Streaming to Android works, but VLM/VoD Does Not -- Advice?

[jsrober]

Hi,

VNC is awesome! Thank you for an incredible capability.

When I open VLC on my windows box and open an ISO/DVD to stream I am able to view this on my Android phone. When I run VLC/VLM and try and set up the same ISO/DVD for Video on Demand (VoD), the Android player reports: "Sorry, this video cannot be played"

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate with VLC 1.1.5.

My phone is a T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant, running Android 2.2 (Froyo).

When I stream from VLC (this works) I pick this option: "Video - H.264 + AAC (TS)" the MP4 option does NOT work ("Video - H.264 + AAC (MP4)").

VLC shows the following as the streaming parameters:

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=800,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:rtp{sdp=rtsp://:5544/a} :no-sout-rtp-sap :no-sout-standard-sap :ttl=1 :sout-keep

This works fine with my Android phone.

However, my goal is not to stream, but to use VLM for Video on Demand.

Here is my command line:

C:\PROGRA~2\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe -vvv --extraintf logger --vlm-conf=vlm.conf -I telnet --rtsp-host 0.0.0.0:5554 --no-sout-rtp-sap --no-sout-standard-sap --sout-keep

Here is the vlm.conf:

new b vod
setup b output #transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=400,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=44100}
setup b mux mp2t
setup b input //nas1/Media/Video/DvdMovies/TheSocialNetwork.iso
setup b enabled


This will play fine using VLC on Windows, but the Android video player reports: "Sorry, this video cannot be played"

Any idea what I'm doing wrong? I'd really appreciate your advice. I suspect it has something to do with the mux, but I'm not an expert at this.

Thanks,
John

[tcc]

Hi,

I'm trying to work out streaming to Android and have a couple of questions:

1) which Android video player are you using to playback the stream from VLC?
2) what does the connect string look like?

Regards,
tcc

[jsrober]

Hi tcc,

Thanks for helping with this problem. I really appreciate it!

I'm using the built-in Android video player that comes with Android 2.2 on the T-Mobile Vibrant (Samsung Galaxy S).

The URL I open is:

rtsp://penrynw:5554/cam

I have an html file that includes an anchor tag with this link. When I click the link it fires up the Android video player.

penrynw is a valid host on my lan. If I paste this link into VLC on my windows system, I'm able to view the video.

Thanks for your help!
John

[tcc]

Hi John,

Are you using Android over 3G or WiFi to connect to your VLC stream?

I'm trying to work out streaming HDHomeRun live TV to Android phones over 3G or WiFi. I'm not using VLM just plain VLC sout. But from what I've read if you specify a MUX the only one RTP supports is TS. And apparantly, if no mux is specified, there is no default mux for RTP meaning that the stream is sent raw (I think).

So maybe just not have a mux line in the VLM conf?

Tim

[jsrober]

I've only experimented with WiFi. I hope to use 3G, but I felt that given the problems I was having that sticking with WiFi until I got it working was wise.

I can successfully stream to the phone when I use the VLC Player/GUI under Windows. The problem I'm having is replicating what the viewer does via the command-line or VLM/VoD.

I believe the Android video player supports the TS mux as I have to select (TS) when I stream via the GUI. If I stream using (MP4) the phone can't view the stream.

I'm glad someone else is working this. Thanks for sharing your learning.

John

[streamingguy]

John,

I've been have been unsuccessful in streaming H264/AAC TS stream from VLC to Android. You mentioned that from Windows GUI, you can produce a stream that can be played on the Android. Can you please capture the text on the last tab of the "Streaming" dialog on the Windows GUI? That will tell us what combination works and we can translate that to a command line input.

Anyone else able to stream from VLC to Android phones? I would really appreciate the "sout" parameters.

Thanks
Streaming Guy

[charlielj88]

Hi john,

Nice to see your post. I have tried the VoD to Android before but not succeeded. The problem is the VoD can be created (tested on another VLC terminal), but just cannot simply played by Android. Here are some posts that either posted by me or by other guys. Hope they give you some clues. I am happy to discuss with you about any progress on this topic.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=81354 (Streaming VoD to Android)
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=86507 (VLC vod stream cannot receive by Android device)
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=86934 (VoD to Android problem)
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=86955 (VOD no video length & timeshifting (pause/resume/rewind/ff))

Wishes,
Charlie

[tcc]

Hi,

If anyone is interested in testing some live TV streams on their android phones (over 3G), send an email to support at sinderon dot com.

I'd like to put up a live stream using the sout string that John initially posted. He mentioned that he embedded the link to the stream as an anchor tag in an HTML file (on his Andriod phone) , and that clicking the link launched the Android video player.

If a working configuration can be determined in this scenario, then it may be possible to get ViLM/Vod working.

Regards,
Tim

[Joel Krzynowek]

Hi John,

Are you using Android overSuperCard 3DS 3G or WiFi to connect to your VLC stream?

I'm trying to work out streaming HDHomeRun3DS SuperCard live TV to Android phones over 3G or WiFi. I'm not using VLM just plain VLC sout. But from what I've read if you specify a MUX the only one RTP supports is TS. And apparantly, if no mux is specified, there is no default mux for RTP meaning that the stream is sent raw (I think).

So maybe just not haveDS3 a mux line in the VLM conf?

Tim

I can successfully stream to the phone when I use the VLC Player/GUI under Windows. The problem I'm having is replicating what the viewer does via the command-line or VLM/VoD.

[dkanova]

Hi, I'm trying to make a video streamming to view it on my Android phone.
I used the following command:
vlc -vvv <My video> -sout #transcode{soverlay,ab=64,samplerate=44100,channels=2,acodec=mp4a,vcodec=h264,width=480,height=320,fps=25,vb=400,venc=x264{vbv-bufsize=10000,partitions=all,level=12,no-cabac,threads=4,ref=2,mixed-refs=1,bframes=0,min-keyint=1,keyint=50,trellis=2,direct=auto,qcomp=0.0,qpmax=51}}:gather:rtp{mp4a-latm, sdp=rtsp://<My IP>:1234/stream.sdp}

and VLC player is opened and I get the video, but when I try to access the phone (With HTC Hero or Samsung Galaxy ACE) using the
rtsp://<MY IP>: 1234/stream.sdp I get a message that can't play the video.

I read that on some phones there are problems with rtsp, so I created a html with a link to that direction and I'm still giving the same error.
Any suggestions?
Thank you very much in advance