Internal RTMP Servers for External RTMP Based Cameras and Stream Switching?

[kenle]

Hi @pedroSG94 ,

Since I don't have much in-depth knowledge on this topic, what I'm asking may not be possible so I apologize in advanced.

Would it be possible to have internal RTMP servers that we can connect external rtmp-based cameras or apps to, and dynamically choose one of those incoming streams and relay them to the current RTMP client stream that we may connect to YouTube for example?

In this way, we can do multiple camera angles as well as support high quality external cameras such as Mevo.

Thanks!

• Ken

[pedroSG94]

Hello,

Yes, it is possible but you will need create a custom video/audio source.

First of all, you need find a library to reproduce that RTMP servers stream. For example using exoplayer or VLC.
With that, you can create a VideoSource/AudioSource classes using that libraries and stream from that sources.

I recommend you create a minimal example code where you can reproduce the stream video using a SurfaceView and get buffers of audio in realtime and then we can start VideoSource/AudioSource classes based in that example code.

[kenle]

Thanks @pedroSG94 . I'll try to experiment with this.

[ash-hammond]

Did you have any luck with this approach?

[kenle]

Hi @aidan-interpurposeful ,

I plan on trying this within this month, several work priorities pulled me aside.

Admittedly, I did ask Chat GPT for a draft which seems like something to try to get compiling at least, then build from there.

package com.pedro.encoder.input.sources.video

import android.content.Context
import android.graphics.Surface
import android.graphics.SurfaceTexture
import android.net.Uri
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.*
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.ext.rtmp.RtmpDataSource
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.ext.rtmp.RtmpDataSourceFactory
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.media2.ExoPlayer
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.source.MediaItem
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.source.ProgressiveMediaSource
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.ui.PlayerView
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.video.VideoSize

class RTMPServerSource(
    private val context: Context,
    private val rtmpUrl: String
) : VideoSource() {

    private var exoPlayer: ExoPlayer? = null
    private var playerView: PlayerView? = null

    override fun create(width: Int, height: Int, fps: Int, rotation: Int): Boolean {
        exoPlayer = ExoPlayer.Builder(context).build()
        return true
    }

    override fun start(surfaceTexture: SurfaceTexture) {
        this.surfaceTexture = surfaceTexture
        surfaceTexture.setDefaultBufferSize(width, height)

        exoPlayer?.apply {
            setVideoSurface(Surface(surfaceTexture))

            val mediaSource = buildMediaSource(rtmpUrl)
            setMediaSource(mediaSource)
            prepare()
            play()

            addListener(object : Player.Listener {
                override fun onVideoSizeChanged(videoSize: VideoSize) {
                    width = videoSize.width
                    height = videoSize.height
                }
            })
        }
    }

    private fun buildMediaSource(url: String): ProgressiveMediaSource {
        val dataSourceFactory = RtmpDataSource.Factory()
        val mediaItem = MediaItem.fromUri(Uri.parse(url))
        return ProgressiveMediaSource.Factory(dataSourceFactory).createMediaSource(mediaItem)
    }

    override fun stop() {
        exoPlayer?.stop()
    }

    override fun release() {
        exoPlayer?.release()
        exoPlayer = null
    }

    override fun isRunning(): Boolean {
        return exoPlayer?.isPlaying ?: false
    }
}

[ash-hammond]

I came up with something similar. It works when streaming to Twitch but not Youtube. I assume this is because I have no audio source.

[pedroSG94]

I came up with something similar. It works when streaming to Twitch but not Youtube. I assume this is because I have no audio source.

Yes, you are right. Audio track is totally necessary to work on Youtube.
You can try use MicrophoneSource and mute it to send silence or even create an AudioSource that only send silence if you don't want open the microphone.