Streaming your desktop screen into Luxriot EVO :

Having been asked by a customer: Can we stream the computer display into Luxriot EVO and record this data ? We applied a little lateral thinking, surely if we can create an RTSP stream of our computer monitor we must then be able to simply connect this to Luxriot EVO as a new device {Computer IP Address}{RTSP Port}{streamName}, proving again the flexibility of the Luxriot EVO core server and simple configuration we had everything tested and running in no time at all. Testing was carried out with the EVO complimentary edition with no special hardware.

Prerequisites :

We are sure there are many applications that are capable of providing the RTSP Video stream. We have used VideoLAN open source VLC software. VLC is not only a great video software player but also allows the capture and streaming of various sources including for example a computers webcam or computer screen.

Test Platform :

This example has been tested on MS Windows 10 & Server using EVO 1.7.1 and VLC 2.2.6 Umbrella version.

Screen resolution 1080P, 24 bit colour.

Testing has been carried out both locally and with donor client monitor and server connected over a network.

Security :

We could not see options within the VLC streaming server profile to add any security credentials to our RTSP video stream.

Please ensure you have permission to stream your computer monitor and there are no copyright issues. We recommend you create a secure closed network between donor screen and EVO server.

VLC Set-up :

Start VLC, and press CTRL-S to start streaming set-up.

Select Capture Device - Capture Mode Desktop.

Setup frame rates and caching option (lowering caching will reduce lagging) and click Stream, then check next screen in the setup wizard and click Next.

Select RTSP and click Add, now you can name your stream and set your RTSP port, change this to 554 (EVO default) and give your stream a name e.g. myStream.mp4 and click next.

You are now able to select your transcoding option, ensure your enable transcoding is ticked and then select your chosen resolution, you can experiment with these later, if in doubt leave on H264 & MP3 (MP4), EVO though does not support MP3 audio. Click Next and then Stream, then minimise VLC.

Setting up on Luxriot EVO :

We recommend first you quickly test your streaming video, open a second instance of VLC and Open Network Stream (CTRL & N) and try rtsp://127.0.0.1/myStream.mp4, hopefully you will create an infinity display to prove all is working.

EVO Console: Create a new EVO video device, type RTSP Compatible and also enter the IP address of the computer with VLC screen capture configured, 127.0.0.1 (localhost) if its your EVO server.

Now select EVO Channels and navigate to the Channel Properties for your RTSP device. Here you can now enter your stream details. Untick RTP over TCP as the VLC stream is UDP. Screenshot taken from our working test example. Now apart from setting Luxriot EVO recording profile you should now be able to select you new device in EVO Monitor and both view your computer screen live and in playback, just like your other video devices.

Summary :

This example helps to demonstrate the flexibility and versatility of the Luxriot EVO engine, you can set all this up with the complimentary edition of Luxriot EVO, this functionality has real world applications such as recording third party network monitoring screens and online information displays. There are other methods allowing screen streaming including directshow, we have chosen the VLC solution as it is simple to deploy and configure.

Data Management: Please make sure you have the computer users permission before streaming any screens, please be aware of the risk of recording sensitive information, usernames, passwords and confidential information.

It is possible to setup VLC using command line, further information on this is available online. The following example shortcut allows VLC to start streaming at 25 images per second & run minimised in your notification area.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" screen:// --qt-start-minimized :sout=#transcode{vcodec=h264,vb=2048}:rtp{sdp=rtsp://:554/myStream.mp4} :screen-fps=25.0 :live-caching=0 :sout-keep

The shortcut sets streaming to max 25 images per second, bandwidth 2 Kbits, no caching, h264 video compression, RTSP port 554 and stream name "myStream.mp4".

To stop streaming simply close VLC (your VLC icon may be in your notification area) , you may note a flickering cursor during capture.

VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. Version 2.2.6 Umbrella was used for testing, Videcom cannot provide support for VideoLan VLC software, further and comprehensive support for VLC is available online.