Live streaming from PiCam

[Andy Armstrong]

It looks like your VLC is expecting an RTSP stream. I've just tried it here and it works for me. Starting with flv-low.sh I changed the ffmpeg invocation to this:

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ffmpeg -y \
  -f h264 \
  -i "$fifo" \
  -c:v copy \
  -map 0:0 \
  -f mpegts udp:kumina.local:1234

My laptop is called kumina. On the laptop I gave VLC this URL:

udp://@:1234

I think you're probably asking your VLC to expect the wrong thing. I don't know what the UI looks like on Windows but if it gives you the option to enter the connection URL directly try that.

[ppumkin]

Oh, that started to work on UDP (i saw the buffer fill but video blank) so I checked the log and it is dumping a million messages saying

ketizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS

I will download your script and do it that way. I also got http streaming to work. Its about 1 second delay but it s great quality. no luck with RTSP yet.

Thanks again.

[Andy Armstrong]

Oh, that started to work on UDP (i saw the buffer fill but video blank) so I checked the log and it is dumping a million messages saying

ketizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS
packetizer_h264 warning: waiting for SPS/PPS

I will download your script and do it that way. I also got http streaming to work. Its about 1 second delay but it s great quality. no luck with RTSP yet.

Thanks again.

Are you definitely piping the h264 through psips? Without being overly familiar with VLC error messages I think we can infer that it's trying to say something about SPS/PPS

The normal output from raspivid only includes SPS and PPS units at the start of the stream which, as mentioned above, is no good for http chunked streaming - but that also applies to UDP streaming. VLC doesn't necessarily see the start of the stream - only the packets that are on the network when it starts listening. SPS and PPS (Sequence Parameter Set and Picture Parameter Set) contain basic information about the format of the stream - its pixel dimensions and a load of other stuff that you need to decode the subsequent frames.

If you are piping it through psips it may be that psips isn't working properly. If that's the case the next thing would be to capture some of the stream and get it to me to have a look at. You should be able to pipe the output of psips into a file instead of via ffmpeg and I'd probably only need a few seconds worth.

[ppumkin]

I forgot about psips.. long day. I am building it now and gonna give it a try again.

[Andy Armstrong]

I did suspect...

I've dumped a few useful files here: http://hexten.net/picaster/

ffmpeg-rapi.tar.gz (58M)

A recent build of ffmpeg. To use it install the Raspbian ffmpeg (to get any dependencies I haven't included), unpack the tarball below /opt/ffmpeg and (optional) add /opt/ffmpeg/bin to your path.

psips (11K)

A binary for psips.

raspivid (40K)

A patched version of raspivid which supports the -g <frames> option to set the IDR period and -t 0 to stream indefinitely. You'll only need the patched raspivid until the patches make it through to a release.

[ppumkin]

Thanks for raspivid binary. I was unsure of how to compile it. I successfully replaced it and now can use -g and -t 0 options now

I got it all working on UDP and I can view the stream on VLC on a remote LAN computer.

I suppose I can use VLC stream capabilities on my more powerful machine to stream to HTML5 compatible browsers - But I am also going to try that cache server you are using. I have learnt quite allot streaming this way and it naturally led to solving my original problem

I will post a stream once I get my other Pi mounted somehwhere. Next.. PTz?

[Andy Armstrong]

Excellent!

Here are a couple more things you might like to try:

You're currently doing unicast streaming. You can make it work in multicast mode (so that ffmpeg will broadcast to a number of computers running VLC) pretty easily. Essentially just use a multicast address instead of the address of your PC.

And you should be able to package and stream HLS, UDP and RTMP all at the same time. To do that you need to send the h264 to multiple ffmpeg instances. You can do that using tee like this:

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$ cat "$fifo" | tee >( ffmpeg -f h264 -i - -c copy {hls options} ) >( ffmpeg -f h264 -i - -c copy {udp options} ) > /dev/null

So you could, for example, use UDP multicast for devices that can run VLC and HLS for anything else.

[towolf]

Andy, are you aware that ffmpeg is perfectly capable of routing video to multiple outputs? I've seen this pipe splitter you wrote, but something like this ought to work too?

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ffmpeg -i -  -f flv "$url" -f segment %08d.ts

[Andy Armstrong]

I guess I did know that...

The business of using tee (and the pipe for that matter) is probably cargo culted from problems I've had with various ffmpeg versions in the past.

