[SOLVED] Streaming Software Solution.

business_kid · 10-08-2023, 02:21 PM

I sat through a one-day Assembly of ~600 folks today, and the sound was awful. I was in a hotel, in an overflow suite upstairs (or up lifts), with two big tvs, connected to the suite below by (wait for it) Zoom

. The hotel obviously have no infrastructure to deal with linking their conference suites. Everything went through in-house wifi. The 2 upstairs speakers were usually at least a syllable out of synch (ouch!), & dropouts were regular.

A video camera shows the speaker. Sound is amplified downstairs, but a 'line out' feed is available. This is what I need to create for next time.

Code:

Video Feed===>==== |
                  ||
                 _||________
                |           |
Sound Feed===>==| Server    |===>===RJ45 out to everything
                |___________|

As an alternative, I was thinking Power line ethernet adapters to overcome the physical distance. One to provide the feed, and one to receive it. A cheap network switch would allow two (or more) upstairs pc-connected tvs to be in synch.

But what's the most idiot proof software to use? VLC is available on windows for upstairs, but how do I serve a camera and sound feed (mics & music) downstairs? PCs & Tablets are available & a few Macs. Linux is unknown to these folks, but If I serve them a ready-to-use option (e.g. on usb key), it will be tried.

I envisage no internet being connected. Every machine on this mini-network will be trusted, so security is not a consideration. What software would you use for this?

sag47 · 10-09-2023, 01:44 PM

I regularly stream for video games and game development on Linux. OBS studio is solid (the streaming software I use). I did a quick web search and found VLC can watch streams from OBS. Try that out for your needs.

business_kid · 10-09-2023, 02:00 PM

Thanks for the genuinely useful reply. I'll check out OBS studio and build myself a version if nobody else has. I can start farting about then, and avoid sitting through another disaster like that.

Can many boxes stream the same output? There could be up to half a dozen.

michaelk · 10-09-2023, 02:16 PM

PLAs may or may not work. You never know how hotels are wired. If the outlets are not on the same sub-panel/circuit there not going to see each other.

sag47 · 10-09-2023, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by business_kid

Thanks for the genuinely useful reply. I'll check out OBS studio and build myself a version if nobody else has. I can start farting about then, and avoid sitting through another disaster like that.

Can many boxes stream the same output? There could be up to half a dozen.

I don’t have any direct experience with that specific feature but it is outputting MPEG over udp protocol so I would think yes. The other alternative is to build out an RTMP server (like nginx). One computer streams to nginx and nginx handles distributing to many clients. Here’s an article by Digital Ocean on how to set it up.

For a local network, I would probably set up over a service discovery service such as hashicorp consul but that would likely be overkill for most. I have an example project I created to study its use in a clustered environment (unrelated to streaming).

I would also suggest securing it with a local VPN (openvpn) so the stream is secured on the local network and only the machines you intend to connect do so as to not overwhelm the service.

business_kid · 10-10-2023, 09:11 AM

First of all, Thank you to everyone for the helpful and constructive suggestions, and informative links.

Next, let me revise that Network map.

Code:

CONFERENCE ROOM:
Camera Feed==>==== |
                  ||
                 _||________
                |           |
Sound Feed===>==| Server    |===>===RJ45 out to Power Line Network Adapter
                |_______ ___|
                       ||
                       ||
                       | ==>==Local Video only

The overflow room Upstairs is a blank canvas. Power Line network Adapter is the signal input. Only one pc is required but they may do silly things, depending on the available equipment. There are also Power Line Network adapters with two outputs. I presume both work together but I've yet to try it.

I gather our guys shoved in the equipment. On the day, our people turned up early in the morning and kicked out a wedding party still there from Friday night and got stuck into into tidying the place. They hung two 70" monitors and fed pcs into them for the overflow room. They had one 70" Monitor downstairs. Then Zoom via hotel wifi

The nice thing about what's been suggested is that they should be able to turn up there, do a setup of pc --> adaptor --> (upstairs) adaptor --pc(s) when the rooms are not being used. Then they can test it all. The (forlorn) hope is that if it all works, it will be simple on the day. Nothing's ever simple with windows.

So why did I mark this solved? Simple - all the software is available in windows format, and as I am an invalid now, so I can sit back and let the windows nerds take over, sweat over it, reinstall windows, and do what windows nerds do. This hardly needs to be pursued on a linux forum.

business_kid · 10-30-2023, 06:24 AM

Okay, moving forward.

Installing OBS studio proved challenging. Setting up for flatpaks is a major PITA in Slackware, installing from git is warned against, I could see myself farting about with a rake of slackbuilds. So I went thinking it over.

I pulled windows 11 out of the UEFI fire in a separate argument, and then it was simple to install a windows version. For once that made sense, as I wanted to hand this to windows nerds. It's not like I'm trying to use it.

But it turns out they're using an IP camera that does RTMP! So now this simplified layout appealed

Code:

Camera-->Mains Network Adaptor(1)--> M.N.A(2)-->Client
                                            |-->Client2

which should work with my mains adaptors. If they need more clients, they might need a switch and more work on the distribution side, maybe the server. There were 2 upstairs screens last time, but I can easily foresee four next time. But it drops the server and OBS studio out of it altogether. I can stream RTMP locally. My difficulty is going to come if it's not pointopoint but 'point to many points.'

sag47 · 11-03-2023, 07:13 AM

VLC can play RTMP streams directly.

business_kid · 11-03-2023, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sag47

VLC can play RTMP streams directly.

Thanks, I know that. I think it's mentioned in the earlier posts.

But he's going to have to distribute the RTMP streams. The central box that gets the camera I can get no data on yet, but I'm an invalid. In the conversation I learned that there were 9-13 boxes all told between main hall, ancilliary service rooms, overflow and possible extra space needed,

So I have laid out a networking strategy for the guy that makes sense. He hadn't heard of mains netywork adaptors, or using a wifi as an access point. As I heard he has other linux guys, and I'm an invalid, I deferred to others on software to use. Whatever he uses is fine, as long as he doesn't use zoom.

The box in the main hall that takes camera input proved to be central in all of this, and I can't get info on it, so my hands are tied. If he comes back to me, I have the time to set something up for him, which not many others will. The next event is March(?) 2024, so there should be time to configure & test stuff. Anything, as long as he doesn't try Zoom again.