Low-latency screen:// streaming.

[STrRedWolf]

Guess I better post here.

I'm trying to stream one desktop from a Linux Gentoo box over to another on an iMac (an alternate monitor). This is so I can run CamTwist on the desktop and stream the results (in this case, me drawing artwork in Gimp) to Ustream (a live broadcaster).

My current setup has me taking the 1920x1200 desktop, streaming with this:

Code: Select all

vlc -I dummy screen:// :screen-fps=15 :screen-caching=60 --sout '#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,vb=4096,acodec=mpga,ab=256,scale=1,width=1440,height=900}:rtp{mux=ts,sdp=rtsp://:4000/test.sdp}'

The screen is then requested with VLC on the iMac and plastered full-screen on the alternate display. They're connected via a GigE network to the same switch. Both iMac and Linux system are physically next to each other, and the switch is on the same desk as the Linux box.

The delay is about 7-10 seconds, but very noticeable. The load also is about 50-75% of my dual-core Athlon XP 64 X2.

Is there any tweaks I can do to cut the delay and the load on the host CPU? I have no need for audio.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

VLC screen:// is very bad, this is why.

[STrRedWolf]

Switched away from VNC and now using x11vnc on the main screen, and JollysFastVNC connected to x11vnc. The latter does full screen without blanking out other screens, which is quite nice.