On-the-fly transcoding for streaming recordings / videos

[bgowland]

@sub - Related to this post by dark_half and my answer, do you have any tips for how I could rewrite my nDroid Service streamer to transcode video/recordings on-the-fly and any ideas for what to use to do it.

I'm assuming the .../transcode url for live tv transcodes to a buffer file but what tools are you using? Is it a custom directshow graph or are you using ffmpeg? Or something else?

Cheers,
Brian

[sub]

The URL formation mentioned by dark_half can be used. Be warned though, it's not super reliable. It uses ffmpeg to do the transcoding. It generally works, but when it fails, there isnt much I can do other than shrugging my shoulders - I really dont want to get into debugging inside ffmpeg and making changes to ffmpeg etc. Newer versions of ffmpeg.exe might help with some of those situations though.

[mvallevand]

To use a newer ffmpeg you are going to need to open up the command line. The one that is hardcoded hasn't worked for a while.

Martin

[sub]

I've made the command line configurable for the next release.

[bgowland]

It generally works, but when it fails, there isnt much I can do other than shrugging my shoulders - I really dont want to get into debugging inside ffmpeg and making changes to ffmpeg etc.

Fair enough - I was going to leave the default for live tv as the /live formation but add an option in the nDroid client settings to use /transcode. I'm happy to put a disclaimer in for reliability issues etc.

Martin's comment about a 'command line' is part of my question. Are you firing ffmpeg using something like a 'shell' command? I was assuming if I want to transcode for videos/recordings I was probably going to have to do that anyway to a temp transcode file, buffer for a few seconds then have my streamer thread start writing it out in the response.

Cheers,
Brian

[sub]

Yes, behind the scenes it launches an instance of ffmpeg.

For the next release, the web server /transcode url can also stream recordings using http://<server>:8866/transcode?record=1234&resolution=720x406&bitrate=900k format, where 1234 is the recording OID. With this change, you should be able to stream either recording or live tv, so should be set.

[bgowland]

For the next release, the web server /transcode url can also stream recordings using http://<server>:8866/transcode?record=1234&resolution=720x406&bitrate=900k format, where 1234 is the recording OID. With this change, you should be able to stream either recording or live tv, so should be set.

OK, that's great thanks.

Generally as things are with nDroid it works fine for me with SD recorded with UK DVB-T but I can see it will be a useful option for people streaming HD to whatever platform.

Cheers,
Brian