How do you get H264 / HLS / M3U8 streams to play?

[m_listed]

I've been interested in getting Blue Iris streams directly on desktop instead of having to use the mobile app for smooth playback. The solution seems to be HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) (I have a Mac). But when I use the /h264/cameraName/temp.m3u8 or temp.ts or temp.h264 streams, none of these seems to function.

The .m3u8 file loads only the initial picture after 15 seconds of waiting for the page to load, and then never plays any further frames. (Blue Iris tells me this connection is getting 0.5 fps or so for some reason, but I'm not getting even those frames).

The .ts file never even loads the initial frame, just sits at "Loading"

The .h264 file starts downloading something at a high rate through the browser. Trying to open this link through VLC instead runs into Blue Iris's HTML-based authentication page and, of course, VLC can't open it.

Has anyone gotten any of these streams to work? I'm pretty sure the iPhone app uses HLS and that plays perfectly well for me.

 

[fenderman]

try /h264/cam1 in vlc...where cam1 is the camera shortname

 

[m_listed]

try /h264/cam1 in vlc...where cam1 is the camera shortname

That didn't work. I disabled the Blue Iris authentication, and the .ts file started working with VLC (but it would play for 3 seconds, pause for 2 seconds, and then play again for 3 seconds, and so on...). However, I obviously can't disable authentication.

I need the .m3u8 file to work so I can authenticate through the browser and then play it through the browser like other .m3u8 files, since you can't sign into Blue Iris with VLC, and you can't play .ts and .h264 with the browser.

 

[fenderman]

That didn't work. I disabled the Blue Iris authentication, and the .ts file started working with VLC (but it would play for 3 seconds, pause for 2 seconds, and then play again for 3 seconds, and so on...). However, I obviously can't disable authentication.

I need the .m3u8 file to work so I can authenticate through the browser and then play it through the browser like other .m3u8 files, since you can't sign into Blue Iris with VLC, and you can't play .ts and .h264 with the browser.

You can authenticate in VLC just like you can for any ip camera..you simply need the correct url...it may have been posted somewhere at some point....I would simply email support..

 

[m_listed]

If you mean the http://<username>:<password>@url.com/temp/camera1/temp.ts scheme, that doesn't work, VLC gives the same error response as if I hadn't included the username and password at all. I'd rather get the .m3u8 stream working anyhow.

 

[bp2008]

Check out my custom BI web pages here: https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/93-I-made-a-better-remote-live-view-page

There is a page in there called livestream.htm which will open the HLS stream for any camera, in any modern browser. You can use it like this: http://127.0.0.1/livestream.htm?cam=index

Swap "index" for any other camera ID if you like.

 

[m_listed]

Check out my custom BI web pages here: https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/93-I-made-a-better-remote-live-view-page

There is a page in there called livestream.htm which will open the HLS stream for any camera, in any modern browser. You can use it like this: http://127.0.0.1/livestream.htm?cam=index

Swap "index" for any other camera ID if you like.

I actually am an avid user of your UI2, thank you for it! But that page you suggested just gives me the loading symbol and never loads anything. That was actually why I made this thread; I tried the HLS option from UI2 first, but it doesn't load the stream in any browser, and neither does the livestream.htm link. I'm not sure how to debug it.

 

[bp2008]

What is your Blue Iris version?

 

[m_listed]

What is your Blue Iris version?

I'm on the latest version. [h=3]4.4.6.2[/h]

 

[bp2008]

Something definitely sounds defective then. I could take a look at it if you have enough upload speed and don't mind PMing me a temporary user name and password + URL to use. HLS streaming is fairly easy to debug since it just uses ordinary HTTP requests that are easily traced. If BI is returning an error message or something I should be able to tell.