VLC Player IP Camera Streaming Interrupted: Understanding the Long Playback Bar
VLC player is a popular open-source media player that supports a wide range of multimedia file formats, including IP camera streaming. However, some users have reported an issue where the streaming stops after a few days, and a long playback bar appears, consuming a significant amount of space. This article aims to provide a detailed explanation of this phenomenon and potential solutions.
IP Camera Streaming with VLC Player
VLC player supports streaming from IP cameras using the RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol). To stream from an IP camera, you need to provide the RTSP URL of the camera to VLC player. The player then connects to the camera and starts streaming the video feed.
vlc rtsp://:/ The Long Playback Bar
After a few days of continuous streaming, users have reported that the playback bar in VLC player becomes extremely long, consuming a significant amount of space. This behavior is not a bug but a feature of VLC player designed for rewinding and seeking purposes.
When you start streaming from an IP camera, VLC player starts caching the video feed in a buffer. The size of this buffer is determined by the cache value set in VLC player's preferences. By default, the cache value is set to 2000 milliseconds (2 seconds).
As the video feed is being cached, VLC player creates a playback bar that represents the cached video feed. The length of this playback bar is determined by the cache value. If the cache value is set to a high value, the playback bar will be longer, and if the cache value is set to a low value, the playback bar will be shorter.
The playback bar is designed to allow users to rewind and seek through the cached video feed. However, if the streaming stops, the playback bar does not disappear, and it continues to consume space.
Solutions
To prevent the playback bar from consuming a significant amount of space, you can try the following solutions:
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Reduce the cache value in VLC player's preferences. A lower cache value will result in a shorter playback bar and less space consumption.
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Restart VLC player periodically to clear the cached video feed and the playback bar.
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Use a different media player that does not cache the video feed, such as QuickTime or Windows Media Player.
References
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VLC player documentation: Streaming from an IP camera
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VLC player documentation: Stream to VLC
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VLC player documentation: Play a single file from a zip archive
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