Video Stream Out TOP
Summary
Note: This TOP uses the Nvidia Hardware Encoder to create the stream and therefore requires an Nvidia GPU and Windows to operate.
The Video Stream Out TOP creates either an RTSP server, or can act as an RTMP or SRT sender, to send H.264 video and MP3 audio across the network. It uses Nvidia's hardware H264 encoder. For RTSP, it can handle multiple clients connecting to it at the same time. Multiple Video Stream Out TOPs using the same port will be handled using the same underlying RTSP server. The Video Stream Out TOP can also be used to send a video stream through WebRTC video/audio tracks.
RTSP
Obtain the URL to connect to the Video Steam Out TOP's RTSP server by using an Info DAT or by middle clicking on the node. It will be in the form:
rtsp://<ipaddress>:<port>/<streamName>
e.g.
rtsp://192.168.0.1:554/tdvidstream
RTMP
To obtain the RTMP URL stream to, you may need to search to find the correct URL depending on your location and the service you are using. This should be in the format:
{service url}/{stream key}.
For example for Twitch the URL would be something like
rtmp://live-yto.twitch.tv/app/live_1234567_sduhy3xJ1KJ34Eg6CjksdJLubFS7gtUY
For more information on different services checkout RTMP.
SRT
SRT can use either H.264 or H.265 video codec. It can also send per-frame metadata when a CHOP or DAT is specified in the Per-Frame Metadata parameter. The SRT server is settings are controlled by URL options. E.g to create a listener you'd specify the URL:
srt://0.0.0.0:9494?mode=listener
To connect to listener, you'd do:
srt://127.0.0.1:9494?mode=caller
Either side of the connection can be the listener or the caller, it doesn't matter which is sending the video and which is receiving the video. The receiver would set their mode to be the opposite of whatever the sender is setting their mode to be.
All the options that are available are listed here. Multiple options can be set using a & as separator. E.g
srt://127.0.0.1:9494?mode=caller&send_buffer_size=100000
SRT sent from the Video Stream Out TOP can include per-frame metadata making it easy to send and receive CHOP/DAT data in sync with video. It can be read with the Video Stream In TOP.
Limitations
RTSP streaming does not support sending directly to another RTSP server via RTP.
The maximum stream outs on a NVIDIA Geforce card is 2: The number of streams the GPU can handle is different depending on driver versions and hardware, however in general it is 2 streams max on Geforce level cards. Using a lower resolution does not avoid the 2 stream limit. Quadros can do more streams. Refer to Nvidia Video GPU Support Matrix for more information.
One test using the default TouchDesigner startup file on a M6000 was able to do 13 1080p@30hz Video Stream Out TOPs.
See also the Video Stream In TOP, RTMP, RTSP and Video Streaming User Guide.
For other protocols over IP see NDI (Network Data Interface), and Touch Out TOP / Touch In TOP.
NOTE for Windows OS - If experiencing connection issues make sure Windows Firewall is disabled.
Parameters - Video Stream Out Page
Active
active - Controls if the server is active or not. If this is Off then the port this server uses will not be tied up.
Mode
mode - ⊞ - Selects if the mode works as an RTSP server, sends RTMP to a receiever such as a distribution service like YouTube or Twitch, or sends to an SRT destination.
- RTSP Server
rtspserver- Use the RTSP and RTP protocol. More information here.
- RTMP Sender
rtmpsender- Use the RTMP protocol. More information here.
- SRT
srt- Use the SRT protocol. More information here.
- WebRTC
webrtc- Use a WebRTC peer. More info: WebRTC, WebRTC DAT.
Network Port
port - The port the server should listen on. Multiple Video Stream Out TOPs can use the same port as long as each has a unique Stream Name.
Stream Name
streamname - The name of the stream for this node. This name is what comes after the / in the URL after the ipaddress:port combination.
Multi-Cast
multicast - Controls if RTSP server sends its video out using unicast or multicast UDP packets.
RTMP Destination URL
url - The URL to sent the RTMP stream to. This should be in the format of {service url}/{stream key}. For example for twitch the URL would be something like rtmp://live-yto.twitch.tv/app/live_1234567_sduhy3xJ1KJ34Eg6CjksdJLubFS7gtUY. You may need to search to find the correct URL depending on your location and the service you are using.
Destination URL
url - The URL to sent the RTMP stream to. This should be in the format of {service url}/{stream key}. For example for twitch the URL would be something like rtmp://live-yto.twitch.tv/app/live_1234567_sduhy3xJ1KJ34Eg6CjksdJLubFS7gtUY. You may need to search to find the correct URL depending on your location and the service you are using.
