How do I stream from my laptop to a webpage

[Conger88]

Hi, does anyone know or have a tutorial that would best explain how I go about streaming using my built in bison cam on my laptop to my website.

Is there requirements for the camera and the web hosting?

Any help would be gratefull

Thanks

 

[St1ckM4n]

Look up Ustream.

 

[Conger88]

Hi Stickman,

I have found a program from looking up youtube tuts called 1avstreamer. Which appears to work correctly, is Ustream a similar program? I am at work at the moment, will test this when I get home. The only problem I found with 1avstream is that requires VLC medica player plugin to be installed when watching stream from another machine. I will post the code when I get home. But is there anyway to display the stream so that the majority of users can view it (probably through flash player?) as most people have this installed from watchin youtube videos.

I will post the code later tonight. But I think I nearly have it working.

Thanks,

C

 

[DelJo63]

Enable Media Center Extender Service, which needs

• Function Discovery Provider host (and HTTP)
• PnP-X I bus Enum
• Remote Desktop Service (and Remote Procedure Call & Terminal Dev driver)
• SSDP Discovery (and HTTP)

Enable File Sharing

Any pc that can access yours will get Media Player as the streaming tool.

 

[Conger88]

@joebeard Thanks but what exactly does all of the above mean?!

I will get the code generated from 1avstreamer now and show you what I have thus far

 

[DelJo63]

It means that streaming from one PC to another requires no additional software

 

[Conger88]

Ok that makes it sound easy. Have you used 1avstreamer before?

Ok so I go ahead and setup my broadbast, then I copy the script to clipboard and it tells me to past the following code into my html web page.. is it really that easy?


this is the code it provides

<object type='application/x-vlc-plugin' data='http://192.168.220.1:8060' width='400' height='300' id='video'>
<param name='movie' value='http://192.168.220.1:8060'/>
<embed type='application/x-vlc-plugin' name='video1' autoplay='no' loop='no' width='400' height='300' target='http://192.168.220.1:8060' />
<a href='http://192.168.220.1:8060'>
Video</a>
</object>

Now I paste the code into my html page and I can view the stream on my web page from the laptop but when trying to view from my desktop machine it doesnt appear to be working. Also with the above code does that not mean that only people with VLC media player installed can watch the stream?

 

[Conger88]

Also I am a little hazy around my broadcast settings. Encoders etc...mainly encoders...Not sure what settings I should be setting for a simple stream, Does my upload and download speeds matter?

My download should be 100 meg and upload 10, but not always consistent...

 

[DelJo63]

Ok, clarification:

PC <==> PC streaming is on the local lan and my original post starts you toward a solution for PCs.

PC ==> providing streaming to a webserver page has issues for the PC provider of the stream:

1. firewalls
2. port forwarding

First, the PC firewall will need to allow unsolicited inputs from any IP address but which is on the port being requested by your website page [call it xxx in this discussion]. (usually we setup the PC port and then make the website reference it )

Second, your router will then need to port forward xxx to the PC with the streaming service. You should know that the IP address of this PC must always be the same - - by using a static IP config (works but can create issues) OR by using the DHCP router service to use an Address Reservation for the Mac address of your NIC.

 

[Conger88]

Ok now its starting to sound a little a more tricky, would you be able to help me in more detail? If I try getting this working from start to finish?

 

[DelJo63]

I'll try. My approach would be to get data flowing from your pc to the website when the user clicks as appropriate.

THEN work out issues of encoding and data streams you can support. The use of VLC is a good first choice as it supports many encodings

 

[Conger88]

Super! Yea my thoughts exactly. so if I got some kind of stream flowing (low quality) and then try and build it up. So is the first step to work on my firewall settings?

C

 

[DelJo63]

Yes - - if you're using Win/7 it's rather simple.

the generalized form of the new exception to be created has the form

allow TCP/UDP input from any IP to local IP to Local port

 

[Conger88]

Yea im using Windows 7 on both desktop and lambchop (laptop)

Ok so how do I apply these settings

 

[DelJo63]

Get a command prompt with admin privs, eg
runas /user:administrator control
enter the admin's pwd

scroll to Windows Firewall and dbl-click

You see two profiles {Home/Work & Public}
You should see Home/Work is Connected and Public is disconnected.

on the left is Advanced Settings; click it

you then see three panels, left, center & right(heading is Actions)

on the left panel, click Inbound Rules

the center panel shows what exists and dbl clicking on one will show all the rule details
the right panel is a set of 'filters'for viewing the center section.

the column headings in the center are also clickable for sorting ascendent or descending on those values.

Sadly, Any rule you create will not be able to set a 'group' but you can live w/o it.

On the right, click NEW RULE at the top and then (*) Custom Rule; next
Notice on the left we get a list of items used to create this rule;
leave it alone, it just tells your progress.

*Program (*) All Programs is fine as-is; --> Next

*Protocols and Ports
you will need both TCP & UDP but can only pick one. This is a clue that
you will need to come back here again to the the UDP rule defined.
Protocol type: scroll to TCP

Local Port: >> THIS IS YOUR 8060 port for 1avstreamer
scroll->Specific Ports and enter 8060

Remote Port: leave as All Ports

Click --> Next

*Scope: (*) Any and (*) Any are just fine -> Next

*Action: (*) Allow; --> Next

*Profile: you can choose any or all {Domain, Private, Public}, but
public is discouraged. --> Next

*Name: give it a name like 1avstreamer-TCP

and you are done.

