*************** FFserver live broadcast server ***************** 0) Introduction ffserver is a streaming server for both audio and video. It supports several live feeds, streaming from files and time shifting on live feeds (you can seek to positions in the past on each live feed, provided you specify a big enough feed storage in ffserver.conf). 1) Quick help - First you must ensure that your grab system is OK. Verify with 'xawtv' that your TV card is tuned on a correct video source. - Try with ffmpeg that you can record correctly. For example: ffmpeg /tmp/a.mpg will record a ten seconds mpeg file from your TV card and audio card. Use for example the mpegtv player or MPlayer to view the created MPEG file. - Launch ffserver on your PC with the sample config file: ffserver -f doc/ffserver.conf - Verify with your browser that ffserver is working correctly. For that purpose, explore: http://localhost:8090/stat.html . - Now launch ffmpeg to do real time encoding : ffmpeg http://localhost:8090/feed1.ffm - Then, use your favorite players to see each generated stream: mtvp http://localhost:8090/test1.mpg mpg123 http://localhost:8090/test.mp2 netscape http://localhost:8090/test.swf realplayer http://localhost:8090/test.rm etc... Note that ffserver generates multiple streams in multiple formats AT THE SAME TIME. It should be able to handle hundreds of users at the same time if you internet connection is fast enough. - Now you can configure ffserver for your real needs. Edit the ffserver.conf file to use only the formats you want. Read the ffmpeg documentation (ffmpeg.txt) to learn more about the codec and format stuff. - Report any bug you find (and the fix if you have it!). 2) URL Format ffserver supports that you seek in some formats. The syntax is to add a '?' option to the URL. Only the 'date' option is supported. The date format is [YYYY-MM-DDT][[HH:]MM:]SS[.m...] (clost to ISO date format). For live streams, the date is absolute and give in GMT. If the day is not specified, the current day is used. example: mpg123 http://localhost:8090/test.mp2?date=10:00 play the stream starting at 10:00 AM GMT today. mpg123 http://localhost:8090/test.mp2?date=2001-06-23T23:00 is also a valid date. For file streams, the date is relative to the start of the file. No day can be specified.