This is a detector of video shots based of PyAV.

It is strongly under construction.

Nowadays, the main purpose of it is to visualize different methods of shot detection and near duplicate video retrieval.

It works both for Python 2.7 and Python 3.4.

Check this link anaconda.org/w495/shot-detector

conda install shot-detector -c w495

Check this link pypi/shot-detector

pip install shot-detector

Note:

pip installation likely will not work properly due to PyAV is depends on platform.

It uses conda as package manager. So to install it should run commands:

1. Create new environment and install requirements from conda:

   conda create --name shot-detector-3.4 \
   --file ./requirements/py34/requirements-conda-explicit.txt
   

2. Activate your environment

   source activate shot-detector-3.4
   

3. Install requirements from pip:

   pip install -r ./requirements/py34/requirements-pip.txt
   

The same for Python 2.7:

1. Create new environment and install requirements from conda:

   conda create --name shot-detector-2.7 \
       --file ./requirements/py27/requirements-conda-explicit.txt
   

2. Activate your environment

   source activate shot-detector-2.7
   

3. Install requirements from pip:

   pip install -r ./requirements/py27/requirements-pip.txt
   

See Managing environments for more details.

python ./main.py -i /path/to/file/or/stream

Or

python -m shot_detector.tool -i /path/to/file/or/stream

Use -h option to get help.

python ./main.py -h

Also check help file for this.

You can use any video-file or video-device as an input for the Shot Detector. But in some cases it is required to use on-the-fly video stream.

You can get video-stream from third-party source or generate it yourself. There are several ways to generate your own input video stream:

• from a file;
• from your camera;
• from your desktop;
• from a virtual device.

More over you can implement it with different schemes of streaming:

• point to point streaming;
• streaming with server (ffserver).

This is the simplest way to reproduce on-the-fly video stream. In this case you generate stream only for one reader. If you use your stream for the Shot Detector, you cannot check it without stopping the Shot Detector. But in this stream embodiment you wont deal with latency.

In this case we use RTP Streaming Protocol. The main limitation of it is that only one stream supported in the RTP muxer. So you can stream only video without audio or audio without video.

1. Create a SDP-file and RTP-stream with ffmpeg. For a file stream it looks like this:

   ffmpeg -re -i input-file.mp4 -an -f rtp rtp://127.0.0.1:1236 > file-stream.sdp
   

   Where:

   • -re — is a flag that makes ffmpeg read input at native frame rate. In this case it is used to simulate a stream from a device. Without this flag, your stream will be handled as a simple file. It is required only if you work with static file but not real stream.
   • -i input-file.mp4 — is a name of input file.
   • -an — is a flag that makes ffmpeg ignore audio streams. The reason of this flag is that RTP doesn't support more than one stream. Moreover, if your file contains several video streams, your should choose one and remove odd video streams.
   • -f rtp — is an output format — RTP.
   • rtp://127.0.0.1:1234 — an address for receiving stream of virtual device.
   • ./file-stream.sdp — is a is a stream session description file.

2. Check the ./file-stream.sdp. In this case it contains following text:

   SDP:
   v=0
   o=- 0 0 IN IP4 127.0.0.1
   s=No Name
   c=IN IP4 127.0.0.1
   t=0 0
   a=tool:libavformat 55.33.1000
   m=video 1234 RTP/AVP 96
   b=AS:2000
   a=rtpmap:96 MP4V-ES/90000
   a=fmtp:96 profile-level-id=1
   

3. Check the stream. Run ffplay with ./file-stream.sdp as an arguments.

   ffplay ./file-stream.sdp
   

   You get a window with video from your file-stream.

   • More over you can use any another player that supports RTP. For

     example:

     mplayer ./file-stream.sdp
     

4. Stop ffplay and then use ./file-stream.sdp file name as input URI for the Shot Detector

Note: RTP uses UDP, so the receiver can start up any time, but you can get packet loss.

1. Create a SDP-file and RTP-stream with ffmpeg. For a virtual device it looks like this:

   ffmpeg -f lavfi -i mandelbrot -f rtp rtp://127.0.0.1:1234 > virtual-device.sdp
   

   Where:

   • -f lavfi — is format of libavfilter input virtual devices . This input device reads data from the open output pads of a libavfilter filtergraph.
   • -i mandelbrot — is a filter that draws the Mandelbrot set. Check Fancy Filtering Examples in FFmpeg documentaion for another filter types.
   • -f rtp — is an output format — RTP.
   • rtp://127.0.0.1:1234 — an address for receiving stream of a virtual device.
   • ./virtual-device.sdp — is a stream session description file.

2. Use virtual-device.sdp as discussed above.

Create a SDP-file and RTP-stream with ffmpeg. For a camera it looks like this:

ffmpeg -f v4l2 -i /dev/video0 -f rtp rtp://127.0.0.1:1234 > camera.sdp

Where:

• -f v4l2 — is an input device-format for a camera. The full name of it is — [video4linux2] (https://www.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-devices.html#video4linux2_002c-v4l2) It works only for linux. For another systems, please, check this page: [FFmpeg Streaming Guide] (https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/StreamingGuide "Streaming Guide")
• -i /dev/video0 — is a path to device.
• -f rtp — is an output format — RTP.
• rtp://127.0.0.1:1234 — an address for receiving camera's stream.
• ./camera.sdp — is a file with a description of your stream session.

