Video stream from Blob NodeJS

Question:

I am recording MediaStream on client side in this way: ... some code... ... This data are accepted on server side like this: ... wss.on('connection', ws => ws.on('message', data => writeToDisk(data); ... It works like a charm, but I want to take the Buffer and make video live stream served by server side. Is there any way how to do it? Thanks for your help.

Answer:

You can use the MediaRecorder class to split the video into chunks and send them to the server for broadcast.

this._mediaRecorder = new MediaRecorder(this._stream, this._streamOptions);
this._mediaRecorder.ondataavailable = e => this._videoStreamer.pushChunk(e.data);
this._mediaRecorder.start();
...
this._mediaRecorder.requestData()

Do not forget to restart recording at intervals, so that new clients should not download all the video to connect to stream. Also, during the change of chunks, you should replace

async function imageBitmapToBlob(img) {
    return new Promise(res => {
        const canvas = document.createElement('canvas');
        canvas.width = img.width;
        canvas.height = img.height;
        canvas.getContext('2d').drawImage(img,0,0);
        canvas.toBlob(res);
    });
}

...

const stream = document.querySelector('video').captureStream();

if(stream.active==true) {

    const track = stream.getVideoTracks()[0];
    const capturer = new ImageCapture(track);
    const bitmap = await imageBitmapToBlob(await capturer.grabFrame());

    URL.revokeObjectURL(this._oldPosterUrl);
    this._video.poster = this._oldPosterUrl = URL.createObjectURL(bitmap);
    track.stop();
}

You can glue Blob objects through their constructor. In the process of obtaining a new chunk, do not forget to clear the memory for the old video with URL.revokeObjectURL() and update video's current time

_updateVideo = async (newBlob = false) => {

    const stream = this._video.captureStream();

    if(stream.active==true) {

        const track = stream.getVideoTracks()[0];
        const capturer = new ImageCapture(track);
        const bitmap = await imageBitmapToBlob(await capturer.grabFrame());

        URL.revokeObjectURL(this._oldPosterUrl);
        this._video.poster = this._oldPosterUrl = URL.createObjectURL(bitmap);
        track.stop();
    }

    let data = null;
    if(newBlob === true) {
        const index = this._recordedChunks.length - 1;
        data = [this._recordedChunks[index]];
    } else {
        data = this._recordedChunks;
    }

    const blob = new Blob(data, this._options);
    const time = this._video.currentTime;

    URL.revokeObjectURL(this._oldVideoUrl);
    const url = this._oldVideoUrl = URL.createObjectURL(blob);

    if(newBlob === true) {
        this._recordedChunks = [blob];
    }

    this._size = blob.size;
    this._video.src = url;
    this._video.currentTime = time;
}

You should use two WebSocket for video broadcast and two for listening. One WebSocket transfers only video chunks, the second only new blobs with video headers (restart recording at intervals).


const blobWebSocket = new WebSocket(`ws://127.0.0.1:${blobPort}/`);
blobWebSocket.onmessage = (e) => {
    console.log({blob:e.data});
    this._videoWorker.pushBlob(e.data);
}

const chunkWebSocket = new WebSocket(`ws://127.0.0.1:${chunkPort}/`);
chunkWebSocket.onmessage = (e) => {
    console.log({chunk:e.data});
    this._videoWorker.pushChunk(e.data);
}

After connecting, the server sends the client all the current video blob and begins to dynamically send new chunks to the client.


const wss = new WebSocket.Server({ port });
let buffer = new Buffer.alloc(0);

function chunkHandler(buf,isBlob=false) {

    console.log({buf,isBlob});

    if(isBlob === true) {
        //broadcast(wss,buf);
        buffer = buf;
    } else {
        const totalLenght = buffer.length + buf.length;
        buffer = Buffer.concat([buffer,buf],totalLenght);
        broadcast(wss,buf);
    }
}

wss.on('connection', function connection(ws) {
    if(buffer.length !== 0) {
        ws.send(buffer);
    }
});

tripolskypetr/node-videostream

Video stream from Blob NodeJS