Go back and create another rule, copy everything, but change only
Protocols and Ports->UDP
Name -> 1avstreamer-UDP

 

[St1ckM4n]

Well okay, Ustream (or other variants) render most of this thread overly complicated.

1. Download the software to your laptop.
2. Make sure it has Internet connection.
3. The webcam will stream to your Ustream account.
4. Insert the Ustream channel into your website (much like an embedded youtube video).
5. ???
6. PROFIT.

 

[Conger88]

Wow thanks for the feedback jo, will try this when I finish work.

Stickman that seems pretty straightforward, Whats the pros and cons of going the over complicated path and following jobeards way? Do I have to pay for ustream?

Thanks,

C

 

[DelJo63]

Think we ought to step back and get an overview of what you are attempting.

bison cam on my laptop to my website.

That suggests to me you have a public website and you want the laptop camera to be accessible.

1) You will have issues with your ISP unless you have an agreement with them to allow webservices - - not normally allowed in the EULA.

2) Unless the hit rate on the camera link is low, your uplink bandwidth is questionable and my not even support one visitor at a time.

3) the link you've shown as192.168.220.1:8060 is only useful to systems on your local LAN, not your website. The website link will need a public ip address (see http://www.whatismyip.com/). Your laptop will need the port forwarding an firewall rules as noted earlier, but more important is your ISP assignment of your public IP.

Just like port forwarding needs a static IP target to your laptop, the website needs a fixed IP address of your public IP so that the port forwarding even gets a chance to be applied. This is a show stopper and until it can be resolved, all of this is for not.

 

[Conger88]

Hmm ok il answer best I can,

Yes I have a paid web hosting account and I would like the cam to be visible if anyone visits the websites. Preferably if they register/login to the site but I can worry about that later,

Regards ISP, I had no idea I would even need to contact them regards this, my ISP is UPC and I am based in Ireland.

I understand that the ip I provided would only mean access from within my LAN. I can provide the public IP if need be.

Regards the port forwarding and what to do here I am very much not sure and would need help.

So is the first step I need to do is contact my ISP to see if this is even legally' possible? And my upload speed is 10meg, is this not fast enough?
edit**10meg upload speed** 100 download


Thanks

C

 

[DelJo63]

edit**10meg upload speed** 100 download

OK, that looks good enough.

contact my ISP to see if this is even legally' possible

two key words: Legal and Possible. Find the End User License Agreement(EULA) for UPC- - the legality of hosting from your personal account will be in there somewhere. Yes, you are not technically hosting per se from this connection, but the laptop will be providing data to the public website and thus behaves just as if you were hosting on it. Possible? ISPs have a habit of blocking well known ports, aka http(80), FTP(20,21), email(25,110). While 8080 is a well known port, I don't think that 8060 would be, BUT if the traffic rate gets high enough, UPC will get suspicious and investigate.

I can provide the public IP if need be.

sure you can - - but the question is, will it be constant forever? If your ISP has you in their DHCP pool, the address can change whenever the reservation period lapses. This is why your personal ISP account would need to be static from the view of the ISP (ie not using their DHCP).

port forwarding and what to do here I am very much not sure and would need help

we'll get to that; the firewall is far more complicated so don't sweat the P.F.

 

[St1ckM4n]

jobeard, any reason for Conger88 to not use a service like Ustream? I understand that your method is good and I (along with others I assume) appreciate the info dump that all forum users can see. In OP's case, perhaps Ustream or similar will be enough. Am I missing something, because I don't want to be giving out conflicting information if you've got a reason for it.


___________________

Whats the pros and cons of going the over complicated path and following jobeards way? Do I have to pay for ustream?

We'll see what jobeard says to my question above, but his method is quite complicated, but robust and extremely customisable. However, it may be overkill for you.

Ustream is free to start with. You get a slightly lower quality stream with advertisements. I'm not sure if you can embed the Ustream into your own website (like Youtube), but I'd say it can be done with it or another service.

You don't need to worry about any loads on your server, as your laptop will upload the stream to Ustream servers, which will then handle the rest of the workload to deliver to viewers.

I dunno, it seems like an ideal solution.

 

[Conger88]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you guys on this. I had football training last night and another match tonight so I wont get much time to download ustream and test St1ckM4n you could be right tho, ustream may have everything I need. But for the sake of learning I would be interested in trying joes way also. and you said ''his method is quite complicated, but robust and extremely customisable'' customsiable seems like a very good thing.

Regards joes way I havent had a chance to look at the EULA in detail and plus I am blocked from accessing the page at work... :/ feckers! so I might try reading up on it from my Iphone and get back to you.

Can I ask again is ustrream free? also I kinda want to embed the stream into my home page... I dont really want it on a sepearte page.

Thanks,

C

 

[DelJo63]

I am totally ignorant of ustrream details. However, unsolicited inputs to the PC are always blocked by ANY firewall (fundamental operation of a firewall), and when the website user clicks on the streaming link, that will generate such an inbound, unsolicited input request.

Sharing a camera or media on an internal lan is entirely different proposition than providing web content to a web server.

Best wishes on your efforts

 

[St1ckM4n]

Ah, I see. Ustream doesn't allow connections to your PC. You just stream this to Ustream web servers, which then handle the rest of the viewers.

Ustream has a free options, limited to 480p resolution. I am not sure on embed options, but there are at least three streaming solutions (Ustream, Twitch, YouTube Streaming) off the top of my head.

 

[Conger88]

OK jobeard so are you saying now that ustream is my only option? That it will be restricted from any firewall? So I have to go with option B? :/

I have setup a ustream account but have yet to get back to this.