I need some way to monitor and control several web-cams (Panasonic BL-C111 and C131 -- the interface is the same).
Each camera provides an embedded HTTP and RTSP servers. Unfortunately, the camera can only be controlled (left/right, up/down, etc.) via its web-pages. Unfortunately, the video-stream, that's served via the same HTTP has no audio-component... Panasonic advises those, who wish to control the camera and listen to it, to use Windows Media Player (after downloading the g726 audio codec).
So, this is, what I'd like to have: an application, that would show each camera's RTSP-feed and buttons to control each cam. I was thinking of embedding multiple vlc-processes (each with its own rtsp:// URL) and perform the camera control via HTTP.
So, here come the questions:
- Can vlc be embedded -- told upfront, which X11-window (and region thereof) it is supposed to use to place video instead of creating its own.
- Can one vlc-process play multiple rtsp-sources in parallel, or must I launch a separate process per source (this works, actually. with artsd handling the sound nicely).
- Once such embedded vlc is started, how far can it be controlled? Will it offer its own menu (I'd like to be able to capture pieces of the video-streams, for example)?
- Should I write my own app and embed vlc, as I was going to, or should I try to learn and use lua to implement this "from inside" vlc?