Home Streaming Server

The server will show all of the files that are uploaded when you go to the root endpoint /.

If you want to upload a file, go to /upload/ or follow the link in the top right of the home page.

Only mp4 files are supported for streaming.

How to run

Set the $PORT environment variable:

export PORT=8000

Set the $MEDIA_DIR environment variable that defines where media files up be stored & read from. Create this directory if it doesn't exist yet. MAKE SURE THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE PATH.

For local:

mkdir media
export MEDIA_DIR="$PWD/media/"

For Nuc with Hard drive plugged in:

export MEDIA_DIR="/media/HARDDRIVE/"

Then go to the root endpoint:

http://localhost:8000/

Nuc Home Server Configuration

The name of the systemd unit is "home-streaming-server". The password is "password" (no quotes).

The systemd unit file is symlinked to the home-streaming-server.service file in the repo and is set to download the latest commit from main, re-compile the binary, then run the server. Thus if you need to make updates to the unit file you can change the home-streaming-server.service file in the repo.

Deploying to nuc

ssh into the nuc, go to the home-streaming directory, then run deploy.sh:

cd /home/cgg/home-streaming
sudo chmod +x deploy.sh
./deploy.sh

Diagnosing issues

To check the status of the service:

systemctl status home-streaming-server.service

To look at logs for the service:

journalctl -u home-streaming-server.service

For more info on systemd unit files: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-systemctl-to-manage-systemd-services-and-units#editing-unit-files

For more info on journalctl: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-journalctl-to-view-and-manipulate-systemd-logs

Note

Make sure that the video file is a .mp4 and uses H.264 and AAC codecs for video and audio (respectively). If it is not, run the following command on the file:

ffmpeg -i <input.avi> -c:v libx264 -preset slow -crf 20 -c:a aac -b:a 160k -vf format=yuv420p -movflags +faststart <output.mp4>

Make sure to replace <input.avi> with the name of the input file and <output.mp4> with the name of the output file.

DASH

The below instructions are for doing DASH. Browsers will automatically request files in chunks, so DASH is not needed unless you want to dynamically adapt streaming.

Create different bitrates of a single video file

Input <in.video> below can be .mp4 or .webm. Change name of input and output files as needed.

ffmpeg -i in.video -c:v libvpx-vp9 -keyint_min 150 \
-g 150 -tile-columns 4 -frame-parallel 1 -f webm -dash 1 \
-an -vf scale=160:90 -b:v 250k -dash 1 video_160x90_250k.webm \
-an -vf scale=320:180 -b:v 500k -dash 1 video_320x180_500k.webm \
-an -vf scale=640:360 -b:v 750k -dash 1 video_640x360_750k.webm \
-an -vf scale=640:360 -b:v 1000k -dash 1 video_640x360_1000k.webm \
-an -vf scale=1280:720 -b:v 1500k -dash 1 video_1280x720_1500k.webm

from step 1 in: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media/DASH_Adaptive_Streaming_for_HTML_5_Video#using_dash_-_server_side

Create audio file

Change name of input <in.video> output as needed.

ffmpeg -i in.video -vn -acodec libvorbis -ab 128k -dash 1 my_audio.webm

from step 1 in: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media/DASH_Adaptive_Streaming_for_HTML_5_Video#using_dash_-_server_side

Create the manifest file

Change name of video files and audio files to match the name of the ones that were created in steps above. Also change name of output .mpd manifest file.

ffmpeg \
  -f webm_dash_manifest -i video_160x90_250k.webm \
  -f webm_dash_manifest -i video_320x180_500k.webm \
  -f webm_dash_manifest -i video_640x360_750k.webm \
  -f webm_dash_manifest -i video_1280x720_1500k.webm \
  -f webm_dash_manifest -i my_audio.webm \
  -c copy \
  -map 0 -map 1 -map 2 -map 3 -map 4 \
  -f webm_dash_manifest \
  -adaptation_sets "id=0,streams=0,1,2,3 id=1,streams=4" \
  my_video_manifest.mpd

from step 2 in: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media/DASH_Adaptive_Streaming_for_HTML_5_Video#using_dash_-_server_side

(Optional) Convert .mp4 to .webm

This step is optional and is NOT needed for DASH or any form of streaming to work correctly. It is just here as a reference...

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libvpx-vp9 -crf 30 -b:v 0 -b:a 128k -c:a libopus output.webm

found from: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/47510489/ffmpeg-convert-mp4-to-webm-poor-results