But, yeah, what he said

[towolf]

The peculiar thing with ffmpeg is how it is very important in which order you specify the command line flags and parameters.

[Andy Armstrong]

And bugs have come and gone over time that have had different effects on option parsing

As a result, as you see, I try to keep individual ffmpeg invocations as simple possible and string them together with pipes.

[ppumkin]

I installed crtmpserver on an external Ubuntu server. It said started OK. But the port 1935 is not responding and when I try and run your script it just says connection refused. I checked on ubuntu with

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ps -aux | grep rtmp

and its running.

As usual I have to have some weird issues ... so depressing. Is there anything I can do to test the server is running ok.

I also installed it on the Pi and when I play it I get this error.

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[rtmp @ 0x10dbcf0] Server error: Specified stream not found in call to releaseStream
[rtmp @ 0x10dbcf0] Server error: call to function _checkbw failed
rtmp://192.168.1.104/live/pi: Unknown error occurred

[Andy Armstrong]

Yup, you could try to telnet to the box on port 1935

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$ telnet host 1935

If that connects the port is open and something is listening. If that doesn't connect you could check on the server to find out whether anything has 1935 open. You should ssh to the server and then

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$ nmap -p 1935 localhost

or use lsof:

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$ sudo lsof -i :1935

Also check the crtmpserver logs. One of the first things it logs after starting up is the list of ports its listening on and the (internal) applications it's bound to them.

If it says it's listening on 1935 but you can't connect to it remotely it's likely that you have some firewall rules blocking incoming 1935.

[Andy Armstrong]

If the server's listening on localhost:1935 but you can't connect externally you could experiment with an ssh tunnel - just to see if the rest of your setup is working. On the Pi do

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$ ssh -L 1935:localhost:1935 {remote server}

and then have your streaming script send to localhost:1935 instead of {remote server}:1935.

That does have also have the advantage of keeping your stream private and avoiding having 1935 open to the public on your server.

[ppumkin]

Ahh yes- Turned out I had something else on port 8080. So I killed that and took me a while to find

sudo /etc/init.d/crtmpserver start

So I did it again and this time the Pi says ...

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Input #0, h264, from 'live.fifo.h264':
  Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1280x720, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 1200k tbn, 50 tbc
[rtmp @ 0x16f9760] Server error: pi is not available
rtmp://178.32.221.35/live/pi: Operation not permitted

in the log on the Ubuntu server it shows my IP and then registered and delete. Do I need to create a directory or something in crtmp or something. I just put in /live/pi hard codded.

[Andy Armstrong]

Not sure. I can connect to your server on 1935 from here. Want me to try streaming something to it?

[ppumkin]

Yes please. Go ahead.

[Andy Armstrong]

Oh, to answer your question about config changes: I don't think so. I'm running the stock crtmpserver distribution for Debian Wheezy.

Just in case, here's the config I'm running:

crtmpserver-config-stock-debian.tar.gz

[ppumkin]

Yea that is all correct. Not sure what the problem is. Did you manage to connect?

[Andy Armstrong]

Strictly speaking I can connect - but then I'm getting kicked out. Here's what's on the wire:



(full size)

That means that crtmpserver doesn't like the stream name - not sure why. It's not specific to that name; I also tried

rtmp://178.32.221.35/live/c920

and it failed in the same way.

Could you post the section of the crtmpserver around my attempt to connect as "c920" please? It should show up in the logs.

[ppumkin]

Sorry the log got truncated cause i restarted the server. Can you try again?
Actually not sure but its not loggin at all any more..

[ppumkin]

I can see - Unable to read data
And something about adobe accept type not recognised.

