Using VLC with Wowza Server (native RTP)

[charlie]

Note: The latest version of VLC (version 1.1.0, 1.1.1 and 1.1.2) seems to have introduced several issues that may prohibit these instructions from working properly with Wowza Media Server. For now, version 1.0.5 or 1.0.6 is suggested. The problem seems to be related to audio resampling. When transcoding a stream if the audio sample rate of the destination is different from the source then the audio will fail. If the audio source and destination sample rates are the same, then it seems to work.

Note: Wowza Media Systems provides these instructions on as "AS-IS" basis. The reason for the qualification is because I have found VLC to be difficult to get to work reliably and predictably.

Step by step instructions for using the VLC media player as an encoder with Wowza Server (Flash Player version 9.0.115.0 or greater is required).

1. Download and install Wowza Media Server (version: Wowza Server 2.0.0 or greater)
2. Create a new Wowza Server application for streaming (may already exist if examples installed)
   1. Create the folder [install-dir]/applications/rtplive
   2. Create the folder [install-dir]/conf/rtplive
   3. Copy the file [install-dir]/conf/Application.xml into this new folder [install-dir]/conf/rtplive
   4. Edit the newly copied Application.xml and make the following changes:
      • Set Streams/StreamType to rtp-live
      • Set RTP/AVSyncMethod method to systemclock
      • (for iPhone/iPod touch/Silverlight playback): Set the LiveStreamPacketizers to cupertinostreamingpacketizer, smoothstreamingpacketizer:
        

        <LiveStreamPacketizers>cupertinostreamingpacketizer,smoothstreamingpacketizer</LiveStreamPacketizers>

      • For RTSP/RTP playback: Set the RTP/Authentication/PlayMethod to none
   5. Smooth Streaming only: Right click and download clientaccesspolicy.xml to the [install-dir]/conf folder (this file might already exist, if so, no need to update it). Once downloaded, you can test to be sure it is working properly by starting Wowza Media Server, opening a web browser and entering the url http://[wowza-ip-address]:1935/clientaccesspolicy.xml. It should return the following XML:
      

      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
      <access-policy>
        <cross-domain-access>
          <policy>
            <allow-from http-request-headers="*">
              <domain uri="*"/>
            </allow-from>
            <grant-to>
              <resource path="/" include-subpaths="true"/>
            </grant-to>
          </policy>
        </cross-domain-access>
      </access-policy>

   6. Startup the Wowza Server server
3. Hook up webcamera to PC
4. Download and install VLC media player
5. Startup VLC media player and extract the web camera and microphone info to build a VLC command line
   • Select menu item Media>Open Capture Device... and select the DirectShow from the Capture mode popup
   • Click the Refresh list buttons for the Video device name and Audio device name lists
   • Select your web camera and microphone from the drop down lists and set the Video size field to 640x480
   • Check the Show more options checkbox and copy and paste the string in the Edit Options field into a text document (we will be using this later to build a command line for VLC)
6. In a text editor we are going to build the command line for VLC. It will use the web camera and microphone information we collected above along with some transcoding and transport properties. Your finished command line should look something like this:
   

   Windows:
   
   vlc -vvv dshow:// :dshow-vdev="QuickCam for Notebooks Pro" :dshow-adev="Logitech Mic (Notebooks Pro)" :dshow-size="320x240" --sout "#transcode{venc=x264{keyint=60},vcodec=x264,vb=500,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=48000}:rtp{dst=127.0.0.1,port-video=10000,port-audio=10002,sdp=file:///%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/vlc.sdp}"
   
   Windows (iPhone compatible):
   
   vlc -vvv dshow:// :dshow-vdev="QuickCam for Notebooks Pro" :dshow-adev="Logitech Mic (Notebooks Pro)" :dshow-size="320x240" --sout "#transcode{venc=x264{keyint=60,profile=baseline,level=3.0,nocabac,qpmax=36,qpmin=10,me=hex,merange=24,subme=9,qcomp=0.6},vcodec=x264,vb=500,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=48000}:rtp{dst=127.0.0.1,port-video=10000,port-audio=10002,sdp= file:///%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/vlc.sdp}"

   Where:
   • First section is the web camera and microphone info collected above
   • transcode section describes the video/audio format of the stream
   • rtp section sets the destination ip address and output location of .sdp file
   
   Or you can re-stream the Extremists.m4v video as a live stream. The following command line worked for me:
   

