VideoNode Documentation

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Quickstart ​

This tutorial takes you from a running VideoNode installation to a live stream playing in your browser. It assumes you've completed Installation.

Step 1: Open the UI ​

Browse to http://<your-box>:8090 (or http://localhost:8090 if you're on the box itself). The login page appears. Sign in with your Linux username and password (or the basic-auth credentials, if you switched to that during install).

You'll land on the Streams page, empty on a fresh install:

Empty streams page with a Create Stream button

Step 2: Create a source ​

A source is the upstream that produces frames: a real V4L2 device or a built-in test pattern. Click Sources in the nav, then New source.

New source form: ID field, test-mode checkbox, video device dropdown, format / resolution / framerate selectors

Pick a Source ID (kebab-case), select your capture device from the Video Device dropdown, and pick a format, resolution, and framerate. If you don't have hardware plugged in yet, tick Test mode: the source runs without a V4L2 device and broadcasts placeholder frames. Click Create Source.

The source appears in the table with status Running. It's broadcasting frames but no one is listening yet.

Sources page showing a running test source

Step 3: Create a stream ​

A stream pairs an upstream (your new source) with an encoder. The daemon publishes the encoded stream over RTSP, SRT, and WebRTC; there is no publish target to choose. Click Streams, then Create Stream.

New stream form: stream ID, upstream selector, encoder fields, audio block

Set:

  • Stream ID: anything kebab-case; this becomes the URL path component for RTSP/SRT/WebRTC consumers.
  • Upstream: pick your source from the dropdown.
  • Codec: H.264.
  • Bitrate: leave empty to use the 4M default, or set your own.

Leave the rest at defaults and click Create Stream. The stream appears in the Streams table.

Step 4: Watch the stream ​

The Streams page renders a live WebRTC preview as soon as you click the row. To open the stream in an external player, see Streaming outputs for the RTSP / SRT / WebRTC URL formats and example consumer commands.