Force IDR
forceidr - For debugging, this will force the server to create a new video keyframe to send to all the clients. If clients aren't getting proper image this can be used to attempt to fix it. If you need to use this parameter please report the case to support@derivative.ca.
FPS
fps - The FPS to send video at.
Video Codec
videocodec - ⊞ - Select which codec to use for encoding the stream.
- H.264 (NVIDIA GPU)
h264nvgpu-
- H.265/HEVC (NVIDIA GPU)
h265nvgpu-
Profile
profile - ⊞ - The H.264 profile to use to encode the frames. Some decoders can only support H.264 encoder at certain profiles.
- Baseline
baseline-
- Main
main-
- High
high-
Quality
quality - ⊞ - The quality level of the encoding.
- Low-Latency Low
lowlatencylow-
- Low-Latency Medium
lowlatencymedium-
- Low-Latency High
lowlatencyhigh-
- High-Latency Low
highlatencylow-
- High-Latency High
highlatencyhigh-
Keyframe Interval
keyframeinterval - Set the keyframe interval for the H.264 encoder.
Max B-Frames
maxbframes - The maximum number of bi-directional frames that can occur between keyframes. More will increase latency but reduce bandwidth.
Intra-Refresh Period
intrarefreshperiod - Intra-refresh is a gradual keyframe that is applied across the image to clean up streaming artifacts over multiple frames, instead of one large keyframe. This controls the number of frames that elapse between each intra-refresh occuring.
Intra-Refresh Length
intrarefreshlength - The number of frames the intra-refresh will be spread out across.
Bitrate Mode
bitratemode - ⊞ - Chooses between constant (CBR) and variable (VBR) bit rate modes. Mode streaming services prefer a constant bit rate mode.
- Constant (CBR)
constant-
- Variable (VBR)
variable-
- Constant HQ (CBR)
constanthq-
- Variable HQ (VBR)
variablehq-
Average Bitrate (Mb/s)
avgbitrate - The target bitrate for the encoding. This is specified in Mb/s (megabits/second).
Per-Frame Metadata
perframemetadata - Send metadata from this OP with each frame of the video stream. This data can be received from the Video Stream In TOP using an Info CHOP and Info DAT.
Max Bitrate (Mb/s)
maxbitrate - The maximum bitrate for the encoding. This is specified in Mb/s (megabits/second).
Num H264 Slices per Frame
numslices - This controls how many pieces (slices) each H.264 frame is separated into. Some decoders are able to decode multiple slices simultaneously so setting this to a value above 1 allows those decoders to run more efficiently.
Audio CHOP
audiochop - A timesliced audio source to send along with the video. For RTSP, Audio will be resampled to 44100Hz before being encoded into MP3. For RTMP the sample rate must already be 44100. For WebRTC the sample rate must be 48000.
Audio Bit Rate
audiobitrate - ⊞ - Set the bit rate used for encoding audio.
- 96 kb/s
b96-
- 128 kb/s
b128-
- 192 kb/s
b192-
- 256 kb/s
b256-
- 320 kb/s
b320-
Include Silent Audio Stream
includesilentaudio - ⊞ - Some broadcasting services require an audio stream to be included. This will include a silent audio stream along with the video in the event there isn't actual audio being streamed video the CHOP parameter.
- Automatic
automatic-
- On
on-
- Off
off-
Per-Frame Metadata CHOP/DAT
perframemetadata - Send metadata from this OP with each frame of the video stream. This data can be recevied from the Video Stream In TOP using an Info CHOP and Info DAT.
Parameters - WebRTC Page
WebRTC
webrtc - Set the WebRTC DAT (ie. peer) to send the video stream over. Setting this will automatically populate the WebRTC Connection parameter menu with available connections.
WebRTC Connection
webrtcconnection - Select the WebRTC peer-to-peer connection. Selecting this will automatically population the WebRTC Track parameter menu with available video output tracks.
WebRTC Video Track
webrtcvideotrack - Select the video output track that's a part of the WebRTC peer-to-peer connection.
WebRTC Audio Track
webrtcaudiotrack - Optionally select the audio output track that's a part of the WebRTC peer-to-peer connection, to be sent along with the video.
Parameters - Common Page
Output Resolution
outputresolution - ⊞ - quickly change the resolution of the TOP's data.
- Use Input
useinput- Uses the input's resolution.
- Eighth
eighth- Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
- Quarter
quarter- Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
- Half
half- Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
- 2X
2x- Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
- 4X
4x- Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
- 8X
8x- Multiply the input's resolution by that amount.
- Fit Resolution
fit- Fits the width and height to the resolution given below, while maintaining the aspect ratio.
- Limit Resolution
limit- The width and height are limited to the resolution given below. If one of the dimensions exceeds the given resolution, the width and height will be reduced to fit inside the given limits while maintaining the aspect ratio.
