USTREAMER

NAME

ustreamer - stream MJPG video from any V4L2 device to the network

SYNOPSIS

ustreamer [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION

µStreamer (ustreamer) is a lightweight and very quick server to stream MJPG video from any V4L2 device to the network. All new browsers have native support of this video format, as well as most video players such as mplayer, VLC etc. µStreamer is a part of the Pi-KVM project designed to stream VGA and HDMI screencast hardware data with the highest resolution and FPS possible.

USAGE

Without arguments, ustreamer will try to open /dev/video0 with 640x480 resolution and start streaming on http://127.0.0.1:8080. You can override this behavior using parameters --device, --host and --port. For example, to stream to the world, run: ustreamer --device=/dev/video1 --host=0.0.0.0 --port=80

Please note that since µStreamer v2.0 cross-domain requests were disabled by default for security reasons. To enable the old behavior, use the option --allow-origin=\*.

For example, the recommended way of running µStreamer with Auvidea B101 on a Raspberry Pi is:

ustreamer \

--format=uyvy \ # Device input format
--encoder=omx \ # Hardware encoding with OpenMAX
--workers=3 \ # Maximum workers for OpenMAX
--persistent \ # Don´t re-initialize device on timeout (for example when HDMI cable was disconnected)
--dv-timings \ # Use DV-timings
--drop-same-frames=30 # Save the traffic

Please note that to use --drop-same-frames for different browsers you need to use some specific URL /stream parameters (see URL / for details).

You can always view the full list of options with ustreamer --help. Some features may not be available on your platform. To find out which features are enabled, use ustreamer --features.

OPTIONS

Capturing options

-d /dev/path, --device /dev/path

Path to V4L2 device. Default: /dev/video0.

-i N, --input N

Input channel. Default: 0.

-r WxH, --resolution WxH

Initial image resolution. Default: 640x480.

-m fmt, --format fmt

Image format. Available: YUYV, UYVY, RGB565, RGB24, JPEG; default: YUYV.

-a std, --tv-standard std

Force TV standard. Available: PAL, NTSC, SECAM; default: disabled.

-I method, --io-method method

Set V4L2 IO method (see kernel documentation). Changing of this parameter may increase the performance. Or not. Available: MMAP, USERPTR; default: MMAP.

-f N, --desired-fps N

Desired FPS. Default: maximum possible.

-z N, --min-frame-size N

Drop frames smaller then this limit. Useful if the device produces small-sized garbage frames. Default: 128 bytes.

-n, --persistent

Don’t re-initialize device on timeout. Default: disabled.

-t, --dv-timings

Enable DV timings querying and events processing to automatic resolution change. Default: disabled.

-b N, --buffers N

The number of buffers to receive data from the device. Each buffer may processed using an independent thread. Default: 2 (the number of CPU cores (but not more than 4) + 1).

-w N, --workers N

The number of worker threads but not more than buffers. Default: 1 (the number of CPU cores (but not more than 4)).

-q N, --quality N

Set quality of JPEG encoding from 1 to 100 (best). Default: 80. Note: If HW encoding is used (JPEG source format selected), this parameter attempts to configure the camera or capture device hardware’s internal encoder. It does not re-encode MJPG to MJPG to change the quality level for sources that already output MJPG.

-c type, --encoder type

Use specified encoder. It may affect the number of workers.

CPU â Software MJPG encoding (default).

OMX â GPU hardware accelerated MJPG encoding with OpenMax (required WITH_OMX feature).

HW â Use pre-encoded MJPG frames directly from camera hardware.

NOOP â Don’t compress MJPG stream (do nothing).

-g WxH,..., --glitched-resolutions WxH,...

It doesn’t do anything. Still here for compatibility. Required WITH_OMX feature.

-k path, --blank path

Path to JPEG file that will be shown when the device is disconnected during the streaming. Default: black screen 640x480 with ’NO SIGNAL’.

-K sec, --last-as-blank sec

Show the last frame received from the camera after it was disconnected, but no more than specified time (or endlessly if 0 is specified). If the device has not yet been online, display ’NO SIGNAL’ or the image specified by option --blank. Note: currently this option has no effect on memory sinks. Default: disabled.

-l, --slowdown

Slowdown capturing to 1 FPS or less when no stream or sink clients are connected. Useful to reduce CPU consumption. Default: disabled.

--device-timeout sec

Timeout for device querying. Default: 1.

--device-error-delay sec

Delay before trying to connect to the device again after an error (timeout for example). Default: 1.

Image control options

--image-default

Reset all image settings below to default. Default: no change.

--brightness N, auto, default

Set brightness. Default: no change.

--contrast N, default

Set contrast. Default: no change.

--saturation N, default

Set saturation. Default: no change.

--hue N, auto, default

Set hue. Default: no change.

--gamma N, default

Set gamma. Default: no change.

