/ffplayout-engine

python and ffmpeg based playout

Primary LanguagePythonGNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

ffplayout-engine

made-with-python License: GPL v3

The purpose with ffplayout is to provide a 24/7 broadcasting solution that plays a json playlist for every day, while keeping the current playlist editable.

Check ffplayout-gui: web-based GUI for ffplayout.

Features

  • have all values in a separate config file
  • dynamic playlist
  • replace missing playlist or clip with a dummy clip
  • playing clips from watched folder
  • send emails with error message
  • overlay a logo
  • overlay scrolling text
  • EBU R128 loudness normalization (single pass) (experimental)
  • loop clip in playlist which out value is higher then its duration, see also Loop Clip
  • loop playlist infinitely
  • trim and fade the last clip, to get full 24 hours
  • when playlist is not 24 hours long, loop filler clip until time is full
  • set custom day start, so you can have playlist for example: from 6am to 6am, instate of 0am to 12pm
  • normal system requirements and no special tools
  • no GPU power is needed
  • stream to server or play on desktop
  • on posix systems ffplayout can reload config with SIGHUP
  • logging to files, or colored output to console
  • add filters to input, if is necessary to match output stream:
    • yadif (deinterlacing)
    • pad (letterbox or pillarbox to fit aspect)
    • framerate (change fps)
    • scale (fit target resolution)
    • aevalsrc (if video have no audio)
    • apad (add silence if audio duration is to short)
    • tpad (add black frames if video duration is to short)

Requirements

  • python version 3.6+
  • python module watchdog (only when playlist_mode = False)
  • python module colorama if you are on windows
  • ffmpeg v4.2+ and ffprobe (ffplay if you want to play on desktop)
  • RAM and CPU depends on video resolution, minimum 4 threads and 3GB RAM for 720p are recommend

JSON Playlist Example

{
    "channel": "Test 1",
    "date": "2019-03-05",
    "program": [{
            "in": 0,
            "out": 647.68,
            "duration": 647.68,
            "source": "/Media/clip1.mp4"
        }, {
            "in": 0,
            "out": 149,
            "duration": 149,
            "source": "/Media/clip2.mp4"
        }, {
            "in": 0,
            "out": 114.72,
            "duration": 114.72,
            "source": "/Media/clip3.mp4",
            "category": "advertisement"
        }, {
            "in": 0,
            "out": 2531.36,
            "duration": 2531.36,
            "source": "/Media/clip4.mp4",
            "category": ""
        }
    ]
}

Warning:

(Endless) streaming over multiple days will only work when config have day_start value and the length value is 24 hours. If you need only some hours for every day, use a cron job, or something similar.

Remote source from URL

You can use sources from remote URL in that way:

...
        {
            "in": 0,
            "out": 149,
            "duration": 149,
            "source": "https://example.org/big_buck_bunny.webm"
        }

But be careful with it, better test it multiple times!

More informations in Wiki

Installation

  • install ffmpeg, ffprobe (and ffplay if you need the preview mode)
  • copy ffplayout.py to /usr/local/bin/
  • copy ffplayout.conf to /etc/ffplayout/
  • create folder with correct permissions for logging (check config)
  • copy ffplayout.service to /etc/systemd/system/
  • change user in /etc/systemd/system/ffplayout.service
  • create playlists folder, in that format: /playlists/year/month
  • set variables in config file to your needs
  • use gen_playlist_from_subfolders.sh /path/to/mp4s/ as a starting point for your playlists (path in script needs to change)
  • activate service and start it: sudo systemctl enable ffplayout && sudo systemctl start ffplayout

Start with Arguments

ffplayout also allows the passing of parameters:

  • -c, --config use given config file
  • -d, --desktop preview on desktop
  • -f, --folder use folder for playing
  • -l, --log for user-defined log path, none for console output
  • -i, --loop loop playlist infinitely
  • -p, --playlist for playlist file
  • -s, --start set start time in hh:mm:ss, now for start with first'
  • -t, --length set length in hh:mm:ss, none for no length check

You can run the command like:

python3 ffplayout.py -l ~/ -p ~/playlist.json -d -s now -t none

Play on Desktop

For playing on desktop use -d argument or set preview = True in config under [OUT].