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1370552249:3:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/crtmpserver/src/crtmpserver.cpp:235:Run:GO! GO! GO! (20874)
1370552294:3:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/tcpacceptor.cpp:133:OnConnectionAvailable:Client connected: 86.150.128.151:39604 -> 0.0.0.0:1935
1370552294:4:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/iohandlermanager.cpp:98:RegisterIOHandler:Handlers count changed: 9->10 IOHT_TCP_CARRIER
1370552294:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/applications/appselector/src/rtmpappprotocolhandler.cpp:81:ProcessInvokeConnect:Selected application: flvplayback
1370552294:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:170:UnRegisterProtocol:Protocol CTCP(14) <-> TCP(1) <-> [IR(2)] unregistered from application: appselector
1370552294:2:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/protocols/rtmp/basertmpappprotocolhandler.cpp:1457:AuthenticateInboundAdobe:This agent is not on the list of allowed encoders: `FMLE/3.0 (compatible; Lavf55.7.100)`
1370552294:3:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:181:SignalStreamRegistered:Stream NR(1) with name `` registered to application `flvplayback` from protocol IR(2)
1370552294:2:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/protocols/rtmp/basertmpappprotocolhandler.cpp:1193:ProcessInvokeGeneric:Default implementation of ProcessInvokeGeneric: Request: _checkbw
1370552294:0:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/tcpcarrier.cpp:78:OnEvent:Unable to read data. 86.150.128.151:39604 -> 178.32.221.35:1935
1370552294:4:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/iohandlermanager.cpp:107:UnRegisterIOHandler:Handlers count changed: 10->9 IOHT_TCP_CARRIER
1370552294:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/protocols/protocolmanager.cpp:44:EnqueueForDelete:Enqueue for delete for protocol [IR(2)]
1370552294:3:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:192:SignalStreamUnRegistered:Stream NR(1) with name `` unregistered from application `flvplayback` from protocol IR(2)
1370552294:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:170:UnRegisterProtocol:Protocol [IR(2)] unregistered from application: flvplayback
1370552367:3:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/tcpacceptor.cpp:133:OnConnectionAvailable:Client connected: 86.150.128.151:39605 -> 0.0.0.0:1935
1370552367:4:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/iohandlermanager.cpp:98:RegisterIOHandler:Handlers count changed: 9->10 IOHT_TCP_CARRIER
1370552367:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/applications/appselector/src/rtmpappprotocolhandler.cpp:83:ProcessInvokeConnect:Selected application: flvplayback (live)
1370552367:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:170:UnRegisterProtocol:Protocol CTCP(14) <-> TCP(3) <-> [IR(4)] unregistered from application: appselector
1370552367:2:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/protocols/rtmp/basertmpappprotocolhandler.cpp:1457:AuthenticateInboundAdobe:This agent is not on the list of allowed encoders: `FMLE/3.0 (compatible; Lavf55.7.100)`
1370552367:3:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:181:SignalStreamRegistered:Stream NR(2) with name `` registered to application `flvplayback` from protocol IR(4)
1370552367:2:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/protocols/rtmp/basertmpappprotocolhandler.cpp:1193:ProcessInvokeGeneric:Default implementation of ProcessInvokeGeneric: Request: _checkbw
1370552367:0:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/tcpcarrier.cpp:78:OnEvent:Unable to read data. 86.150.128.151:39605 -> 178.32.221.35:1935
1370552367:4:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/iohandlermanager.cpp:107:UnRegisterIOHandler:Handlers count changed: 10->9 IOHT_TCP_CARRIER
1370552367:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/protocols/protocolmanager.cpp:44:EnqueueForDelete:Enqueue for delete for protocol [IR(4)]
1370552367:3:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:192:SignalStreamUnRegistered:Stream NR(2) with name `` unregistered from application `flvplayback` from protocol IR(4)
1370552367:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:170:UnRegisterProtocol:Protocol [IR(4)] unregistered from application: flvplayback
1370552491:3:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/tcpacceptor.cpp:133:OnConnectionAvailable:Client connected: 86.150.128.151:39606 -> 0.0.0.0:1935
1370552491:4:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/iohandlermanager.cpp:98:RegisterIOHandler:Handlers count changed: 9->10 IOHT_TCP_CARRIER
1370552491:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/applications/appselector/src/rtmpappprotocolhandler.cpp:83:ProcessInvokeConnect:Selected application: flvplayback (live)
1370552491:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:170:UnRegisterProtocol:Protocol CTCP(14) <-> TCP(5) <-> [IR(6)] unregistered from application: appselector
1370552491:2:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/protocols/rtmp/basertmpappprotocolhandler.cpp:1457:AuthenticateInboundAdobe:This agent is not on the list of allowed encoders: `FMLE/3.0 (compatible; Lavf55.7.100)`
1370552491:3:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:181:SignalStreamRegistered:Stream NR(3) with name `` registered to application `flvplayback` from protocol IR(6)
1370552491:2:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/protocols/rtmp/basertmpappprotocolhandler.cpp:1193:ProcessInvokeGeneric:Default implementation of ProcessInvokeGeneric: Request: _checkbw
1370552491:0:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/tcpcarrier.cpp:78:OnEvent:Unable to read data. 86.150.128.151:39606 -> 178.32.221.35:1935
1370552491:4:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/netio/epoll/iohandlermanager.cpp:107:UnRegisterIOHandler:Handlers count changed: 10->9 IOHT_TCP_CARRIER
1370552491:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/protocols/protocolmanager.cpp:44:EnqueueForDelete:Enqueue for delete for protocol [IR(6)]
1370552491:3:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:192:SignalStreamUnRegistered:Stream NR(3) with name `` unregistered from application `flvplayback` from protocol IR(6)
1370552491:6:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:170:UnRegisterProtocol:Protocol [IR(6)] unregistered from application: flvplayback

