How to Stream a static video file

Question

Hi I am trying to stream a video file (located in local machine's hard disk.) to home network/LAN.

I am trying to do this from a week now. I tried all the resource I could find then then as a last resort asking this question here.

1. Video file is present in local machine's hard disk.
2. need to stream through HTTP protocol.
3. Any GPL server would work , however would prefer ffmpeg or vlc.

Thanks. I appreciate any help on this.

Here are few things I already tried.

VLC:

This intermittently works. But no audio is coming , only video is received.

On server end:

ffmpeg -i sample.mp4 -vcodec libx264 -acodec aac -ar 48000 -strict experimental -f flv "rtmp://127.0.0.1:1935/live/myStream"

vlc rtp://@10.1.10.102:9001

ffmpeg :

step-1:

running ffmpeg server

 ffserver -d  -f /etc/ffserver.conf 
ffserver version N-80026-g936751b Copyright (c) 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers

step-2: stream

ffmpeg -i SampleVideo_1280x720_2mb.mp4 -vcodec libx264 -acodec aac -ar 48000 -strict experimental -f flv "rtmp://localhost/live/myStream"
ffmpeg version N-80026-g936751b Copyright (c) 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 4.8 (Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.3)
  configuration: --extra-libs=-ldl --prefix=/opt/ffmpeg --mandir=/usr/share/man --enable-avresample --disable-debug --enable-nonfree --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --disable-decoder=amrnb --disable-decoder=amrwb --enable-libpulse --enable-libfreetype --enable-gnutls --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libfdk-aac --enable-libvorbis --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-libvpx --enable-libspeex --enable-libass --enable-avisynth --enable-libsoxr --enable-libxvid --enable-libvidstab
  libavutil      55. 24.100 / 55. 24.100
  libavcodec     57. 42.100 / 57. 42.100
  libavformat    57. 36.100 / 57. 36.100
  libavdevice    57.  0.101 / 57.  0.101
  libavfilter     6. 45.100 /  6. 45.100
  libavresample   3.  0.  0 /  3.  0.  0
  libswscale      4.  1.100 /  4.  1.100
  libswresample   2.  0.101 /  2.  0.101
  libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'SampleVideo_1280x720_2mb.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    creation_time   : 1970-01-01 00:00:00
    encoder         : Lavf53.24.2
  Duration: 00:00:13.50, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1248 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 1280x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 862 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 12800 tbn (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 1970-01-01 00:00:00
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
    Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, 5.1, fltp, 381 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 1970-01-01 00:00:00
      handler_name    : SoundHandler
[tcp @ 0x3a4c920] Connection to tcp://localhost:1935 failed: Connection refused
[rtmp @ 0x3a4c8a0] Cannot open connection tcp://localhost:1935
rtmp://localhost/live/myStream: Connection refused

more commands :

ffmpeg -i "SampleVideo_1280x720_2mb.mp4"  -re -f mpegts "udp://127.0.0.1:2000"
ffmpeg version N-80026-g936751b Copyright (c) 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 4.8 (Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.3)
  configuration: --extra-libs=-ldl --prefix=/opt/ffmpeg --mandir=/usr/share/man --enable-avresample --disable-debug --enable-nonfree --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --disable-decoder=amrnb --disable-decoder=amrwb --enable-libpulse --enable-libfreetype --enable-gnutls --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libfdk-aac --enable-libvorbis --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-libvpx --enable-libspeex --enable-libass --enable-avisynth --enable-libsoxr --enable-libxvid --enable-libvidstab
  libavutil      55. 24.100 / 55. 24.100
  libavcodec     57. 42.100 / 57. 42.100
  libavformat    57. 36.100 / 57. 36.100
  libavdevice    57.  0.101 / 57.  0.101
  libavfilter     6. 45.100 /  6. 45.100
  libavresample   3.  0.  0 /  3.  0.  0
  libswscale      4.  1.100 /  4.  1.100
  libswresample   2.  0.101 /  2.  0.101
  libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'SampleVideo_1280x720_2mb.mp4':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : isom
    minor_version   : 512
    compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
    creation_time   : 1970-01-01 00:00:00
    encoder         : Lavf53.24.2
  Duration: 00:00:13.50, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1248 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 1280x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 862 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 12800 tbn (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 1970-01-01 00:00:00
      handler_name    : VideoHandler
    Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, 5.1, fltp, 381 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 1970-01-01 00:00:00
      handler_name    : SoundHandler
Option re (read input at native frame rate) cannot be applied to output file udp://127.0.0.1:2000 -- you are trying to apply an input option to an output file or vice versa. Move this option before the file it belongs to.
Error parsing options for output file udp://127.0.0.1:2000.
Error opening output files: Invalid argument