   Windows:
   
   vlc -vvv "%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/Extremists.m4v" --sout "#transcode{venc=x264{keyint=60},vcodec=x264,vb=500,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=48000}:rtp{dst=127.0.0.1,port-video=10000,port-audio=10002,sdp=file:///%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/vlc.sdp}"
   
   Windows (iPhone compatible):
   
   vlc -vvv "%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/Extremists.m4v" --sout "#transcode{venc=x264{keyint=60,profile=baseline,level=3.0,nocabac,qpmax=36,qpmin=10,me=hex,merange=24,subme=9,qcomp=0.6},vcodec=x264,vb=500,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=48000}:rtp{dst=127.0.0.1,port-video=10000,port-audio=10002,sdp= file:///%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/vlc.sdp}"

   Or you can re-stream an RTSP/RTP stream (IP camera). The following command line worked for me (where rtsp://192.168.1.108:554/axis-media/media.amp is the URL to my IP camera):
   

   Windows:
   
   vlc -vvv rtsp://192.168.1.108:554/axis-media/media.amp --sout "#transcode{venc=x264{keyint=60},vcodec=x264,vb=500,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=48000}:rtp{dst=127.0.0.1,port-video=10000,port-audio=10002,sdp=file:///%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/vlc.sdp}"
   
   Windows (iPhone compatible):
   
   vlc -vvv rtsp://192.168.1.108:554/axis-media/media.amp --sout "#transcode{venc=x264{keyint=60,profile=baseline,level=3.0,nocabac,qpmax=36,qpmin=10,me=hex,merange=24,subme=9,qcomp=0.6},vcodec=x264,vb=500,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=48000}:rtp{dst=127.0.0.1,port-video=10000,port-audio=10002,sdp= file:///%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/vlc.sdp}"

7. Open a command prompt change directory to: C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC and copy and paste the command line that you build above

For IPhone/IPod Touch/IPad or Silverlight, you must first start the stream in StreamManager

1. Using a text editor, edit the file [install-dir]/conf/admin.password and add a username and password.
2. Open a web browser and enter the url: http://[wowza-address]:8086/streammanager
3. Enter your admin username and password from above
4. Click the [start-receiving-stream] link just below the rtplive application folder
5. Select the MediaCaster Type: rtp
6. Enter vlc.sdp into the Stream Name field
7. Click OK

Playback:

• To play using Adobe Flash player:
  
  Double-click [install-dir]/examples/LiveVideoStreaming/client/live.html, enter the information below and click the Play button.
  

  Server: rtmp://[wowza-address]/rtplive
  Stream: vlc.sdp

• To play using iPhone or iPod touch:
  
  Enter the following URL into the Safari web browser:
  

  http://[wowza-address]:1935/rtplive/vlc.sdp/playlist.m3u8

• To play using Microsoft Silverlight:
  
  Double-click [install-dir]/examples/LiveVideoStreaming/clientSilverlight/Default.html, enter the URL below and click the Play button.
  
  

  http://[wowza-address]:1935/rtplive/vlc.sdp/Manifest

  Note: If you have Wowza Media Server 2.1.1 or older installed, download and unzip the following package and follow the instructions in the README.txt file to install the latest Smooth Streaming example players: SmoothStreamingExamplePlayers.zip
  
  
• To play using RTSP/RTP player or device:
  
  Enter the following URL into the RTSP/RTP player:
  

  rtsp://[wowza-address]:1935/rtplive/vlc.sdp

  See Also:
  How to configure QuickTime player ...
  How to configure VLC player ...
  
  Note: [wowza-address] is the IP address or domain name of the server running Wowza Server.
  
  Note: To stream to RTSP/RTP be sure UDP ports 6970-9999 are open.

[install-dir]
Windows (default): C:\Program Files\Wowza Media Systems\Wowza Media Server [version]
Mac OS X: /Library/WowzaMediaServer
Linux: /usr/local/WowzaMediaServer

Note: The command line structure for Mac OSX is very similar to Windows. In general I change the following items in the command line:

• Change base command from vlc -vvv to /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC
• Add equals sign between --sout and double quote
• Change paths from %WMSCONFIG_HOME% to /Library/WowzaMediaServer

Here is an example:

Windows:
vlc -vvv "%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/Extremists.m4v" --sout "#transcode{venc=x264{keyint=60,profile=baseline,level=3.0,nocabac,qpmax=36,qpmin=10,me=hex,merange=24,subme=9,qcomp=0.6},vcodec=x264,vb=500,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=48000}:rtp{dst=127.0.0.1,port-video=10000,port-audio=10002,sdp= file:///%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/vlc.sdp}"