[Andy Armstrong]

Comparing your log with one of mine I notice that the source line numbers that are reported for various messages differ:

Yours:

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1370552249:3:/build/buildd/crtmpserver-0.0~dfsg+svn611.1/crtmpserver/src/crtmpserver.cpp:235:Run:GO! GO! GO! (20874)

Mine:

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1369948139:3:/build/crtmpserver-cg4puE/crtmpserver-1.0~dfsg/crtmpserver/src/crtmpserver.cpp:258:Run:GO! GO! GO! (392)

So it looks as if Ubuntu aren't packaging the same version.

Try streaming to rtmp://ernie.hexten.net/live/pi instead - just to see if that's the problem.

[Andy Armstrong]

I can see - Unable to read data
And something about adobe accept type not recognised.

Although they both look serious I don't think they're the problem. "This agent is not on the list of allowed encoders" is actually just a warning (although my version doesn't do it) and I think "Unable to read data" is just what it says when a connection closes - mine does that too.

[ppumkin]

'Did you use apt-get or did you compile it?

OK I tried to connect yours and i get the same message as when I try to connect to my Pi

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[rtmp @ 0x25b54c0] Server error: Specified stream not found in call to releaseStream
[rtmp @ 0x25b54c0] Server error: call to function _checkbw failed
rtmp://ernie.hexten.net/live/pi: Unknown error occurred

My Pi

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[rtmp @ 0x180ad30] Server error: Specified stream not found in call to releaseStream
[rtmp @ 0x180ad30] Server error: call to function _checkbw failed
rtmp://localhost/live/pi: Unknown error occurred

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1370555162:3:/build/crtmpserver-W2XmBu/crtmpserver-1.0~dfsg/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:227:SignalStreamRegistered:Stream NR(11) with name `` registered to application
 `flvplayback` from protocol IR(13)
1370555162:2:/build/crtmpserver-W2XmBu/crtmpserver-1.0~dfsg/thelib/src/protocols/rtmp/basertmpappprotocolhandler.cpp:1241:ProcessInvokeGeneric:Default implementation of ProcessInvokeGeneri
c: Request: _checkbw
1370555162:3:/build/crtmpserver-W2XmBu/crtmpserver-1.0~dfsg/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:238:SignalStreamUnRegistered:Stream NR(11) with name `` unregistered from appli
cation `flvplayback` from protocol IR(13)
1370555162:3:/build/crtmpserver-W2XmBu/crtmpserver-1.0~dfsg/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:227:SignalStreamRegistered:Stream INR(12) with name `pi` registered to applicat
ion `flvplayback` from protocol IR(13)
1370555162:0:/build/crtmpserver-W2XmBu/crtmpserver-1.0~dfsg/thelib/src/netio/epoll/tcpcarrier.cpp:78:OnEvent:Unable to read data. 127.0.0.1:60341 -> 127.0.0.1:1935
1370555162:4:/build/crtmpserver-W2XmBu/crtmpserver-1.0~dfsg/thelib/src/netio/epoll/iohandlermanager.cpp:109:UnRegisterIOHandler:Handlers count changed: 7->6 IOHT_TCP_CARRIER
1370555162:6:/build/crtmpserver-W2XmBu/crtmpserver-1.0~dfsg/thelib/src/protocols/protocolmanager.cpp:44:EnqueueForDelete:Enqueue for delete for protocol [IR(13)]
1370555162:3:/build/crtmpserver-W2XmBu/crtmpserver-1.0~dfsg/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:238:SignalStreamUnRegistered:Stream INR(12) with name `pi` unregistered from ap
plication `flvplayback` from protocol IR(13)
1370555162:6:/build/crtmpserver-W2XmBu/crtmpserver-1.0~dfsg/thelib/src/application/baseclientapplication.cpp:216:UnRegisterProtocol:Protocol [IR(13)] unregistered from application: flvplay
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