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How can I stream video stream to Linux or OS X using raspivid and either VLC, GStreamer or Netcat?

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  • Netcat (nc) seems to be the one with the smallest delay.

  • In my experience, VLC has the biggest delay. On the other hand, there is a VLC client for Android, which is convenient.

  • <IP-OF-THE-CLIENT> is the IP of the computer that should receive the video stream.

  • <IP-OF-THE-RPI> is the IP of the Raspberry Pi.

Using Netcat:

On the client

(Run the command on the client first, and then on the server (RPi)).

Linux

nc -l 2222 | mplayer -fps 200 -demuxer h264es -

OS X

nc -l 2222 | mplayer -fps 200 -demuxer h264es -

On the RPi

/opt/vc/bin/raspivid -t 0 -w 300 -h 300 -hf -fps 20 -o - | nc <IP-OF-THE-CLIENT> 2222

Using GStreamer:

On the client

Linux

gst-launch-1.0 -v tcpclientsrc host=<IP-OF-THE-RPI> port=5000  ! gdpdepay !  rtph264depay ! avdec_h264 ! videoconvert ! autovideosink sync=false

OS X

gst-launch-1.0 -v tcpclientsrc host=<IP-OF-THE-RPI> port=5000  ! gdpdepay !  rtph264depay ! avdec_h264 ! videoconvert ! osxvideosink sync=false

On the RPi

/opt/vc/bin/raspivid -t 0 -hf -fps 20 -w 300 -h 300 -o - | gst-launch-1.0 fdsrc ! h264parse ! rtph264pay config-interval=1 pt=96 ! gdppay ! tcpserversink host=<IP-OF-THE-RPI> port=5000

Using VLC

On the client

The client might even be on a mobile phone (I tried on Android).

Simply open from the network in the VLC client:

http://<IP-OF-THE-RPI>:8090

On the RPi

/opt/vc/bin/raspivid -o - -t 0 -hf -w 640 -h 360 -fps 25|cvlc -vvv stream:///dev/stdin --sout '#standard{access=http,mux=ts,dst=:8090}' :demux=h264
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  • Pi version doesn't work. I mean it doesn't work how it should. Client ip?
    – Flash Thunder
    Jul 3, 2015 at 9:56
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    I agree, netcat has the lowest latency. But why do you use 200fps? My stream is 30fps, but setting mplayer to 60 looks best, I don't know why. If I set mplayer to 30 then it adds 1-2 seconds latency
    – Elliott B
    Aug 3, 2018 at 6:08
  • Why does netcat have the lowest latency ?
    – Paul Praet
    Aug 10, 2021 at 19:40
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better:

on the rpi:

raspivid -t 0 -w 1280 -h 720 -hf -ih -fps 20 -o - | nc -k -l 2222

on your computer:

mplayer -fps 200 -demuxer h264es ffmpeg://tcp://10.0.1.3:2222

supports reconnecting

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    On the raspberry pi, I had to use the -p parameter to set the port: raspivid -t 0 -w 1280 -h 720 -hf -ih -fps 20 -o - | nc -k -l -p 2222
    – johnboiles
    Mar 25, 2016 at 17:27
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    Thanks for the mplayer command. It works also with the newer raspivid which can stream to TCP without using netcat, like that: raspivid -fps 20 -w 1280 -h 720 -t 0 -l -o tcp://0.0.0.0:2222 - and the play command is the same. I'm still looking for the correct URL for VLC streaming. It was something like h264+tcp://example.org:2222
    – Tomasz Gandor
    Dec 11, 2017 at 23:14
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    Command is tcp/h264://example.org:2222. I am wondering how to play this type of stream on Android. Mobile phones have such poor apps.
    – Valentin Radu
    Mar 11, 2018 at 15:26
  • On macOS: brew install mplayer.
    – creimers
    Jan 31, 2019 at 17:10

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