- Custom Resolution
custom- Enables the Resolution parameter below, giving direct control over width and height.
Resolution
resolution - ⊞ - Enabled only when the Resolution parameter is set to Custom Resolution. Some Generators like Constant and Ramp do not use inputs and only use this field to determine their size. The drop down menu on the right provides some commonly used resolutions.
- W
resolutionw-
- H
resolutionh-
Use Global Res Multiplier
resmult - Uses the Global Resolution Multiplier found in Edit>Preferences>TOPs. This multiplies all the TOPs resolutions by the set amount. This is handy when working on computers with different hardware specifications. If a project is designed on a desktop workstation with lots of graphics memory, a user on a laptop with only 64MB VRAM can set the Global Resolution Multiplier to a value of half or quarter so it runs at an acceptable speed. By checking this checkbox on, this TOP is affected by the global multiplier.
Output Aspect
outputaspect - ⊞ - Sets the image aspect ratio allowing any textures to be viewed in any size. Watch for unexpected results when compositing TOPs with different aspect ratios. (You can define images with non-square pixels using xres, yres, aspectx, aspecty where xres/yres != aspectx/aspecty.)
- Use Input
useinput- Uses the input's aspect ratio.
- Resolution
resolution- Uses the aspect of the image's defined resolution (ie 512x256 would be 2:1), whereby each pixel is square.
- Custom Aspect
custom- Lets you explicitly define a custom aspect ratio in the Aspect parameter below.
Aspect
aspect - ⊞ - Use when Output Aspect parameter is set to Custom Aspect.
- Aspect1
aspect1-
- Aspect2
aspect2-
Input Smoothness
inputfiltertype - ⊞ - This controls pixel filtering on the input image of the TOP.
- Nearest Pixel
nearest- Uses nearest pixel or accurate image representation. Images will look jaggy when viewing at any zoom level other than Native Resolution.
- Interpolate Pixels
linear- Uses linear filtering between pixels. This is how you get TOP images in viewers to look good at various zoom levels, especially useful when using any Fill Viewer setting other than Native Resolution.
- Mipmap Pixels
mipmap- Uses mipmap filtering when scaling images. This can be used to reduce artifacts and sparkling in moving/scaling images that have lots of detail.
Fill Viewer
fillmode - ⊞ - Determine how the TOP image is displayed in the viewer.
NOTE:To get an understanding of how TOPs work with images, you will want to set this to Native Resolution as you lay down TOPs when starting out. This will let you see what is actually happening without any automatic viewer resizing.
- Use Input
useinput- Uses the same Fill Viewer settings as it's input.
- Fill
fill- Stretches the image to fit the edges of the viewer.
- Fit Horizontal
width- Stretches image to fit viewer horizontally.
- Fit Vertical
height- Stretches image to fit viewer vertically.
- Fit Best
best- Stretches or squashes image so no part of image is cropped.
- Fit Outside
outside- Stretches or squashes image so image fills viewer while constraining it's proportions. This often leads to part of image getting cropped by viewer.
- Native Resolution
nativeres- Displays the native resolution of the image in the viewer.
Viewer Smoothness
filtertype - ⊞ - This controls pixel filtering in the viewers.
- Nearest Pixel
nearest- Uses nearest pixel or accurate image representation. Images will look jaggy when viewing at any zoom level other than Native Resolution.
- Interpolate Pixels
linear- Uses linear filtering between pixels. Use this to get TOP images in viewers to look good at various zoom levels, especially useful when using any Fill Viewer setting other than Native Resolution.
- Mipmap Pixels
mipmap- Uses mipmap filtering when scaling images. This can be used to reduce artifacts and sparkling in moving/scaling images that have lots of detail.
Passes
npasses - Duplicates the operation of the TOP the specified number of times. Making this larger than 1 is essentially the same as taking the output from each pass, and passing it into the first input of the node and repeating the process. Other inputs and parameters remain the same for each pass.
Channel Mask
chanmask - Allows you to choose which channels (R, G, B, or A) the TOP will operate on. All channels are selected by default.
Pixel Format
format - ⊞ - Format used to store data for each channel in the image (ie. R, G, B, and A). Refer to Pixel Formats for more information.
- Use Input
useinput- Uses the input's pixel format.
- 8-bit fixed (RGBA)
rgba8fixed- Uses 8-bit integer values for each channel.
- sRGB 8-bit fixed (RGBA)
srgba8fixed- Uses 8-bit integer values for each channel and stores color in sRGB colorspace.
- 16-bit float (RGBA)
rgba16float- Uses 16-bits per color channel, 64-bits per pixel.
