Record RTSP stream with FFmpeg libavformat

Question

I\'m trying to record RTSP stream from Axis camera with FFmpeg libavformat. I can grab video from files and then save it to another file, this is OK. But camera sends strang

Answer 1

Here's how I do it. What I found was when receiving H264 the framerate in the stream is not correct. It sends 1/90000 Timebase. I skip initializing the new stream from the incoming stream and just copy certain parameters. The incoming r_frame_rate should be accurate if max_analyze_frames works correctly.

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

time_t get_time()
{
  struct timeval tv;

  gettimeofday( &tv, NULL );

  return tv.tv_sec; 
} 

int main( int argc, char* argv[] )
{
  AVFormatContext *ifcx = NULL;
  AVInputFormat *ifmt;
  AVCodecContext *iccx;
  AVCodec *icodec;
  AVStream *ist;
  int i_index;
  time_t timenow, timestart;
  int got_key_frame = 0;

  AVFormatContext *ofcx;
  AVOutputFormat *ofmt;
  AVCodecContext *occx;
  AVCodec *ocodec;
  AVStream *ost;
  int o_index;

  AVPacket pkt;

  int ix;

  const char *sProg = argv[ 0 ];
  const char *sFileInput;
  const char *sFileOutput;
  int bRunTime;

  if ( argc != 4 ) {
    printf( "Usage: %s url outfile runtime\n", sProg );
    return EXIT_FAILURE;
  } 
  sFileInput = argv[ 1 ];
  sFileOutput = argv[ 2 ];
  bRunTime = atoi( argv[ 3 ] );

  // Initialize library
  av_log_set_level( AV_LOG_DEBUG );
  av_register_all();
  avcodec_register_all(); 
  avformat_network_init();

  //
  // Input
  //

  //open rtsp
  if ( avformat_open_input( &ifcx, sFileInput, NULL, NULL) != 0 ) {
    printf( "ERROR: Cannot open input file\n" );
    return EXIT_FAILURE;
  }

  if ( avformat_find_stream_info( ifcx, NULL ) < 0 ) {
    printf( "ERROR: Cannot find stream info\n" );
    avformat_close_input( &ifcx );
    return EXIT_FAILURE;
  }

  snprintf( ifcx->filename, sizeof( ifcx->filename ), "%s", sFileInput );

  //search video stream
  i_index = -1;
  for ( ix = 0; ix < ifcx->nb_streams; ix++ ) {
    iccx = ifcx->streams[ ix ]->codec;
    if ( iccx->codec_type == AVMEDIA_TYPE_VIDEO ) {
      ist = ifcx->streams[ ix ];
      i_index = ix;
      break;
    }
  }
  if ( i_index < 0 ) {
    printf( "ERROR: Cannot find input video stream\n" );
    avformat_close_input( &ifcx );
    return EXIT_FAILURE;
  }

  //
  // Output
  //

  //open output file
  ofmt = av_guess_format( NULL, sFileOutput, NULL );
  ofcx = avformat_alloc_context();
  ofcx->oformat = ofmt;
  avio_open2( &ofcx->pb, sFileOutput, AVIO_FLAG_WRITE, NULL, NULL );

  // Create output stream
  //ost = avformat_new_stream( ofcx, (AVCodec *) iccx->codec );
  ost = avformat_new_stream( ofcx, NULL );
  avcodec_copy_context( ost->codec, iccx );

  ost->sample_aspect_ratio.num = iccx->sample_aspect_ratio.num;
  ost->sample_aspect_ratio.den = iccx->sample_aspect_ratio.den;

  // Assume r_frame_rate is accurate
  ost->r_frame_rate = ist->r_frame_rate;
  ost->avg_frame_rate = ost->r_frame_rate;
  ost->time_base = av_inv_q( ost->r_frame_rate );
  ost->codec->time_base = ost->time_base;

  avformat_write_header( ofcx, NULL );

  snprintf( ofcx->filename, sizeof( ofcx->filename ), "%s", sFileOutput );

  //start reading packets from stream and write them to file

  av_dump_format( ifcx, 0, ifcx->filename, 0 );
  av_dump_format( ofcx, 0, ofcx->filename, 1 );

  timestart = timenow = get_time();

  ix = 0;
  //av_read_play(context);//play RTSP (Shouldn't need this since it defaults to playing on connect)
  av_init_packet( &pkt );
  while ( av_read_frame( ifcx, &pkt ) >= 0 && timenow - timestart <= bRunTime ) {
    if ( pkt.stream_index == i_index ) { //packet is video               
      // Make sure we start on a key frame
      if ( timestart == timenow && ! ( pkt.flags & AV_PKT_FLAG_KEY ) ) {
        timestart = timenow = get_time();
        continue;
      }
      got_key_frame = 1;

      pkt.stream_index = ost->id;

      pkt.pts = ix++;
      pkt.dts = pkt.pts;

      av_interleaved_write_frame( ofcx, &pkt );
    }
    av_free_packet( &pkt );
    av_init_packet( &pkt );

    timenow = get_time();
  }
  av_read_pause( ifcx );
  av_write_trailer( ofcx );
  avio_close( ofcx->pb );
  avformat_free_context( ofcx );

  avformat_network_deinit();

  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}