[Asterisk-video] Need some help regarding Asterisk video setup

[Klaus Darilion]

Am 30.03.2010 02:12, schrieb aman kumar:
> Hello ,
> I am a beginner user for asterisk and Linux environment .  I need some
> help for setup video calls and video streaming with asterisk .I will
> appreciate , If you can me some links, white paper , examples or
> any kind of help for that .I have downloaded AsteriskNow and installed
> in my server. I have following questions , please response.
> 1. Is AsteriskNow good for Video calls.

If you only want to make video calls between SIP phones, then it should 
be OK.

If you also do video streaming to SIP phones, or if you need video 
telephony also to 3G UMTS video phones, then you need to patch Asterisk 
and I think then it is better to use a plain Asterisk version.

> 2. Do I need any addon / plug in / Hardware for the server  for video
> calls .

For video calls: no, just enable video in sip.conf (search for video in 
the sample config file)

For 3G UMTS video calls: yes. You need ISDN (or SS7) interface cards

For streaming (RTSP), recording and playback of video files: yes. You 
need the applications from
https://asteriskvideo.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/asteriskvideo/

> 3. How can we stream some static video contents through Asterisk.

For example you can store the video as mp4 file. Then use mp4play() to 
playback the video to the caller. mp4play() is inlcuded in app_mp4.c 
(https://asteriskvideo.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/asteriskvideo/app_mp4/app_mp4.c)

> 4. Do we require any type of media server for contents or streaming video.

You have 2 options:
1. video is provided by Asterisk

SIP phone <--SIP+RTP--> Asterisk
                            ^  (using mp4play())
                            |
                         video.mp4


2. video is provided by a streaming server (e.g. darwin) and Asterisk 
(app_rtsp.c) bridges between the SIP call and the video stream.

SIP phone <--SIP+RTP--> Asterisk <---RTSP-------> Darwin
                        (using rtsp())               ^
                                                     |
                                                 video.mp4


> 5. What are the basic steps for integration Video with asterisk server.

Hint: only try the enxt step if the previous works

1. Install a "vanilla" (plain) Asterisk

2. Start with SIP-to-SIP video calls. By 2 webcams and use XLite to make 
video calls. (enable video in sip.conf)

3. Try also with the Echo() application. Then the caller should see itself.

4. Add app_mp4.c to Asterisk and reinstall Asterisk

5. Use mp4save() to record a video call from a SIP phone. Use mpeg4ip 
tools to analyze the recorded video (audio, video and hint tracks).

6. Use mp4play() to playback the recorded video to the SIP phone

7. use ffmpeg and mpeg4ip tools to create a video with hint tracks. Then 
playback this video to the caller using mp4play.

regards
klaus


> I have asked too many questions so that you can come to know , what is
> my Goal. Please guide me .
> Thanks ,
> Aman
>