[vlc] Re: RTSP - let the server decide when to PLAY

[Kim Schulz]

On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 06:52:53 -0700
Ross Finlayson <finlayson at live555.com> wrote:

> >In my setup right now, VLC sends DESCRIBE,SETUP and right after that 
> >it sends the PLAY command.
> >If no data is received after 10 sec. vlc sends TEARDOWN and tried to 
> >setup a tcp
> >interleaved connection.
> >I would like the server to be the one that tells vlc when to start 
> >playing, since
> >the data it should stream might not be ready when the client
> >connects. is this possible via RTSP.
> 
> No, not via the RTSP protocol, because the RTSP "PLAY" command means 
> just that: ask the server to start streaming.
> 
> Also, VLC's 10 second timeout (before switching to requesting 
> RTP-over-TCP) is currently hard-wired into the code (in 
> "modules/demux/live555.cpp"), so it currently can't be disabled.
> 
> In the future, however, this timeout should probably be made a 
> configurable value (with 0 meaning: don't have a timeout at all).
> 
> However, right now, you're out of luck.

How long will vlc wait for e.g. a SETUP reply before it cancels out? I
might be able to pause it at that point instead by not returning the
SETUP reply right away. 
And it will surely be a good idea to make the 10sec timeout
configurable (preferebly with a disable option).

Another thing I have discovered is a possible bug in vlc. If I make
my server close the RTSP connection (the rough way) right after it
receives a DESCRIBE or SETUP, VLC (at least on windows XP) will start
using 100% CPU until it is killed. This could actually be used to do a
reverse DoS attack on the client. 

-- 
Kim Schulz

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