The following guide assumes that the Official Homebridge Raspberry Pi Image is used and the camera module is activated (e.g. via raspi-config 5 Interfacing Options -> P1 Camera).

The resolution is limited to 720p (i.e. 1280x720) to avoid the cropping when using 1080p mode.

Basic Config using h264_omx

recommended for Raspberry Pi 2 and newer

config.json

{
	"name": "Raspberry Pi Camera",
	"videoConfig": {
		"source": "-f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0",
		"maxStreams": 1,
		"maxWidth": 1280,
		"maxHeight": 720,
		"maxFPS": 30,
		"vcodec": "h264_omx"
	}
}

Advanced Config using h264_omx to support multiple streams

Requires Raspberry Pi 2 or newer!

Step1: Install v4l2loopback

sudo apt install v4l2loopback-dkms

Step2: Adjust GPU RAM split

Edit /boot/config.txt and change gpu_mem=128 to gpu_mem=256 (or use raspi-config).

Step3: Start the loopback device on boot

Create file /etc/systemd/system/camera-loopback.service

[Unit]
Description=Set up loopback cameras

[Service]
ExecStartPre=/sbin/modprobe v4l2loopback devices=2
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/ffmpeg -f video4linux2 -input_format yuv420p -video_size 1280x720 -i /dev/video0 -codec copy -f v4l2 /dev/video1
Restart=always
RestartSec=2

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Activate with sudo systemctl enable camera-loopback and start with sudo systemctl start camera-loopback.

Step4: configure homebridge

Use the Basic Config (see above) and replace /dev/video0 with /dev/video1 and set maxStreams to 3

Note: more than three streams tend to crash.

Native h264

Only recommended for Raspberry Pi 1 (A/B/A+/B+) and Raspberry Pi Zero

Using the native h264 from the camera results in better image quality and lower cpu usage but has some drawbacks:

• resolution is fixed (e.g. 720p)
• bitrate, flip and rotation need to be adjusted separately from the command line (see below)
• streaming to multiple devices is not possible

Using homebridge-camera-rpi eliminates the first two drawbacks (Disclaimer: I am the developer of that plugin).

Prerequisite

Set bitrate to 300k: v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl video_bitrate=300000

Optionally adjust image orientation:

• Rotate image 180 degrees: v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl rotate=180
• Flip image vertically: v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl vertical_flip=1
• Flip image horizontally: v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl horizontal_flip=1

config.json

{
	"name": "Raspberry Pi Zero Camera",
	"videoConfig": {
		"source": "-f video4linux2 -input_format h264 -video_size 1280x720 -framerate 30 -timestamps abs -i /dev/video0",
		"stillImageSource": "-f video4linux2 -input_format mjpeg -video_size 1280x720 -i /dev/video0",
		"maxStreams": 1,
		"maxWidth": 1280,
		"maxHeight": 720,
		"maxFPS": 30,
		"vcodec": "copy"
	}
}