Using VLC in Waterfox to view CCTV, High CPU or Freezing Issues :(

[chrisoverson]

Hi guys!

This might be slightly unusual. I need to view IP Cameras in a web browser, across 5 screens, with upto four cameras per screen. Myself and a friend have made a page in PHP/Javascript that has multiple VLC plugins, accessing the RTSP streams from each camera. We're using one Waterfox instance per screen. You can use a drop-down list to select which cameras to view on each screen. We've opted to use a VLC plugin as we need to be able to independently control audio volume per camera, and mute/unmute specific cameras as required.

The cameras are all on the local network and connected via cat6 ethernet @ gigabit speeds. Using VLC 2.2.8, I'm able to view 18 cameras (the ideal) simultaneously, with the CPU usage only around 40%, however after a minute or two the cameras freeze, then reload automatically (as per our script) after about 5-10 seconds. This isn't good from a security standpoint. Using the latest VLC (3.0.6), the freezing issue disappears, however when adding more than a certain number of cameras or browser instances, usually around 12 cameras, the CPU usage randomly jumps from 30-40% all the way upto 100% immediately and freezes the entire machine until the browser is force-closed.

I've tried tweaking many settings in the program including the hardware acceleration etc etc but no joy.

The spec is good, a brand new system with i7 8700 (6 core), 8GB DDR4, nvidia GTX 1050, Samsung EVO 950 m. 2 SSD. 3 monitors are running via the GPU, 2 via on board.

I've tried a few nightly builds and some older versions, they all have one of these two problems, or just crash on opening (using version 4).

Any help would be massively appreciated, my apologies for such a long post!

[chouquette]

Hi,

If you could extract the logs that might help us figure out what's the issue, although I have to confess that the webplugins are not really worked on anymore. We plan on having a WebAssembly port of VLC instead (but that's still a lot of work left)

[chrisoverson]

Hi,

If you could extract the logs that might help us figure out what's the issue, although I have to confess that the webplugins are not really worked on anymore. We plan on having a WebAssembly port of VLC instead (but that's still a lot of work left)

Thank you I'll try and trigger the CPU usage issue again then extract the logs. I'll have a google as to how to do that.

[#thweiss]

Hello,

I add two *.html-Examples for Mosaic-Views with the VLC-Web-Plugin 3.0.3.0.
Everyone can test the *.html Files with Mozilla Firefox ESR Version 52.3.0 (32-Bit).

After open the *.html Example in the Webbrowser refresh or reload it one time in the Webbrowser for the JavaScript based audio-mute!

1) Example 15× Live-TV "http Live Streams (HLS)"
https://www.vlc-forum.de/wcf/attachment ... -html-txt/

2) Example 9× Live-TV "http Live Streams (HLS)"
https://www.vlc-forum.de/wcf/attachment ... -html-txt/

Please delete the *.txt File-Extension and save as *.html-File!

Have Fun for Testing.

Thomas

[vannakvichea]

Hi, for my test I saw a black screen can you kindly help.

[#thweiss]

Hi,

1) it is importend to use an old Version for Webbrowser with working VLC-webplugin (NPAPI).
For Example "Mozilla Firefox ESR 52.n" (32-Bit) with 32-Bit Version of VLC-Player (3.0.7.1).
- [url]https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/52.9.0esr/[/url]
- [url]https://download.videolan.org/vlc/[/url]
Recent Webbrowser Versions do not support the VLC-Webplugin and the screen will be black.

To avoid an Update for the old webbrowser install two Webbrowser's (new one and old one).
- [url]https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1170758[/url]


2) Try to open the *.html-File in "Microsoft Internet-Explorer" without muted Audio.
Delete the File-Extension *.txt after Download for the Examples!

3) Dont use the VLC-Player Version 3.0.8 for this Solution, because there are some issue with playing "Http Live Streams" (HLS), which are select in the Example.
- [url]https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=150582[/url]


The *.html-Files with the Mosaic-View mute all the Audio-outputs with the included JavaScript-Code.
Enable JavaScript in Mozilla Firefox.
- [url]http://static.webex.co.in/no-javascript/nojavascript-firefox.html[/url]

Hope the hints will help you to find the proper way.

Thomas