USTREAMER(1) General Commands Manual USTREAMER(1)
NAME
ustreamer - stream MJPG video from any V4L2 device to the network
SYNOPSIS ustreamer [OPTIONS]
DESCRIPTION
µStreamer (ustreamer) is a lightweight and very quick server to stream
MJPG video from any V4L2 device to the network.
All new browsers have native support of this video format, as well as most video players such as mplayer, VLC etc.
µStreamer is a part of the Pi-KVM project designed to stream VGA and HDMI screencast hardware data with the highest reso‐
lution and FPS possible.
USAGE
Without arguments, ustreamer will try to open /dev/video0 with 640x480 resolution and start streaming on http://127.0.0.1:8080.\
You can override this behavior using parameters --device, --host and --port. For example, to stream to the world, run: ustreamer --device=/dev/video1 --host=0.0.0.0 --port=80
Please note that since µStreamer v2.0 cross-domain requests were
disabled by default for security reasons.
To enable the old behavior, use the option --allow-origin=\*.
For example, the recommended way of running µStreamer with
Auvidea B101 on a Raspberry Pi is:
ustreamer \
--format=uyvy \ # Device input format
--encoder=omx \ # Hardware encoding with OpenMAX
--workers=3 \ # Maximum workers for OpenMAX
--persistent \ # Don´t re-initialize device on timeout \
(for example when HDMI cable was disconnected)
--dv-timings \ # Use DV-timings
--drop-same-frames=30 # Save the traffic
Please note that to use --drop-same-frames for different browsers you need\
to use some specific URL /stream parameters (see URL / for details).
You can always view the full list of options with ustreamer --help.
Some features may not be available on your platform.
To find out which features are enabled, use ustreamer --features.
OPTIONS
Capturing options
-d /dev/path, --device /dev/path
Path to V4L2 device. Default: /dev/video0.
-i N, --input N
Input channel. Default: 0.
-r WxH, --resolution WxH
Initial image resolution. Default: 640x480.
-m fmt, --format fmt
Image format. Available: YUYV, UYVY, RGB565, RGB24, JPEG;
default: YUYV.
-a std, --tv-standard std
Force TV standard. Available: PAL, NTSC, SECAM;
Default: disabled.
-I method, --io-method method
Set V4L2 IO method (see kernel documentation). Changing of this
parameter may increase the performance. Or not.
Available: MMAP, USERPTR; default: MMAP.
-f N, --desired-fps N
Desired FPS. Default: maximum possible.
-z N, --min-frame-size N
Drop frames smaller then this limit.
Useful if the device produces small-sized garbage frames.
Default: 128 bytes.
-n, --persistent
Don't re-initialize device on timeout.
Default: disabled.
-t, --dv-timings
Enable DV timings querying and events processing to
automatic resolution change.
Default: disabled.
-b N, --buffers N
The number of buffers to receive data from the device. Each buf‐
fer may processed using an independent thread.
Default: 2 (the number of CPU cores (but not more than 4) + 1).
-w N, --workers N
The number of worker threads but not more than buffers. De‐
fault: 1 (the number of CPU cores (but not more than 4)).
-q N, --quality N
Set quality of JPEG encoding from 1 to 100 (best). Default: 80.
Note: If HW encoding is used (JPEG source format selected), this
parameter attempts to configure the camera or capture device
hardware's internal encoder. It does not re-encode MJPG to MJPG
to change the quality level for sources that already output
MJPG.
-c type, --encoder type
Use specified encoder. It may affect the number of workers.
CPU ─ Software MJPG encoding (default).
OMX ─ GPU hardware accelerated MJPG encoding with OpenMax (re‐
quired WITH_OMX feature).
HW ─ Use pre-encoded MJPG frames directly from camera hardware.
NOOP ─ Don't compress MJPG stream (do nothing).
-g WxH,..., --glitched-resolutions WxH,...
It doesn't do anything. Still here for compatibility. Required
WITH_OMX feature.
-k path, --blank path
Path to JPEG file that will be shown when the device is discon‐
nected during the streaming. Default: black screen 640x480 with
'NO SIGNAL'.
-K sec, --last-as-blank sec
Show the last frame received from the camera after it was dis‐
connected, but no more than specified time (or endlessly if 0 is
specified). If the device has not yet been online, display 'NO
SIGNAL' or the image specified by option --blank. Note: cur‐
rently this option has no effect on memory sinks.
Default: disabled.
-l, --slowdown
Slowdown capturing to 1 FPS or less when no stream or sink
clients are connected. Useful to reduce CPU consumption.
Default: disabled.
--device-timeout sec
Timeout for device querying. Default: 1.
--device-error-delay sec
Delay before trying to connect to the device again after an
error (timeout for example). Default: 1.
Image control options --image-default Reset all image settings below to default. Default: no change.
--brightness N, auto, default
Set brightness. Default: no change.
--contrast N, default
Set contrast. Default: no change.
--saturation N, default
Set saturation. Default: no change.
--hue N, auto, default
Set hue. Default: no change.
