Webcam-->Network-->VLS-->Clients

[phrend]

I'm looking for a solution that will allow me to use a webcam (or other video source) at one location... send that signal (in real time) to my remote server running VLS, and have that server send my webcast out to clients on the Internet... Can VLS accept a 'network stream' as a real time input?

Thank you in advance!

[The DJ]

Use VLC for streaming. much more advanced. Read the documentation on the videolan webpage.

[Guest]

Thank you for the reply. I've spent about an hour and a half looking over the VideoLAN HOWTO, the VLC user guide, and the VideoLAN FAQ...

Are the sections on "http,ftp,udp,file,directory,mms" and "rstp/rtp/sdp (livedotcom)" (in the VLC user guide) the right places for what I'm trying to do? They are the only things under "Access modules" that seem to have something to do with making VLC receive a stream as an input.

I'm not sure where to get all the detail that I will need to get this in to production here, but wanted to make sure that I'm on the right track before really getting into this project.

Any help is much appreciated.

Thank you!

[The DJ]

VLC can use any webcam wtih directshow drivers and output that in all formats supported by VLC for streaming...

[Guest]

VLC can use any webcam wtih directshow drivers and output that in all formats supported by VLC for streaming...

I think that I must not have been clear in my original post.

I want to have a computer with a webcam in one location. I want to send the audio and video stream to another computer that has LOTS more bandwidth, in real time. I would like the high bandwidth computer to re-broadcast the original stream, in real-time.

I've been searching around on the Internet, and the high bandwitdh server in this type of setup is sometimes called a "reflector."

Can the current implementation of VLC do this? If so, do you know of any HOWTO type documentation that you could direct me to?

Thank you, once again.

[phrend]

Sorry... it appears that I forgot to log in on my last two posts... I wanted to edit my last post and realized that I was 'Guest' -- so I couldn't edit it...

Just to be clear.. the 'low bandwitdh' computer and the 'high bandwidth' computer are not on the same LAN, they are in different geographic locations, but both connected to the Internet.

Thank you.

[markfm]

It's pretty straight forward. Your first computer is set up to do a single stream to the second computer -- say point-to-point (unicast) UDP, where the first computer is told to stream to the 2nd computer's IP address. If it is a normal Webcam, say a USB device, make sure that you use Transcoding in the stream -- say, mp4v. (No way to stream the Webcam "raw" video, but you want a CODEC anyhow, given BW constraints)

At the second computer, if you use the WxWidgets interface on VLC, select File -- Open Network Stream. You pick the first option for UDP, the one with no "Address" line next to it. (it's the default choice). At the bottom of this "Open" window is a checkbox for "Stream output" -- select this and click on the Settings button.

In the "Stream Output" window, pick how you want the reflector to make the stream available. If you want to multicast on a local LAN segment, pick UDP and use a valid multicast address. If you want other clients to be able to connect via, say, MMSH, select that option instead. It is valid to have more than one Output method selected for the repromulgated stream. It is also valid to have more than one point-to-point connection coming off of the reflector. For example, you may want three specific addressed UDP re-broadcasts of the stream -- there's no way to do it off of the GUI that I know of, but at a command line you just replicate the line. You may need to change Encapsulation Method depending on what "Output methods" you use.

For example, if there is a point-to-point connection from the first PC to the reflector, and at the reflector I wish to rebrodcast it using two specific point-to-point connections, plus make it available on a generic multicast address, I would use something like:
c:\temp\vlc\vlc.exe udp://
:sout=#duplicate{dst=std{access=udp,mux=ts,url=192.178.2.2:1234},dst=std{access=udp,mux=ts,url=192.178.2.3:1234}, dst=std{access=udp,mux=ts,url=239.20.30.40:1234}}

(239.20.30.40 is a multicast address, administratively scoped for the local LAN segment)

Note that multicast won't work over the Web -- ISPs purposely block it, as there is finite bandwidth and a finite number of multicast addresses. If you want users to access the reflector's data over the Web you will need to use a point-to-point unicast method, something like http.