The VideoLAN Forums

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a few panasonic ip network cameras and am trying to get rtsp streaming to work.

below is the rtsp link i am using to stream video using vlc:

rtsp://192.168.0.10/Mediainput/mpeg4

this was working fine on my old version of vlc (0.8.6d) and i was able to both stream and save locally. but when i upgraded to 0.8.6i yesterday vlc streams the video for around 2 minutes and 16 seconds and then freezes. I then have to reconnect using file>open etc and it then works again for another 2 minutes.

to confirm it wasnt the camera i changed vlc version to 0.8.6e and experienced the same issue.

any advice or fixes is appreciated. thank you, tom

Have you tried nightlies?
http://nightlies.videolan.org/

hi, thanks for your reply. i tried todays version but experienced the same issue. i have tried to play about with settings but am not having any luck. the same problem also occurs on my mac book with the latest vlc but is fine with 0.8.6d. i also streamed using quicktime and it works fine on both win xp sp2 and mac but doesn't have the stream and save options that vlc offers. any ideas?

There is a bug in either VLC or in Panasonic cameras. My guess is that some patch after 0.8.6d has caused this issue for VLC.

i think that the panasonic network camera is not responding to the rtsp timeout command sent after 2 minutes. i had a look through the forum and found that alot of axis cameras had the same problem. i also noticed in the version history that after 0.8.6d something to do with rtsp was implemented.

on the other posts relating to axis cameras it seems that modifying the vlc source code may help...something about modifying or removing i_timeout seems to stop vlc sending out the get_parameter command since the camera may not be responding to this get_parameter command.

can anyone help on this? unfortunately i am not a programmer and it all seems very complex. i was hoping that someone is able to modify/remove this code and send the new edited version to me. according to the other posts its something within demux > live555

i hope i am not asking for too much . your help is appreciated, thanks

I can compile you one, if you have some thread that shows what should be modified.

looking at other posts around i think that it is the code below (from modules>demux>live555). Due to this it is sending a command to the camera which the camera is unable to respond to. Rather than VLC sending the command ,if it is removed and just returns VLC_SUCCESS would this work/help the situation? I hope you understand what I am trying to explain as I think i've just confused myself! thanks for your great help,

#if LIVEMEDIA_LIBRARY_VERSION_INT >= 1138089600
p_sys->i_timeout = p_sys->rtsp->sessionTimeoutParameter();
#endif
if( p_sys->i_timeout <= 0 )
p_sys->i_timeout = 60; /* default value from RFC2326 */

/* start timeout-thread only on x-asf streams (wms), it has rtcp support but doesn't
* seem to use it for liveness/keep-alive, get_parameter seems to work for it. get_parameter
* doesn't work with dss 5.5.4 & 5.5.5, they seems to work with rtcp */
if( !p_sys->p_timeout && p_sys->p_out_asf )
{
msg_Dbg( p_demux, "We have a timeout of %d seconds", p_sys->i_timeout );
p_sys->p_timeout = (timeout_thread_t *)vlc_object_create( p_demux, sizeof(timeout_thread_t) );
p_sys->p_timeout->p_sys = p_demux->p_sys; /* lol, object recursion */
if( vlc_thread_create( p_sys->p_timeout, "liveMedia-timeout", TimeoutPrevention,
VLC_THREAD_PRIORITY_LOW, VLC_TRUE ) )
{
msg_Err( p_demux, "cannot spawn liveMedia timeout thread" );
vlc_object_destroy( p_sys->p_timeout );
}
msg_Dbg( p_demux, "spawned timeout thread" );
vlc_object_attach( p_sys->p_timeout, p_demux );
}
}
return VLC_SUCCESS;
}

http://rapidshare.com/files/136835579/v ... d.zip.html
(based on vlc-0.9.0-test3 from 20th July)
I commented out next part.

thanks for compiling that. sadly the same thing occurs - timeout after around 2mins. not sure what could be causing this vlc or the camera?

im guessing vlc is sending the get_parameter command to the camera and it is not responding...therefore vlc closes the connection. does that sound right?

in the meantime i will contact Panasonic to see if they have any advice on this problem. do you think it could be an issue within vlc player? has anyone experienced this kind of problem streaming RTSP?

thanks again

Wireshark might give you some details (network packets), but I am not familiar with inner workings of RTSP so I don't know what causes the issues. I am quite sure Panasonic tech support won't help you, but if you could contact devs or engineers they might help you.

ill give that a try. see if the camera is responding to the commands.

thanks for your help!

Hello, can you give us the model of the camera you are working on?

