So I have my machine that has a webcam on it and I want to be able to access this webcam from another machine via USB. The other machine should be able to connect and see my machine as a webcam. Essentially I want to "forward" the webcam input into another USB's output. Is there a way for me to do this?
1 Answer
There is a way to do USB over IP, but it is propriety, costs money and has some quirks (as a USB packet takes about 3 IP packets)...
usbnet
is the package you need if you really want to do USB over IP.
Alternative:
If you just want to stream the webcam on the ground floor to look at your dog from the top floor, VLC is indeed what you need:
Step 1: test video capture
- Install VLC if you don't have it.
- Start VLC
- Open the Media menu
- Choose Open capture device
- set capture mode to Video camera.
Then choose the correct video device name (usually /dev/video0) and if you stream from one computer to another computer nearby, leave audio off. (to eliminate feed-back)
- Click Play
If this works, you're ready to go to step 2. If not, play with capture device names until it works! ;-)
Step 2: Start streaming
- Open the Media menu,
- Click on the button Stream
- Click on the Capture device tab
- Don't change anything as it contains all the settings from step 1
- Click the button Stream
- Click Next
- Choose HTTP, Click Add, and click Next
- Choose Video - Theora + Vorbis (OGG) and click Next
- Click Stream
Voilà! You're streaming! (the Webcam light should be on)
Now go to a terminal and type ifconfig
and write down the IP address (probably 192.168.x.y
)
Step 3: look at your stream
- Go to the other computer
- Open a browser
- Enter the address:
192.168.x.y:8080
Voilà: there's the dog! If you want to look at your dog from work, you'll also need to go into your router and do IP forwarding, or put the webcam computer in the DMZ (dangerous!) etc, etc, but the above should get you up-and-running in no time!
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I'm trying to do this without internet. Any other suggestions besides usbnet?– rwanNov 13, 2014 at 22:07
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Erm, the solution is without Internet: it's on your local Intranet... Unless you mean by "a machine with a webcam on it" "your phone" and then you'd better use Bluetooth, but then it depends on the Bluetooth services your phone offers... Unless you mean "I have a laptop with a webcam and a desktop without and I want to plug a USB cable between the two and use the webcam from the laptop on my desktop" then that is just plain impossible! ;) Please elaborate on what you really want to do...– FabbyNov 14, 2014 at 23:37
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how does the other options work during the 7th point in 2nd step? http is not loading. For example, if I want to use the RTSP option, are other parameters dependent or how to check the output on the destination system?– saichandMay 27, 2020 at 13:48
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@saichand I don't know: it's better to ask a new question and refer to this one if you would have any more specific requirements or go ask at video.stackexchange.com who are more specialised in this area of expertise.– FabbyMay 30, 2020 at 17:24