Host a live stream of a video for shared syncronized viewing, for 1 cent an hour, through digital ocean and ffmpeg.
Requires an account with digital ocean, and an API KEY
Requires python2.7
Requires ffmpeg if you want the script to stream for you (The play command). Otherwise, programs such as VLC or OBS can be used instead to generate an RTMP stream (use commands start_server and destroy_server to deploy the server, and point the RTMP stream at the provided url).
If subs are needed, then ffmpeg must be compiled with libass for subtitle conversion. Not necessary if you don't want subs.
View the stream with any player that supports RTMP. VLC or MPV are suggested. Requires flash to view the stream.
Only tested on OSX. Should work on any Linux box with no issues.
Windows is untested, but start_server and destroy_server subcommands should work with no issues. The play subcommand may not.
If it doesn't, run start_server to deploy the server, then use VLC or OBS to create an RTMP stream pointed at the provided url. Just make sure to call destroy_server when you're done.
Only tested on OSX. Should work on Linux with no issues. Might work on Windows (particularly the ffmpeg call might break). OBS/VLC would probably be more convenient for Windows users.
OSX (brew) install:
brew install ffmpeg --with-libass # this will take like 30 min
pip install click requests
git clone https://github.com/setr/LiveStream.git
cd LiveStream
python spawn.py --helpUsage: spawn.py play [OPTIONS] FILENAME
Options:
--api-key TEXT Digital Ocean API key; if not provided on CLI, it must be
provided in the file API_KEY
--subs INTEGER Select the subtitle stream embedded in the movie to be
burned into the video stream.
--snapshot TEXT Name of snapshot image to use instead of creating a brand
new VM
--ffmpeg-logs Hide the ffmpeg logs? Default is to hide them.
--help Show this message and exit.
Examples:
Start the Server, stream the movie, stop the server; Using the first subtitle stream in the movie
$ python spawn.py play --subs 0 ~/Downloads/KungFu/Police-Story-3-720p.mkv
test% python spawn.py play --subs ~/Downloads/KungFu/Legend-of-the-Drunken-Master_720p.mkv
Attempt #1/3: Starting up the VM...
VM at ip 45.55.141.12 is now active
Attempt #1/20: Waiting for nginx to finish compiling...
Attempt #2/20: Waiting for nginx to finish compiling...
Attempt #3/20: Waiting for nginx to finish compiling...
Attempt #4/20: Waiting for nginx to finish compiling...
Attempt #5/20: Waiting for nginx to finish compiling...
Attempt #6/20: Waiting for nginx to finish compiling...
Attempt #7/20: Waiting for nginx to finish compiling...
Attempt #8/20: Waiting for nginx to finish compiling...
Attempt #9/20: Waiting for nginx to finish compiling...
Running command: ffmpeg -re -loglevel warning -i /Users/setr/Downloads/KungFu/Legend-of-the-Drunken-Master_720p.mkv -c:v libx264 -c:a libmp3lame -filter:v subtitles=/Users/setr/Downloads/KungFu/Legend-of-the-Drunken-Master_720p.mkv -ar 44100 -ac 1 -f flv rtmp://45.55.141.12/live
The stream is now live at rtmp://45.55.141.12/live
Enjoy!
Start the server and set it up for streaming, but don't stream anything
$ python spawn.py start_server
Starting server
VM at ip 104.236.192.177 is now active
Attempt #7/20: Waiting for nginx to finish compiling...
Server is ready! Point an RTMP stream at rtmp://104.236.192.177/live
Play the movie to an already running server
$ python spawn.py play_movie 45.55.141.12 ~/Downloads/KungFu/Police-Story-3-720p.mkv
Running command: ffmpeg -re -loglevel warning -i /Users/setr/Downloads/KungFu/Legend-of-the-Drunken-Master_720p.mkv -c:v libx264 -c:a libmp3lame -filter:v subtitles=/Users/setr/Downloads/KungFu/Legend-of-the-Drunken-Master_720p.mkv -ar 44100 -ac 1 -f flv rtmp://45.55.141.12/live
The stream is now live at rtmp://45.55.141.12/live
Enjoy!
Destroy any running servers created by this script
$ python spawn.py destroy_server
Attempt #1/3: Trying to kill VM with tag f48dff2e-7fb7-49e8-b9bf-2013c9deff90...
