Downloading RTSP stream?

[Christian Weisgerber]

Do we have something in the ports tree that can read an RTSP stream
where mplayer fails?

$ mplayer rtsp://ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net/zdf/data/quicktime/zdf/09/09/090920_untergang_szent_istvan_tex_vh.mp4
MPlayer 1.0rc2-4.2.1 (C) 2000-2007 MPlayer Team
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+ (Family: 15, Model: 67, Stepping: 3)
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 1 SSE2: 1
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.

Playing rtsp://ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net/zdf/data/quicktime/zdf/09/09/090920_untergang_szent_istvan_tex_vh.mp4.
Resolving ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net for AF_INET6...
Couldn't resolve name for AF_INET6: ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net
Resolving ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net for AF_INET...
Connecting to server ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net[62.27.26.6]: 554...
A single media stream only is supported atm.
rtsp_session: unsupported RTSP server. Server type is 'DSS/6.0.3 (Build/526.3; Platform/Linux; Release/Darwin Streaming Server; State/Development; )'.
Resolving ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net for AF_INET6...
Couldn't resolve name for AF_INET6: ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net
Resolving ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net for AF_INET...
Connecting to server ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net[62.27.26.6]: 80...
Server returned 404: error
No stream found to handle url rtsp://ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net/zdf/data/quicktime/zdf/09/09/090920_untergang_szent_istvan_tex_vh.mp4

[b. f.]

Post by Christian Weisgerber
Do we have something in the ports tree that can read an RTSP stream
where mplayer fails?

I think that multimedia/vlc will play such streams, although I have
not used it for this purpose. I think that both vlc and mplayer use
parts of net/liveMedia to handle these streams, and this specialized
port comes with a simple command-line client, openRTSP, which will
enable you to dump the stream to a file or pipe it to another player:

http://www.live555.com/openRTSP/

You may want to try this first. Are you sure that the problem is with
the client, and not with the server?

Regards,
b.

[Christian Weisgerber]

Post by b. f.

Post by Christian Weisgerber
Do we have something in the ports tree that can read an RTSP stream
where mplayer fails?

I think that multimedia/vlc will play such streams, although I have
not used it for this purpose. I think that both vlc and mplayer use

Alas, I'm not interested in playing the stream live. I want to
capture it into a file for later viewing.

Post by b. f.
parts of net/liveMedia to handle these streams, and this specialized
port comes with a simple command-line client, openRTSP, which will

Yes, this looks promising.
Hmm.
Plain openRTSP creates separate audio and video files. I don't
think this is useful for later playing. mplayer doesn't find
anything in the output of openRTSP -4 (or -q).

Post by b. f.
You may want to try this first. Are you sure that the problem is with
the client, and not with the server?

QuickTime on Mac OS X can play the stream.

They also offer an MMS stream for Windows users. I can successfully
capture that with mplayer -dumpstream, but I'd prefer MP4 over WMV.
Just because.

[b. f.]

Post by Christian Weisgerber
Plain openRTSP creates separate audio and video files. I don't
think this is useful for later playing.

Useful for editing, but not perhaps as convenient for playing.
However, mplayer has the -audiofile switch, and various
synchronization options, for the case of separate audio and video
files. By the way, when you were attempting to download this with
mplayer, did you use -dumpstream in conjunction with -dumpfile, and
did you experiment with the -rtsp-* switches? And do any other
players (e.g. xine, vlc) play the output files -- or do they fail,
too?

Post by Christian Weisgerber
mplayer doesn't find
anything in the output of openRTSP -4 (or -q).

Yes, I think that the sample openRTSP client is very flexible, but
doesn't adapt well to different streams when no settings are
specified. I've gotten garbage under default settings, and had to
tinker with various knobs. I got mplayer to play the output of the
first 30 seconds of your stream, albeit with a stream of error
messages (I used tcp transport to allow passage through a firewall,
and had to bump the buffer sizes as a result):

openRTSP -4 -B 100000 -b 100000 -d 30 -D 110 -Q -n -t
rtsp://ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net/zdf/data/quicktime/zdf/09/09/090920_untergang_szent_istvan_tex_vh.mp4

Post by Christian Weisgerber
naddy30.mp4
but I'd prefer MP4 over WMV.
Just because.

:) Yes, using a proprietary format sticks in my craw, too.


b.

[Christian Weisgerber]

Post by b. f.
By the way, when you were attempting to download this with
mplayer, did you use -dumpstream in conjunction with -dumpfile, and
did you experiment with the -rtsp-* switches?

The -rtsp-* switches didn't seem relevant. Turns out they aren't
available at all unless mplayer is built with liveMedia. So I
recompiled the mplayer port with option LIVEMEDIA. And presto,
mplayer -rtsp-stream-over-tcp (to cope with NAT) now *plays* the
stream just fine. However, -dumpstream errors out:
Cannot dump this stream - no file descriptor available.

Post by b. f.
tinker with various knobs. I got mplayer to play the output of the
first 30 seconds of your stream, albeit with a stream of error
messages (I used tcp transport to allow passage through a firewall,
openRTSP -4 -B 100000 -b 100000 -d 30 -D 110 -Q -n -t
rtsp://ondemand.quicktime.zdf.newmedia.nacamar.net/zdf/data/quicktime/zdf/09/09/090920_untergang_szent_istvan_tex_vh.mp4

I don't see how most of these switches are relevant.

Hmm, "openRTSP -f 25 -w 688 -h 384 -4 -d 30 -t <url>" now captures
something that mplayer can sort of play. Tons of errors, though.

Oh well. I'll pass for now and maybe revisit this topic in a year.

[b. f.]

I've tried it vlc -- works ;-)

At:

http://www.live555.com/mplayer

they state:

'Note: We now recommend the use of the VLC media player. VLC, like
MPlayer, uses the "LIVE555 Streaming Media" code for RTSP client
support, but is generally more reliable than MPlayer.'

but don't provide any information on why they think this is so, or
what versions of the two players they are referring to. I'm not sure
if this is related to mplayer's decision to support libnemesi
(http://lscube.org/projects/libnemesi ) as an alternative for these
streams.

I think vlc has an option to dump the stream to a file, too, right?

b.

[Ross Finlayson]

Post by b. f.

I've tried it vlc -- works ;-)

http://www.live555.com/mplayer
'Note: We now recommend the use of the VLC media player. VLC, like
MPlayer, uses the "LIVE555 Streaming Media" code for RTSP client
support, but is generally more reliable than MPlayer.'
but don't provide any information on why they think this is so

I wrote this based on my own personal experience with those two
applications (VLC and MPlayer), and, in particular, the developers of
those two applications. In my opinion, the developers of VLC are
noticeably more helpful and clued up than the developers of MPlayer.
(For example, I recall that one of the leading MPlayer developers
(some clown named Richard Felker) was constantly belitting our
software because it's written in C++ rather than C.)

MPlayer was also significantly less reliable and harder to use than
VLC. Perhaps MPlayer has improved in the last few years, but I've
seen no reason to choose it over VLC.

[Andreas Hermann Braml]

Hi,

Post by b. f.
I think vlc has an option to dump the stream to a file, too, right?

Right. Ctrl-R should do the trick.


pseudoruprecht