--sharpness N, default

Set sharpness. Default: no change.

--backlight-compensation N, default

Set backlight compensation. Default: no change.

--white-balance N, auto, default

Set white balance. Default: no change.

--gain N, auto, default

Set gain. Default: no change.

--color-effect N, default

Set color effect. Default: no change.

--flip-vertical 1, 0, default

Set vertical flip. Default: no change.

--flip-horizontal 1, 0, default

Set horizontal flip. Default: no change.

HTTP server options

-s address, --host address

Listen on Hostname or IP. Default: 127.0.0.1.

-p N, --port N

Bind to this TCP port. Default: 8080.

-U path, --unix path

Bind to UNIX domain socket. Default: disabled.

-d, --unix-rm

Try to remove old unix socket file before binding. default: disabled.

-M mode, --unix-mode mode

Set UNIX socket file permissions (like 777). Default: disabled.

--user name

HTTP basic auth user. Default: disabled.

--passwd str

HTTP basic auth passwd. Default: empty.

--static path

Path to dir with static files instead of embedded root index page. Symlinks are not supported for security reasons. Default: disabled.

-e N, --drop-same-frames N

Don’t send identical frames to clients, but no more than specified number. It can significantly reduce the outgoing traffic, but will increase the CPU loading. Don’t use this option with analog signal sources or webcams, it’s useless. Default: disabled.

-R WxH, --fake-resolution WxH

Override image resolution for the /state. Default: disabled.

--tcp-nodelay

Set TCP_NODELAY flag to the client /stream socket. Ignored for --unix. Default: disabled.

--allow-origin str

Set Access-Control-Allow-Origin header. Default: disabled.

--server-timeout sec

Timeout for client connections. Default: 10.

JPEG sink options

With shared memory sink you can write a stream to a file. See ustreamer-dump(1) for more info.
--sink name

Use the specified shared memory object to sink JPEG frames. Default: disabled.

--sink-mode mode

Set JPEG sink permissions (like 777). Default: 660.

--sink-rm

Remove shared memory on stop. Default: disabled.

--sink-client-ttl sec

Client TTL. Default: 10.

--sink-timeout sec

Timeout for lock. Default: 1.

H264 sink options

Available only if WITH_OMX feature enabled.
--h264-sink name

Use the specified shared memory object to sink H264 frames encoded by MMAL. Default: disabled.

--h264-sink-mode mode

Set H264 sink permissions (like 777). Default: 660.

--h264-sink-rm

Remove shared memory on stop. Default: disabled.

--h264-sink-client-ttl sec

Client TTL. Default: 10.

--h264-sink-timeout sec

Timeout for lock. Default: 1.

--h264-bitrate kbps

H264 bitrate in Kbps. Default: 5000.

--h264-gop N

Intarval between keyframes. Default: 30.

Process options

--exit-on-parent-death

Exit the program if the parent process is dead. Required HAS_PDEATHSIG feature. Default: disabled.

--process-name-prefix str

Set process name prefix which will be displayed in the process list like ’str: ustreamer --blah-blah-blah’. Required WITH_SETPROCTITLE feature. Default: disabled.

--notify-parent

Send SIGUSR2 to the parent process when the stream parameters are changed. Checking changes is performed for the online flag and image resolution. Required WITH_SETPROCTITLE feature.

GPIO options

Available only if WITH_GPIO feature enabled.
--gpio-device /dev/path

Path to GPIO character device. Default: /dev/gpiochip0.

--gpio-consumer-prefix str

Consumer prefix for GPIO outputs. Default: ustreamer.

--gpio-prog-running pin

Set 1 on GPIO pin while µStreamer is running. Default: disabled.

--gpio-stream-online pin

Set 1 while streaming. Default: disabled.

--gpio-has-http-clients pin

Set 1 while stream has at least one client. Default: disabled.

Logging options

--log-level N

Verbosity level of messages from 0 (info) to 3 (debug). Enabling debugging messages can slow down the program. Available levels: 0 (info), 1 (performance), 2 (verbose), 3 (debug). Default: 0.

--perf

Enable performance messages (same as --log-level=1). Default: disabled.

--verbose

Enable verbose messages and lower (same as --log-level=2). Default: disabled.

--debug

Enable debug messages and lower (same as --log-level=3). Default: disabled.

--force-log-colors

Force color logging. Default: colored if stderr is a TTY.

--no-log-colors

Disable color logging. Default: ditto.

Help options

-h, --help

Print this text and exit.

-v, --version

Print version and exit.

--features

Print list of supported features.

SEE ALSO

ustreamer-dump(1)

BUGS

Please file any bugs and issues at https://github.com/pikvm/ustreamer/issues

AUTHOR

Maxim Devaev <mdevaev@gmail.com>

HOMEPAGE

https://pikvm.org/

COPYRIGHT

GNU General Public License v3.0