- 32-bit float (RGBA)
rgba32float- Uses 32-bits per color channel, 128-bits per pixels.
- 10-bit RGB, 2-bit Alpha, fixed (RGBA)
rgb10a2fixed- Uses 10-bits per color channel and 2-bits for alpha, 32-bits total per pixel.
- 16-bit fixed (RGBA)
rgba16fixed- Uses 16-bits per color channel, 64-bits total per pixel.
- 11-bit float (RGB), Positive Values Only
rgba11float- A RGB floating point format that has 11 bits for the Red and Green channels, and 10-bits for the Blue Channel, 32-bits total per pixel (therefore the same memory usage as 8-bit RGBA). The Alpha channel in this format will always be 1. Values can go above one, but can't be negative. ie. the range is [0, infinite).
- 16-bit float (RGB)
rgb16float-
- 32-bit float (RGB)
rgb32float-
- 8-bit fixed (Mono)
mono8fixed- Single channel, where RGB will all have the same value, and Alpha will be 1.0. 8-bits per pixel.
- 16-bit fixed (Mono)
mono16fixed- Single channel, where RGB will all have the same value, and Alpha will be 1.0. 16-bits per pixel.
- 16-bit float (Mono)
mono16float- Single channel, where RGB will all have the same value, and Alpha will be 1.0. 16-bits per pixel.
- 32-bit float (Mono)
mono32float- Single channel, where RGB will all have the same value, and Alpha will be 1.0. 32-bits per pixel.
- 8-bit fixed (RG)
rg8fixed- A 2 channel format, R and G have values, while B is 0 always and Alpha is 1.0. 8-bits per channel, 16-bits total per pixel.
- 16-bit fixed (RG)
rg16fixed- A 2 channel format, R and G have values, while B is 0 always and Alpha is 1.0. 16-bits per channel, 32-bits total per pixel.
- 16-bit float (RG)
rg16float- A 2 channel format, R and G have values, while B is 0 always and Alpha is 1.0. 16-bits per channel, 32-bits total per pixel.
- 32-bit float (RG)
rg32float- A 2 channel format, R and G have values, while B is 0 always and Alpha is 1.0. 32-bits per channel, 64-bits total per pixel.
- 8-bit fixed (A)
a8fixed- An Alpha only format that has 8-bits per channel, 8-bits per pixel.
- 16-bit fixed (A)
a16fixed- An Alpha only format that has 16-bits per channel, 16-bits per pixel.
- 16-bit float (A)
a16float- An Alpha only format that has 16-bits per channel, 16-bits per pixel.
- 32-bit float (A)
a32float- An Alpha only format that has 32-bits per channel, 32-bits per pixel.
- 8-bit fixed (Mono+Alpha)
monoalpha8fixed- A 2 channel format, one value for RGB and one value for Alpha. 8-bits per channel, 16-bits per pixel.
- 16-bit fixed (Mono+Alpha)
monoalpha16fixed- A 2 channel format, one value for RGB and one value for Alpha. 16-bits per channel, 32-bits per pixel.
- 16-bit float (Mono+Alpha)
monoalpha16float- A 2 channel format, one value for RGB and one value for Alpha. 16-bits per channel, 32-bits per pixel.
- 32-bit float (Mono+Alpha)
monoalpha32float- A 2 channel format, one value for RGB and one value for Alpha. 32-bits per channel, 64-bits per pixel.
Operator Inputs
- Input 0: -
Info CHOP Channels
Extra Information for the Video Stream Out TOP can be accessed via an Info CHOP.
Specific Video Stream Out TOP Info Channels
- last_encode_time -
- last_send_delay -
- packet_loss_ratio -
Common TOP Info Channels
- resx - Horizontal resolution of the TOP in pixels.
- resy - Vertical resolution of the TOP in pixels.
- aspectx - Horizontal aspect of the TOP.
- aspecty - Vertical aspect of the TOP.
- depth - Depth of 2D or 3D array if this TOP contains a 2D or 3D texture array.
- gpu_memory_used - Total amount of texture memory used by this TOP.
Common Operator Info Channels
- total_cooks - Number of times the operator has cooked since the process started.
- cook_time - Duration of the last cook in milliseconds.
- cook_frame - Frame number when this operator was last cooked relative to the component timeline.
- cook_abs_frame - Frame number when this operator was last cooked relative to the absolute time.
- cook_start_time - Time in milliseconds at which the operator started cooking in the frame it was cooked.
- cook_end_time - Time in milliseconds at which the operator finished cooking in the frame it was cooked.
- cooked_this_frame - 1 if operator was cooked this frame.
- warnings - Number of warnings in this operator if any.
- errors - Number of errors in this operator if any.
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