VideoLAN Wiki - User contributions [en]

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website (simple version)

2011-04-22T00:30:55Z

MrGreg:

The following “How To” describes an easy method of using VLC as a simple video streamer to enable a live video stream (Eg web-cam) via VLC to be streamed from a web server across a local LAN or the Internet. This method does also work for streaming files and other media, CD, DVD Etc
Using this method of streaming from VLC allows the stream to be viewed from many media player clients other than VLC, which is often the case
The content and description is aimed at those who only have an elementary knowledge of VLC, Networking, and Web authoring / HTML.
This method is not the most sophisticated way to utilise VLC, but it does work well and has been tested on both LAN and WAN using VLC versions 0.9.8a, 0.9.9, 1.0.x. and 1.1.x

== First checks ==

First, I have to make some assumptions and you will have to do some checks.

* You have a web site? If not see [[#Appendix]] at the bottom of this “HowTo”.
* Your website works OK and is on your own web server on the same machine as VLC?
* If your website is for external viewing (internet), you have a static IP and are not behind a proxy server?
* Your ISP is not blocking any ports
* Your firewall is not blocking any ports that you want to stream through. (Port 1234 for the example below)

I also assume you are using a NAT router with port forwarding for both the website and port to be used by the video stream.
You have sufficient upstream bandwidth to support the size of video stream (See [[#Note 1]])

== Limitations ==

This HowTo was written with previous versions in mind, so the descriptions of the VLC User Interface may differ slightly.

The following technique only works (tested so far) using the Windows encapsulation method asf/wmv (and asf/div3 VLC 1.0.0) selected from the Custom menu in the VLC Streaming Settings window.
(other methods may work, I have not tested them all)

== The method ==

The following method/technique uses a “metafile” or redirector. You might want to check out the terms ”metafile”, “redirector” and “.asx” for further information

Firstly create a text file (Eg in Notepad) and copy and paste the following

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>Stream1234</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF=<nowiki>"http://192.168.0.42:1234"</nowiki> />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

Where the HREF value is your local LAN IP for a LAN ONLY website.
Or
The HREF value is your external (Internet) IP for a WAN ONLY website
The port number (Eg :1234) is the port you will allocate in VLC Streaming settings window.

The text file should then be saved as a .asx file. I suggest you create two such files. One for LAN and one for WAN (See [[#Note 3]])& (See [[#Note 5]])
* Eg localstream1234.asx for the LAN version using your internal LAN IP
* Eg extstream1234.asx for the WAN version using your external WAN IP

Place these .asx files in your web server dir.

Create a links in a web page that point to the above .asx files. When the link is activated, a pop out player will stream.
Or Eg
Embed the stream on a page by the following in html

<embed src="localstream1234.asx">

Or Eg

<embed src="localstream1234.asx” height=”370” width=”400">

To resize the video on the web page.

=== Now for VLC ===

First check your video source (TV card, Video capture device, webcam etc) is working OK and playing through VLC OK using the Play option
Select Streaming.
Select Source, Capture device for this example (and any necessary additional settings)

Check play locally box
Check or select/add http box LEAVE the ADDRESS FIELD BLANK!! Change the port number to 1234 (for this example)
Select “Windows asf/wmv” in the Custom dropdown selection box
You may need to alter the TTL value to allow more buffering, a value of 0 or 1 should be OK (no more than 12 should be necessary) as this increases delay from live
Then select Next and/or Stream
VLC should open with a local display stream, which should display the stream and an overlay text displaying “streaming” for a few seconds.

''If this does not work… Obviously… Something is wrong! First check the, Main Menu selection, Tools dropdown item “Messages” for suggestions as to the cause of error and also re check all the above instructions/settings.''

If all is well, then.
Now check out your LAN website from another machine on your LAN linking to (localstream1234.asx) The stream may take up to 30 secs to display.
OK? If not then go back and check it all out again.
Now get a friend/other to test out the WAN links from another external location.
(See [[#Note 4]])

== Results ==

I have found this method to work well on LAN and WAN
It does not need VLC to be at the client end. It also does not need or employ any Java on the client or server machine. All it requires is the ability of a browser and its associated media player to be able to display the now universal ”.asf” stream which most can.

LAN tested with browsers:
* MS IE via MS Media Player
* Realplayer pointing at URL/xxxxxx.asx
* Firefox via MPlayer and MS Media Player
* Konquorer via Kaffeine
* Kaffeine pointing at URL/xxxxxxx.asx

WAN Tested with browsers:
* MS IE via MS Media Player
* Mozilla Firefox via MS Media Player and Real Player

And. Of course VLC Player in all cases.

I have successfully used this method of serving from MS Windows XPpro IIS 5.1 and Apache 2.2 and also Linux Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Apache 2.2

== Notes ==

=== Note 1 ===
How much '''bandwidth''' do I need for a given size of video stream?

A very good question with no straight answer. It depends on how good the encoding/compression is and other factors like the amount of dynamic activity there is going on. It can vary quite a bit during the video sequence. “Pixel noise” generated by the camera and capture hardware can have an effect as well.
An empirical method to determine this would be to run a test video across a LAN using the hardware and software and employing a network analyser to measure the bandwidth used.

=== Note 2 ===
Following on from Note 1, The overall '''system capability''' will also determine how effectively the video stream can be encoded, compressed and streamed.

The more system CPU power available the better! As a minimum The method above will just about work with a video size of 384x288 streamed from VLC using a totally dedicated server at 800MHz cpu + 512 MB RAM with good hardware in good light. Employing wmv/asf encoding and an uplink bandwidth sync of 832 (circa real700K) It is more than likely that you will have to adjust the picture size to the bandwidth you have available. Also note that USB video capture devices tend to use a great deal of CPU/system resource, so do check out how much spare capacity you have when everything is running, including your server when it is “Serving” a stream?

=== Note 3 ===
If you are using classical routing (No NAT) then the local and external IP will (probably) be the same unless you have an unusual configuration.

=== Note 4 ===
It is ''not'' usually possible to view the streaming output of a LAN from the WAN side. Also it is not usually possible to view the streaming going out on the WAN from the LAN side.

This makes testing more difficult! (The exception to this being note 3, that is the LAN and WAN having the same IP)
I suggest that this streaming method is first tested and proved on your LAN. Then test out the WAN stream by calling someone to test it from a remote location on the www.

=== Note 5 ===
The choice of '''port you use''' is up to you. Port 1234 is as good as any for LAN (over 1024 is better), but a port at or above 8080 would be more appropriate for WAN (the Internet).

Do check that your chosen port is not being used by another application. First place to look would be in your firewall and router settings when you open that port for your stream.

Finally. If you have got all this working and want to try a slightly more sophisticated stream to website, follow the White Rabbit (link below)

[[Stream_VLC_to_Website_with_asf_and_Flash]]

== Appendix ==

What!!!? Web servers and streaming from website
Not got a web site? Not got a web server? No clue where to start? Find the whole idea rather daunting? Well it is probably much easier than you thought. First you will need a web server. The following link is to “Apache httpd”. The Apache web server is as simple or as sophisticated as you want it to be. It is well documented on the web and many books are available. And it is free.

http://httpd.apache.org/

I would avoid use of MS IIS 5.1 as supplied with XP Pro on anything other than a LAN as it poses many security issues on the www for a novice.

Next you will need a web page creator/editor and some guidance on how to use it. Take a look here: [http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingstarted/kompozer-tutorial-1.shtml Kompozer Tutorial].

Again Kompozer is free and very simple to use. The only html that will need to be added to make this work is the examples given previously.

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2011-04-22T00:20:37Z

MrGreg: /* Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf */

This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from [[Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website]] wiki page.

== Introduction & Scope ==

The "Simple Stream VLC to Website" wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

== Checks and prerequisites ==
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

== Limitations ==
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.0.1 to 1.1.4 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a to 1.0.6 for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04 & 10.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested.
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:

Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

== Introduction to the VLC Command line ==
First a couple of reference links for further reading

* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output]]
* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples]]
* [[VLC_command-line_help]]

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

== Description of command parameters used in the methods following ==

vb=xx Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.

ab=xx Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.

fps=xx Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.

width=xx & height=xx Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.

deinterlace=<option or none=default> This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source

scale=xx determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

== Transcode Strategies ==

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

== Tweaking ==

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
Example tweaks. Look these up in the command line help link.

--sout-keep Keeps your stream open and listening.

--audio-desync=<integer> To preset and synchronise your audio to video, you can +/- the integer.

audio-sync To maintain audio/video synchronisation on the fly. This command will sit inside your sout=#transcode string, Eg after samplerate=xxxxx.

