How To: Create an Open-Standard H.26x Stream on USP (AVPro Flow)

How To: Create an Open-Standard H.26x Stream on USP (AVPro Flow)


The below is assuming you have a fully configured and operational MXnet USP system. If you have not already configured your network switch and setup endpoints please do so before continuing.

The information in the guide is applicable to the following products:
  1. AC-MXNET-USP-ES
  2. AC-MXNET-USP-PL
  3. AC-MXNET-USP-PR
  4. AC-MXNET-CBOX-HA (USP Mode)

Enabling Open Streaming (AVPro Flow)

  1. In Mentor, navigate to the Configure tab

  2. Click the Edit button in the Stream Settings column for the encoder you wish to enable open-streaming. A pop-up window will appear with various configuration options. Turn on the toggle switch next to Enable Open Streaming.
    Notes
    Open streaming cannot be enabled if HDCP is detected by the USP transceiver, or if no video source is detected.

Encoding Parameters

Once enabled, various options can be configured for the stream. The encoding parameters from a USP transceiver should be adjusted to match the capability/recommendations of the 3rd-party decoding hardware or software product. 

  1. Encoding Method: H.265 (HEVC) or H.264 (AVC)

  2. Profile: Baseline, Main or High for H.264 and Main or Main10 for H.265

  3. Protocol: RTSP or RTMP

  4. Bitrate Method: Constant Bitrate (CBR), Variable Bitrate (VBR) or Average Variable Bitrate (AVBR)

  5. Bitrate: 1000 - 60000Kbps (1 - 60Mbps)

  6. GOP Size: Default to 30. Should be half the framerate of incoming video signal.

  7. Encoder Stream URL: The direct URL to be imported to the device where the Open Stream is desired, such as a touch panel, VLC/Potplayer, etc.

  8. CBOX Media Bridge / Media Bridge URL: If the desired device resides on the Control/IT network instead of the USP/MXnet/Video network, enabling the toggle switch for CBOX Media Bridge will allow the endpoint's RTSP/RTMP stream to be forwarded(bridged) to the Control/IT network, via the CBOX. 
    Notes
    Up to 5 media bridges can be active on a USP-CBOX.

System Design

Based on the system design and network topology, different configuration options will need be to be made within Mentor for the USP stream to reach its destination. There are two methods for streaming content from USP transceivers to 3rd-party devices. 

Method #1 - the third-party device exists in the AV network alongside USP transceivers
Method #2 - the third-party device exists in the Control/IT network, not in the same network as USP transceivers. This requires the use of the CBOX Media Bridge functionality. 

CBOX Media Bridge

The CBOX Media Bridge allows AV streams to cross between the AV LAN and Control/IT LAN. The CBOX acts as a mediator and translates streams between subnets, simplifying network topologies and 3rd-party device interoperability. 

 

Stream to Devices via Local Area Network

Within the AV LAN

  1. In the Stream Settings pop-up window choose RTSP or RTMP as the stream protocol and click Save Changes. The pop-up window will close. Reopen it and continue to the next step.
  2. Click the copy button next to the Encoder Stream URL and close out of the pop-up window.

    2. The URL is always constructed as follows:

      1. RTSP: rtsp://{Endpoint_IP}/live/{Endpoint_MAC}

      2. RTMP: rtmp://{Endpoint_IP}/live/{Endpoint_MAC}

  3. Take the copied URL and insert it into the 3rd-party device software configuration. Here is an example of decoding the stream with VLC Media Player.
  4. From within VLC, open the Media menu and choose Open Network Stream
  5. Paste the URL copied from Mentor and click the Play button

To the Control/IT LAN (Media Bridge)

  1. In the Stream Settings pop-up window choose RTSP or RTMP as the stream protocol.
  2. Turn the CBOX Media Bridge toggle switch to the ON position and click Save Changes. The pop-up window will close. Reopen it and continue to the next step.
  3. Click the copy button next to the Stream Bridge URL and paste it into the 3rd-party device's software configuration.

    2.  The bridged URL is always constructed as follows:

      1. RTSP: rtsp://{CBOX_Control_IP}/live/{Endpoint_MAC}

      2. RTMP: rtmp://{CBOX_Control_IP}/live/{Endpoint_MAC}

Stream to Internet Services

In most cases, streaming to internet based services such as YouTube, will leverage the CBOX Media Bridge functionality since MXnet endpoints are typically isolated from the internet.

  1. Navigate to the configuration dashboard of the live streaming service you wish to use. In this example, we're showing YouTube.
  2. When creating a live stream, you will be given two pieces of information that are needed by the USP transceiver/CBOX, an RTMP URL and Stream Key.

  3. Once you locate this information, navigate back to Mentor and click the Edit button in the Stream Settings column.
  4. Choose RTMP as the protocol and paste both the RTMP URL and Stream Key from the streaming service into the respective fields.

  5. Click Save Changes and the stream will be sent to the internet service. 
Alert
Important! The CBOX must be able to reach the internet from the control network for live streaming to work properly.