Streaming Events
Using TSS
There are two main panels in TSS that you have to ensure have the right setting to send a stream : these are the Source and Target panels:
On the source tab one can choose the type of video input, when operating on a minimal setup, there is a chance to use a webcam via the video for linux device drivers. We haven't tested this thoughroughly since we where unable to have the proper version of ffmpeg (remember TSS is basically a graphical user interface to other software tools, namely ffmpeg and oggfwd) the software in charge of getting the feed of the webcam, that could handle vl4 input.
TSS also offer the possibility to stream an archive file, It will be a great feature to allow loading a playlist so you could offer your own web.tv programme. This is something that also using the Ogg/Theora + Icecast combo would work when using the acclaimed VLC (Video Lan Client) player.
The second tab is called target1, here we will define the settings for our main stream, the one we could consider as the high resolution one:
Lets get into some short description of every entry. Is important we keep in mind that any desition we make on the ffmpeg2theora encoding settings will have direct influence on the final output bitrate of our stream. The higher this bitrate is the more bandwidth we will require to send it to the Icecast server along with the the downlink bandwidth requirements that any of the clients connecting to our channel will need. So if some of our viewers are in Colombia where the average network connection is still around the 128kbps (kb/s or kbit/s is a unit of data transfer rate equal to 1,000 bits per second). This all comes down to mean that even though we have high broadband connection that could allow us to send a stream at a high resolution and high quality compression rate, everyone at the other end will have enough bandwidth to download the stream in a stable way.
Frame size: here we define the dimensions in pixels of the video stream. 320 by 240 has become a standard. For low bandwidth settings one might opt for 240 by 180.
Frame rate: This setting defines the number of frames per second we will like to transmit, different events will requiere different frame rates, in the case of a conference where the subjects don't move or change position to much a 12fps (frames per second) setting could be ideal. In the example on the picture above we decided to sacrifice on the frame rate in favor for a bigger frame size. We selected 25:3 that will be around 8fps.
Video Quality: This setting takes values in the range of 0 to 10. The default encoding quality for video of ffmpeg2theora is 5, one should use higher values for better quality.
Audio Quality: This setting takes values in the range of -2 to 10. The encoding quality for audio defaults to: 1. Use higher values for better quality.
Audio Channels: Sets the number of output channels.
Samplerate: Expressed in Hz (Hertz) this box sets the output samplerate.
The ffmpeg2theora and Icecast metadata entry boxes are sort of self explanatory, their purpose is to allow the stream player to present related info about the stream to its viewer.
On the Icecast Server Setings front we have to define the address of the streaming server, the port this server is using and the name of our mountpoint (channel) and its password. If you lack an icecast server there are few free projects out there engaged on supporting people to stream using free software, check on estudiolivre.org or GISS.tv to name a few.
If you wish to send one stream you need only pay attention to the settings in the Source and Target 1 panels. If you wish to sendTa