The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

=== Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf ===

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
# vb changed to vb=400
# Added fps=15
# Removed scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

1. vb reduced again to 200

2. Added fps=15

3. ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

=== Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv ===

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
# vb=600
# fps=25
# Remove scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP (and ffmpeg-x264 enabled Linux) users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for (stripped ffmpeg) Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

As of Ubuntu 10.04 – VLC 1.0.6 there is a more complete and up to date version of ffmpeg and x264 support in the standard repos'. Eg libavdevice-extra52 & x264. Note VideoLan currently recommends VLC versions 1.1.x . See VideoLan Ubuntu Downloads page for further information

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>
<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>
<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">
</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

== Troubleshooting ==

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dst=0.0.0.0 but some linux versions require the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

#6 The quality of the video input is also very important. Low quality webcams, camera and capture devices, noisy TV input devices will give even more disappointing results when transcoded.

== Notes ==

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

== Appendix ==

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the double quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax in Windows , for Linux use the single quotation marks '<xxx>') you would enter this at the command prompt path at C:/program files/videolan/vlc . You will also have to add quotation marks around any devices in MS Windows (see example below).
Also note, in this example, video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the (generated) input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line. Note, avoid using "word wrap" in the text editor, it can sometimes introduce unwanted characters in the string.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2011-04-22T00:06:59Z

MrGreg: /* Troubleshooting */

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2011-02-16T01:26:59Z

MrGreg: minor syntax edit to Appendix

This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from [[Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website]] wiki page.

== Introduction & Scope ==

The "Simple Stream VLC to Website" wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

== Checks and prerequisites ==
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

== Limitations ==
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.0.1 to 1.1.4 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a to 1.0.6 for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04 & 10.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested.
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:

Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

== Introduction to the VLC Command line ==
First a couple of reference links for further reading

* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output]]
* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples]]
* [[VLC_command-line_help]]

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

== Description of command parameters used in the methods following ==

vb=xx Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.

ab=xx Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.

fps=xx Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.

width=xx & height=xx Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.

deinterlace=<option or none=default> This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source

scale=xx determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

== Transcode Strategies ==

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

== Tweaking ==

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
Example tweaks. Look these up in the command line help link.

--sout-keep Keeps your stream open and listening.

--audio-desync=<integer> To preset and synchronise your audio to video, you can +/- the integer.

audio-sync To maintain audio/video synchronisation on the fly. This command will sit inside your sout=#transcode string, Eg after samplerate=xxxxx.

The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

=== Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf ===

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
# vb changed to vb=400
# Added fps=15
# Removed scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

1. vb reduced again to 200

2. Added fps=15

3. ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

=== Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv ===

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
# vb=600
# fps=25
# Remove scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP (and ffmpeg-x264 enabled Linux) users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for (stripped ffmpeg) Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

As of Ubuntu 10.04 – VLC 1.0.6 there is a more complete and up to date version of ffmpeg and x264 support in the standard repos'. Eg libavdevice-extra52 & x264. Note VideoLan currently recommends VLC versions 1.1.x . See VideoLan Ubuntu Downloads page for further information

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>
<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>
<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">
</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

== Troubleshooting ==

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

== Notes ==

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

== Appendix ==

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the double quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax in Windows , for Linux use the single quotation marks '<xxx>') you would enter this at the command prompt path at C:/program files/videolan/vlc . You will also have to add quotation marks around any devices in MS Windows (see example below).
Also note, in this example, video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the (generated) input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line. Note, avoid using "word wrap" in the text editor, it can sometimes introduce unwanted characters in the string.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2010-11-25T22:44:48Z

MrGreg: /* Appendix */

This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from [[Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website]] wiki page.

== Introduction & Scope ==

The "Simple Stream VLC to Website" wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

== Checks and prerequisites ==
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

== Limitations ==
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.0.1 to 1.1.4 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a to 1.0.6 for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04 & 10.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested.
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:

Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

== Introduction to the VLC Command line ==
First a couple of reference links for further reading

* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output]]
* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples]]
* [[VLC_command-line_help]]

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

== Description of command parameters used in the methods following ==

vb=xx Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.

ab=xx Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.

fps=xx Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.

width=xx & height=xx Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.

deinterlace=<option or none=default> This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source

scale=xx determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

== Transcode Strategies ==

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

== Tweaking ==

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
Example tweaks. Look these up in the command line help link.

--sout-keep Keeps your stream open and listening.

--audio-desync=<integer> To preset and synchronise your audio to video, you can +/- the integer.

audio-sync To maintain audio/video synchronisation on the fly. This command will sit inside your sout=#transcode string, Eg after samplerate=xxxxx.

The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

=== Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf ===

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
# vb changed to vb=400
# Added fps=15
# Removed scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

1. vb reduced again to 200

2. Added fps=15

3. ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

=== Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv ===

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
# vb=600
# fps=25
# Remove scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP (and ffmpeg-x264 enabled Linux) users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for (stripped ffmpeg) Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

As of Ubuntu 10.04 – VLC 1.0.6 there is a more complete and up to date version of ffmpeg and x264 support in the standard repos'. Eg libavdevice-extra52 & x264. Note VideoLan currently recommends VLC versions 1.1.x . See VideoLan Ubuntu Downloads page for further information

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>
<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>
<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">
</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

== Troubleshooting ==

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

== Notes ==

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

== Appendix ==

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the double quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax in Windows , for Linux use the single quotation marks '<xxx>') you would enter this at the command prompt path at C:/program files/videolan/vlc . You will also have to add quotation marks around any devices (see example below).
Also note, in this example, video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the (generated) input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line. Note, avoid using "word wrap" in the text editor, it can sometimes introduce unwanted characters in the string.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2010-11-25T22:26:34Z

MrGreg: /* Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv */

This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from [[Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website]] wiki page.

== Introduction & Scope ==

The "Simple Stream VLC to Website" wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

== Checks and prerequisites ==
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

== Limitations ==
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.0.1 to 1.1.4 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a to 1.0.6 for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04 & 10.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested.
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:

Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

== Introduction to the VLC Command line ==
First a couple of reference links for further reading

* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output]]
* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples]]
* [[VLC_command-line_help]]

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

== Description of command parameters used in the methods following ==

vb=xx Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.

ab=xx Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.

fps=xx Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.

width=xx & height=xx Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.

deinterlace=<option or none=default> This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source

scale=xx determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

== Transcode Strategies ==

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

== Tweaking ==

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
Example tweaks. Look these up in the command line help link.

--sout-keep Keeps your stream open and listening.

--audio-desync=<integer> To preset and synchronise your audio to video, you can +/- the integer.

audio-sync To maintain audio/video synchronisation on the fly. This command will sit inside your sout=#transcode string, Eg after samplerate=xxxxx.

The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

=== Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf ===

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
# vb changed to vb=400
# Added fps=15
# Removed scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

1. vb reduced again to 200

2. Added fps=15

3. ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

=== Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv ===

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
# vb=600
# fps=25
# Remove scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP (and ffmpeg-x264 enabled Linux) users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for (stripped ffmpeg) Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

As of Ubuntu 10.04 – VLC 1.0.6 there is a more complete and up to date version of ffmpeg and x264 support in the standard repos'. Eg libavdevice-extra52 & x264. Note VideoLan currently recommends VLC versions 1.1.x . See VideoLan Ubuntu Downloads page for further information

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>
<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>
<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">
</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

== Troubleshooting ==

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

== Notes ==

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

== Appendix ==

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax) you would enter this at the command prompt at C:/program files/videolan/vlc.exe. You will also have to add quotation marks around any spaces (see example below).
Also note, in this example, video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the (generated) input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2010-11-25T22:14:06Z

MrGreg: /* Tweaking */

This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from [[Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website]] wiki page.

== Introduction & Scope ==

The "Simple Stream VLC to Website" wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

== Checks and prerequisites ==
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

== Limitations ==
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.0.1 to 1.1.4 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a to 1.0.6 for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04 & 10.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested.
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:

Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

== Introduction to the VLC Command line ==
First a couple of reference links for further reading

* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output]]
* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples]]
* [[VLC_command-line_help]]

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

== Description of command parameters used in the methods following ==

vb=xx Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.

ab=xx Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.

fps=xx Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.

width=xx & height=xx Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.

deinterlace=<option or none=default> This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source

scale=xx determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

== Transcode Strategies ==

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

== Tweaking ==

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
Example tweaks. Look these up in the command line help link.

--sout-keep Keeps your stream open and listening.

--audio-desync=<integer> To preset and synchronise your audio to video, you can +/- the integer.

audio-sync To maintain audio/video synchronisation on the fly. This command will sit inside your sout=#transcode string, Eg after samplerate=xxxxx.

