Setting up RTSP using v4l2

Question

Around one year ago I built some Raspberry pi streaming device fitting on a model train. Being unhappy with the setup process on how to receive the stream on windows (using MPlayer), I decided to use an RTSP stream instead.

So I followed the tutorlials on setting up u4vl and setting up a RTSP Server here:

https://www.linux-projects.org/uv4l/tutorials/rtsp-server/

However I had some issues when starting cvlv. While I was able to fix most of the issues, I came to a point where I could not get any information on.

I started the driver, gave it real time priority and executed the cvlc command exactly as shown in the tutoria.

Unfortunately the stream won't start, I just get the following errors:

VLC media player 2.2.6 Umbrella (revision 2.2.6-0-g1aae78981c)
[01ed1f08] pulse audio output error: PulseAudio server connection failure: Connection refused
[01eeb0a8] core interface error: no suitable interface module
[01e38918] core libvlc error: interface "globalhotkeys,none" initialization failed
[01eec1f0] dummy interface: using the dummy interface module...
[72b02978] v4l2 demux error: cannot map buffer 0: No such device
[72b02978] v4l2 demux error: not a radio tuner device
[72b03f40] v4l2 access error: cannot set format: Invalid argument
[73b00510] core input error: open of `v4l2:///dev/video0' failed
[73b00510] core input error: Your input can't be opened
[73b00510] core input error: VLC is unable to open the MRL 'v4l2:///dev/video0'. Check the log for details.

Any idea on what I could try? Thanks!

Using RPi 3 btw. with the camera v2.1

Answer 1

The correct commands to start an RTSP server on the Raspberry Pi are, for example:

• uv4l --driver raspicam --auto-video_nr --framerate 30 --extension-presence=0
• cvlc v4l2c:///dev/video0:width=640:height=480:chroma=H264 --sout '#rtp{sdp=rtsp://:8554/}' --demux h264

Do not forget to pass --extension-presence=0 to uv4l.

On the client side you can then play the stream with:

cvlc rtsp://raspberrypi:8554/

where raspberrypi is the hostname or IP address of the Raspberry Pi in the network.