Streaming webcam audio and video using ffmpeg/avconv

**schmidtbag** · August 23rd, 2012

I'm trying to stream the video and audio a USB webcam using avconv (or ffmpeg) using just port 8080 over a network.

I can successfully stream audio using the following command:

Code:

avconv -f oss -ar 8000 -ac 1 -i /dev/dsp1 -acodec mp2 -f rtp rtp://172.17.2.2:9090

and VLC will read it just fine, with maybe a 1 second delay.

I can successfully stream video using:

Code:

avconv -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 -vcodec mpeg2video -r 25 -pix_fmt yuv420p -me_method epzs -b 2600k -bt 256k -f rtp rtp://172.17.2.2:8080

which will also work just fine in VLC, but with a slightly greater delay.

However, I can't combine them both with rtp. So far the best I can do is:

Code:

avconv -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 -f oss -i /dev/dsp2 -vcodec mpeg2video -pix_fmt yuv420p -me_method epzs -r 25 -b 2600K -bt 256k -acodec mp2 -ar 8000 -ac 1 -ab 128k -async 1 udp://172.17.2.2:8080/stream.mpg

which does NOT work in VLC, but will work using:

Code:

ffplay -i udp://172.17.2.2:8080/stream.mpg

However, this turns out to have a 6-second delay.

So, does anyone know how I can get rtp to work, or at least an alternative that would get VLC to work with it?

EDIT:
I would like to point out that this is running on an ARM platform and I'm trying to stick with the "main" repository only.

**schmidtbag** · August 24th, 2012

bump?

**kaan52** · October 8th, 2012

did you find a solution for this?

i also can't receive the stream via vlc.

**schmidtbag** · October 8th, 2012

unfortunately, no, I haven't. I just sent the streams separately. I wish there was more up-to-date documentation on this kind of stuff because when streaming RTP, I get all sorts of issues because i'm missing some file, I forget what it is, something like SDP? It lists the codec info and I can't seem to get it working. There are guides on how to send this file but they're all out of date and don't work anymore.

**kaan52** · October 8th, 2012

i think there is a solution with vlc. i know it uses also ffmeg and avconv but maybe we're not using the right parameters or there are missing parameters for streaming.

let me guess, you want to use the Raspberry pi?

**schmidtbag** · October 8th, 2012

I thought about doing VLC but I personally find it more of a pain in the *** to configure, and it seems to have a slower delay.

I'm actually not using RPi, but Beagleboard XM. Considering RPi is armel, I didn't think it was quite good enough. BB is armhf, which is a LOT better in terms of performance per clock.

**kaan52** · October 8th, 2012

i see...

i tried to stream with a tut.
http://sirlagz.net/2012/08/04/how-to...-raspberry-pi/
it worked fine for me, but it's only mjpeg. i've also tried to rewrite the parameters so that i will work for mpeg4 or with flv .. no chance..
i also get sometimes errors like

Code:

[tcp @ 0xc8e920] TCP connection to localhost:80 failed: Connection refused
http://localhost:80: Input/output error

or

Code:

/dev/video0: Operation not permitted

when this won't take an end i'll also feel the same pain..

**schmidtbag** · October 8th, 2012

Originally Posted by kaan52

i see...

i tried to stream with a tut.
http://sirlagz.net/2012/08/04/how-to...-raspberry-pi/
it worked fine for me, but it's only mjpeg. i've also tried to rewrite the parameters so that i will work for mpeg4 or with flv .. no chance..
i also get sometimes errors like

Code:

[tcp @ 0xc8e920] TCP connection to localhost:80 failed: Connection refused
http://localhost:80: Input/output error

or

Code:

/dev/video0: Operation not permitted

when this won't take an end i'll also feel the same pain..

Yeah, I've had enough issues trying to get VLC to stream video in a GUI, I figure it'd probably be more difficult by a CLI but I could be wrong. I'll experiment a little later and let you know what I come up with. Personally I don't mind mjpeg, as it's very compatible and overall easy on bandwidth.