> one chunk of bandwidth.  Whoops -- the IP camera is at a remote location, 
> so
> you cannot afford multiple connections to it -- What you do is have (2)
> connect to it, then do a local rebroadcast.
>
> So the "trigger" is just that you set (2) up listening on the right IP
> address for (1).  If you have a choice in the configuration of the initial
> server, (1), use an ack-less UDP transmission, then you can leave (2)
> permanently "on"/active -- if there's data coming from (1) it'll be
> available for rebroadcast.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vlc-bounce at videolan.org [mailto:vlc-bounce at videolan.org] On Behalf 
> Of
> Ricardo Kleemann
> Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 6:54 PM
> To: vlc at videolan.org
> Subject: [vlc] Re: vlc streaming howto?
>
> Thank you so much, Mark.
>
> I'm still not quite sure about something... Let me try to see if I
> understand how it works...
>
> 1. VLC runs as the broadcaster, say connected to a video camera. It sends 
> a
> network stream to the server.
> 2. The server receives the stream and re-transmits it on a local port 3. 
> VLC
> (or any other compatible player) run as clients for the retransmitted
> stream.
>
> I think that's how it's supposed to be, correct? The question is, how is 
> #2
> "triggered"? Since VLC doesn't run as a daemon, it needs to be started
> somehow in order to retransmit the stream...
>
> Also, once VLC is retransmitting, can it accept multiple connections on 
> the
> port?
>
> Thanks
> Ricardo
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mark Moriarty" <mfmbusiness at earthlink.net>
> To: <vlc at videolan.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 2:40 PM
> Subject: [vlc] Re: vlc streaming howto?
>
>
>> Yes, you can.
>>
>> Do you use the wxwindows graphical interface, or the command line?
>>
>> I put together a short step-by-step, with screenshots, precisely for
>> restreaming a network stream. It's based on the use of wxwindows.  A
>> command
>> line restream is pretty straight-forward:
>>
>> Vlc mmsh://192.168.2.90:4567
>> :sout=#duplicate{dst=std{access=udp,mux=ts,url=239.20.30.40:1234}}
>>
>> = take what's available as an mmsh stream from the device located at
>> 192.168.2.90, port 4567.  Multicast that incoming stream back out again,
>> MPEG TS encapsulation, on multicast addres 239.20.30.40, port 1234.
>>
>> Vlc udp://@:5678
>>
>
:sout=#transcode{vcodec=DIV3,vb=512,scale=1,acodec=mp3,ab=192,channels=2}:du
>> plicate{dst=std{access=mmsh,mux=asfh,url=:1234}}
>>
>> = take something that is being sent to you via UDP on port 5678.
>> Transform
>> the incoming UDP stream, make it a 512 kbps DIV3 video, 192 kbps 
>> 2-channel
>> mp3 audio, ASF encapsulation, and make it available via mmsh on LocalHost
>> port 1234.  (Another VLC user would connect to you by using
>> mmsh://your_ip_address:1234, while a Windows Media Player user would
>> select
>> Open URL and enter mms://your_IP_address:1234)
>>
>> PM me on the VLC forum (markfm), and I'll send you the information to 
>> pull
>> the wxwindows guide off of my FTP site, if you want it.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: vlc-bounce at videolan.org [mailto:vlc-bounce at videolan.org] On Behalf
>> Of
>> Ricardo Kleemann
>> Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 5:05 PM
>> To: vlc at videolan.org
>> Subject: [vlc] vlc streaming howto?
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I took a look at the vlc streaming howto, but I'm wondering if VLC is
>> capable of being used as a streaming server, more specifically for live
>> content?
>>
>> Can I stream (broadcast) content to a server running VLC and have it act
>> as
>> a streaming server?
>>
>> Can someone give me pointers for that?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Ricardo
>>
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>>
>
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