Technical

Tips, Tricks and Technical Information

Controlling FlowCaster

FlowCaster SwirlFlowCaster creates a virtual I/O board for your creative software, desktop, SDI I/O board, or NDI source that sends a high quality video signal through the network for display on a local monitor.  This article covers controlling and configuring FlowCaster through command line, its settings, and via remote control.

 

Command Line Parameters

 

Usage: d:\drastic.trunk\bin64\flowcaster.exe [options]

Options:

-n,    --ndisource <NDI Source Name>   NDI Source 
-u,   --urldestination <Destination URL>   URL to send to 
-N,   --name <Stream User Name>   User name
-p,    --password <Stream Password>   SRT password (min 10 char) 
-I,   --sourcenumber <Source Stream ID #>   Source ID number 
-s,   --source   <0-12 See Docs> A/V Source
-t,    --transport    <0-5: NDI,UDP,RTP,TR01,SRT,RTMP> Output Transport Type 
-M,   --mode Transmit Mode exact:    <0-srtCaller,1-srtListener,2-srtRendezvous,3-rtp,4-udp,5-rtmp,6-2110,7-2022,8-hls,9-dash,10-cdi,11-webrtc,12-tr01,13-bls,14-rist,15-whip,80-vcam,100-ndi,200-file>
-x,   --extrastreams   <0-allow, 1-disable extra> Extra streams that HaiVision Player can't handle
-a,   --audchan   <0 (stereo), 1 (stereo mix), 2 (4 channels), 3 (8 channels), 4 (16 channels)> Number of output audio channels
-c,   --codec   <0-4: h264,h264_10,HEVC,HEVC_10,J2K> Codec
-i,   --iframeorder   <0-IBBP, 1-IPPP, 2-IIII> Frame order
-b,   --bitrate   <# kilobits per second> Kilobits per second
-l,   --latency   <# milliseconds> Latency in milliseconds; the number of milliseconds used to recover packets.
-e,   --encryption   <0-none, 1-128, 2-256> Encryption level
-B,   --board   <Source 0-All, 2-AJA, 3-AJA Shared, 4-Bluefish444, 5-Blackmagic, 6-UltraScope, 7-Matrox, 8-USB, 11-NDI, 12-Screen>
-f,   --format   Signal format
-P,   --playlocally   Play audio locally if set to 1
-V,   --screen   Screen or board to send 0..n
-X,   --watermarkx   X position of the watermark
-Y,   --watermarky   Y position of the watermark
-W,   --watermark   Path and name of the watermark file
-o,   --overlaycc   Overlay closed captions/xds data over video: 0=disable,1-4=CC1-4,5-8=708Service,9=OP-47,10=XDSOnly
-z,   --netx   Parent Net-X-Code
-m,   --minimized   Start app minimized
-C,   --config   <0-All, 1-CS, 2-FCApp> Just display config page
-S,   --saveconfig   <0-NC, 1-CS, 2-FCApp> Save to settings
-r,   --virtualsdi   <0-Unregister, 1-Register> Register/Unregister
-L,   --license   Run for licensing
-?,   --help   Displays this help
-h,   --help   Displays this help
-v,   --version   Displays version

 

Windows (registry)

Creative Software Settings:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Drastic\FlowCaster

Applications (SDI/HDMI/NDI/Desktop) Settings:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Drastic\FlowCaster1

 

macOS (~\Library\Preferences\)

Creative Software Settings:
   /Library/Application\ Support/Drastic/com.drastictech.flowcaster.plist

Applications (SDI/HDMI/NDI/Desktop) Settings:
   /Library/Application\ Support/Drastic/com.drastictech.flowcaster1.plist

 

Linux (~\.config\)

Creative Software Settings:
   FlowCaster.conf

Applications (SDI/HDMI/NDI/Desktop) Settings:
   FlowCaster1.conf

 

Settings:

  • AudioMode - what audio channels to send
    • Stereo - 0
    • Stereo Mix - 1
    • 4 channels - 2
    • 8 channels - 3
    • 16 channels - 4
  • ColorSpace
  • Compression - compression for stream as a fourcc code
    • h264 - 875967080
    • h264 10 Bit - 1630680628
    • HEVC - 1752589105
    • HEVC 10 Bit - 1752589153
    • JPEG 2000 - 1598501450
  • DataRate - in kilobits per second (megabits per second divided by 1000)
  • Email - email address for licensing
  • Enabled - enable transmission of SDI/HDMI/NDI
  • Encryption - type of encryption to use
    • 0 - None
    • 1 - AES 128
    • 2 - AES 256
  • FPS
  • IBP - the IBP structure of the compressed stream
    • IBBP - 0
    • IPPP - 1
    • IIII - 2
  • Latency - the number of milliseconds to use to recover packets
  • Password - password to use for the encryption (must be at least 10 characters)
  • SDR_HDR
  • SendHDRSignals - 1 if it should send HDR signals to the receiver
  • StreamNo - stream number to set for this send
  • TransferType
  • Type - protocol to send the stream as
    • SRT - Caller
    • SRT - Listener
    • SRT - Rendezvous
    • RTP
    • UDP
    • RTMP
    • NDI
    • CDI
    • RIST
    • WebRTC
    • SMPTE 2110
  • URL - the target address (eg. srt://199.0.0.123:5000?mode=caller)
  • User - the user name to use with the URL you are sending to (optional)
  • UserName - user name for licensing
  • Watermark - a path to a watermark file (normally PNG 32 bit)
  • WatermarkX - the horizontal offset at which to display the watermark image
  • WatermarkY - the vertical offset at which to display the watermark image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trademarks, Registered Trademarks, and Copyrights

 

Trademarks, Registered Trademarks, and Copyrights

AJA Video Systems, Inc. - AJA® is a registered trademark of AJA Video Systems, Inc. AJA™ is a trademark of AJA Video Systems, Inc. Corvid Ultra®, KONA®, IO®, KUMO®, U-Tap®, and T-Tap® are registered trademarks of AJA Video Systems, Inc.
Apple Inc. - Apple, the Apple logo, Final Cut, Final Cut Pro, Apple TV, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iTunes, Mac, Mac OS X, macOS, Shake, Final Cut Pro, ProRes, High Sierra, Mojave, M1, M2, and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Blackmagic Design Pty. Ltd. - DaVinci Resolve, DaVinci Fusion, UltraStudio, DeckLink, Intensity Pro 4K, and UltraScope are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Blackmagic Design Pty. Ltd. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries.
Bluefish Technologies - Bluefish444, IngeSTore, Symmetry, Kronos, Epoch, Epoch:Neutron, and Epoch:SuperNova are trademarks of Bluefish Technologies
Drastic Technologies, Ltd. – trademarks specified here.
HaiVision Systems, Inc. - Haivision is a registered trademark of HaiVision Systems, Inc.
Linus Torvalds - Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.
Matrox Electronic Systems, Ltd - Matrox and Matrox product names are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of Matrox Electronic Systems, Ltd.
Microsoft Corporation – Microsoft: Windows®, Video For Windows (VFW), DirectShow, Microsoft, Skype, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Teams, Wave Mapper, Microsoft, Windows NT|2000|XP|XP Professional|Server 2003|Server 2008 |Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows 8, Media Player, Media Encoder, .Net, Internet Explorer, SQL Server 2005|2008|2012|2014, Windows Media Technologies and Internet Explorer are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
MPEG LA - MPEG LA licenses patent pools covering essential patents required for use of the MPEG-2, MPEG-4, IEEE 1394, VC-1, ATSC, MVC, MPEG-2 Systems, AVC/H.264 and HEVC standards.
NewTek, Inc. - NDI, TriCaster, 3Play, TalkShow, Video Toaster, LightWave 3D, and Broadcast Minds are registered trademarks of NewTek, Inc.
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers - SMPTE is a trademark of Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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For more than two decades, Drastic™ has been developing cutting edge digital video solutions for television, post production and sports broadcasting, from real time web delivery to 8K broadcast.

We offer standalone software for the end user or enterprise, integrated solutions for automated workflows, and OEM tools for custom applications or branded devices.

Contact Us

Address:
523 The Queensway, Suite 201
Toronto, ON
M8Y 1J7, Canada

Phone: +1 (416) 255 5636

Email: sales@drastictech.com

Fax: + 1 (416) 255 8780

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