HOW-TO stream a WebCam to XBMC

WillyB Wrote:I setup a Windows Media Encoder stream and successfully tested it by navigating my web browser to mms://192.168.1.140:1111.

I then uploaded a webcam.pls file with the content below to /UserData/playlists/Video.



I tried opening the stream in XBMC and it fails, I get a message that says:


I tried uploading another file GreatRoom.pls with the following content:

GreatRoom.pls does nothing. No apparent response, no error message.

Any ideas?

I am running:
XBMC Live 8.10 from a USB flash drive
Athlon 64 x2 5000+ w/ 2GB RAM
NVidia GeForce 8500

Here is a snippet from my xbmc.log

Did you get this working? I've got a Linksys wireless internet cam that I'd like to stream. Thanks

So I've followed your initial instructions and created the following webcam1.pls file

[playlist]
NumberOfEntries=1

File1=http://192.168.1.105/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi:80
Title1=My WebCam
Length1=-1

Version=2

Added to XBMC the way you describe but when I choose webcam1.pls from Favourites nothing happends....any ideas please?

:80 should not be at the end.

File1=http://192.168.1.105/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi:80

This does not make sense to me. How can a file be a web cam stream. THis is how I break this down.

WEB ADDRESS ON NETWORK/File location/ Port number. Weird?

Maybe I am not getting something. I thought all you had to do was give an IP address and the machine would look for the content there.

I think Ill be reading into how streaming really works. I need some more info on this subject.

Zeron Wrote::80 should not be at the end.

Ok so it now tries to open the stream. A popup window comes up saying Opening File at the top of the popup box and sits at 23%

Underneath it says 'Caching.....'
Then 'demux_open(00D3C010,0,-1,-1,1)

I'm running Nightly Build 21055 dated 14th June 2009

WinterFool Wrote:Hi all,
This took me a few hours to work out, so I thought I would document it here for future searches.

This describes how to stream a webcam from your pc to xbmc.

1) Setup streaming on your PC
Using Windows Media Encoder, setup a stream from your camera. It is pretty straight forward to follow the wizard.

The streaming url will be something like
mms://192.168.1.3:9002

Test this by plugging the url into Windows Media Player or Internet Explorer.
You should see a video stream from your webcam.

2) Create a playlist file - webcam.pls

Code:

[playlist]
NumberOfEntries=1

File1=mms://192.168.1.3:9002
Title1=My WebCam
Length1=-1

Version=2

3) Ftp the playlist into your /UserData/playlists/Video folder

4) Now in XBMC, go to Videos, select Library Mode

5) Browse to Playlists and find your webcam playlist

6) Right click (white button), select Add to Favorites

7) Done, you can now view your webcam from xbmc!


This will of course work with external webcams etc (eg: surf cams) - you just have to edit the playlist file accordingly (see wikipedia).

HTH

I am using XBMC on a windows machine and putting the playlist file in that folder structure doesn't put the file in my playlist. I can browse using the Files function under Settings to find the playlist file and execute it.

Is the location where that file is supposed to go different on a windows machine?

I can add it to favorites from the files area but is there a way to make the webcam playlist appear under the "playlists" section of videos in xbmc?

Also, how can I make my playlist loop back to the beginning when jumping through cameras.

I'm using the memphis zoo webcams in this playlist.

[playlist]
NumberOfEntries=2

File1=mms://72.55.116.2/polarbearcam
Title1=Webcam
Length1=-1

File2=mms://72.55.116.2/pandacam
Title2=Webcam
Length2=-1

Version=2

I'm on a windows machine as well, I can click the playlist but nothing happens, and after I click it again it tells me too many consecutive failures. the panda and polar bear cam work great, but my address doesn't. I'm going to try using 127.0.0.1:8080 instead and see if it's that.

im running server 2008

I tried every combination but it won't play. when I click my cam source it runs a buffer filling line but says the name of the previous cam source. If I open panda and then click my own stream it shows the word panda, buffers and then nothing. I can view it in wmp.

Hi!
I´m testing the webcam.pls with the 9.11 version Beta1 and the Windows Encoder and now run.

Sorry for my bad english

Fernando Maesso

Anyone comment on whether or not these instructions are still valid?

Using stable Dharma and I do not have a /playlists/Video folder /UserData. My Win7 search can't find any playlist files or folders either.