I have similar problems with mine (WV-NW960 by the way), but I never succeeded in connecting the RTSP stream of my camera, outside of IE I mean.
Here is my post : viewtopic.php?f=14&t=48609

If I can help you, I will gladly do so.

I finally made it, by upgrading the camera with a firmware I found on Panasonic Canada (http://www.panasonic.ca/PDP/Software/wv ... 1.10eb.exe).

Now I think you have the same model as I do (or the WV-NW964), and I get the same problem as you : timeout on versions of VLC issued after the 0.8.6d. I will try the version customed by VLC_Help and let you know what happened.

I'm not familiar with your camera server but it sounds like this is the same problem we are seeing with our RTSP video server, which I've just raised as a bug: ticket 1881

My guess is your camera server (like many other servers, including ours) uses GET_PARAMETER as a 'keepalive' to assure itself the client is still there. The problem is that somewhere between 0.8.6d and 0.8.6i VLC stopped sending GET_PARAMETER as a keepalive (except for Windows Media Server). This will break a lot of other servers, as we have both found. Since it used to work in 0.8.6d I'd put this down to this VLC issue, not the camera.

If you want to verify this, see if you can capture the RTSP session from the 0.8.6d version and check that the camera is responding "200 OK" to the GET_PARAMETER requests it will be sending every minute or so. If you then compare this with the 0.8.6i version you should see that VLC is no longer sending the GET_PARAMETER requests, and so the camera gives up after 2 minutes.

Hope this helps, or at least explains things!

You were right. With VLC 0.8.6e, it sends the camera every 20 seconds or so this message :


And it gets that : And the more recent VLC does not.

I found some other posts talking about that, I will read them, and if a solution appears I will share it with the forum.

Thanks packetship!

With the last VLC versions I can connect to the Panasonic camera (or any other one in RTSP) for hours without any problems. I think the problem is fixed

Hi all

I have too some problems with IP Cam Panasonic in RTSP Mode.
I'm in contact with Panasonic France.

I done other tests with Axis 210 IP Cam. Here is the result :

- VLC 0.8.6d => works well
RTSP GET_PARAMETER command every 60 seconds
RTCP Sender Report/Receiver Report every 4 seconds

- VLC 0.8.6h => works well
RTCP Sender Report/Receiver Report every 4 seconds
No GET_PARAMATER every 60 seconds....

- VLC 0.8.6.i => works while 1 minute
No GET_PARAMATER every 60 seconds....
No RTCP Sender Report/Receiver Report every 4 seconds

I don't have this problem with the more recent nightlies. Try the one from 24th august for example. I used it to connect to an Axis 211 (I got one too) and I run it since I started this post for you. No cut or else. But I lost the console with VLC, so I can't say if these are the same for messages received and sent.

Now about your Panasonic Camera, which model is it?

When you said you have no problem with last VLC version, is it last 0.8.6i or last nighty build ?

The model of IP CAM Panasonic is WV-NP244E

Regards

When you said you have no problem with last VLC version, is it last 0.8.6i or last nighty build ?

I meant Nightlies around mid-August till 24 August. So, I haven't been using 0.8.6i for a loooooong time. And for me the 0.8.6d I agree with you, it works quite well.

The model of IP CAM Panasonic is WV-NP244E

Try http://visiosys.net/support/telechargements, and follow the Panasonic lead.
Or also : http://www.panasonic.ca/french/servicec ... ery_fr.asp with model designation : WVNP and no keyword.

And last but not least : this page.

http://security.panasonic-solutions.ru/ ... /software/

I got there a document for the WV-NP472 that doesn't exist elsewhere on the net and saved my life ^^ Maybe it will be useful for you.

Bonne chance.

Hi all

I have too some problems with IP Cam Panasonic in RTSP Mode.
I'm in contact with Panasonic France.

I done other tests with Axis 210 IP Cam. Here is the result :

- VLC 0.8.6d => works well
RTSP GET_PARAMETER command every 60 seconds
RTCP Sender Report/Receiver Report every 4 seconds

- VLC 0.8.6h => works well
RTCP Sender Report/Receiver Report every 4 seconds
No GET_PARAMATER every 60 seconds....

- VLC 0.8.6.i => works while 1 minute
No GET_PARAMATER every 60 seconds....
No RTCP Sender Report/Receiver Report every 4 seconds

MAy be?
- VLC 0.9.2
No GET_PARAMATER every 60 seconds....
RTCP Sender Report/Receiver Report every x seconds

I have'got the same problem with other IP camera, please enable RTSP keep alive for the next release of VLC !!