Streaming U3 Captured Media Over LAN Using RTMP Server with Minimal Latency

[bzowk]

Hey Guys -

I recently purchased an ExtremeCap U3 device which using Avermedia's software may record or record or stream HDMI or composite in a number of qualities. It connects to my PC via USB 3.0 and works great. However - I have a couple of other laptops I wish to stream to which don't have USB 3.0. I purchased ExpressCards to add 3.0 ports, but the U3 doesn't provide video when connected using them after trying probably 30 different configurations. There's one thing I wish to do which I cannot figure out so thought I'd post hoping to get advise.

Please see the UPDATE I recently added below...

Avermedia's software allows live streaming for Twitch, UStream, NicoNico?, YouTube Live, and what seems to be the only local option - Custom RTMP. My plan is to create an RTMP server locally, stream to it from Avermedia, then connect laptops to the stream over LAN - or - if software exists which acts as an RTMP server and player, install just it on the laptop and have Avermedia stream directly to it. As I intend to use this set for occasional gaming, I need the stream to have a little latency as possible as the controller would be plugged directly into the source which is why internet-based solutions wouldn't work.

After brief research, I downloaded and installed Unreal Media Server on my PC and was able to connect to it from a laptop and stream local files, but that's about it. I'd imagine, I'd need to establish a Live broadcast for the laptop to connect to, but would also need to figure out how to get Avermedia to stream it's capture to the live broadcast.

Any suggestions for how to do this, any different software I should use, or any other alternate method? Thanks a ton!

Environment Specs
- Desktop PC (/w U3 Connected)
- Windows 10 x64
- Plenty of resources

- Avermedia Options to Connect to "Custom RTMP Server"
- Proxy (initially greyed out)
- Stream URL
- Stream Key

- Local Network
- All systems are connected via gigabit

- Remote Laptops
Really only concerned with streaming this to the Windows laptops
- x2 Windows 10 x64
- x1 Ubuntu 14.04 x64
- x1 openSUSE x64

Thanks guys!!

UPDATE

Well, after posting I read a bit more and eventually got at least something working after I installed Unreal Live Server. Using it (which can directly capture from the U3) I was able to broadcast over the LAN to my laptop. The only problem is latency which comes in two different forms:

Latency Issue #1
If I choose to transcode the video prior to streaming, the transcoding process adds latency (seemingly the same delay at any setting). I tried changing the resolution but seemingly it can only transcode at the source resolution of 1920 x 1080. When I set the resolution to be anything lower (I've tried about a dozen) and connect via the player or test within the server, the video is distorted as shown in the below screenshot. Anything lower I'd assume would need to be transcoded too so don't know if this would help anyways.


Latency Issue #2
If I choose to stream uncompressed video, the player (locally and on remote PC) connect to the stream, show a frame or two, then the app crashes. I've been using the "Streaming Media Player" which comes with the Unreal Live Server. I tried connecting using VLC, but couldn't get it to connect.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Cornucopia]

Uncompressed 1080p30 4:2:0 runs at 747Mbps without audio, so its no surprise your apps would crash.

********

There is latency in the transmission, due to packetizing, error correction, etc. Then there is latency due to the need for a certain VBV for the encoder/decoder, and for gop analysis. This depends more on the codec choice and settings.

In my recent tests for work, using mjpeg compression (i-frame, fairly low latency) over gigabit lan on the same subnet the latency was around 240msec. For h264, it jumped to multiple seconds on the same equipment with the same setup. And this was using high quality network cams (axis, clearone) that utilized hardware compression & streaming built-in. I doubt you're going to get better than that latency-wise, so I hope that is satisfactory to you.

Scott