Documentation:Streaming HowTo/Stream from a DV Camcorder

Note: This is possible under GNU/Linux only.

Install the libraw1394 and libavc1394

If you want to be able to stream from a DV camcorder, then you need to install the libraries libraw1394 and libavc1394:

• if you use a Fedora Core distribution then you just need to install the libraries using:

% yum update
% yum install libraw1394 libavc1394'

• if you want to install the libraries from the source then you must download them from the libraw1394 and libavc1394 from their projects website.

• if you have a distribution that uses udev, then you must add/change the following line to the file 50-udev.rules in your /etc/udev/rules.d directory.

% vi /etc/udev/rules.d/50-udev.rules
# IEEE1394 (firewire) devices (must be before raw devices below)
KERNEL=="raw1394",              NAME="%k"
KERNEL=="dv1394",               NAME="dv1394/%k"
KERNEL=="video1394*",           NAME="video1394/%n"

The following sections assume that you have a working linux installation with the IEEE 1394 (Firewire) libraries installed, either manually from the source code or through your distributions upgrade mechanism.

Stream with DV

Connect the DV camcorder with a Firewire cable to your computer, and check the creation of the file /dev/raw1394.

Run VLC with the following in one command line:

% vlc -vvv dv/rawdv:///dev/raw1394 --dv-caching 10000 --sout
'#transcode{vcodec=WMV2,vb=512,scale=1,acodec=mp3,ab=192,channels=2,fps=25.0}:
std{access=mmsh,mux=asfh,url=:8080}' 

where:

• dv/rawdv:// is the DV input and /dev/raw1394 the device file,
• dv-caching is the delay is milliseconds (ms) (start with a high value, 10s or so, and lower it later),
• sout is the stream output chain that is used to stream the DV camcorder as a multimedia stream over the network. The transcode syntax is explained in the chapter about transcoding. The example as given above generates a multimedia stream that is compatible with Windows Media Player,
• sout-transcode-fps is the number of pictures per second 25.0 that the transcode module should generate of the requested audio/video codec.

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