Using Live555 to Stream Live Video from an IP camera connected to an H264 encoder

Question

I am using a custom Texas Instruments OMAP-L138 based board that basically consists of an ARM9 based SoC and a DSP processor. It is connected to a camera lens. What I\'m trying

Answer 1

Okay so I figured out what needed to be done and am writing for the benefit of all who might face a similar issue. What I needed to do was modify my testH264VideoStreamer.cpp and DeviceSource.cpp file such that it directly reads data from the device (in my case it was the custom am1808 board), store it in a buffer and stream it. The changes I made were:

testH264VideoStreamer.cpp

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include  //to allow read() function




UsageEnvironment* env;

H264VideoStreamFramer* videoSource;
RTPSink* videoSink;

void play(); // forward
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------
//Entry Point -> Main FUNCTION  
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
  // Begin by setting up our usage environment:
  TaskScheduler* scheduler = BasicTaskScheduler::createNew();
  env = BasicUsageEnvironment::createNew(*scheduler);

  // Create 'groupsocks' for RTP and RTCP:
  struct in_addr destinationAddress;
  destinationAddress.s_addr = chooseRandomIPv4SSMAddress(*env);
  // Note: This is a multicast address.  If you wish instead to stream
  // using unicast, then you should use the "testOnDemandRTSPServer"
  // test program - not this test program - as a model.

  const unsigned short rtpPortNum = 18888;
  const unsigned short rtcpPortNum = rtpPortNum+1;
  const unsigned char ttl = 255;

  const Port rtpPort(rtpPortNum);
  const Port rtcpPort(rtcpPortNum);

  Groupsock rtpGroupsock(*env, destinationAddress, rtpPort, ttl);
  rtpGroupsock.multicastSendOnly(); // we're a SSM source
  Groupsock rtcpGroupsock(*env, destinationAddress, rtcpPort, ttl);
  rtcpGroupsock.multicastSendOnly(); // we're a SSM source

  // Create a 'H264 Video RTP' sink from the RTP 'groupsock':
  OutPacketBuffer::maxSize = 600000;
  videoSink = H264VideoRTPSink::createNew(*env, &rtpGroupsock, 96);

  // Create (and start) a 'RTCP instance' for this RTP sink:
  const unsigned estimatedSessionBandwidth = 1024; // in kbps; for RTCP b/w share
  const unsigned maxCNAMElen = 100;
  unsigned char CNAME[maxCNAMElen+1];
  gethostname((char*)CNAME, maxCNAMElen);
  CNAME[maxCNAMElen] = '\0'; // just in case
  RTCPInstance* rtcp
  = RTCPInstance::createNew(*env, &rtcpGroupsock,
                estimatedSessionBandwidth, CNAME,
                videoSink, NULL /* we're a server */,
                True /* we're a SSM source */);
  // Note: This starts RTCP running automatically

  RTSPServer* rtspServer = RTSPServer::createNew(*env, 8554);
  if (rtspServer == NULL) {
    *env << "Failed to create RTSP server: " << env->getResultMsg() << "\n";
    exit(1);
  }
  ServerMediaSession* sms
    = ServerMediaSession::createNew(*env, "ipcamera","UPP Buffer" ,
           "Session streamed by \"testH264VideoStreamer\"",
                       True /*SSM*/);
  sms->addSubsession(PassiveServerMediaSubsession::createNew(*videoSink, rtcp));
  rtspServer->addServerMediaSession(sms);

  char* url = rtspServer->rtspURL(sms);
  *env << "Play this stream using the URL \"" << url << "\"\n";
  delete[] url;

  // Start the streaming:
  *env << "Beginning streaming...\n";
  play();

  env->taskScheduler().doEventLoop(); // does not return

  return 0; // only to prevent compiler warning
}
//----------------------------------------------------------------------
//AFTER PLAY FUNCTION CALLED HERE
//----------------------------------------------------------------------
void afterPlaying(void* /*clientData*/) 
{

    play();
}
//------------------------------------------------------------------------
//PLAY FUNCTION () 
//------------------------------------------------------------------------
void play()
{


      // Open the input file as with Device as the source:
    DeviceSource* devSource
        = DeviceSource::createNew(*env);
    if (devSource == NULL) 
    {

          *env << "Unable to read from\"" << "Buffer"
           << "\" as a byte-stream source\n";
          exit(1);
    }

    FramedSource* videoES = devSource;

    // Create a framer for the Video Elementary Stream:
    videoSource = H264VideoStreamFramer::createNew(*env, videoES,False);

    // Finally, start playing:
    *env << "Beginning to read from UPP...\n";
    videoSink->startPlaying(*videoSource, afterPlaying, videoSink);
}

DeviceSource.cpp

#include "DeviceSource.hh"
#include  // for "gettimeofday()"
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

//static uint8_t *buf = (uint8_t*)malloc(102400);
static uint8_t buf[8192];
int upp_stream;
//static uint8_t *bufPtr = buf;

DeviceSource*
DeviceSource::createNew(UsageEnvironment& env)
{

  return new DeviceSource(env);
}

EventTriggerId DeviceSource::eventTriggerId = 0;

unsigned DeviceSource::referenceCount = 0;

DeviceSource::DeviceSource(UsageEnvironment& env):FramedSource(env) 
{ 

  if (referenceCount == 0) 
  {

      upp_stream = open("/dev/upp",O_RDWR);

  }
  ++referenceCount;

  if (eventTriggerId == 0) 
  {
    eventTriggerId = envir().taskScheduler().createEventTrigger(deliverFrame0);
  }
}

DeviceSource::~DeviceSource(void) {
  --referenceCount;
  envir().taskScheduler().deleteEventTrigger(eventTriggerId);
  eventTriggerId = 0;

  if (referenceCount == 0) 
  {

  }
}

int loop_count;

void DeviceSource::doGetNextFrame() 
{

    //for (loop_count=0; loop_count < 13; loop_count++)
    //{
        read(upp_stream,buf, 8192);

        //bufPtr+=8192;

    //}
    deliverFrame();

}

void DeviceSource::deliverFrame0(void* clientData) 
{
  ((DeviceSource*)clientData)->deliverFrame();
}

void DeviceSource::deliverFrame() 
{


  if (!isCurrentlyAwaitingData()) return; // we're not ready for the data yet

  u_int8_t* newFrameDataStart = (u_int8_t*) buf;             //(u_int8_t*) buf; //%%% TO BE WRITTEN %%%
  unsigned newFrameSize = sizeof(buf); //%%% TO BE WRITTEN %%%

  // Deliver the data here:
  if (newFrameSize > fMaxSize) {
    fFrameSize = fMaxSize;
    fNumTruncatedBytes = newFrameSize - fMaxSize;
  } else {
    fFrameSize = newFrameSize;
  }
  gettimeofday(&fPresentationTime, NULL); 
  memmove(fTo, newFrameDataStart, fFrameSize);
  FramedSource::afterGetting(this);
}

After compiling the code with these modifications, I was able to receive video stream on vlc player.