OSX:
/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC "/Library/WowzaMediaServer/content/Extremists.m4v" --sout="#transcode{venc=x264{keyint=60,profile=baseline,level=3.0,nocabac,qpmax=36,qpmin=10,me=hex,merange=24,subme=9,qcomp=0.6},vcodec=x264,vb=500,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=128,channels=2,samplerate=48000}:rtp{dst=127.0.0.1,port-video=10000,port-audio=10002,sdp=file:///Library/WowzaMediaServer/content/vlc.sdp}"

Note: VLC can also publish in the MPEG-TS format. To send an MPEG-TS stream from VLC, change rtp section of the VLC command line. For example:

Native RTP:
rtp{dst=127.0.0.1,port-video=10000,port-audio=10002,sdp=file:///Library/WowzaMediaServer/content/vlc.sdp}

MPEG-TS:
rtp{dst=127.0.0.1,port=10000,mux=ts}

See this post for the basic instructions on how to setup Wowza to consume an MPEG-TS stream:

http://www.wowzamedia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6468


Note: Version VLC media player 1.0.5 Goldeneye seems to be working well for me on Windows. The above command line works with my web camera and the Extremists.m4v sample video.

Note: The audio and video may be out of sync. This is because VLC does not generate RTCP packets which are required to synchronize the audio and video channels. You may also want to experiment with setting the RTP/AVSyncMethod method in [install-dir]/conf/rtplive/Application.xml to rtptimecode to see if this produces better results.

Note: If you want to host VLC on a different machine as the server hosting Wowza Media Server, you can modify any of the command lines above by changing dst=127.0.0.1 to the ip address of the server running Wowza Media Server. You will also need to output the SDP file to a folder on the machine running VLC then copy it to the [install-dir]/content directory of the server running Wowza Media Server. The SDP file only needs to be updated if any of the encoding parameters or port numbers change.

Note: If you experience problems getting either the audio or video to play through Flash, double check the version number of the Flash player (Flash player version 9.0.115.0 or above is required). If you still have problems, turn on Wowza Server debug logging (edit [install-dir]/conf/log4j.properties and change the log4j.rootCategory on the first line from INFO to DEBUG), try the encoder several more times, zip up and send your [install-dir]/logs folder along with screen shots of the encoder setup screens and the LiveVideoStreaming player screen and send a detailed description of your problem to support@wowzamedia.com.

Updated for VLC version: VLC media player 1.0.5 Goldeneye. VLC version: VLC media player 1.1.0 The Luggage does not seem to work properly with Wowza Media Server.

Charlie

[comafs77]

Hello all of you,
I'm new with Wowza Media Server and streaming technologies in general, so perhaps my proble is easy to solve.

I want to set up an streaming server that can stream some contents (video files in several formats -flv,mp4,...-) to different devices (iPhone, Android, other mobiles, and also PCs with Flash Player). I wish the server can deal with video-on-demand requests, but also I want to set up a live streaming (as it was like a TV channel). The source for this "TV channel" would be several video files, that play continously, and my objective is that the clients could connect to this "TV channel" at any moment.

I have no problems with video-on-demand (Wowza Media Server is enough for this), but live streaming has become impossible to me.

After trying some configurations and some external live encoders, I have decided to use VLC as the encoder to supply the stream for this "TV channel", but I can't make it works.

I have read in this forum that I can achieve this just executing this command line (I work with windows):

> vlc -vvv -I rc "%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/Extremist.m4v" --sout "#transcode{venc=x264{keyint=60},vcodec=x264,vb=50 0,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=32,channels=2,samplerate= 22050}:rtp{dst=127.0.0.1,port-video=10000,port-audio=10002,sdp=file://%WMSCONFIG_HOME%/content/vlc.sdp}"

Then I try to use live.html to test, but it does nothing.

I think VLC is not working fine, I can see some error logs in the output. Here I write all this output:

[00b34a24] rc interface: VLC media player - version 1.0.5 Goldeneye - (c) 1996-2
010 the VideoLAN team
[00b34a24] rc interface:
Aviso: si no puedes acceder a la GUI (Interfaz Grßfica de Usuario), abre una ven
tana de comandos, ve al directorio donde instalaste VLC y ejecuta "vlc -I qt"