- If something goes wrong, make sure to go to digitalocean.com and destroy the VM yourself (named StreamServer), or call the
destroy_servercommand. The script does not ensure multiple servers are not created. Each server will cost you $5/monthly if you never close them. - ffmpeg will be converting and streaming the video at the same time, in real time. If your computer converts slower than the bitrate of the video, you'll end up with a choppy stream. Consider converting the video beforehand in this case.
- This uses the RTMP protocol, which communicates with Adobe Flash. Thus, you'll need flash installed to view the stream.
- The server is not secure in any fashion and makes no check as to who is streaming the video to the server. It also doesn't stop other people from streaming videos through your server. Such malicious users won't really cost you anything, except eating up some of your bandwidth cap.
- The subtitles flag only picks from a subtitle embedded in the video. To use an external subtitle file instead, first convert the subtitle to ASS if it isn't already
ffmpeg -i subtitle.srt subtitle.ass. Then copy an run the ffmpeg command but change the flag-filter:v subtitles=[FILENAME]to-filter:v subtitles=subtitle.ass
- Starts up a new Digital Ocean VM on the lowest tier (512MB), and runs deploy.sh
- deploy.sh downloads Nginx and the RTMP module, and compiles it on the VM
- Nginx is used to run an rtmp server, on port 1935 (rtmp default)
- Once Nginx is running, the local machine uses ffmpeg to stream the video to rtmp://
ip/live- ffmpeg converts the video to h264, audio to mp3 and burns the subtitles into the output, wrapped in an flv container
- ffmpeg will be converting and streaming the video at the same time, in real time. If your computer converts slower than the bitrate of the video, you'll end up with a choppy stream. Consider converting the video beforehand in this case.
- The video can then be viewed from the same url rtmp://
ip/live - When the video finishes, the script will destroy the VM.
This means that you have one input stream, from the local computer to the digital ocean vm, and n output streams for n viewers.
The command play will execute all of the above. start_server will only execute step 1, play_movie will only execute steps 2 and 3, and destroy_server will only execute step 4.
Digital Ocean allows 1 TB of network traffic per month. The traffic of playing a single video:
s = size of the video after conversion to flv
n = number of viewers
Total Bandwidth used = (n + 1) * s
The +1 is from your computer streaming to the server.
In testing, a 1.5 GB h264 mkv video converted to 750 MB flv. So with 10 viewers, I had a total traffic of (n + 1) * 750MB = (10 + 1) * 750 = 8250 MB = ~8GB network traffic.
According to a Digital Ocean Mod, expected upload speed is 330 Mbps
n = number of viewers
max(n) = 330Mbps / video-bitrate
My converted test movie had a bitrate of 1278 kb/s (ffprobe test.flv). So 330Mbps * 1024 = 337920 kb/s / 1278 kb/s = ~264 max number of viewers. Real network conditions will probably allow much less than that, and some claim Digital Ocean provides significantly lower upload speeds, so real usage may vary.
Digital Ocean charges $0.007 per hour of server uptime.
The cost of a 2 hour movie is 2 * $0.007 = $0.014
The cost of a weekly 2 hour movie is 4 * $0.014 = $0.056
When charged at the end of the month, it'll be rounded up, so $0.06, or 6 cents.
Total Bandwidth Per Session = (n + 1) * s = 31 * 2GB = 62 GB
Total Bandwidth Per Month = 62GB * 8 Sessions = 496 GB
Upload Speed Required Per Session = (n + 1) users * bitrate = 31 * 1300kb/s = 40,300 kb/s = ~39 Mb/s
Total cost = 2 hr/movie * 0.007 $/hr * 8 Sessions = $0.112 = $0.11 per month
Digital Ocean has no up-front cost, and $.007/hr pricing, 1 TB transfer, 330 Mbps upload.
AWS only allows 15GB total network traffic per month on its free tier. Otherwise, its $0.09 per GB.
GCP only allows 1 GB outgoing traffic per day (~30GB/mo) on its free tier. Otherwise, $0.09 per GB
Microsoft Azure allows 5GB total traffic free per month. Otherwise $0.09 per GB
Linode requires an up-front payment of min.
Provide instructions for streaming through VLC and OBS
Optionally start up an HLS/Dash feed instead (or alongside?) RTMP, and I guess a webpage to go with it. Bitmovin, JWplayer have been suggested for the web video player.
FFMPEG can apparently take a url as input, so we might as well support that too (currently blocked because the script checks if video is a valid file)
Only accept streams from ip address that ran this script, or from a list of given IP's.
Maybe maintain a pre-compiled version of Nginx in this repo, to speed up deployment.
Make the script installable.
Add proper logging and loglevels.