My ffmpeg configuration file:

cat /etc/ffserver.conf 
Port 8090                      # Port to bind the server to
BindAddress 0.0.0.0
MaxHTTPConnections 2000
MaxClients 1000
MaxBandwidth 10000             # Maximum bandwidth per client
                               # set this high enough to exceed stream bitrate
CustomLog -
NoDaemon                       # Remove this if you want FFserver to daemonize after start

<Feed feed1.ffm>               # This is the input feed where FFmpeg will send
   File ./feed1.ffm            # video stream.
   FileMaxSize 1G              # Maximum file size for buffering video
   ACL allow 127.0.0.1         # Allowed IPs
</Feed>

<Stream test.webm>              # Output stream URL definition
   Feed feed1.ffm              # Feed from which to receive video
   Format webm

   # Audio settings
   AudioCodec vorbis
   AudioBitRate 64             # Audio bitrate

   # Video settings
   VideoCodec libvpx
   VideoSize 720x576           # Video resolution
   VideoFrameRate 25           # Video FPS
   AVOptionVideo flags +global_header  # Parameters passed to encoder
                                       # (same as ffmpeg command-line parameters)
   AVOptionVideo cpu-used 0
   AVOptionVideo qmin 10
   AVOptionVideo qmax 42
   AVOptionVideo quality good
   AVOptionAudio flags +global_header
   PreRoll 15
   StartSendOnKey
   VideoBitRate 400            # Video bitrate
</Stream>

<Stream status.html>            # Server status URL
   Format status
   # Only allow local people to get the status
   ACL allow localhost
   ACL allow 192.168.0.0 192.168.255.255
</Stream>

<Redirect index.html>    # Just an URL redirect for index
   # Redirect index.html to the appropriate site
   URL http://www.ffmpeg.org/
</Redirect>

Note :

Following command does not give any error. but client is not showing any video or audio,

ffmpeg -re -i "SampleVideo_1280x720_2mb.mp4"  -f mpegts "udp://10.1.10.102:2000"

This one says broken pipe:

ffmpeg -re -i SampleVideo_1280x720_2mb.mp4 -acodec copy -vcodec copy -f flv rtmp://10.1.10.102:8090/SampleVideo_1280x720_2mb.mp4

Solution

I'm not sure if my answer will help you, but if all you need is to play video files via LAN, you can simply share them using an HTTP (or even FTP) server.

On the computer which hosts video files (server), install a web server of your choice, e.g.

sudo apt-get install apache2
# or
sudo apt-get install lighttpd

Put your video files in the web directory (usually /var/www) or symlink them there.

On the computer which should play the video (client), run

wget http://server/something.avi -O - | mplayer -cache 8192 -

or you can start vlc and tell it to open http://server/something.avi file.

Unless you have DNS in your LAN, you'll probably have to replace server with its address, which usually looks like 192.168.X.Y

Comments

[P....]

@PIMP_JUICE_IT - I will get back to you once I get hold of server again. Its down since weekend for maintenance. Thanks

[P....]

@PIMP_JUICE_IT : Naa It didn't worked. I have added the error in question in the end.

[Zenexer]

This looks like it might be relevant: stackoverflow.com/questions/26999595/…

[Ian M]

Since you didn't go into much depth on what you are trying to accomplish, I'll throw a suggestion out there, why not try something like the media server Plex? plex.tv You don't need to re-invent the wheel.

[Quinton M.]

Why say that you have a restriction to use only HTTP and one of your uses RTMP?

[P....]

_thanks for your reply, this is very helpful to me. _