Timed Recording of Stream Fails - SOMETIMES

[RobertKissel]

I hope somebody can point out what I'm doing wrong sometime today, because I need a solution in time for a real-time stream on Sunday, January 29.

I know that on Windoze XP and Windoze 7 I can set up a recording as follows:

This works:

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AT 16:20 D:\[path]\vlc.exe "icyx://stream002.radio.hu/mr3.aac" :run-time=60 :demux=dump :demuxdump-file="K:\test-timed-vlc.aac" vlc://quit

But with other streams, which, if I record them using the "Advanced controls" in the interface, by depressing the red "record" button, save files as .MP4 files, don't seem to leave a file behind. For instance, this doesn't work:

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AT 16:20 D:\[path]\vlc.exe "rtsp://metop.streamguys.net:554/live/metop.stream" :run-time=60 :demux=dump :demuxdump-file="K:\test-timed-vlc.mp4" vlc://quit

When I try the second example, I do hear VLC fire up, and I hear the stream over the computer's sound system; it runs for the specified length of time; however, unlike the first example, it does not leave a file behind. I've tried the .aac extension, and gotten the same result, and have already poked around the machine to see if the file got saved at an unexpected location.

Does anybody recognize what I am doing wrong? (If anything.)

I'm eager to capture this concert: http://www.music.utexas.edu/calendar/de ... x?id=23189. The webcast link (usually [url]rtsp://mbe114.music.utexas.edu/som-brh[/url] appears on the page, next to the word "Webcast," as the audience files into the hall. Unfortunately, I will not be able to start and stop the computer when the concert is going on, and would like to be able to "set my VCR to tape it," as it were. Can anybody assist me in troubleshooting this?

[RobertKissel]

P.S. I should clarify that I have no trouble recording the stream to a file from that URL when I use the GUI interface and press the record button: everything works as it should, and I am left with an .mp4 file when I end the recording, either in the default directory or, if I specify a prefix, in the directory I specify. The erratic behavior only shows up when I run VLC from the Windoze AT command.

And, incidentally, if I run the same command from the console, the same thing happens--no file is recorded. The only difference is that the VLC interface opens on the desktop and remains open after the stream stops.

[bat999]

This works:

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AT 16:20 D:\[path]\vlc.exe "icyx://stream002.radio.hu/mr3.aac" :run-time=60 :demux=dump :demuxdump-file="K:\test-timed-vlc.aac" vlc://quit

Hi
This command will give the file muxed in mp4 container instead of raw aac :-

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AT 16:20 D:\[path]\vlc.exe "icyx://stream002.radio.hu/mr3.aac" --run-time=60 --sout "#std{access=file,mux=mp4,dst="K:\test-timed-vlc.m4a"}" vlc://quit

[RobertKissel]

I tried your command--which produced a file but which, when I try to play it in VLC pops up the error "VLC can't recognize the input's format:
The format of 'file:///K:/test-timed-vlc.m4a' cannot be detected. Have a look at the log for details."

The first bytes of the file are "^@^@^@^\ftypisom^@^@^@^@mp41avc1qt ^@^@^@^@mdat" where "^@" is a NUL character (I think).

I'm trying it in VLC v. 1.1.4, so let me try it again on a machine where I have the more recent version installed and report back.

[RobertKissel]

(Oh, and thank you for responding!)

[RobertKissel]

When you use [url]rtsp://metop.streamguys.net:554/live/metop.stream[/url] as the source, do you get a playable file?

[RobertKissel]

Aha!

I tried your command-line using VLC 1.1.11 on a Windoze 7 machine, and at last, got a playback of the minute I recorded.

So I guess what I must try next is to set up VLC 1.1.11 on the Windoze XP machine I use normally, and see if it plays back the file I created using your command and VLC 1.1.4 (perhaps it wrote the file correctly and cannot play it back).

May I ask if this method is actually re-encoding the sound, rather than dumping it, raw, as it sucks it from the network stream? I'm afraid I know nothing whatever about how these streaming protocols work, but I'd like to minimize the fussing with the sound as much as possible (of course).

Thank you!

You've gotten me closer to my goal of recording the concert I feared I'd have to miss.

[RobertKissel]

Hmm. VLC 1.1.11, when setup on this Windoze XP 32 machine, without uninstalling 1.1.4, but installing it to its own directory, crashes right away when I try to play the file produced by 1.1.4 from that command-line command.

However, the command works, just as you mean it to, I believe--in other words, with version 1.1.11, the command line as you wrote it produces a 45-second recording (which is fine . . . I said 60 seconds, and it probably took a good 15 seconds to start the stream).

Okay, armed with this, I'm prepared to try to set up my recording while I'm away and see what happens. Oh, I do hope this works!!

Thank you again, bat999, for spelling out what I needed to do. I'm sure it will help someone else, eventually.

Can anybody explain to me why the :demux=dump solution, which worked on the Hungarian radio feed, did not work on the Metropolitan Opera feed (and probably won't work on the University of Texas/Butler School of Music feed)? (Baby-food version, please.)

