[done] RTMP web stream as input camera

[cumbrialive]

Would it be possible to input and "mix" two or more separately published Flash Streams (being streamed from CDN fex.) and output the content to a single stream.

This will enable two or more camera operators to encode and "publish video" from separate locations via the internet, have it mixed centrally and then output with overlays / graphics etc, to a single publishing point. I see that you can specify an IP camera, so it's similar to this but rather than an IP stream, I want to use an RTMP stream as published by the Flash Media server.

I use an industrial strength CDN for my live publishing and VidBlaster seems to solve my "multiple camera" mixing requirements, provided I have them all in the same location, but as most of my live events are spread out geographically, a simple way for me to solve this problem is for each individual field camera to "publish" it's flash stream to the CDN, then to "gather together" these streams in VidBlaster, mixing them as appropriate, outputting the final mix to the FMS as you currently do.

This is essentially what you can do in the Livestream/(ex Mogulus) studio software, but you are forced to use their CDN system which is expensive.

Any thoughts comments gratefully accepted.
Martin

[Mike]

Hi Martin,

Great stream from Cumbria :P

I've had some requests for other stream formats, but not RTMP (which is a proprietary format, which usually means there are costs involved). If you control the sender's setup, why not use something more open like RTSP or IP (which is already supported). Right now, you can easily support RTMP using a flash player for each stream and simply grabbing its video to Camera modules. Which is in fact what everyone does when doing video interviews over Skype or Oovoo. Does that suffice?

[cumbrialive]

"Right now, you can easily support RTMP using a flash player for each stream and simply grabbing its video to Camera modules"

Could you explain how you can do that, because if that is possible, then, yes I think that will do the trick. - Martin

[Mike]

If you don't already have it, create a flash player on a web page to display the RTMP stream (like you are doing now). Use screen capture (see Help, and the training video) to capture the video to a camera module.

[cumbrialive]

Magic and thanks, I'll do that. :D - Much appreciate your support.

[cumbrialive]

Hi Mike,
Tried your suggestion, and it worked really well, at least for the video. I could set up a couple of browser windows each playing the live streams, then I could "screen grab" the respective videos and mix them and re-transmit the combined strema live. The difficulty with this method comes with the sound. I could probably solve it if I was just screen grabbing one live feed, but when you have more than one running then you have a problem switching the sound when you switch the videos. Maybe I am missing something obvious. Any thoughts. ?
Martin

[Mike]

See if there is a player that allows you to select the audio device, then route each channel to a separate output and hook these up to a mixer.

[Mike]

Marked this as done as this is now possible using the RTSP/RTMP Input module.