The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

=== Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf ===

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
# vb changed to vb=400
# Added fps=15
# Removed scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

1. vb reduced again to 200

2. Added fps=15

3. ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

=== Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv ===

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
# vb=600
# fps=25
# Remove scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>
<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>
<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">
</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

== Troubleshooting ==

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

== Notes ==

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

== Appendix ==

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax) you would enter this at the command prompt at C:/program files/videolan/vlc.exe. You will also have to add quotation marks around any spaces (see example below).
Also note, in this example, video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the (generated) input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2010-11-25T21:58:26Z

MrGreg: /* Limitations */

This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from [[Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website]] wiki page.

== Introduction & Scope ==

The "Simple Stream VLC to Website" wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

== Checks and prerequisites ==
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

== Limitations ==
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.0.1 to 1.1.4 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a to 1.0.6 for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04 & 10.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested.
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:

Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04 & 10.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

== Introduction to the VLC Command line ==
First a couple of reference links for further reading

* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output]]
* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples]]
* [[VLC_command-line_help]]

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

== Description of command parameters used in the methods following ==

vb=xx Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.

ab=xx Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.

fps=xx Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.

width=xx & height=xx Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.

deinterlace=<option or none=default> This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source

scale=xx determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

== Transcode Strategies ==

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

== Tweaking ==

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

=== Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf ===

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
# vb changed to vb=400
# Added fps=15
# Removed scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

1. vb reduced again to 200

2. Added fps=15

3. ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

=== Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv ===

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
# vb=600
# fps=25
# Remove scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>
<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>
<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">
</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

== Troubleshooting ==

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

== Notes ==

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

== Appendix ==

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax) you would enter this at the command prompt at C:/program files/videolan/vlc.exe. You will also have to add quotation marks around any spaces (see example below).
Also note, in this example, video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the (generated) input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2010-03-03T23:35:11Z

MrGreg: /* Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf */

This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from [[Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website]] wiki page.

== Introduction & Scope ==

The "Simple Stream VLC to Website" wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

== Checks and prerequisites ==
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

== Limitations ==
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.01 to 1.05 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:
Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)
Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

== Introduction to the VLC Command line ==
First a couple of reference links for further reading

* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output]]
* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples]]
* [[VLC_command-line_help]]

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

== Description of command parameters used in the methods following ==

vb=xx Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.

ab=xx Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.

fps=xx Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.

width=xx & height=xx Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.

deinterlace=<option or none=default> This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source

scale=xx determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

== Transcode Strategies ==

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

== Tweaking ==

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

=== Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf ===

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
# vb changed to vb=400
# Added fps=15
# Removed scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

1. vb reduced again to 200

2. Added fps=15

3. ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

=== Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv ===

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
# vb=600
# fps=25
# Remove scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>
<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>
<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">
</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

== Troubleshooting ==

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

== Notes ==

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

== Appendix ==

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax) you would enter this at the command prompt at C:/program files/videolan/vlc
Also note in this example video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI.. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2010-03-03T23:30:12Z

MrGreg: /* Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv */

This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from [[Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website]] wiki page.

== Introduction & Scope ==

The "Simple Stream VLC to Website" wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

== Checks and prerequisites ==
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

== Limitations ==
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.01 to 1.05 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:
Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)
Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

== Introduction to the VLC Command line ==
First a couple of reference links for further reading

* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output]]
* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples]]
* [[VLC_command-line_help]]

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

== Description of command parameters used in the methods following ==

vb=xx Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.

ab=xx Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.

fps=xx Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.

width=xx & height=xx Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.

deinterlace=<option or none=default> This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source

scale=xx determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

== Transcode Strategies ==

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

== Tweaking ==

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

=== Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf ===

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
# vb changed to vb=400
# Added fps=15
# Removed scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

1. vb reduced again to 200

2. Added fps=15

3. ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

=== Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv ===

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
# vb=600
# fps=25
# Remove scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>
<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>
<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">
</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

== Troubleshooting ==

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

== Notes ==

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

== Appendix ==

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax) you would enter this at the command prompt at C:/program files/videolan/vlc
Also note in this example video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI.. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2010-03-03T23:17:09Z

MrGreg: /* Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf */

This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from [[Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website]] wiki page.

== Introduction & Scope ==

The "Simple Stream VLC to Website" wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

== Checks and prerequisites ==
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

== Limitations ==
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.01 to 1.05 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:
Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)
Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

== Introduction to the VLC Command line ==
First a couple of reference links for further reading

* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output]]
* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples]]
* [[VLC_command-line_help]]

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

== Description of command parameters used in the methods following ==

vb=xx Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.

ab=xx Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.

fps=xx Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.

width=xx & height=xx Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.

deinterlace=<option or none=default> This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source

scale=xx determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

== Transcode Strategies ==

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

== Tweaking ==

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

=== Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf ===

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
# vb changed to vb=400
# Added fps=15
# Removed scale=1
# Added width=256
# Added height=192
# I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
# ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

1. vb reduced again to 200

2. Added fps=15

3. ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

=== Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv ===

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
#1 vb=600
#2 fps=25
#3 Remove scale=1
#4 Added width=256
#5 Added height=192
#6 I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
#7 ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>

<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>

<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>

< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

== Troubleshooting ==

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

== Notes ==

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

== Appendix ==

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax) you would enter this at the command prompt at C:/program files/videolan/vlc
Also note in this example video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI.. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2010-03-03T22:59:52Z

MrGreg: /* Description of command parameters used in the methods following */

This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from [[Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website]] wiki page.

== Introduction & Scope ==

The "Simple Stream VLC to Website" wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

== Checks and prerequisites ==
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

== Limitations ==
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.01 to 1.05 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:
Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)
Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

== Introduction to the VLC Command line ==
First a couple of reference links for further reading

* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output]]
* [[Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples]]
* [[VLC_command-line_help]]

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

== Description of command parameters used in the methods following ==

vb=xx Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.

ab=xx Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.

fps=xx Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.

width=xx & height=xx Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.

deinterlace=<option or none=default> This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source

scale=xx determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

== Transcode Strategies ==

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

== Tweaking ==

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

=== Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf ===

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
#1 vb changed to vb=400
#2 Added fps=15
#3 Removed scale=1
#4 Added width=256
#5 Added height=192
#6 I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
#7 ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

#1 vb reduced again to 200
#2 Added fps=15
#3 ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

=== Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv ===

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
#1 vb=600
#2 fps=25
#3 Remove scale=1
#4 Added width=256
#5 Added height=192
#6 I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
#7 ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>

<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>

<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>

< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

== Troubleshooting ==

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

== Notes ==

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

== Appendix ==

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax) you would enter this at the command prompt at C:/program files/videolan/vlc
Also note in this example video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI.. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website (simple version)

2010-02-18T21:50:34Z

MrGreg: /* Note 5 */

The following “How To” describes an easy method of using VLC as a simple video streamer to enable a live video stream (Eg web-cam) via VLC to be streamed from a web server across a local LAN or the Internet. This method does also work for streaming files and other media, CD, DVD Etc
Using this method of streaming from VLC allows the stream to be viewed from many media player clients other than VLC, which is often the case
The content and description is aimed at those who only have an elementary knowledge of VLC, Networking, and Web authoring / HTML.
This method is not the most sophisticated way to utilise VLC, but it does work well and has been tested on both LAN and WAN using VLC 0.9.8a, 9.9 and 1.0.0.

== First checks ==

First, I have to make some assumptions and you will have to do some checks.

* You have a web site? If not see [[#Appendix]] at the bottom of this “HowTo”.
* Your website works OK and is on your own web server on the same machine as VLC?
* If your website is for external viewing (internet), you have a static IP and are not behind a proxy server?
* Your ISP is not blocking any ports
* Your firewall is not blocking any ports that you want to stream through. (Port 1234 for the example below)

I also assume you are using a NAT router with port forwarding for both the website and port to be used by the video stream.
You have sufficient upstream bandwidth to support the size of video stream (See [[#Note 1]])

== Limitations ==

This HowTo was written with previous versions in mind, so the descriptions of the VLC User Interface may differ slightly.

The following technique only works (tested so far) using the Windows encapsulation method asf/wmv (and asf/div3 VLC 1.0.0) selected from the Custom menu in the VLC Streaming Settings window.
(other methods may work, I have not tested them all)

== The method ==

The following method/technique uses a “metafile” or redirector. You might want to check out the terms ”metafile”, “redirector” and “.asx” for further information

Firstly create a text file (Eg in Notepad) and copy and paste the following

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>Stream1234</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF=<nowiki>"http://192.168.0.42:1234"</nowiki> />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

Where the HREF value is your local LAN IP for a LAN ONLY website.
Or
The HREF value is your external (Internet) IP for a WAN ONLY website
The port number (Eg :1234) is the port you will allocate in VLC Streaming settings window.

