Ubuntu – How to play rtsp streams in ubuntu

mplayerrtspstreamingvlc

More specifically, the question is how to play rtsp streams from addresses that have a question mark in them.

I.E: rtsp://some.server.name:554/video_file.wmv?authstring=sOm3StrIN2==&param=3

I have tried various media players, but couldn't stream the file. I know for sure this is not a server problem because I could stream a test video on that server that doesn't require an authentication.

I was surprised that vlc couldn't handle such urls, so I tried mplayer but it couldn't play the streams either.

mpv was the first player in which I managed to play the test video I mentioned above, but I couldn't stream urls of the form I written above. With mpv I tried this command line:

mpv --http-header-fields='authstring:sOm3StrIN2==','param:3' \rtsp://some.server.name:554/video_file.wmv

and also tried adding the --rtsp-transport=lavf|tcp|udp|http option, but nothing worked.

Unfortunately, I know that such links (as wrote above) work with the windows media player, but I don't want to use wine or go over to windows (I have duel boot) just to watch a stream.

Best Answer

Have you tried to follow these instructions from the Videolan documentation (scroll down to the Video on demand section)?

It would be useful if you provide a test rtsp url that you want to stream.

Edit: the instructions from the above link are:

First launch the vlc:

vlc --ttl 12 -vvv --color -I telnet --telnet-password videolan --rtsp-host 0.0.0.0:5554

where:

  • 12 is the value of the TTL (Time To Live) of your IP packets (which means that the stream will be able to cross 11 routers).

  • telnet launches the telnet interface of the vlc.

  • videolan is the password to connect to the telnet interface.

  • 0.0.0.0 is the host address.

  • 5554 is the port on which you stream.

Then connect to the vlc telnet interface and create the vod object:

new Test vod enabled

setup Test input my_video.mpg

You can access to the stream with:

vlc rtsp://server:5554/Test

where server is the address of the streaming server (IP or DNS)

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