diff --git a/libavformat/tcp.c b/libavformat/tcp.c
index ced103876f..e602a556d2 100644
--- a/libavformat/tcp.c
+++ b/libavformat/tcp.c
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ static int tcp_open(URLContext *h, const char *uri, int flags)
     char buf[256];
     int ret;
     socklen_t optlen;
+    int timeout = 100;
     char hostname[1024],proto[1024],path[1024];
     char portstr[10];
 
@@ -57,6 +58,9 @@ static int tcp_open(URLContext *h, const char *uri, int flags)
     if (p) {
         if (av_find_info_tag(buf, sizeof(buf), "listen", p))
             listen_socket = 1;
+        if (av_find_info_tag(buf, sizeof(buf), "timeout", p)) {
+            timeout = strtol(buf, NULL, 10);
+        }
     }
     memset(&hints, 0, sizeof(hints));
     hints.ai_family = AF_UNSPEC;
@@ -73,6 +77,7 @@ static int tcp_open(URLContext *h, const char *uri, int flags)
     cur_ai = ai;
 
  restart:
+    ret = AVERROR(EIO);
     fd = socket(cur_ai->ai_family, cur_ai->ai_socktype, cur_ai->ai_protocol);
     if (fd < 0)
         goto fail;
@@ -84,28 +89,29 @@ static int tcp_open(URLContext *h, const char *uri, int flags)
         fd1 = accept(fd, NULL, NULL);
         closesocket(fd);
         fd = fd1;
+        ff_socket_nonblock(fd, 1);
     } else {
  redo:
+        ff_socket_nonblock(fd, 1);
         ret = connect(fd, cur_ai->ai_addr, cur_ai->ai_addrlen);
     }
 
-    ff_socket_nonblock(fd, 1);
-
     if (ret < 0) {
         struct pollfd p = {fd, POLLOUT, 0};
-        if (ff_neterrno() == AVERROR(EINTR)) {
+        ret = ff_neterrno();
+        if (ret == AVERROR(EINTR)) {
             if (url_interrupt_cb()) {
                 ret = AVERROR_EXIT;
                 goto fail1;
             }
             goto redo;
         }
-        if (ff_neterrno() != AVERROR(EINPROGRESS) &&
-            ff_neterrno() != AVERROR(EAGAIN))
+        if (ret != AVERROR(EINPROGRESS) &&
+            ret != AVERROR(EAGAIN))
             goto fail;
 
         /* wait until we are connected or until abort */
-        for(;;) {
+        while(timeout--) {
             if (url_interrupt_cb()) {
                 ret = AVERROR_EXIT;
                 goto fail1;
@@ -114,7 +120,10 @@ static int tcp_open(URLContext *h, const char *uri, int flags)
             if (ret > 0)
                 break;
         }
-
+        if (ret <= 0) {
+            ret = AVERROR(ETIMEDOUT);
+            goto fail;
+        }
         /* test error */
         optlen = sizeof(ret);
         getsockopt (fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_ERROR, &ret, &optlen);
@@ -122,6 +131,7 @@ static int tcp_open(URLContext *h, const char *uri, int flags)
             av_log(h, AV_LOG_ERROR,
                    "TCP connection to %s:%d failed: %s\n",
                    hostname, port, strerror(ret));
+            ret = AVERROR(ret);
             goto fail;
         }
     }
@@ -144,7 +154,6 @@ static int tcp_open(URLContext *h, const char *uri, int flags)
             closesocket(fd);
         goto restart;
     }
-    ret = AVERROR(EIO);
  fail1:
     if (fd >= 0)
         closesocket(fd);