The text file should then be saved as a .asx file. I suggest you create two such files. One for LAN and one for WAN (See [[#Note 3]])& (See [[#Note 5]])
* Eg localstream1234.asx for the LAN version using your internal LAN IP
* Eg extstream1234.asx for the WAN version using your external WAN IP

Place these .asx files in your web server dir.

Create a links in a web page that point to the above .asx files. When the link is activated, a pop out player will stream.
Or Eg
Embed the stream on a page by the following in html

<embed src="localstream1234.asx">

Or Eg

<embed src="localstream1234.asx” height=”370” width=”400">

To resize the video on the web page.

=== Now for VLC ===

First check your video source (TV card, Video capture device, webcam etc) is working OK and playing through VLC OK using the Play option
Select Streaming.
Select Source, Capture device for this example (and any necessary additional settings)

Check play locally box
Check or select/add http box LEAVE the ADDRESS FIELD BLANK!! Change the port number to 1234 (for this example)
Select “Windows asf/wmv” in the Custom dropdown selection box
You may need to alter the TTL value to allow more buffering, a value of 0 or 1 should be OK (no more than 12 should be necessary) as this increases delay from live
Then select Next and/or Stream
VLC should open with a local display stream, which should display the stream and an overlay text displaying “streaming” for a few seconds.

''If this does not work… Obviously… Something is wrong! First check the, Main Menu selection, Tools dropdown item “Messages” for suggestions as to the cause of error and also re check all the above instructions/settings.''

If all is well, then.
Now check out your LAN website from another machine on your LAN linking to (localstream1234.asx) The stream may take up to 30 secs to display.
OK? If not then go back and check it all out again.
Now get a friend/other to test out the WAN links from another external location.
(See [[#Note 4]])

== Results ==

I have found this method to work well on LAN and WAN
It does not need VLC to be at the client end. It also does not need or employ any Java on the client or server machine. All it requires is the ability of a browser and its associated media player to be able to display the now universal ”.asf” stream which most can.

LAN tested with browsers:
* MS IE via MS Media Player
* Realplayer pointing at URL/xxxxxx.asx
* Firefox via MPlayer and MS Media Player
* Konquorer via Kaffeine
* Kaffeine pointing at URL/xxxxxxx.asx

WAN Tested with browsers:
* MS IE via MS Media Player
* Mozilla Firefox via MS Media Player and Real Player

And. Of course VLC Player in all cases.

I have successfully used this method of serving from MS Windows XPpro IIS 5.1 and Apache 2.2 and also Linux Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Apache 2.2

== Notes ==

=== Note 1 ===
How much '''bandwidth''' do I need for a given size of video stream?

A very good question with no straight answer. It depends on how good the encoding/compression is and other factors like the amount of dynamic activity there is going on. It can vary quite a bit during the video sequence. “Pixel noise” generated by the camera and capture hardware can have an effect as well.
An empirical method to determine this would be to run a test video across a LAN using the hardware and software and employing a network analyser to measure the bandwidth used.

=== Note 2 ===
Following on from Note 1, The overall '''system capability''' will also determine how effectively the video stream can be encoded, compressed and streamed.

The more system CPU power available the better! As a minimum The method above will just about work with a video size of 384x288 streamed from VLC using a totally dedicated server at 800MHz cpu + 512 MB RAM with good hardware in good light. Employing wmv/asf encoding and an uplink bandwidth sync of 832 (circa real700K) It is more than likely that you will have to adjust the picture size to the bandwidth you have available. Also note that USB video capture devices tend to use a great deal of CPU/system resource, so do check out how much spare capacity you have when everything is running, including your server when it is “Serving” a stream?

=== Note 3 ===
If you are using classical routing (No NAT) then the local and external IP will (probably) be the same unless you have an unusual configuration.

=== Note 4 ===
It is ''not'' usually possible to view the streaming output of a LAN from the WAN side. Also it is not usually possible to view the streaming going out on the WAN from the LAN side.

This makes testing more difficult! (The exception to this being note 3, that is the LAN and WAN having the same IP)
I suggest that this streaming method is first tested and proved on your LAN. Then test out the WAN stream by calling someone to test it from a remote location on the www.

=== Note 5 ===
The choice of '''port you use''' is up to you. Port 1234 is as good as any for LAN (over 1024 is better), but a port at or above 8080 would be more appropriate for WAN (the Internet).

Do check that your chosen port is not being used by another application. First place to look would be in your firewall and router settings when you open that port for your stream.

Finally. If you have got all this working and want to try a slightly more sophisticated stream to website, follow the White Rabbit (link below)

[[http://wiki.videolan.org/Stream_VLC_to_Website_with_asf_and_Flash]]

== Appendix ==

What!!!? Web servers and streaming from website
Not got a web site? Not got a web server? No clue where to start? Find the whole idea rather daunting? Well it is probably much easier than you thought. First you will need a web server. The following link is to “Apache httpd”. The Apache web server is as simple or as sophisticated as you want it to be. It is well documented on the web and many books are available. And it is free.

http://httpd.apache.org/

I would avoid use of MS IIS 5.1 as supplied with XP Pro on anything other than a LAN as it poses many security issues on the www for a novice.

Next you will need a web page creator/editor and some guidance on how to use it. Take a look here

http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingsta ... al-1.shtml

Again Kompozer is free and very simple to use. The only html that will need to be added to make this work is the examples given previously.

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website (simple version)

2010-02-18T20:39:39Z

MrGreg: /* Note 5 */ minor edit and added link

The following “How To” describes an easy method of using VLC as a simple video streamer to enable a live video stream (Eg web-cam) via VLC to be streamed from a web server across a local LAN or the Internet. This method does also work for streaming files and other media, CD, DVD Etc
Using this method of streaming from VLC allows the stream to be viewed from many media player clients other than VLC, which is often the case
The content and description is aimed at those who only have an elementary knowledge of VLC, Networking, and Web authoring / HTML.
This method is not the most sophisticated way to utilise VLC, but it does work well and has been tested on both LAN and WAN using VLC 0.9.8a, 9.9 and 1.0.0.

== First checks ==

First, I have to make some assumptions and you will have to do some checks.

* You have a web site? If not see [[#Appendix]] at the bottom of this “HowTo”.
* Your website works OK and is on your own web server on the same machine as VLC?
* If your website is for external viewing (internet), you have a static IP and are not behind a proxy server?
* Your ISP is not blocking any ports
* Your firewall is not blocking any ports that you want to stream through. (Port 1234 for the example below)

I also assume you are using a NAT router with port forwarding for both the website and port to be used by the video stream.
You have sufficient upstream bandwidth to support the size of video stream (See [[#Note 1]])

== Limitations ==

This HowTo was written with previous versions in mind, so the descriptions of the VLC User Interface may differ slightly.

The following technique only works (tested so far) using the Windows encapsulation method asf/wmv (and asf/div3 VLC 1.0.0) selected from the Custom menu in the VLC Streaming Settings window.
(other methods may work, I have not tested them all)

== The method ==

The following method/technique uses a “metafile” or redirector. You might want to check out the terms ”metafile”, “redirector” and “.asx” for further information

Firstly create a text file (Eg in Notepad) and copy and paste the following

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>Stream1234</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF=<nowiki>"http://192.168.0.42:1234"</nowiki> />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

Where the HREF value is your local LAN IP for a LAN ONLY website.
Or
The HREF value is your external (Internet) IP for a WAN ONLY website
The port number (Eg :1234) is the port you will allocate in VLC Streaming settings window.

The text file should then be saved as a .asx file. I suggest you create two such files. One for LAN and one for WAN (See [[#Note 3]])& (See [[#Note 5]])
* Eg localstream1234.asx for the LAN version using your internal LAN IP
* Eg extstream1234.asx for the WAN version using your external WAN IP

Place these .asx files in your web server dir.

Create a links in a web page that point to the above .asx files. When the link is activated, a pop out player will stream.
Or Eg
Embed the stream on a page by the following in html

<embed src="localstream1234.asx">

Or Eg

<embed src="localstream1234.asx” height=”370” width=”400">

To resize the video on the web page.

=== Now for VLC ===

First check your video source (TV card, Video capture device, webcam etc) is working OK and playing through VLC OK using the Play option
Select Streaming.
Select Source, Capture device for this example (and any necessary additional settings)

Check play locally box
Check or select/add http box LEAVE the ADDRESS FIELD BLANK!! Change the port number to 1234 (for this example)
Select “Windows asf/wmv” in the Custom dropdown selection box
You may need to alter the TTL value to allow more buffering, a value of 0 or 1 should be OK (no more than 12 should be necessary) as this increases delay from live
Then select Next and/or Stream
VLC should open with a local display stream, which should display the stream and an overlay text displaying “streaming” for a few seconds.

