Connecting RICOH THETA Z1 with Unity

[craig]

Are you using the RTSP plugin, the HDR Wireless Live Streaming Plugin, or are you using a Linux computer to produce the RTSP stream.

To ingest on VLC and ffplay

VLC

ffplay

ffplay -fflags nobuffer -i rtsp://<ip_address>:8554/live?resolution=1920x960

[HunterGeitz]

I’m using the RTSP plugin, will this work or do I have to use a different method?

[craig]

I did the tests above with the RTSP plugin.

Instead of this:

rtsp://THETAYN34119099.OSC:HuaxiaWang@192.168.1.5:8554/live?resolution=1920x960

Use this:

rtsp://192.168.1.5:8554/live?resolution=1920x960

finding IP address

Tip: Developing THETA "Client Mode" Applications

Testing dns-sd from Mac OS X find available THETA V cameras dns-sd -B _osc._tcp find IP address ping Instance_name.local Example of finding IP address with ping for testing [image] Alternate way to find IP address with dns-sd dns-sd -G v4 THETAYLXXXXXXXX.local Example of finding IP address using dns-sd [image]

[HunterGeitz]

I’m running the dns-sd -G v4 THETAYN34119099.OSC.local command in my command terminal to find the IP address of my Ricoh Theta Z1 but it returns nothing. Is the format of my hostname wrong? Also what do I have to do with my Ricoh Theta Z1 so it’s detectable for the command?

[HunterGeitz]

I think I was able to find the IP address through connecting the camera to the Ricoh app on my phone but the camera feed still doesn’t connect to OBS. I have the Ricoh Theta Z1 set to client mode and started the RTSP streaming plug in mode on the camera. Then I started OBS and input the link on my media source in the following screenshot. Nothing shows up. Is there anything else I’m supposed to be doing to get it connect to OBS or is there anything you see wrong in my process?

[craig]

Do you have the z1 in client mode? It is unlikely your router assigned an IP address if 192.168.1.1

Press the wifi button on the side until cl appears on the OLED

THETA V Client Mode Configuration Guide

Connect your iPhone or Android phone to the THETA V more easily with client mode. After turning your THETA V on, it will automatically connect to your home or office WiFi routers and then connect to your mobile phone. Your mobile phone remains connected to the Internet with WiFi. [RICOH THETA V Client Mode Usage Demo] I found the initial configuration tricky on Android OS, but it was worth the effort. This step-by-step guide may save you time. Update Firmware and Mobile App You m…

[craig]

THETA V Client Mode Configuration Guide

Connect your iPhone or Android phone to the THETA V more easily with client mode. After turning your THETA V on, it will automatically connect to your home or office WiFi routers and then connect to your mobile phone. Your mobile phone remains connected to the Internet with WiFi. [RICOH THETA V Client Mode Usage Demo] I found the initial configuration tricky on Android OS, but it was worth the effort. This step-by-step guide may save you time. Update Firmware and Mobile App You m…

@Manuel_Couto See the section on configuration of your router to specific channels. The channel specification may be the same on V and Z1

Troubleshooting

5 GHz Access Point

If you have a 5GHz WiFi router, the THETA V may not connect to it reliably. You need to limit the channels to 36, 40, 44, or 48. The THETA V complies to the 5GHz standard W52（IEEE 802.11a/n/ac that works with channels 36/40/44/48.

Many 5 GHz routers comply to W58 standard, which allows dynamic channel allocation to include 149/153/157/161.

If your router is using those channels, the THETA V will not connect in client mode. Please refer to this Wikipedia article on WLAN channels.

[HunterGeitz]

Yes, I have my z1 in client mode. The following picture is of my camera in CL mode and running the RTSP plug in. Also are you saying that I need to use the IP address of my router and not my Ricoh Theta Z1 for the URL?

[craig]

@HunterGeitz

Yes, I have my z1 in client mode. The following picture is of my camera in CL mode and running the RTSP plug in. Also are you saying that I need to use the IP address of my router and not my Ricoh Theta Z1 for the URL?

You have to use the IP address of the Z1. It is odd that it is 192.168.1.1 (Z1 IP). Do you have access to the router? Can you log into the router and confirm the IP address? I suspect that the IP address is not 192.168.1.1. When you confirmed the IP address with your phone using the mobile app, was the mobile app in client mode?

as a test, does this work?

