gst-rtsp-launch

A minimalistic, gst-launch-1.0-like RTSP server. Based on the gst-rtsp-server test-launch example.

Building

You need to have CMake and gst-rtsp-server (and its build dependencies) built and installed. If you are running Debian or Ubuntu, install the following packages (provided as a bash command for copy-paste convenience):

sudo apt install -y cmake libgstrtspserver-1.0-dev libglib2.0-dev libgstreamer1.0-dev

Go to the source directory and run:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make

You may run the server from the build directory:

cd src
./gst-rtsp-launch --help

...or install the binary in your system:

sudo make install
gst-rtsp-launch --help

Running

gst-rtsp-launch expects the following parameters:

gst-rtsp-launch [-p|--port=8554] [-e|--endpoint=video] [<various GStreamer options>] "( <GStreamer pipeline> )"

• -p/--port= - specify a different RTSP port (default is 8554);
• -e/--endpoint= - specify a different RTSP URL ending (default is video);
• "(<GStreamer pipeline>)" is your GStreamer pipeline, ending in rtp*pay (typically rtph264pay). Note that it must be provided in quotes and with brackets.

Your rtp payload must have a name of pay0, otherwise it won't be transmitted.

Examples

Video test source -> x264 encoder, URL ends with /test:

gst-rtsp-launch --endpoint=test "( videotestsrc ! x264enc ! rtph264pay name=pay0 pt=96 )"

Video4Linux2 source (320x240, 30 fps) -> Video4Linux2 encoder (with extra parameters):

gst-rtsp-launch "( v4l2src device=/dev/video0 ! video/x-raw,framerate=30/1,width=320,height=240 ! v4l2h264enc output-io-mode=4 extra-controls=\"encode,frame_level_rate_control_enable=1,h264_profile=4,h264_level=13,video_bitrate=300000,h264_i_frame_period=5;\" ! rtph264pay name=pay0 pt=96 )"

External encoder (raspivid):

raspivid -w 1920 -h 1080 -t 0 -o - | gst-rtsp-launch "( fdsrc fd=0 ! h264parse ! rtph264pay name=pay0 pt=96 )"

Troubleshooting

Note that your pipeline may silently fail (or only fail when a client is connected to the RTSP server). The pipeline is being run lazily, so an erroneous pipeline won't crash until a client connects. Be sure to check your pipelines with gst-launch-1.0. Use autovideosink before any encoders with a monitor connected to your streaming device to make sure your video capture works. Use udpsink after rtph264pay and send your video to a remote machine to make sure your encoder works. All typical GStreamer-related advices apply.