''If this does not work… Obviously… Something is wrong! First check the, Main Menu selection, Tools dropdown item “Messages” for suggestions as to the cause of error and also re check all the above instructions/settings.''

If all is well, then.
Now check out your LAN website from another machine on your LAN linking to (localstream1234.asx) The stream may take up to 30 secs to display.
OK? If not then go back and check it all out again.
Now get a friend/other to test out the WAN links from another external location.
(See [[#Note 4]])

== Results ==

I have found this method to work well on LAN and WAN
It does not need VLC to be at the client end. It also does not need or employ any Java on the client or server machine. All it requires is the ability of a browser and its associated media player to be able to display the now universal ”.asf” stream which most can.

LAN tested with browsers:
* MS IE via MS Media Player
* Realplayer pointing at URL/xxxxxx.asx
* Firefox via MPlayer and MS Media Player
* Konquorer via Kaffeine
* Kaffeine pointing at URL/xxxxxxx.asx

WAN Tested with browsers:
* MS IE via MS Media Player
* Mozilla Firefox via MS Media Player and Real Player

And. Of course VLC Player in all cases.

I have successfully used this method of serving from MS Windows XPpro IIS 5.1 and Apache 2.2 and also Linux Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Apache 2.2

== Notes ==

=== Note 1 ===
How much '''bandwidth''' do I need for a given size of video stream?

A very good question with no straight answer. It depends on how good the encoding/compression is and other factors like the amount of dynamic activity there is going on. It can vary quite a bit during the video sequence. “Pixel noise” generated by the camera and capture hardware can have an effect as well.
An empirical method to determine this would be to run a test video across a LAN using the hardware and software and employing a network analyser to measure the bandwidth used.

=== Note 2 ===
Following on from Note 1, The overall '''system capability''' will also determine how effectively the video stream can be encoded, compressed and streamed.

The more system CPU power available the better! As a minimum The method above will just about work with a video size of 384x288 streamed from VLC using a totally dedicated server at 800MHz cpu + 512 MB RAM with good hardware in good light. Employing wmv/asf encoding and an uplink bandwidth sync of 832 (circa real700K) It is more than likely that you will have to adjust the picture size to the bandwidth you have available. Also note that USB video capture devices tend to use a great deal of CPU/system resource, so do check out how much spare capacity you have when everything is running, including your server when it is “Serving” a stream?

=== Note 3 ===
If you are using classical routing (No NAT) then the local and external IP will (probably) be the same unless you have an unusual configuration.

=== Note 4 ===
It is ''not'' usually possible to view the streaming output of a LAN from the WAN side. Also it is not usually possible to view the streaming going out on the WAN from the LAN side.

This makes testing more difficult! (The exception to this being note 3, that is the LAN and WAN having the same IP)
I suggest that this streaming method is first tested and proved on your LAN. Then test out the WAN stream by calling someone to test it from a remote location on the www.

=== Note 5 ===
The choice of '''port you use''' is up to you. Port 1234 is as good as any for LAN (over 1024 is better), but a port at or above 8080 would be more appropriate for WAN (the Internet).

Do check that your chosen port is not being used by another application. First place to look would be in your firewall and router settings when you open that port for your stream.

Finally. If you have got all this working and want to try a slightly more sophisticated stream to website, follow the White Rabbit (link)

[[http://wiki.videolan.org/Stream_VLC_to_Website_with_asf_and_Flash]]

== Appendix ==

What!!!? Web servers and streaming from website
Not got a web site? Not got a web server? No clue where to start? Find the whole idea rather daunting? Well it is probably much easier than you thought. First you will need a web server. The following link is to “Apache httpd”. The Apache web server is as simple or as sophisticated as you want it to be. It is well documented on the web and many books are available. And it is free.

http://httpd.apache.org/

I would avoid use of MS IIS 5.1 as supplied with XP Pro on anything other than a LAN as it poses many security issues on the www for a novice.

Next you will need a web page creator/editor and some guidance on how to use it. Take a look here

http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingsta ... al-1.shtml

Again Kompozer is free and very simple to use. The only html that will need to be added to make this work is the examples given previously.

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2010-02-17T15:28:07Z

MrGreg:

'''Stream VLC to Website with .asf and Flash'''

'''Introduction & Scope'''
This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from

http://wiki.videolan.org/Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website

The “Simple Stream VLC to Website” wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

'''Checks and prerequisites'''
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

'''Limitations'''
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.01 to 1.05 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:
Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)
Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

'''Introduction to the VLC Command line'''
First a couple of reference links for further reading

http://wiki.videolan.org/Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output

http://wiki.videolan.org/Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples

http://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_command-line_help

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

'''Description of command parameters used in the methods following'''

vb Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.
ab Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.
fps Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.
width & height Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.
deinterlace This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source
scale determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

'''Transcode Strategies'''

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

'''Tweaking'''

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

'''Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf'''

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
#1 vb changed to vb=400
#2 Added fps=15
#3 Removed scale=1
#4 Added width=256
#5 Added height=192
#6 I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
#7 ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

#1 vb reduced again to 200
#2 Added fps=15
#3 ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

'''Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv'''

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
#1 vb=600
#2 fps=25
#3 Remove scale=1
#4 Added width=256
#5 Added height=192
#6 I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
#7 ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>

<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>

<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>

< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

'''Troubleshooting'''

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

'''Notes'''

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

'''Appendix'''

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax) you would enter this at the command prompt at C:/program files/videolan/vlc
Also note in this example video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI.. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2010-02-17T15:12:10Z

MrGreg:

'''Stream VLC to Website with .asf and Flash'''

'''Introduction & Scope'''
This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from

http://wiki.videolan.org/Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website

The “Simple Stream VLC to Website” wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

'''Checks and prerequisites'''
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

'''Limitations'''
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.01 to 1.05 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:
Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)
Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

'''Introduction to the VLC Command line'''
First a couple of reference links for further reading

http://wiki.videolan.org/Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output

http://wiki.videolan.org/Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples

http://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_command-line_help

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

'''Description of command parameters used in the methods following'''

vb Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.
ab Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.
fps Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.
width & height Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.
deinterlace This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source
scale determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

'''Transcode Strategies'''

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

'''Tweaking'''

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

'''Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf'''

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
#1 vb changed to vb=400
#2 Added fps=15
#3 Removed scale=1
#4 Added width=256
#5 Added height=192
#6 I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
#7 ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

#1 vb reduced again to 200
#2 Added fps=15
#3 ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>
(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html></nowiki>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

'''Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv'''

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
#1 vb=600
#2 fps=25
#3 Remove scale=1
#4 Added width=256
#5 Added height=192
#6 I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
#7 ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<nowiki><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>

<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>

<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>

< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html></nowiki>
Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

'''Troubleshooting'''

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

'''Notes'''

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

'''Appendix'''

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax) you would enter this at the command prompt at C:/program files/videolan/vlc
Also note in this example video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI.. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website

2010-02-17T14:38:58Z

MrGreg: Created page with ' Stream VLC to Website with .asf and Flash Introduction & Scope This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from http://wiki.videolan.org/Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website The “...'

Stream VLC to Website with .asf and Flash

Introduction & Scope
This HowTo is intended to be a follow on from

http://wiki.videolan.org/Simple_Stream_VLC_to_Website

The “Simple Stream VLC to Website” wiki employed an Out of the Box solution with no modifications to the VLC command string. You may wish to read through the previous Wiki first, as it covers fundamentals which are assumed, if you have not done so already.
This HowTo is aimed at VLC users who are intending to “Live Stream” from a capture device, eg Webcam, TV camera, live audio source etc and are looking to get a little more out of the features available in VLC and wish to start to understand the command line string and explore techniques to transcode, compress and output a stream to a web site more efficiently and effectively. The following examples are aimed at reducing bandwidth, with a view to streaming on the internet with available upstream bandwidth being the major consideration. The methods described below are targeting a bandwidth of around 235k.

Checks and prerequisites
To start with, Video transcoding, compression and streaming is CPU intensive. So you are going to need something like Intel P4 at 2.4Gb or equivalent as a minimum dedicated box to use the example method 2 in this HowTo. Method 1 is achievable with a pair of 1Gb cpu or more machines. You will have an appreciation of the bandwidth requirements of what you are trying to achieve.