Interfaz de control remoto inicializada. Escribe `help' para ayuda.
[00b34a24] main interface debug: using interface module "rc"
[00b34a24] main interface debug: TIMER module_need() : 5.704 ms - Total 5.704 ms
 / 1 intvls (Avg 5.704 ms)
[00b34a24] main interface debug: thread (interface) created at priority 0 (../..
/./src/interface/interface.c:151)
[00b4420c] main playlist debug: processing request item null node Lista de repro
ducci≤n skip 0
[00b4420c] main playlist debug: starting new item
[00b4420c] main playlist debug: creating new input thread
[00b3ccf4] main input debug: Creating an input for 'Wowza Media Server 2/content
/Extremist.m4v'
[00b3ccf4] main input debug: thread (input) created at priority 1 (../.././src/i
nput/input.c:230)
[00b3ccf4] main input debug: thread started
[00b132e4] main stream output debug: stream=`transcode'
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: looking for sout stream module: 1 candidate
[00b132e4] main stream output debug: stream=`rtp'
[00b1428c] main stream out debug: looking for sout stream module: 1 candidate
[00b1428c] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-rtp-dst to 127.0.0.1
[00b1428c] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-rtp-port-video to 1000
0
[00b1428c] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-rtp-port-audio to 1000
2
[00b1428c] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-rtp-sdp to file://C:\P
rogram Files\Wowza Media Systems\Wowza Media Server 2/content/vlc.sdp
[00b1428c] main stream out debug: using sout stream module "stream_out_rtp"
[00b1428c] main stream out debug: TIMER module_need() : 9.182 ms - Total 9.182 m
s / 1 intvls (Avg 9.182 ms)
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-transcode-venc to x264
{keyint=60}
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-transcode-vcodec to x2
64
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-transcode-vb to 500
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-transcode-scale to 1
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-transcode-acodec to mp
4a
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-transcode-ab to 32
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-transcode-channels to
2
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: set config option: sout-transcode-samplerate t
o 22050
[00b405d4] stream_out_transcode stream out debug: codec audio=mp4a 22050Hz 2 cha
nnels 32Kb/s
[00b405d4] stream_out_transcode stream out debug: codec video=x264 0x0 scaling:
1.000000 500kb/s
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: using sout stream module "stream_out_transcode
"
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: TIMER module_need() : 23.852 ms - Total 23.852
 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 23.852 ms)
[00b3ccf4] main input debug: using timeshift granularity of 50 MBytes
[00b3ccf4] main input debug: using timeshift path 'C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\LOCALS~1
\Temp'
[00b3ccf4] main input debug: `C:\Program Files\Wowza Media Systems\Wowza Media S
erver 2/content/Extremist.m4v' gives access `' demux `' path `C:\Program Files\W
owza Media Systems\Wowza Media Server 2/content/Extremist.m4v'
[00b3ccf4] main input debug: creating demux: access='' demux='' path='C:\Program
 Files\Wowza Media Systems\Wowza Media Server 2/content/Extremist.m4v'
[00b458dc] main demux debug: looking for access_demux module: 3 candidates
libdvdnav: Using dvdnav version 4.1.4
libdvdread: Using libdvdcss version 1.2.10 for DVD access
libdvdread: Could not open C:\Program Files\Wowza Media Systems\Wowza Media Serv
er 2/content/Extremist.m4v with libdvdcss.
libdvdread: Can't open C:\Program Files\Wowza Media Systems\Wowza Media Server 2
/content/Extremist.m4v for reading
libdvdnav: vm: failed to open/read the DVD
[00b458dc] dvdnav demux warning: cannot open dvdnav
[00b458dc] main demux debug: TIMER module_need() : 4.600 ms - Total 4.600 ms / 1
 intvls (Avg 4.600 ms)
[00b3ccf4] main input debug: creating access '' path='C:\Program Files\Wowza Med
ia Systems\Wowza Media Server 2/content/Extremist.m4v'
[00b448bc] main access debug: looking for access module: 5 candidates
[00b448bc] vcd access debug: trying .cue file: C:\Program Files\Wowza Media Syst
ems\Wowza Media Server 2/content/Extremist.cue
[00b448bc] vcd access debug: could not find .cue file
[00b448bc] access_file access debug: opening file `C:\Program Files\Wowza Media
Systems\Wowza Media Server 2/content/Extremist.m4v'
[00b448bc] access_file access error: cannot open file C:\Program Files\Wowza Med
ia Systems\Wowza Media Server 2/content/Extremist.m4v (No such file or directory
)
[00b448bc] main access error: Fall≤ lectura de archivo
[00b448bc] main access error: VLC no pudo abrir el archivo "C:\Program Files\Wow
za Media Systems\Wowza Media Server 2/content/Extremist.m4v".
[00b448bc] cdda access debug: trying .cue file: C:\Program Files\Wowza Media Sys
tems\Wowza Media Server 2/content/Extremist.cue
[00b448bc] cdda access debug: could not find .cue file
[00b448bc] cdda access warning: could not open C:\Program Files\Wowza Media Syst
ems\Wowza Media Server 2/content/Extremist.m4v
[00b448bc] main access debug: TIMER module_need() : 7.801 ms - Total 7.801 ms /
1 intvls (Avg 7.801 ms)
[00b3ccf4] main input error: open of `C:\Program Files\Wowza Media Systems\Wowza
 Media Server 2/content/Extremist.m4v' failed: no suitable access module
[00b3ccf4] main input error: Tu entrada no puede abrirse
[00b3ccf4] main input error: VLC es incapaz de abrir el MRL 'C:\Program Files\Wo
wza Media Systems\Wowza Media Server 2/content/Extremist.m4v'. Ver el registro p
ara mßs detalles.
[00b4420c] main playlist debug: finished input
[00b4420c] main playlist debug: dead input
[00b132e4] main stream output debug: destroying useless sout
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: destroying chain... (name=transcode)
[00b1428c] main stream out debug: destroying chain... (name=rtp)
[00b1428c] main stream out debug: removing module "stream_out_rtp"
[00b1428c] main stream out debug: destroying chain done
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: removing module "stream_out_transcode"
[00b405d4] main stream out debug: destroying chain done
[00b3ccf4] main input debug: thread ended
[00b3ccf4] main input debug: thread times: real 0m0.062500s, kernel 0m0.015625s,
 user 0m0.015625s
[00b3ccf4] main input debug: TIMER input launching for 'Wowza Media Server 2/con
tent/Extremist.m4v' : 55.064 ms - Total 55.064 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 55.064 ms)
[00b4420c] main playlist debug: changing item without a request (current 0/1)
[00b4420c] main playlist debug: nothing to play
[00b440dc] main interface debug: thread started
[00b440dc] main interface debug: thread ended
[00b34a24] main interface debug: thread started