--gamma N, default
Set gamma. Default: no change.
--sharpness N, default
Set sharpness. Default: no change.
--backlight-compensation N, default
Set backlight compensation. Default: no change.
--white-balance N, auto, default
Set white balance. Default: no change.
--gain N, auto, default
Set gain. Default: no change.
--color-effect N, default
Set color effect. Default: no change.
--flip-vertical 1, 0, default
Set vertical flip. Default: no change.
--flip-horizontal 1, 0, default
Set horizontal flip. Default: no change.
HTTP server options -s address, --host address Listen on Hostname or IP. Default: 127.0.0.1.
-p N, --port N
Bind to this TCP port. Default: 8080.
-U path, --unix path
Bind to UNIX domain socket. Default: disabled.
-d, --unix-rm
Try to remove old unix socket file before binding. default: dis‐
abled.
-M mode, --unix-mode mode
Set UNIX socket file permissions (like 777). Default: disabled.
--user name
HTTP basic auth user. Default: disabled.
--passwd str
HTTP basic auth passwd. Default: empty.
--static path
Path to dir with static files instead of embedded root index
page. Symlinks are not supported for security reasons. Default:
disabled.
-e N, --drop-same-frames N
Don't send identical frames to clients, but no more than speci‐
fied number. It can significantly reduce the outgoing traffic,
but will increase the CPU loading. Don't use this option with
analog signal sources or webcams, it's useless. Default: dis‐
abled.
-R WxH, --fake-resolution WxH
Override image resolution for the /state. Default: disabled.
--tcp-nodelay
Set TCP_NODELAY flag to the client /stream socket. Ignored for
--unix. Default: disabled.
--allow-origin str
Set Access-Control-Allow-Origin header. Default: disabled.
--server-timeout sec
Timeout for client connections. Default: 10.
JPEG sink options
With shared memory sink you can write a stream to a file.
See ustreamer-dump(1) for more info.
--sink name
Use the specified shared memory object to sink JPEG frames. De‐
fault: disabled.
--sink-mode mode
Set JPEG sink permissions (like 777). Default: 660.
--sink-rm
Remove shared memory on stop. Default: disabled.
--sink-client-ttl sec
Client TTL. Default: 10.
--sink-timeout sec
Timeout for lock. Default: 1.
H264 sink options
Available only if WITH_OMX feature enabled.
--h264-sink name
Use the specified shared memory object to sink H264 frames en‐
coded by MMAL. Default: disabled.
--h264-sink-mode mode
Set H264 sink permissions (like 777). Default: 660.
--h264-sink-rm
Remove shared memory on stop. Default: disabled.
--h264-sink-client-ttl sec
Client TTL. Default: 10.
--h264-sink-timeout sec
Timeout for lock. Default: 1.
--h264-bitrate kbps
H264 bitrate in Kbps. Default: 5000.
--h264-gop N
Intarval between keyframes. Default: 30.
Process options
--exit-on-parent-death
Exit the program if the parent process is dead.
Required HAS_PDEATHSIG feature. Default: disabled.
--process-name-prefix str
Set process name prefix which will be displayed in the process
list like 'str: ustreamer --blah-blah-blah'. Required WITH_SET‐
PROCTITLE feature. Default: disabled.
--notify-parent
Send SIGUSR2 to the parent process when the stream parameters
are changed. Checking changes is performed for the online flag
and image resolution. Required WITH_SETPROCTITLE feature.
GPIO options
Available only if WITH_GPIO feature enabled.
--gpio-device /dev/path
Path to GPIO character device. Default: /dev/gpiochip0.
--gpio-consumer-prefix str
Consumer prefix for GPIO outputs. Default: ustreamer.
--gpio-prog-running pin
Set 1 on GPIO pin while µStreamer is running. Default: disabled.
--gpio-stream-online pin
Set 1 while streaming. Default: disabled.
--gpio-has-http-clients pin
Set 1 while stream has at least one client. Default: disabled.
Logging options
--log-level N
Verbosity level of messages from 0 (info) to 3 (debug). Enabling
debugging messages can slow down the program. Available levels:
0 (info), 1 (performance), 2 (verbose), 3 (debug). Default: 0.
--perf Enable performance messages (same as --log-level=1). Default:
disabled.
--verbose
Enable verbose messages and lower (same as --log-level=2). De‐
fault: disabled.
--debug
Enable debug messages and lower (same as --log-level=3). De‐
fault: disabled.
--force-log-colors
Force color logging. Default: colored if stderr is a TTY.
--no-log-colors
Disable color logging. Default: ditto.
Help options
-h, --help
Print this text and exit.
-v, --version
Print version and exit.
--features
Print list of supported features.
SEE ALSO ustreamer-dump(1)
BUGS Please file any bugs and issues at https://github.com/pikvm/ustreamer/issues
AUTHOR Maxim Devaev mdevaev@gmail.com
HOMEPAGE https://pikvm.org/
COPYRIGHT GNU General Public License v3.0
November 2020 version 4.8 USTREAMER(1)