v4l2rtspserver

This is an streamer feed from :

• an Video4Linux device that support H264, HEVC, JPEG, VP8 or VP9 capture.
• an ALSA device that support PCM S16_BE, S16_LE, S32_BE or S32_LE

The RTSP server support :

• RTP/UDP unicast
• RTP/UDP multicast
• RTP/TCP
• RTP/RTSP/HTTP

The HTTP server support :

• HLS
• MPEG-DASH

Dependencies

• liblivemedia-dev License LGPL > live.2012.01.07 (need StreamReplicator)
• libv4l2cpp Unlicense
• liblog4cpp5-dev License LGPL (optional)

Usage

./v4l2rtspserver [-v[v]] [-Q queueSize] [-O file] \
		       [-I interface] [-P RTSP port] [-p RTSP/HTTP port] [-m multicast url] [-u unicast url] [-M multicast addr] [-c] [-t timeout] \
		       [-r] [-s] [-W width] [-H height] [-F fps] [device1] [device2]
	 -v       : verbose
	 -vv      : very verbose
	 -Q length: Number of frame queue  (default 10)
	 -O output: Copy captured frame to a file or a V4L2 device
	 
	 RTSP options :
	 -I addr  : RTSP interface (default autodetect)
	 -P port  : RTSP port (default 8554)
	 -p port  : RTSP over HTTP port (default 0)
	 -U user:password : RTSP user and password
	 -R realm  : use md5 password 'md5(<username>:<realm>:<password>')
	 -u url   : unicast url (default unicast)
	 -m url   : multicast url (default multicast)
	 -M addr  : multicast group:port (default is random_address:20000)
	 -c       : don't repeat config (default repeat config before IDR frame)
	 -t secs  : RTCP expiration timeout (default 65)
	 -T       : send Transport Stream instead of elementary Stream
	 -S[secs] : HTTP segment duration (enable HLS & MPEG-DASH)
	 
	 V4L2 options :
	 -r       : V4L2 capture using read interface (default use memory mapped buffers)
	 -w       : V4L2 capture using write interface (default use memory mapped buffers)
	 -s       : V4L2 capture using live555 mainloop (default use a separated reading thread)
	 -f       : V4L2 capture using current capture format (-W,-H are ignored)
	 -fformat : V4L2 capture using format (-W,-H are used)
	 -W width : V4L2 capture width (default 640)
	 -H height: V4L2 capture height (default 480)
	 -F fps   : V4L2 capture framerate (default 25, 0 disable setting framerate)
	 
	 ALSA options :
	 -A freq    : ALSA capture frequency and channel (default 44100)
	 -C channels: ALSA capture channels (default 2)
	 -a fmt     : ALSA capture audio format (default S16_BE)
	 
	 device   : V4L2 capture device and/or ALSA device (default /dev/video0)

Authentification is enable when almost one user is defined. You can configure credentials :

• using plain text password:

  -U foo:bar -U admin:admin
  

• using md5 password:

  -R myrealm -U foo:$(echo -n foo:myrealm:bar | md5sum | cut -d- -f1) -U admin:$(echo -n admin:myrealm:admin | md5sum | cut -d- -f1)
  

It is possible to compose the RTSP session is different ways :

• v4l2rtspserver /dev/video0 : one RTSP session with RTP video capturing V4L2 device /dev/video0
• v4l2rtspserver ,default : one RTSP session with RTP audio capturing ALSA device default
• v4l2rtspserver /dev/video0,default : one RTSP session with RTP audio and RTP video
• v4l2rtspserver /dev/video0 ,default : two RTSP sessions first one with RTP video and second one with RTP audio
• v4l2rtspserver /dev/video0 /dev/video1 : two RTSP sessions with an RTP video
• v4l2rtspserver /dev/video0,/dev/video0 : one RTSP session with RTP audio and RTP video (ALSA device associatd with the V4L2 device)

Build

• Before build (optional) The build try to install live555 package using apt-get, however in order to install live555 disabling check of port reuse, you can proceed like this:

    wget http://www.live555.com/liveMedia/public/live555-latest.tar.gz -O - | tar xvzf -
    cd live
    ./genMakefiles linux
    sudo make CPPFLAGS=-DALLOW_RTSP_SERVER_PORT_REUSE=1 install
  

• Build

    cmake . && make
  

  If it fails you will need to install liblivemedia-dev liblog4cpp5-dev.
  If it still not work you will need to read Makefile.

• Install (optional)

    sudo make install
  

• Packaging (optional)

    cpack .
  

Using Raspberry Pi Camera

This RTSP server works with Raspberry Pi camera using :

• the unofficial V4L2 driver for the Raspberry Pi Camera Module http://www.linux-projects.org/uv4l/

  sudo uv4l --driver raspicam --auto-video_nr --encoding h264

• the official V4L2 driver bcm2835-v4l2

  sudo modprobe -v bcm2835-v4l2

Using v4l2loopback

For camera providing uncompress format v4l2tools can compress the video to an intermediate virtual V4L2 device v4l2loopback:

/dev/video0 (camera device)-> v4l2compress_h264 -> /dev/video10 (v4l2loopback device) -> v4l2rtspserver

This workflow could be set using :

modprobe v4l2loopback video_nr=10
v4l2compress_h264 /dev/video0 /dev/video10 &
v4l2rtspserver /dev/video10 &

Playing HTTP streams

When v4l2rtspserver is started with '-S' arguments it also give access to streams through HTTP.
These streams could be played :

* for MPEG-DASH with :   
       MP4Client http://..../unicast.mpd   
   
* for HLS with :  
       vlc http://..../unicast.m3u8  
       gstreamer-launch-1.0 playbin uri=http://.../unicast.m3u8  

It is now possible to play HLS url directly from browser :

• using Firefox installing Native HLS addons
• using Chrome installing Native HLS playback

There is also a small HTML page that use hls.js and dash.js, but dash still not work because player doesnot support MP2T format.