Video Streaming

Low-latency H.264 video streaming over UDP/RTP using GStreamer. Works on NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, or CPU-only machines, with automatic hardware detection and software fallback.

Files

• setup.sh - install GStreamer and configure the firewall (run once)
• stream.sh - send video
• view.sh - receive video

Install

sudo ./setup.sh

Local test (one machine, two terminals)

# Terminal 1
./view.sh

# Terminal 2
./stream.sh

When prompted for an IP, press Enter for localhost. For the source, choose 3 (test pattern). A window with colour bars should appear.

Remote streaming (two machines)

On the receiver:

./view.sh

Find its IP with ip addr or hostname -I.

On the sender:

./stream.sh

Enter the receiver's IP and choose a source (1 = camera, 3 = test pattern).

How it works

1. setup.sh installs GStreamer and opens UDP port 5004.
2. stream.sh asks for the destination IP, detects an encoder, and sends video.
3. view.sh receives the stream and displays it; decodebin selects the decoder.

Encoder detection

stream.sh picks the first encoder that is installed and actually works on the machine, and falls back to software otherwise:

• NVIDIA desktop GPU - nvh264enc
• NVIDIA Jetson / Orin - nvv4l2h264enc
• Intel/AMD GPU (VA plugin) - vah264enc
• Intel GPU (QuickSync) - qsvh264enc
• Intel/AMD GPU (legacy VA-API) - vaapih264enc
• ARM boards (Pi, i.MX, Qualcomm, Rockchip) - v4l2h264enc
• No hardware - x264enc (software, higher CPU)

Decoder selection

view.sh does not detect decoders by hand. decodebin auto-plugs the best available decoder (NVIDIA, VA, VA-API, Jetson nvv4l2decoder, ARM V4L2 decoders) and, if a hardware decoder rejects a stream or is unavailable, retries down to software on its own.

The camera and test-pattern sources are always re-encoded. A video file is decoded with decodebin and re-encoded too, so any container or codec (MP4, MKV, AVI, HEVC, ...) works.

Configuration

Override defaults with environment variables:

PORT=6000 ./view.sh              # listen on a different port
PORT=6000 ./stream.sh            # must match the viewer
LATENCY=100 ./view.sh            # jitter buffer in ms (default 50)
BITRATE=6000 ./stream.sh         # encode bitrate in kbps (default 3000)
CODEC=h265 ./view.sh             # H.265/HEVC instead of H.264
CODEC=h265 ./stream.sh           # both ends must use the same codec

CODEC defaults to h264 (widest interop). h265 gives better compression at the cost of more CPU on software paths; the viewer and streamer must match.

Platforms

Runs on x86 (NVIDIA/Intel/AMD or CPU) and ARM boards: Raspberry Pi, NVIDIA Jetson/Orin, NXP i.MX, Qualcomm, and Rockchip. On ARM the encoder uses the board's V4L2 hardware codec (Jetson uses nvv4l2); the viewer's decodebin picks the matching hardware decoder. Install GStreamer with setup.sh on Debian/Ubuntu-based systems (including Raspberry Pi OS and Jetson L4T), or via the board BSP on Yocto systems.

Troubleshooting

No video window:

killall gst-launch-1.0
# Start the viewer first, then the streamer.

Camera not found:

ls /dev/video*   # confirm the camera exists, or use the test pattern

Cannot reach the remote IP:

sudo ufw allow 5004/udp
ping <other-ip>

Port already in use:

sudo netstat -tulpn | grep 5004
killall gst-launch-1.0

See COMPATIBILITY.md for the encoder/decoder matrix.