Best way to stream webcam to local TV station

D

dennis48755

n3wb
Jul 20, 2014
25
14
Thumb of Michigan, USA
For my website SandPointWeather.com, using an IPC-5442E-ZE from @EMPIRETECANDY, Blue Iris uploads an image from the cam every minute over writing the existing file. And I display that jpg file on my home page. This has worked fine for the past couple years.

Recently the meteorologist from the local ABC station contacted me asking to use my webcam image during their weather segment. Of course, I agreed, and I sent them a link to my uploaded jpg file. So for the past month or so the ABC station has been showing my webcam view almost daily. In the meantime, I have been trying to figure out how to improve the quality of the view and how to provide a video.

Well today while I was watching the ABC station weather segment, the display of my webcam image went blank, the meteorologist said; opp's we lost Sand Point Weather. I wonder if it was due to when Blue Iris overlaid the file.
Screenshot 2023-12-19 122439.png Screenshot 2023-12-19 122520.png
So now I must take action for improvements. I'm looking for suggestions on how to provide the station with a live video stream? I followed the Dahua instructions to create a YouTube live stream which did work, but I'm not familiar with the reliability of YouTube live stream over time (days/weeks).

I'm hedging towards providing the station with a link to the webcam, which I guess means enabling port-forwarding. If I were to do so which is the better protocol (port) to provide RTMP or RTSP?

Thanks for any suggestions,
Dennis
 
That image with the line at the top is because BI was FTP'ing the JPEG to your web page at the exact moment they tried to display it.

I would not port forward.
I would continue to stream live to YouTube directly from the camera using RTMP or from Blue Iris and provide them with the YouTube link.
That will prove as reliable as most any other affordable methods you could come up with.
 
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I live streamed a blue bird house cam this past spring from Blue Iris and also vMix, Blue Iris was more dependable.

I've used OBS to stream live YouTube videos into Blue Iris. It's very flexible and configurable; I can understand it would also be a good choice to live stream to YouTube.
 
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I'd ask them to if they want to donate for a reliable solution specifically for the job at hand. Then you can set it up at your location and stream 24/7.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I'm not familiar with OBS, how does it help me?
Is YouTube and/or Blue Iris still involved?
I don't see a simple description on the website.

Just when I was wondering about the reliability of a YouTube stream, mine died. My link now has "This live stream recording is not available." I did make and save a minor change to the IPC, added a user account. Maybe that interrupted the stream for a moment. But wouldn't the stream just resume?

Thanks again for the ideas.
Dennis
 
dennis48755 said:
So, about the 2nd step in the OBS setup asks to define the service (YouTube, Onlyfans, Chaturbate, etc.) to stream to. If the @EMPIRETECANDY IPC does this also, at least to YouTube, why do I need OBS?

Dennis
Click to expand...
You can stream directly from any IP camera using RTMP if the firmware provides that option, such as the one that Andy depicted.
Or you can stream from OBS ir Blue Iris using a camera that does not provide the aforementioned RTMP ability but instead can steam via RTSP to OBS or Blue Iris.
 
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OBS is one of those amazing programs that is good for a lot more than any individual user employs it. That it is also free is hard to believe.

OBS runs on sources and scenes. A camera is a type of source. A simple scene might have a single source. Once you have a scene, you can set up a stream. You can get a streaming key from YouTube, plug that into OBS, and when you begin streaming, you are live on YouTube. The TV station can then embed your youtube output in its website. If you want them to have an exclusive, make your YouTube channel non-public.

During the pandemic my church filmed its weekly service and posted it on YouTube. Now we use OBS to switch seven cameras and stream to YouTube. What took a week to film and edit now happens live.
 
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Gimmons said:
OBS is one of those amazing programs that is good for a lot more than any individual user employs it. That it is also free is hard to believe.

OBS runs on sources and scenes. A camera is a type of source. A simple scene might have a single source. Once you have a scene, you can set up a stream. You can get a streaming key from YouTube, plug that into OBS, and when you begin streaming, you are live on YouTube. The TV station can then embed your youtube output in its website. If you want them to have an exclusive, make your YouTube channel non-public.

During the pandemic my church filmed its weekly service and posted it on YouTube. Now we use OBS to switch seven cameras and stream to YouTube. What took a week to film and edit now happens live.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that, however as I said in my original post, my @EMPIRETECANDY IPC supports direct to YouTube. So OBS is just additional overhead for my situation as I see it.

Dennis
 
TonyR said:
I live streamed a blue bird house cam this past spring from Blue Iris and also vMix, Blue Iris was more dependable.

I've used OBS to stream live YouTube videos into Blue Iris. It's very flexible and configurable; I can understand it would also be a good choice to live stream to YouTube.
Click to expand...

@TonyR Is there something you use to find YouTube livestreams, perhaps those in a particular neighborhood to stream into BlueIris?
 
dennis48755 said:
So, about the 2nd step in the OBS setup asks to define the service (YouTube, Onlyfans, Chaturbate, etc.) to stream to. If the @EMPIRETECANDY IPC does this also, at least to YouTube, why do I need OBS?
Click to expand...

Wonderful, if that's all you need. But if you get a second camera, you may want to switch between them. You may want to add in audio from a separate mic. You may want to use color correction that isn't built into your camera. Even if you don't want to do these things, someone else reading this thread may want to do them.
 
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@TonyR Is there something you use to find YouTube livestreams, perhaps those in a particular neighborhood to stream into BlueIris?
[/QUOTE]
No , it's just that some folks want to stream to BI a YT livestream of local weather, or trains or bird feeders. Some one asked at the beginning of the below thread and I came up with a way to do it with OBS.

You can also display a "live" web page in Blue Iris using the same method. I like to display in Blue Iris a map of local utility power outages.

Display YouTube Livestream in Blue Iris

I have several IP cameras set up to livestream to YouTube in remote locations. Each camera location has limited outgoing bandwidth so using Blue Iris directly is not an option. Is there any way to set up Blue Iris to receive the YouTube live stream and display in the user interface? There is...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com
 
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