Qvid - Video Streaming Application

Qvid is a demo video streaming application for Windows (MacOS support limited and currently broken), written in Python. It allows you to capture screenshots of your desktop, webcam, and selected windows programs. The captured images are compressed and sent as a continuous stream over a TCP connection to a single machine.

Features

• Low latency, high framerate, peer-to-peer connectivity: Qvid aims to provide high-quality, real-time images with as little latency as possible.
• Desktop, Webcam, and Window Capture: Qvid enables you to capture screenshots of your desktop, webcam feed, and specific windows programs directly from your Windows operating system.
• Real-time Compression: The captured images are efficiently compressed in real-time to optimize data transmission and reduce bandwidth usage.
• TCP Streaming: Qvid establishes a TCP connection between the client and server, enabling the seamless transfer of the compressed image stream to a single machine.

Usage

python Qvid.py [-n HOST] [-p PORT] [-m MODE] [-c CODEC] [-s SIZE] [-q QUALITY] [-w WINDOW]

Arguments

The script accepts the following arguments:

-n HOST, --host HOST: The IP address of the host/server. As a client, you connect to the host address.

-p PORT, --port PORT: The port to run on. The client and server must run on the same port.

-m MODE, --mode MODE: The operational mode. Choose one of the following modes:

    1 or --mode 1: Server/TX mode. This mode enables the script to act as a server and transmit video data.

    2 or --mode 2: Client/RX mode. This mode allows the script to act as a client and receive video data.

    3 or --mode 3: Server/RX mode. This mode allows the script to act as a server and receive video data.

    4 or --mode 4: Client/TX mode. This mode enables the script to act as a client and transmit video data.

    5 or --mode 5: Server/TX&RX mode. This mode allows the script to act as a server, then send and receive video data.

    6 or --mode 6: Client/TX&RX mode. This mode enables the script to act as a client, then send and receive video data.

-c CODEC, --codec CODEC: The compression algorithm to use: 1: JPEG, 2: WebP

-s SIZE, --size SIZE: The output image size. Provide a value from 0-9.

-q QUALITY, --quality QUALITY: The output image quality. Provide a value from 1-100.

-q LIMIT,--limit LIMIT: Activate the Frame Limiter to restrain bandwidth. Provide a value from 0-8.

-w WINDOW, --window WINDOW: The full or partial name of the window to capture.

Examples

Mode 1

To run the script as a server and transmit video data to a client on a specific port:

python Qvid.py -p 8000 -m 1

Mode 2

To run the script as a client and receive video data from a specific host (in mode 1) and port:

python Qvid.py -n 192.168.0.100 -p 8000 -m 2

Sender Hotkeys

• Alt+page up: Increase the output video size.
• Alt+page down: Decrease the output video size.
• Alt+plus: Increase the output video quality.
• Alt+minus: Decrease the output video quality.
• Alt+R: Open the select window dialog to re-select a new capture source.

Receiver Hotkeys

• Alt+O: Resize the video stream window to the received image's original size.
• Alt+S: Resize the video stream window to match the image's aspect ratio.
• Alt+Enter: Toggle the video stream window fullscreen mode.

Notes

• Default port is 5001.
• Default host is 127.0.0.1.
• Default mode is 1, Server that sends video.
• Client/Server modes must be matched for successful connection. Modes (1-2), (3-4), (5-6) for Server and Client, respectively.

Apologies

Some sections of this code have been directly pulled from online examples, with no credit given ); As atonement, I offer up this code for anyone to use as they like, no attribution necessary.