Limitations
This HowTo was written and tested using VLC version series 1.01 to 1.05 for Win XP.and VLC 0.9.9a for Ubuntu Linux. (8.04) Earlier versions may work but have not been tested
This HowTo, the methods and examples have been tested on Operating Systems:
Method 1:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)
Method 2:-WinXP and Ubuntu Linux (8.04)

There are subtle and significant differences in capability and performance of VLC versions and their respective OS platforms. See Notes and Troubleshooting for more information. Hardware capability also plays an important role in this respect.

Web server Apache 2.2 was used in all cases.

Introduction to the VLC Command line
First a couple of reference links for further reading

http://wiki.videolan.org/Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Advanced_Streaming_Using_the_Command_Line#Structure_of_stream_output

http://wiki.videolan.org/Documentation:Streaming_HowTo/Command_Line_Examples

http://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_command-line_help

The above links will give an overview of the commands available to use to manipulate and optimise the Command output string. The following methods and examples modify the generated stream output string. I have included an example of a complete true command line with the same parameters as the Win XP example in Method 2. See Appendix. This should help to give an insight into how to construct a complete command line and enter the appropriate parameters.
The following methods and examples deal directly with the output string found in the GUI.

Description of command parameters used in the methods following

vb Video Bandwidth. This parameter in effect sets the target bandwidth of the output video stream and hence the compression required. The more compression the lower the video quality.
ab Audio Bandwidth. As above, but relates to audio.
fps Frames Per Second. The more fps, then the smoother the moving image, however, this uses more bandwidth and compression. So lower fps will give better quality for given bandwidth.
width & height Determines the aspect ratio and the size of the image in pixels. The larger the image, the better the definition, but will require more cpu power and bandwidth. The smaller the image the less compression and bandwidth needed to stream.
deinterlace This command useful if you are using an interlaced source. Eg. An NTSC or PAL source
scale determines the output size relative to source size applied to width/height ratio. So scale=0.5 will half original width/height in pixels. Or in this case 25% of the original pixel area.

Transcode Strategies

Single vs Two stage transcode? A single stage transcode may work well for many situations. A two stage transcode may offer advantages in quality at the cost of time and hardware to effect it. A two stage transcode on two different boxes will be less susceptible to quality problems related to mutual or random cpu activity spikes caused by other applications. Method 1 works well with two stage giving an improved picture quality with modest cpu usage given that the wmv codec is less than best compared with what is available.
Method 2 can work well in single stage and usually better in two stage, but requires more cpu power.I leave it to you, the user, to experiment with what works best for you.

Tweaking

There are any number of “tweaks” and “mods” that can be applied to the output string or command line. I recommend that you try the example methods as they are before changing everything to suit your anticipated needs.
The links referred to above should give a more expansive description of what can be done. Again, do experiment when you have got a working solution.

Method 1 wmv/div3 - asf

For this first method we will keep things very simple. The method is similar to and follows on from “Simple Stream VLC to Website” .There will be a couple of small changes and additions to the default command strings. This method works well with a minimum of effort and hardware. This method is described using wmv and will also work with div3.
This method will employ a two stage transcode using two computers. A common configuration. The first stage will be the Primary source/capture/compression (Box1) .
The secondary output from (Box2) for final compression and will be your web server.

Box 1 Set up:
Select “Streaming” set up your capture devices and set the video size to 256x192
Simply using the default values in the GUI, select “Stream”, then “Next” at source, at “Destinations” check the box “display locally” <optional> , select HTTP from the dropdown box, and click the “Add” button, leave the address field as 0.0.0.0 and change the port number to 8082. Activate transcoding box is checked, select the Windows WMV/asf Transcoding profile and click “next” again. You should now see the “Generated stream output string”. This is where we will make the changes and additions.
So. Look at what is in this field and compare with the example below. Then modify the output string with the changes listed below. Or clear the output field and copy and paste.

First output string (box 1)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=400,fps=15,width=256,height=192,deinterlace,acodec=wma2,ab=64,channels=2,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8081},dst=display}

The changes/additions we have made here:
#1 vb changed to vb=400
#2 Added fps=15
#3 Removed scale=1
#4 Added width=256
#5 Added height=192
#6 I have added “deinterlace” Optional if using an analogue interlaced TV camera
#7 ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Pickup the stream from Box 1 with “Open Network Stream” and check that it is streaming OK. Repeat the setup procedure as for Box 1, but use the following output string.
Second output string (box 2)

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=200,fps=15,scale=1,acodec=wma2,ab=32,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=std{access=http,mux=asf,dst=0.0.0.0:8082}}

The changes/additions we have made to second output string

#1 vb reduced again to 200
#2 Added fps=15
#3 ab reduced again to 32

Sample metafile for HTML below

<ASX version ="3.0">
<TITLE>extstream8082</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<REF HREF="http://youripaddress:8082" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

(saved as <extstream8082.asx>)

Sample HTML for embedded web page

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"><title>External Stream 8082 embedded</title>

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;"><big>Box 2 streaming
on port 8082<br>
<br>
<br>
</big></big>
<embed src="extstream8082.asx" height="450" width="512">
</body></html>

Alternatively, you could embed with MS MP.

Method 2 H264 and Flash .flv

Method 2 is somewhat more sophisticated, but should give a good result with minimal bandwidth. It can be successfully effected in a single stage transcode, but a two stage transcode may improve the quality depending on the quality of the hardware available. This method employs an optional first stage pre compression in asf followed by an H264 and a final output in .flv (Flash) and includes a subsection on Flash players “JWPlayer” and “Flowplayer”
There is some additional information in Notes further down this HowTo.

Box 1 Set up: (optional)
Primary source/capture/compression in asf
Select the dropdown box output stream to DIV3/mp3 asf. Follow the similar modifications to the output string as per Method 1, Box 1

The changes/additions we will make here:
#1 vb=600
#2 fps=25
#3 Remove scale=1
#4 Added width=256
#5 Added height=192
#6 I have added “deinterlace” Optional, if using analogue interlaced TV camera
#7 ab changed to ab=64

Box 2 Set up:
Secondary output in .flv
Select your input, Eg the network stream from Box 1, or your source/capture device.
Select Streaming and tab <next> through to the “Options” screen without choosing anything in the previous “Destinations” tab. The “Generated stream output string” field should be blank.
The following output strings can be copied and pasted into the empty field. Do make sure that there are no spaces in the string when you copy/paste.

First example string for Win XP users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,ab=32,fps=25,width=256,height=192,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}

Second example string for Linux users

:sout=#transcode{vcodec=FLV1,acodec=mp3,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,samplerate=44100,ab=32}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=192.168.0.42:8081/stream.flv},dst=display}

The above examples should work OK when adapted to your destination IP and port. That said, they are examples of two different approaches. The Windows approach utilises the H264 codec.
The Ubuntu Linux approach example provides for a working solution in FLV1 which should work OK with the “Stripped” standard version of ffmpeg in a standard installation. This method would benefit from a two stage transcode to improve quality.

You will probably want to check that everything is working at this stage. So point a VLC client at the stream to check it out.
Do note the dst=xx.xx.xx.xx:port/path/stream.flv and check out the “Troubleshooting” section
.
Next we will need a player to embed the stream into a web page. JWPlayer and Flowplayer are suitable for this purpose. Both of these players need a path to their java files.Eg. The Win XP example had /mediaplayer/ in the path This was the default folder for JWPlayer in that example. The Linux example assumed that the necessary java files placed in the root dir of the webserver and needed no path. These players are described in detail in the documentation on their websites. If you have not used these players before, take time to become familiar with them before using them in this context.

http://flowplayer.org/

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/tutorials/Embedding-Flash

Example html for a “Flowplayer” embedded page relating to the example VLC Linux output string above. Do note that the Windows example had /mediaplayer/ in the path! This example does not.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html><head><title></title>

<title>This Flash Streaming from VLC video</title>

<script src="flowplayer-3.1.4.min.js"></script><meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type">

</head>
<body>
<big style="font-weight: bold;">Flowplayer test file local</big><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>

< See Flowplayer documentation and note below for this line>
</a>
<script language="JavaScript"> flowplayer("player", "flowplayer-3.1.4.swf"); </script>
<p><br>
</body></html>

Note
The href= value in this line would contain
"http://<yourIP>:8081/stream.flv"

Troubleshooting

OK so it all went wrong? And did not work. At the risk of stating the obvious? Backtrack. Check each stage step by step and prove that each bit is working before moving to the next. Common faults and checks are listed as follows:
#1. The destination address dst=xx.xx.xx.xx can give rise to problems. I have found that Win XP works with dts=0.0.0.0 but Ubuntu linux requires the specific IP of the server Eg 192.168.0.42 or a qualified domain name Eg mywebsite.com.

