RaspiCam-gstreamer

Live Web Streaming on the Raspberry Pi using gstreamer

What is Gstreamer

gstreamer allows you to stream video with very low latency – a problem with VLC currently. The catch is that you need need gstreamer on the client used to view the stream. gstreamer is a development framework not a media player and there isn't a way to stream so that common players such as VLC can display the stream (without users having to install complex plugins). So, gstreamer can provide an excellent low latency video link, which is great if you are techy enough to set it up at both ends, but its no good if you want to directly stream so that Joe public can see the video on a web site for instance.

For more information visit :- Gstreamer

Setting Up The Raspberry Pi To Use gstreamer

You need to edit the sources.list file so enter:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

and add the following to the end of the file:

deb http://vontaene.de/raspbian-updates/ . main

Press CTRL+X to save and exit

Now run an update (which will make use of the line just added):

sudo apt-get update Now install gstreamer

sudo apt-get install gstreamer1.0

Note : You may have to install some gstreamer tools also, for more about this visit the Gstreamer website

To Stream The Video From the Raspberry Pi

Cloning this repository onto the Raspberry Pi

To install git:

opkg install git

Then clone this repository using git clone <git repo URL>.

Edit the Shell Script :-

nano stream_tcp.sh

Here instead of RASPBERRYIP put the ip address of your pi.

The ip address of your pi can be found out by:-

ifconfig

Now run the Shell Script :-

./stream_tcp.sh

On the Client Machine view the Stream

For Windows :-

Download Gstreamer from :- Gstreamer

Install the GStreamer Software :-

Do a Complete Install, as Typical Install leads to an error in the end.

Run command prompt as administrator

cd to the directory where GStreamer installed :-

For me it is : cd E: cd gstreamer/1.0/x86_64/bin

Now type the following command on the command prompt :-

gst-launch-1.0 -v tcpclientsrc host=VIDSERVERIP port=5000 ! gdpdepay ! rtph264depay ! avdec_h264 ! videoconvert ! autovideosink sync=false

Where is the IP Address of your Raspberry Pi.

And Boom.... You can now see the Stream on you're Windows Machine.........

For Linux

Launch a terminal and type

gst-launch-1.0 -v tcpclientsrc host=<IP-OF-THE-RPI> port=5000 ! gdpdepay ! rtph264depay ! avdec_h264 ! videoconvert ! autovideosink sync=false

Where <IP-OF-THE-PI> is the IP Address of your Raspberry Pi.

For MAC OSX

Launch a terminal and type

gst-launch-1.0 -v tcpclientsrc host=<IP-OF-THE-RPI> port=5000 ! gdpdepay ! rtph264depay ! avdec_h264 ! videoconvert ! osxvideosink sync=false

Where <IP-OF-THE-PI> is the IP Address of your Raspberry Pi.

And Enjoy!!!!!!!

Alternatives

This is one the best of solutions for Web Streaming Applications and gets the job done. You may also want to try UV4L for your applications.It's your choice, I personally found Gstreamer faster, however, it requires scripts running on both Server and Client Ends. I like the universaltiy of UV4L.

For more details go to my GitHub Account Page : ShubhamCpp Here I have explored various other technologies, these include :-

1. MJPEG using HTTP Web Sockets

2. FFMPEG using HTTP Web Sockets

3. Gstreamer (Best in my opinion) (Discussed Here)

4. UV4L and UV4L-Raspicam

I got the best experience with Gstreamer for my application, however you may feel that something else works out for you better. This will depend on the application you are developing. I'll be happy if anyone of the following help you out in some way. :)