Bytearray – Programming, Computers and Technology

I have a old platform dependent Linksys WVC54G (P.O.S) which only streams in ASF format and I needed/expected to have the flexibility to view this video format on different platforms (in my case OSX or Linux) . VLC was the obvious choice but as it turned out it wasn’t that simple.

You can see on line 90 of the VLC debug below: main debug: EOF reached

As it turns out it’s not a complete file (by nature as it’s streaming) so EOF is prematurely reached causing the video to fail

main debug: processing request item http://x.x.x.x/img/video.asf node Playlist skip 0
main debug: resyncing on http://x.x.x.x/img/video.asf
main debug: http://x.x.x.x/img/video.asf is at 0
main debug: starting new item
main debug: creating new input thread
main debug: Creating an input for 'http://x.x.x.x/img/video.asf'
main debug: thread (input) created at priority 1 (../.././src/input/input.c:230)
qt4 debug: IM: Setting an input
main debug: thread started
main debug: using timeshift granularity of 50 MBytes
main debug: using timeshift path 'C:\x\x\LOCALS~1\Temp'
main debug: `http://x.x.x.x/img/video.asf' gives access `http' demux `' path `x.x.x.x/img/video.asf'
main debug: creating demux: access='http' demux='' path='x.x.x.x/img/video.asf'
main debug: looking for access_demux module: 0 candidates
main debug: no access_demux module matched "http"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.000 ms - Total 0.000 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.000 ms)
main debug: creating access 'http' path='x.x.x.x/img/video.asf'
main debug: looking for access module: 2 candidates
access_http debug: http: server='x.x.x.x' port=80 file='/img/video.asf
main debug: net: connecting to x.x.x.x port 80
main debug: connection: Resource temporarily unavailable
qt4 debug: Updating the geometry
qt4 debug: Updating the geometry
main debug: connection succeeded (socket = 696)
access_http debug: protocol 'HTTP' answer code 206
access_http debug: Server: thttpd/2.20b 10oct00
access_http debug: Content-Type: application/octet-stream
access_http debug: Connection: close
access_http debug: stream size=-1,pos=0,remaining=4518
access_http debug: this frame size=4518
main debug: using access module "access_http"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 656.000 ms - Total 656.000 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 656.000 ms)
main debug: Using AStream*Stream
main debug: pre buffering
main debug: received first data after 0 ms
main debug: pre-buffering done 481 bytes in 0s - 469726 kbytes/s
main debug: looking for stream_filter module: 2 candidates
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.000 ms - Total 0.000 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.000 ms)
main debug: looking for stream_filter module: 1 candidate
main debug: using stream_filter module "stream_filter_record"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 0.000 ms - Total 0.000 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 0.000 ms)
main debug: creating demux: access='http' demux='' path='x.x.x.x/img/video.asf'
main debug: looking for demux module: 50 candidates
asf debug: found object guid: 0x75b22630-0x668e-0x11cf-0xa6d900aa0062ce6c size:431
asf debug: read "header object" subobj:4, reserved1:1, reserved2:2
asf debug: found object guid: 0x8cabdca1-0xa947-0x11cf-0x8ee400c00c205365 size:104
asf debug: read "file properties object" file_id:0x67452301-0xab89-0xefcd-0x0000000000000000 file_size:4294967295 creation_date:0 data_packets_count:4294967295 play_duration:4294967295 send_duration:16777215 preroll:0 flags:1 min_data_packet_size:2000  max_data_packet_size:2000 max_bitrate:916000
asf debug: found object guid: 0xb7dc0791-0xa9b7-0x11cf-0x8ee600c00c205365 size:147
asf debug: read "stream Properties object" stream_type:0xbc19efc0-0x5b4d-0x11cf-0xa8fd00805f5c442b error_correction_type:0x20fb5700-0x5b55-0x11cf-0xa8fd00805f5c442b time_offset:0 type_specific_data_length:69 error_correction_data_length:0 flags:0x1 stream_number:1
asf debug: found object guid: 0xb7dc0791-0xa9b7-0x11cf-0x8ee600c00c205365 size:104
asf debug: read "stream Properties object" stream_type:0xf8699e40-0x5b4d-0x11cf-0xa8fd00805f5c442b error_correction_type:0xbfc3cd50-0x618f-0x11cf-0x8bb200aa00b4e220 time_offset:0 type_specific_data_length:18 error_correction_data_length:8 flags:0x2 stream_number:2
asf debug: found object guid: 0x5fbf03b5-0xa92e-0x11cf-0x8ee300c00c205365 size:46