#2. Many Linux distros may not include by default the full version of ffmpeg and h/x264 and associated libs for encoding. You may need to go research and install all necessary components to get it all working.

#3. The quality of both video and sound can vary due to many factors, which may include the version of VLC, the OS platform, the version of players, plugins Etc. Problems such as stuttering, pixelation, excessive buffering delays are not uncommon. In general terms, keeping up to date with the latest versions of everything is good practice, however in some cases, a newer version may not work as well (if at all) as it’s predecessor.

#4. Realtime streaming is cpu intensive and also sensitive to being interrupted in realtime. Other applications can and will interrupt. Shut down all unnecessary applications ( and the ones in background) Spikes of intensive cpu activity which will not always show up in Task Manager/System Monitor can and will cause problems with the quality of your stream output. You may wish to raise the priority of VLC to reduce the effect of interrupts.

#5 Clients need to be equipped with the necessary means to display your stream! Sounds an obvious statement? Probably not a problem if you have an up to date box, with MS Windows and a recent Flash plugin. I have encountered any number of problems with old hardware, other Operating Systems, browsers and Flash plugins. Don’t be surprised or disappointed at the apparent failure or erratic performance of your stream if you are testing it with a client that is not suitably equipped and able. Using Localhost to check out your stream may also give unexpected and misleading results.

Notes

There are many ways to compress/transcode your stream. The example methods were intended to be a fairly universal and tested starting point. Some combinations work some don’t. Some combinations work in one scenario but will not work in another. If the example methods do not work for you, the Videolan forums are the best place to start looking for a solution.

Appendix

The following is an example of a full command line with the same settings as Method 2 Win XP. The first part, up to ”sout” is the input string. The vdev= and adev= are the (your) input devices and can be viewed and extracted from the first “streaming” window or tab in the GUI, with the “show more options” box checked. You will need to apply the correct syntax for your OS. In Windows ( note the quotation marks,Eg ”<xxx>” syntax) you would enter this at the command prompt at C:/program files/videolan/vlc
Also note in this example video size has been defined twice, both in the input and output sections. If you did not include a setting for Video Size in the GUI screen it would not be present in the input string. Try adding and changing options to see how the VLC GUI builds the input string for you. It is not necessary for video size to be defined here, but should work OK with or without this parameter in the input section. I have included it to show how the string is generated in the GUI.. The complete input and output sections can be simply copied and pasted from the GUI into a text editor and built into a complete string to create full working command line.

vlc dshow:// :dshow-vdev="Conexant's BtPCI Capture" :dshow-adev="Aureon 5.1 Fun Wave" :dshow-size="256x192" --sout="#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=200,deinterlace,fps=25,width=256,height=192,ab=32,acodec=mp3,samplerate=44100}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http{mime=video/x-flv},mux=ffmpeg{mux=flv},dst=0.0.0.0:8081/mediaplayer/stream.flv},dst=display}"

Create how to

2009-07-29T00:03:36Z

MrGreg: moved Create how to to Simple Stream VLC to Website: Title error

#REDIRECT [[Simple Stream VLC to Website]]

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website (simple version)

2009-07-29T00:03:36Z

MrGreg: moved Create how to to Simple Stream VLC to Website: Title error

The following “How To” describes an easy method of using VLC as a simple video streamer to enable a live video stream (Eg web-cam) via VLC to be streamed from a web server across a local LAN or the Internet. This method does also work for streaming files and other media, CD, DVD Etc
Using this method of streaming from VLC allows the stream to be viewed from many media player clients other than VLC, which is often the case
The content and description is aimed at those who only have an elementary knowledge of VLC, Networking, and Web authoring / HTML
This method is not the most sophisticated way to utilise VLC, but it does work well and has been tested on both LAN and WAN using VLC 0.9.8a, 9.9 and 1.0.0

First, I have to make some assumptions and you will have to do some checks

You have a web site? If not see appendix at the bottom of this “HowTo”.
Your website works OK and is on your own web server on the same machine as VLC?
If your website is for external viewing (internet), you have a static IP and are not behind a proxy server?
Your ISP is not blocking any ports
Your firewall is not blocking any ports that you want to stream through. (Port 1234 for the example below)
I also assume you are using a NAT router with port forwarding for both the website and port to be used by the video stream.
You have sufficient upstream bandwidth to support the size of video stream (See Notes 1)

Limitations
This HowTo was written with previous versions in mind, so the descriptions of the VLC User Interface may differ slightly.

The following technique only works (tested so far) using the Windows encapsulation method asf/wmv (and asf/div3 VLC 1.0.0) selected from the Custom menu in the VLC Streaming Settings window.
(other methods may work, I have not tested them all)

The method
The following method/technique uses a “metafile” or redirector. You might want to check out the terms ”metafile”, “redirector” and “.asx” for further information

Firstly create a text file (Eg in Notepad) and copy and paste the following

<ASX version ="3.0">

<TITLE>Stream1234</TITLE>

<ENTRY>

<REF HREF ="http://192.168.0.42:1234"/>

</ENTRY>

</ASX>

Where the HREF value is your local LAN IP for a LAN ONLY website.
Or
The HREF value is your external (Internet) IP for a WAN ONLY website
The port number (Eg :1234) is the port you will allocate in VLC Streaming settings window.

The text file should then be saved. as a .asx file. I suggest you create two such files. One for LAN and one for WAN (See note 3)& (See note 5)
Eg localstream1234.asx for the LAN version using your internal LAN IP
Eg extstream1234.asx for the WAN version using your external WAN IP

Place these .asx files in your web server dir.

Create a links in a web page that point to the above .asx files. When the link is activated, a pop out player will stream.
Or Eg
Embed the stream on a page by the following in html

<embed src ="localstream1234.asx">

Or Eg

<embed src ="localstream1234.asx” height=”370” width=”400">

To re size the video on the web page.

Now for VLC.
First check your video source (TV card, Video capture device, webcam etc) is working OK and playing through VLC OK using the Play option
Select Streaming.
Select Source, Capture device for this example (and any necessary additional settings)

Check play locally box
Check or select/add http box LEAVE the ADDRESS FIELD BLANK!! Change the port number to 1234 (for this example)
Select “Windows asf/wmv” in the Custom dropdown selection box
You may need to alter the TTL value to allow more buffering, a value of 0 or 1 should be OK (no more than 12 should be necessary) as this increases delay from live
Then select Next and/or Stream
VLC should open with a local display stream, which should display the stream and an overlay text displaying “streaming” for a few seconds.

If this does not work… Obviously… Something is wrong! First check the, Main Menu selection, Tools dropdown item “Messages” for suggestions as to the cause of error and also re check all the above instructions/settings.

If all is well, then.
Now check out your LAN website from another machine on your LAN linking to (localstream1234.asx) The stream may take up to 30 secs to display.
OK? If not then go back and check it all out again.
Now get a friend/other to test out the WAN links from another external location.
(See Note 4)

I have found this method to work well on LAN and WAN
It does not need VLC to be at the client end. It also does not need or employ any Java on the client or server machine. All it requires is the ability of a browser and its associated media player to be able to display the now universal ”.asf” stream which most can.
LAN tested with browsers…
MS IE via MS Media Player
Realplayer pointing at URL/xxxxxx.asx
Firefox via MPlayer and MS Media Player
Konquorer via Kaffeine
Kaffeine pointing at URL/xxxxxxx.asx

WAN Tested with browsers…
MS IE via MS Media Player
Mozilla Firefox via MS Media Player and Real Player

And. Of course VLC Player in all cases.

I have successfully used this method of serving from MS Windows XPpro IIS 5.1 and Apache 2.2 and also Linux Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Apache 2.2

Notes

Note 1 How much bandwidth do I need for a given size of video stream? A very good question with no straight answer. It depends on how good the encoding/compression is and other factors like the amount of dynamic activity there is going on. It can vary quite a bit during the video sequence. “Pixel noise” generated by the camera and capture hardware can have an effect as well.
An empirical method to determine this would be to run a test video across a LAN using the hardware and software and employing a network analyser to measure the bandwidth used.

Note 2 Following on from Note 1, The overall system capability will also determine how effectively the video stream can be encoded, compressed and streamed. The more system CPU power available the better! As a minimum The method above will just about work with a video size of 384x288 streamed from VLC using a totally dedicated server at 800MHz cpu + 512 MB RAM with good hardware in good light. Employing wmv/asf encoding and an uplink bandwidth sync of 832 (circa real700K) It is more than likely that you will have to adjust the picture size to the bandwidth you have available. Also note that USB video capture devices tend to use a great deal of CPU/system resource, so do check out how much spare capacity you have when everything is running, including your server when it is “Serving” a stream?