Any help with this issue will be greatly appreciated

[rrlanham]

For using static content to make live streams, take a look at this approach:

http://www.wowzamedia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6868

Richard

[comafs77]

Thank you for the quick response, I will try it as soon as possible and send feedback to this post

[melgeo]

I am totally lost here.

Although after following the instructions I made it work on my desktop which has Wowza and VLC, I could not do it with a remote Wowza server.

First things first, what are the port-video=10000 and port-audio=10002? Are these the ports that VLC will transmit data to? If yes, shouldn't wowza listen to those port, as far as I can wowza does not listen on these ports.

Also, inside the sdp file there is this line:
o=- 14923407327414386725 14923407327414386725 IN IP4 station14

station14 is my home PC which runs the VLC streamer, does this line instruct the videoplayer client to connect to station14 (which obviously it cannot happen because it does not resolve to anything)?

Anyway, the question is how do I make it work with a home PC behind NAT running VLC and a remote Wowza server?

So far what I understand is that wowza will just host an sdp file that instructs clients to connect to VLC! I hope I am totally wrong.

Kind regards

[rrlanham]

The issue is probably connectivity/ports/firewall, on the remote Wowza server and/or your network.

The sdp file actually directs Wowza where to stream from. The clients are getting the stream from Wowza.

Richard

[melgeo]

I also suspect some closed/NAT ports is the issue. But the thing is that I don't know how the system works in order to open appropriate ports.

If the following line from the sdp file instructs wowza to connect to station14:
o=- 14923407327414386725 14923407327414386725 IN IP4 station14

Then station14 should be replaced with the FQDN name of the VLC streamer (which I find it quite odd to reveal the IP address of the streamer)

Not sure how to proceed, isn't there anybody else having the same problem? Did I overlooked a thread?

[rrlanham]

Past the computer name (which is okay) look for this part:

c=IN IP4 127.0.0.1

Replace that with an IP that Wowza can reach.

Richard

[DeFunViZ]

Hi Comafs,
your problem is a due to a small spelling mistake.
Look at the errors
libdvdread: Could not open C:\Program Files\Wowza Media Systems\Wowza Media Serv
er 2/content/Extremist.m4v

If you notice in the example code Charlie has given the file name as Extremist.m4v where as the actual file is Extremists.m4v
I ran into the same issue and corrected it, but I could not get it working with nativertp.html
thanks

[charlie]

I have fixed the spelling mistake. Thanks for pointing it out.

Charlie