asf debug: read "header extension object" reserved1:0xabd3d211-0xa9ba-0x11cf-0x8ee600c00c205365 reserved2:6 header_extension_size:0
asf debug: found object guid: 0x75b22636-0x668e-0x11cf-0xa6d900aa0062ce6c size:-72057594037927937
asf debug: read "data object" file_id:0x67452301-0xab89-0xefcd-0x0000000000000000 total data packet:0 reserved:257
asf debug: + 'Unknown' GUID 0x0-0x0-0x0-0x0000000000000000 size:0pos:0
asf debug:      + 'Header' GUID 0x75b22630-0x668e-0x11cf-0xa6d900aa0062ce6c size:431pos:0
asf debug:      |    + 'File Properties' GUID 0x8cabdca1-0xa947-0x11cf-0x8ee400c00c205365 size:104pos:30
asf debug:      |    + 'Stream Properties' GUID 0xb7dc0791-0xa9b7-0x11cf-0x8ee600c00c205365 size:147pos:134
asf debug:      |    + 'Stream Properties' GUID 0xb7dc0791-0xa9b7-0x11cf-0x8ee600c00c205365 size:104pos:281
asf debug:      |    + 'Header Extension' GUID 0x5fbf03b5-0xa92e-0x11cf-0x8ee300c00c205365 size:46pos:385
asf debug:      + 'Data' GUID 0x75b22636-0x668e-0x11cf-0xa6d900aa0062ce6c size:18374686479671623679pos:431
asf debug: found 2 streams
access_http warning: unimplemented query in control
main debug: selecting program id=0
asf debug: added new video stream(ID:1)
access_http warning: unimplemented query in control
asf debug: added new audio stream(codec:0x45,ID:2)
main debug: using demux module "asf"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 8.000 ms - Total 8.000 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 8.000 ms)
main debug: looking for a subtitle file in C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\
main debug: looking for decoder module: 35 candidates
avcodec debug: libavcodec already initialized
avcodec debug: using direct rendering
avcodec debug: ffmpeg codec (MPEG-4 Video) started
main debug: using decoder module "avcodec"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 4.000 ms - Total 4.000 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 4.000 ms)
main debug: thread (decoder) created at priority 0 (../.././src/input/decoder.c:315)
main debug: thread started
main debug: looking for decoder module: 35 candidates
avcodec debug: libavcodec already initialized
avcodec debug: ffmpeg codec (G.726 ADPCM Audio) started
avcodec debug: Using 192000 bytes output buffer
main debug: using decoder module "avcodec"
main debug: TIMER module_need() : 4.000 ms - Total 4.000 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 4.000 ms)
main debug: thread (decoder) created at priority 2 (../.././src/input/decoder.c:315)
main debug: thread started
main debug: `http://x.x.x.x/img/video.asf' successfully opened
asf warning: cannot peek while getting new packet, EOF ?
main debug: EOF reached
main debug: finished input
main debug: waitpipe: object killed
main debug: thread times: real 0m0.000000s, kernel 0m0.000000s, user 0m0.000000s
avcodec debug: ffmpeg codec (MPEG-4 Video) stopped
main debug: removing module "avcodec"
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `MP4S', 0 PES in FIFO
main debug: thread times: real 0m0.000000s, kernel 0m0.000000s, user 0m0.000000s
avcodec debug: ffmpeg codec (G.726 ADPCM Audio) stopped
main debug: removing module "avcodec"
main debug: killing decoder fourcc `g726', 0 PES in FIFO
asf debug: free asf object 0x8cabdca1-0xa947-0x11cf-0x8ee400c00c205365
asf debug: free asf object 0xb7dc0791-0xa9b7-0x11cf-0x8ee600c00c205365
asf debug: free asf object 0xb7dc0791-0xa9b7-0x11cf-0x8ee600c00c205365
asf debug: free asf object 0x5fbf03b5-0xa92e-0x11cf-0x8ee300c00c205365
asf debug: free asf object 0x75b22630-0x668e-0x11cf-0xa6d900aa0062ce6c
asf debug: free asf object 0x75b22636-0x668e-0x11cf-0xa6d900aa0062ce6c
main debug: Program doesn't contain anymore ES
main debug: removing module "asf"
main debug: removing module "stream_filter_record"
main debug: removing module "access_http"
main debug: thread ended
main debug: dead input
main debug: thread times: real 0m0.671875s, kernel 0m0.000000s, user 0m0.000000s
main debug: changing item without a request (current 0/1)
main debug: nothing to play
qt4 debug: IM: Deleting the input
qt4 debug: Updating the geometry
qt4 debug: Updating the geometry
main debug: TIMER input launching for 'http://x.x.x.x/img/video.asf' : 680.000 ms - Total 680.000 ms / 1 intvls (Avg 680.000 ms)

After a little digging around I found a very handy option under

• Preferences
• Input/Codecs
• Access Modules
• HTTP(S)
• Continuous Stream (tickbox)

After ticking Continuous Stream restart the video and you should be in business.