After that use camera.sdp as discussed above.

For a Linux display ffmpeg-command looks like this:

ffmpeg -f x11grab -video_size wxga  -i :0.0  -f rtp rtp://127.0.0.1:1234 > desktop.sdp

Where:

• -f x11grab — is an input format for a X11-display.
• -video_size wxga — size of your display. In this case we use the full size of desktop. Check FFmpeg Capture/Desktop page for other options
• -i :0.0 — is a desktop name.
• -f rtp — is an output format
• rtp://127.0.0.1:1234 — an address for receiving camera's stream.
• ./desktop.sdp — is a stream session description file.

After that use desktop.sdp as discussed above.

With MPEG-TS you can generate both and audio and video.

In this case we use UDP. So, you still can get packet loss. They are likely to reveal if you stream via Internet.

Here is example for a camera. For another devices they are the same.

1. Start ffmpeg to generate MPEG-TS stream via udp.

   ffmpeg -f v4l2 -i /dev/video0 -f mpegts udp://127.0.0.1:1234
   

   Where:

   • -f v4l2 — is an input device-format for a camera. It works only for linux. For another systems, please, check this page: FFmpeg Streaming Guide.
   • -i /dev/video0 — is a path to device.
   • -f mpegts — is an output format — MPEG transport stream.
   • udp://127.0.0.1:1234 — an address for receiving camera's stream.

2. Check it with ffplay:

   ffplay  -fflags nobuffer  udp://127.0.0.1:1234
   

   Where:

   • -fflags nobuffer — is a flag that makes ffplay don't cache input stream. We set it to reduce latency.

3. Use udp://127.0.0.1:1234 as input video URI for the Shot Detector. | More over, you can start ffmpeg and the Shot Detector in any order.

Note: The time in the Shot Detector is a time of a video stream.

Also you can use both video and audio.

ffmpeg -f v4l2 -i /dev/video0 -f alsa -i hw:0 -f mpegts udp://127.0.0.1:1234

Where:

• -f alsa — is an input device-format for a microphone.
• -i hw:0 — is a name of a microphone device. See Capture/ALSA for more details.

Another option is to use TCP connections for MPEG-TS streaming. In this case you don't get packet loss. But you should guarantee that a reader will be started before a writer. So, reader become a server and writer become a client.

For example:

1. Start ffplay as a server

   ffplay -fflags nobuffer  tcp://127.0.0.1:1234?listen
   

   Where:

   • -fflags nobuffer — is a flag that makes ffplay don't cache input stream. We set it to reduce latency.
   • tcp://127.0.0.1:1234?listen — is a host for sending camera's stream whith listen option. A writer should send stream to tcp://127.0.0.1:1234.

2. Start ffmpeg as a client

   ffmpeg -f v4l2 -i /dev/video0  -f mpegts tcp://127.0.0.1:1234
   

   Where:

   • -f v4l2 — is an input device-format for a camera. It works only for linux. For another systems, please, check this page: FFmpeg Streaming Guide.
   • -i /dev/video0 — is a path to device.
   • -f mpegts — is an output format — MPEG transport stream.
   • tcp://127.0.0.1:1234 — an address for sending camera's stream.

So, you can pass tcp://127.0.0.1:1234?listen as an input video URI for the Shot Detector. But you should start it before ffmpeg, Do not forget to stop ffplay, before it.

In this scheme you send the video-stream to a server. And then any client can get your stream from it. The simplest way to achive this is to use ffserver.

1. Start ffserver with certain configuration file.

   sudo /usr/bin/ffserver -f ./etc/input/ffserver.conf
   

   Check FFServer Configuration.

2. Send input stream to server.

   For example, for linux-camera you should run:

   ffmpeg -f v4l2 -i /dev/video0 -f alsa -i hw:0 -tune zerolatency http://localhost:8090/feed1.ffm
   

   Where:

   • -f v4l2 — is an input device-format for a camera. It works only for linux. For another systems, please, check this page: FFmpeg Streaming Guide.
   • -i /dev/video0 — is a path to device.
   • -f alsa — is an input device-format for a microphone.
   • -i hw:0 — is a name of a microphone device. See Capture/ALSA for more details.
   • -tune zerolatency — is a flag that makes ffmpeg to change settings to minimize latency. This is not a flag of ffmpeg, this is H.264 option. See Encode/H.264 Choose a preset for more details.
   • http://localhost:8090/feed1.ffm — an address for sending camera's stream.

   For desktop it is the same:

   ffmpeg -f x11grab -i :0.0 -f alsa -i hw:0 -tune zerolatency http://localhost:8090/feed1.ffm
   

3. Check it with ffplay:

   ffplay -fflags nobuffer http://localhost:8090/live.flv
   

   Where:

   • -fflags nobuffer — is a flag that makes ffplay don't cache input stream. We set it to reduce latency.
   • http://localhost:8090/live.flv — is an address to get a video stream. It is specified in etc/input/ffserver.conf.

4. Pass http://localhost:8090/live.flv as an input video URI for the Shot Detector. In this case you may not stop ffplay.

As for me it is the best way to simulate streaming for the Shot Detector.