Testing IP access with Insomnia. replace the serial number with the serial number of your camera. Replace the IP address with the IP address assigned to your camera.

testing RTSP plugin today (Feb 22, 2024)

Feb 23, 2024 Update Testing RTSP Stream with OBS

OBS configuration with RTSP stream from THETA Z1

[Manuel_Couto]

Hi there!

Apologies for the delayed response, as I was down with a cold last week.

Were you able to get it working?

[craig]

@Manuel_Couto did you see this post on the 5GHz channel? Connecting RICOH THETA Z1 with Unity - #32 by craig

[Manuel_Couto]

I saw it, and I’m planning to try it out today.

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post the results today or maybe just tomorrow, but I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks for the help!

[HunterGeitz]

Thank you, I successfully found the new IP address of my Ricoh Theta Z1 by setting my phone and the Z1 to client mode and was able to use this IP address to fix the URL for OBS. It streams successfully but with around 2 seconds of delay. Any advice on how to improve this delay?

[biviel]

1. What would be your maximum acceptable latency?

2. Did you use a low latency 5ghz WiFi router placed close to you? There can be significant differences also depending how far are your devices from the WiFi router. Both camera and PC with OBS…

[craig]

We got less than 1 second latency between Hungary and Palo Alto. How far is the video being transmitted?

Sub-Second Low Latency 4K Live Streaming in HDR with FlowTours

FlowTours 4K HDR Live Streaming Low-Latency Demo Laszlo Vargas, CEO of FlowTours, demoed new low-latency functionality with the RICOH THETA Z1 and a prototype of the next version of his HDR Wireless Live Streaming Plug-in. We used the 360 live stream for video conferencing between Hungary and Palo Alto, California. The one-way stream between Hungary and Palo Alto showed less than 1 second latency. We were easly able to use it for both audio and video streaming using the Z1 360 camera and Z1 …

[biviel]

Now that I was able to do more tests, I can confirm that there are lot of aspect. Latency depends on bandwidth/bitrate too, so when video bitrate is lower, latency was lower too. During test we did there bandwidth and quality was lower. When I do a full 4 resolution, good quality stream latency is closer to 2 second end to end.

Now when I measured this latency on a WiFi 5 protocol 5ghz local network, I measured 800-900ms latency using 4k resolution and h.265 encoding when streaming to OBS Studio as Media Source.

[craig]

@biviel

Now when I measured this latency on a WiFi 5 protocol 5ghz local network, I measured 800-900ms latency using 4k resolution and h.265 encoding when streaming to OBS Studio as Media Source.

Is this when the Z1 and the the computer running OBS Studio are in the same room? I wonder if the virtual cam of OBS adds additional latency when it gets to Unity? When I did the test with Unity, I did not check for latency.

[HunterGeitz]

1. I don’t necessarily have a maximum acceptable latency but less than a second would be preferred.

2. For now I’m using my laptop’s hotspot which is only few feet away from the Z1 at most. My laptop’s hotspot is the only source of WiFi I can use while at my college (Rowan University). The reason I can’t use my colleges WiFi is because I can’t connect the Z1 to it through client mode likely due to security reason’s with it being a college network, but if you have any possible ideas on how I could connect the Z1 to my college WiFi then it’d be appreciated.

[HunterGeitz]

For now I’m using my laptop’s hotspot which is only few feet away from the Z1 at most. My laptop’s hotspot is the only source of WiFi I can use while at my college (Rowan University). The reason I can’t use my colleges WiFi is because I can’t connect the Z1 to it through client mode likely due to security reason’s with it being a college network, but if you have any possible ideas on how I could connect the Z1 to my college WiFi then it’d be appreciated.

[biviel]

@craig

Is this when the Z1 and the the computer running OBS Studio are in the same room? I wonder if the virtual cam of OBS adds additional latency when it gets to Unity? When I did the test with Unity, I did not check for latency.

Yes, same room. In past, ~3 firmware upgrades back, before Ricoh optimized WiFi usage because of overheating, this latency was lower for me.

Now I’m back to test WebRTC again and to try to play in browser full 4k, as good quality as possible. Latency is about 300ms.

Here you can see my desktop. In a browser running a counter and in another browser in front of it, the live 4k preview of my Z1 streaming into it WebRTC:

This is not supported yet in my plugin because of the use cases I was looking to cover in past and lack of h.265 encoding when using webrtc.

.