[bat999]

So I guess what I must try next is to set up VLC 1.1.11 on the Windoze XP machine I use normally

Yes, do this.

May I ask if this method is actually re-encoding the sound, rather than dumping it, raw, as it sucks it from the network stream?

No it isn't re-encoded.
It is exactly the same stream but it is "wrapped" in mp4 container.

[bat999]

.....

[RobertKissel]

Results Report

Well, first, I can report success: I was able to accomplish my main purpose, which was to capture the recital while I was out-of-town, so that I didn't have to miss it altogether.

However, I'm very puzzled by the results I found when I got home, and thought I'd present them for comment.

I had installed VLC 1.1.11 for Windoze on TWO machines, both connected to the same router. One is a Windoze XP 32-bit machine with about 3 GIG of RAM; the other is a 6-core Windoze 7 64-bit machine with a ridiculous about of RAM, so much that VLC doesn't save a file to disk, when I record until the entire broadcast is over. I set them both up with Windoze AT commands to start a few minutes apart shortly before the concert began--the 32-bit XP machine starting about 2 minutes before the 64-bit Windoze 7 machine. Same software; same command--the one you gave me.

When I returned home, late last night, I was pleased to discover files sitting on BOTH machines that looked an appropriate length.

The one recorded on the 32-bit XP machine, however, had sound too distorted to enjoy: it has tiny little "clicks" or perhaps split-second silences when the pianist is playing--these "clicks" seem to follow the sound; I don't hear them BEFORE the music begins, when all that is heard is the ambient noise in the hall with the audience filing in to take their seats--but when the pianist is playing, those clicks interfere with the sound in a manner that makes the recording useless. It's a bit hard to describe, but I could park the resulting file somewhere for examination if you'd like to see it.

I was very upset, hearing this--so close and yet so far!! But that is why I set two different machines recording the concert, figuring that would be "insurance" against a mishap. To my delighted surprise, the recording on the OTHER machine, the Windoze 7 64-bit one with 6 processors and all that power, saved a file as good as the ones I get when I hit "record" and am sitting there. It's nice and clear, and I shall settle down later on with the scores to enjoy the concert.

But I'm very puzzled as to what happened. The VLC on the Windoze 7 machine was actually installed under a Windoze XP 64-bit installation on that same machine, and was running FROM that partition under Windoze 7, so I doubt it was installed all that differently from the same installation program on the two systems--and as far as I know, Windoze XP 64 tucked it in among the 32-bit programs anyway.

I suppose the other difference would be the hard disks themselves--I'm sure the disks on the 64-bit machine are newer, faster, etc.

But the results are SO different, as far as sound goes, that I don't quite know what to make of it. One is a superlative recording, and the other is a mess which I shall discard once I'm sure nobody wants to have a look at it to see what went wrong.

I'm quite sure that, modulo path names to the files, and slightly different run-time lengths, I gave identical parameters on the commands on both machines.

I'm fairly certain I've made "clean" recordings on the Windoze 32-bit XP machine when I use the "record button" on the VLC GUI interface, too.

Both machines had only a CMD console window open, and only the usual background programs running, and I try to keep those to a minimum anyway; and BOTH machines have six processors, and pretty hefty motherboards.

And if, as you say, it's just putting the raw stream away in a file without monkeying with it, then I can't imagine why the two files should have come out so different.

Let me know if you'd like me to put the two resulting files up for you to have a look at (they're each between 160 megabytes and change), or if you just need to hear a little bit of the "choppy" effect I mean, I can cut out some excerpts for you. The "Media Information" Codec details look the same in the two recordings.



Thank you, thank you, thank you again!

I was heartbroken to be missing this recital, and am so glad that now, thanks to you, I will be able to hear it after all! (Maybe I should let you have a copy as a thank you? Let me know if you'd like to hear it too.)

[rada]

you can make a scheduled rec by making a batch.file in notepad and execute it whit Task Scheduler

open notepad and paste this

"C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" "(A)" --sout=#transcode{vcodec=mp1v,vb=256,scale=1,acodec=mp3,ab=128,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=mov,dst="(B)\(C)%date:~7,2%_%date:~4,2%_%date:~10,4%.(D)"}}

save it as a batch file so there is something like this name.bat

fill in A,B,C,D

A=http
B=location wich you wanna save file
C=the name of the file(name wathever you like to name)
D=file output(for example avi,asf,wmv,st(for streaming best is asf sometimes you must save another sort file to watch like .st

example ("C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" "http://127.0.0.1:8902/stream" --sout=#transcode{vcodec=mp1v,vb=256,scale=1,acodec=mp3,ab=128,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=mov,dst="C:\Users\name\Videos\streams\filename%date:~7,2%_%date:~4,2%_%date:~10,4%.asf"}}

execute this batchfile in task scheduler

i did this whit sopcast so i made a batch file to open with taskscheduler(made the url link to open a channel) and use the http of sopcast.

i think you can do it with other p2p too.

ithink this is the easiest way to make a scheduled rec in vlc.Important is the outputfile (mostly asf)Dont use avi .

greeting RADA