Note 3 If you are using classical routing (No NAT) then the local and external IP will (probably) be the same unless you have an unusual configuration.

Note 4 It is not usually possible to view the streaming output of a LAN from the WAN side. Also it is not usually possible to view the streaming going out on the WAN from the LAN side. This makes testing more difficult! (The exception to this being note 3, that is the LAN and WAN having the same IP)
I suggest that this streaming method is first tested and proved on your LAN. Then test out the WAN stream by calling someone to test it from a remote location on the www.

Note 5 The choice of port you use is up to you? Port 1234 is as good as any for LAN, but a port at or above 8080 would be more appropriate for WAN (the Internet). Do check that your chosen not being used by another application. First place to look would be in your firewall and router settings when you open that port for your stream.

Appendix

What!!!? Web servers and streaming from website
Not got a web site? Not got a web server? No clue where to start? Find the whole idea rather daunting? Well it is probably much easier than you thought. First you will need a web server. The following link is to “Apache httpd”. The Apache web server is as simple or as sophisticated as you want it to be. It is well documented on the web and many books are available. And it is free.

http://httpd.apache.org/

I would avoid use of MS IIS 5.1 as supplied with XP Pro on anything other than a LAN as it poses many security issues on the www for a novice.

Next you will need a web page creator/editor and some guidance on how to use it. Take a look here

http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingsta ... al-1.shtml

Again Kompozer is free and very simple to use. The only html that will need to be added to make this work is the examples given previously.

VLC HowTo/Stream to a website (simple version)

2009-07-28T23:54:55Z

MrGreg: VLC Simple streaming to website, A HowTo.

The following “How To” describes an easy method of using VLC as a simple video streamer to enable a live video stream (Eg web-cam) via VLC to be streamed from a web server across a local LAN or the Internet. This method does also work for streaming files and other media, CD, DVD Etc
Using this method of streaming from VLC allows the stream to be viewed from many media player clients other than VLC, which is often the case
The content and description is aimed at those who only have an elementary knowledge of VLC, Networking, and Web authoring / HTML
This method is not the most sophisticated way to utilise VLC, but it does work well and has been tested on both LAN and WAN using VLC 0.9.8a, 9.9 and 1.0.0

First, I have to make some assumptions and you will have to do some checks

You have a web site? If not see appendix at the bottom of this “HowTo”.
Your website works OK and is on your own web server on the same machine as VLC?
If your website is for external viewing (internet), you have a static IP and are not behind a proxy server?
Your ISP is not blocking any ports
Your firewall is not blocking any ports that you want to stream through. (Port 1234 for the example below)
I also assume you are using a NAT router with port forwarding for both the website and port to be used by the video stream.
You have sufficient upstream bandwidth to support the size of video stream (See Notes 1)

Limitations
This HowTo was written with previous versions in mind, so the descriptions of the VLC User Interface may differ slightly.

The following technique only works (tested so far) using the Windows encapsulation method asf/wmv (and asf/div3 VLC 1.0.0) selected from the Custom menu in the VLC Streaming Settings window.
(other methods may work, I have not tested them all)

The method
The following method/technique uses a “metafile” or redirector. You might want to check out the terms ”metafile”, “redirector” and “.asx” for further information

Firstly create a text file (Eg in Notepad) and copy and paste the following

<ASX version ="3.0">

<TITLE>Stream1234</TITLE>

<ENTRY>

<REF HREF ="http://192.168.0.42:1234"/>

</ENTRY>

</ASX>

Where the HREF value is your local LAN IP for a LAN ONLY website.
Or
The HREF value is your external (Internet) IP for a WAN ONLY website
The port number (Eg :1234) is the port you will allocate in VLC Streaming settings window.

The text file should then be saved. as a .asx file. I suggest you create two such files. One for LAN and one for WAN (See note 3)& (See note 5)
Eg localstream1234.asx for the LAN version using your internal LAN IP
Eg extstream1234.asx for the WAN version using your external WAN IP

Place these .asx files in your web server dir.

Create a links in a web page that point to the above .asx files. When the link is activated, a pop out player will stream.
Or Eg
Embed the stream on a page by the following in html

<embed src ="localstream1234.asx">

Or Eg

<embed src ="localstream1234.asx” height=”370” width=”400">

To re size the video on the web page.

Now for VLC.
First check your video source (TV card, Video capture device, webcam etc) is working OK and playing through VLC OK using the Play option
Select Streaming.
Select Source, Capture device for this example (and any necessary additional settings)

Check play locally box
Check or select/add http box LEAVE the ADDRESS FIELD BLANK!! Change the port number to 1234 (for this example)
Select “Windows asf/wmv” in the Custom dropdown selection box
You may need to alter the TTL value to allow more buffering, a value of 0 or 1 should be OK (no more than 12 should be necessary) as this increases delay from live
Then select Next and/or Stream
VLC should open with a local display stream, which should display the stream and an overlay text displaying “streaming” for a few seconds.

If this does not work… Obviously… Something is wrong! First check the, Main Menu selection, Tools dropdown item “Messages” for suggestions as to the cause of error and also re check all the above instructions/settings.

If all is well, then.
Now check out your LAN website from another machine on your LAN linking to (localstream1234.asx) The stream may take up to 30 secs to display.
OK? If not then go back and check it all out again.
Now get a friend/other to test out the WAN links from another external location.
(See Note 4)

I have found this method to work well on LAN and WAN
It does not need VLC to be at the client end. It also does not need or employ any Java on the client or server machine. All it requires is the ability of a browser and its associated media player to be able to display the now universal ”.asf” stream which most can.
LAN tested with browsers…
MS IE via MS Media Player
Realplayer pointing at URL/xxxxxx.asx
Firefox via MPlayer and MS Media Player
Konquorer via Kaffeine
Kaffeine pointing at URL/xxxxxxx.asx

WAN Tested with browsers…
MS IE via MS Media Player
Mozilla Firefox via MS Media Player and Real Player

And. Of course VLC Player in all cases.

I have successfully used this method of serving from MS Windows XPpro IIS 5.1 and Apache 2.2 and also Linux Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Apache 2.2

Notes

Note 1 How much bandwidth do I need for a given size of video stream? A very good question with no straight answer. It depends on how good the encoding/compression is and other factors like the amount of dynamic activity there is going on. It can vary quite a bit during the video sequence. “Pixel noise” generated by the camera and capture hardware can have an effect as well.
An empirical method to determine this would be to run a test video across a LAN using the hardware and software and employing a network analyser to measure the bandwidth used.

Note 2 Following on from Note 1, The overall system capability will also determine how effectively the video stream can be encoded, compressed and streamed. The more system CPU power available the better! As a minimum The method above will just about work with a video size of 384x288 streamed from VLC using a totally dedicated server at 800MHz cpu + 512 MB RAM with good hardware in good light. Employing wmv/asf encoding and an uplink bandwidth sync of 832 (circa real700K) It is more than likely that you will have to adjust the picture size to the bandwidth you have available. Also note that USB video capture devices tend to use a great deal of CPU/system resource, so do check out how much spare capacity you have when everything is running, including your server when it is “Serving” a stream?

Note 3 If you are using classical routing (No NAT) then the local and external IP will (probably) be the same unless you have an unusual configuration.

Note 4 It is not usually possible to view the streaming output of a LAN from the WAN side. Also it is not usually possible to view the streaming going out on the WAN from the LAN side. This makes testing more difficult! (The exception to this being note 3, that is the LAN and WAN having the same IP)
I suggest that this streaming method is first tested and proved on your LAN. Then test out the WAN stream by calling someone to test it from a remote location on the www.

Note 5 The choice of port you use is up to you? Port 1234 is as good as any for LAN, but a port at or above 8080 would be more appropriate for WAN (the Internet). Do check that your chosen not being used by another application. First place to look would be in your firewall and router settings when you open that port for your stream.

Appendix

What!!!? Web servers and streaming from website
Not got a web site? Not got a web server? No clue where to start? Find the whole idea rather daunting? Well it is probably much easier than you thought. First you will need a web server. The following link is to “Apache httpd”. The Apache web server is as simple or as sophisticated as you want it to be. It is well documented on the web and many books are available. And it is free.

http://httpd.apache.org/

I would avoid use of MS IIS 5.1 as supplied with XP Pro on anything other than a LAN as it poses many security issues on the www for a novice.

Next you will need a web page creator/editor and some guidance on how to use it. Take a look here

http://www.thesitewizard.com/gettingsta ... al-1.shtml

Again Kompozer is free and very simple to use. The only html that will need to be added to make this work is the examples given previously.