Stream Webcam Feed from Pi using FFmpeg to VLC on Android

• Connect webcam to raspberry pi USB 3.0 port

  • v4l2-ctl --list-devices - list all video capture devices
  • sudo apt install ffmpeg - install ffmpeg
  • sudo apt v4l-utils - install v4l-utils

• Test Webcam Input : ffmpeg -f v4l2 -i /dev/video0 -t 10 output.mp4 - record 10 secs from webcam into output.mp4

  • -f v4l2: Specifies the input format as Video4Linux2.
  • -i /dev/video0: Sets your webcam as the input device.
  • -t 10: Tells FFmpeg to record for 10 seconds.
  • output.mp4: The output file where the video will be saved.

• Stream to Android using FFmpeg over UDP (Android phone’s IP address on the same WiFi)

  ffmpeg \\
  -f v4l2 -framerate 15 -video_size 640x480 -i /dev/video0 \\
  -c:v libx264 -preset ultrafast \\
  -tune zerolatency -f mpegts \\
  udp://192.168.50.250:1234
  

  • FFmpeg Command

• Watch Stream on Android using VLC

  • VLC app → Stream → udp://@:1234

• UDP Protocol

Stream Webcam Feed from Pi using FFmpeg to ExoPlayer on Android

• Connect webcam to raspberry pi USB 3.0 port

  • v4l2-ctl --list-devices - list all video capture devices
  • sudo apt install ffmpeg v4l-utils - install ffmpeg and v4l-utils

• Create a lightweight Web server: NGINX

  • sudo apt install nginx -y - install NGINX
  • sudo systemctl start nginx - start
  • sudo systemctl enable nginx - enable
  • /var/www/html/ - NGINX serves files from here
  • NGINX will automatically serve the HLS stream at: http://192.168.50.17/live/stream.m3u8

• Stream to Android using FFmpeg over HLS

  • Make Pi generate HLS chunks and .m3u8 playlist:

    ffmpeg \\
    -f v4l2 -framerate 15 -video_size 640x480 -i /dev/video0 \\
    -c:v libx264 -preset ultrafast \\
    -f hls -hls_time 2 -hls_list_size 4 -hls_flags delete_segments \\
    /var/www/html/stream.m3u8
    

• Test in VLC/browser first:

  • http://192.168.50.17/stream.m3u8

• In App ExoPlayer:

  intent.putExtra("VIDEO_URL", "<http://192.168.50.17/stream.m3u8>");

FFmpeg Command

Input flags

• -f v4l2: Use Video4Linux2 to access the webcam.
• -framerate 15: Capture at 15 frames per second.
• -video_size 640x480: Set the resolution to 640x480.
• -i /dev/video0: Sets webcam as the input device.

Encoding flags

• -c:v libx264: Encode the stream using H.264.