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Streaming Video with VLC, Darwin... ?

Nashira Rau
Registered User
Join date: 9 Oct 2008
Posts: 1
10-09-2008 03:35
Hello

(sorry for my bad english, I'm french ;) )

I search a solution for a long time, but I don't find...


I want to stream a video.

My video weighs 60Mb, so it's too large for classic method. The video needs to be pre-loaded so my visitor can't wait.



I have a dedicated server so I tried 2 other method :
• Streaming with VLC (Nothing appears in SecondLife, I have the sound in a VLC but not image...)
• Darwin Streaming Server : the install is a piece of shit



Can someboy help me ?


With my dedicaced server, I think that all options are open to me ;)
Infrared Wind
Gridologist
Join date: 7 Jan 2007
Posts: 662
10-09-2008 05:16
I stream video of all types from a Windows machine to a Linux machine that runs a Real Media Helix server.

By all kinds I mean, DVD's from my DVD player, any video on my hard drive (avi, divx, mpg, mov etc), cable television and live from my video camera.

Kinda tricky to set up. I also found that trying stream anything large resolutions will not work.

One of the command lines I use is this:

vlc -vvv --loop "I:\somedirectory\myvideo.avi" --sout="#transcode:rtp" --sout-transcode-width=176 --sout-transcode-height=144 --sout-transcode-vcodec="H263" --sout-transcode-vb="20" --sout-transcode-fps="5" --sout-rtp-dst="192.168.1.xxx" --sout-rtp-ttl="255" --sout-rtp-sdp="file://Z:\samba\directory_on_my_linux_server\rtpencodersdp\vlc.sdp" --sout-rtp-name="RTP Stream"

This fires up VLC which then streams to the Helix server on the Linux box.

I could run VLC from the Linux box as well, but this works fine.

You can try out a 30-day trial version:

http://www.realnetworks.com/products/media_delivery.html

Runs on Windows 2003 server, Linux or Solaris.

- Infrared
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AWM Mars
Scarey Dude :¬)
Join date: 10 Apr 2004
Posts: 3,398
10-09-2008 06:20
Even at 60mb in file size, that is not the issue, its Data Bit Rate, the value of bits that it tries to stream at, over the time of the movie.

A quick calculation would be 60mb, divided by say 60 seconds of total view time, would equate to 1mbps. If you open the movie file in Quick Time, and then open Window, Movie Inspector, it will give you the Data Bit Rate. There is a misconception that QT reports in bytes, whereas it reports in bits.

There are 3 basic ways to deliver media/movies:
1) Download and watch.
2) Progressive download and watch, while its downloads.
3) RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) Darwin servers are specifically created to deliver this format.

Download and watch is a simple solution, but its draw backs are that the viewer has to wait until fully downloaded before they can view it. In its favour, it produces the best quality. Against, you are giving the view an exact copy of the media.

Progressive download, allows the viewer to watch the movie while it downloads, by using a temp cache to hold the media in advance. In its favour, it also allows for good quality, also there is only a short time before the viewer begins to see the movie. Uses the least bandwidth when the media is looped. Against, you are giving a copy to the viewer, albiet in a cache.

RTSP, allows the viewer to watch the stream dynamically without the use of a cache. In its favour, it doesnt give the viewer any media onto their system, so good for secure (ish) media. It is the only way to get live broadcasts streamed. Against, you can get poor quality if the stream deteriorates, it takes around 10-15 seconds to establish a connection to the re-broadcasting server, it is heavy on bandwidth especially for looped media.

In conclusion, as you appear to be 'streaming' (a common term used for delivery of media, other than Download and Watch) a pre-recorded movie, I would suggest you explore creating your movies as Progressive Download. This does require a substantial host server and connection, not normally found in the average website host package.

http://dowire.org/wiki/Streaming_vs_Progressive_Download
http://dowire.org/wiki/Streaming_media_Defined
http://www.reelseo.com/progressive-download-vs-streamin/
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