WaveShare RPi Camera
and Raspberry PI 3B (Stretch)
3 configurations using the following video codecs as per the vcodec parameter:
copycodec for streaming with much higher quality but with a downside that you must specify the target video resolution for your iOS/MacOS device by updating thevideo_sizeparameter.h264codec for streaming with good quality but using more processor powerh264_omxcodec for streaming with minimal processing power but with lower quality
copy video codec
config.json
{
"cameras": [{
"name": "Pi 3B Camera",
"motion": true,
"switches": true,
"videoConfig": {
"source": "-re -r 30 -video_size 1920x1080 -f video4linux2 -input_format h264 -i /dev/video0 -copyts -start_at_zero -timestamps abs",
"stillImageSource": "-video_size 1920x1080 -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 -ss 1.5",
"maxStreams": 2,
"maxFPS": 30,
"maxBitrate": 500000000,
"vcodec": "copy",
"audio": false,
"vflip": false,
"hflip": false,
"debug": true
}
}],
"platform": "Camera-ffmpeg"
}
notes
The resolution in the example configuration above has been tested to work for iPad and MacOS. It will not work for other devices that require difference resolutions.
Since the Raspberry Pi lacks an RTC, it should be ensured that timesyncd is correctly functioning, otherwise streaming will stop working as the Pi's clock drifts. E.g.
$ systemctl status systemd-timesyncd.service
● systemd-timesyncd.service - Network Time Synchronization
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Drop-In: /lib/systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service.d
└─disable-with-time-daemon.conf
Active: active (running) since Sun 2020-07-19 09:48:38 BST; 5h 9min ago
Docs: man:systemd-timesyncd.service(8)
Main PID: 30120 (systemd-timesyn)
Status: "Synchronized to time server 216.239.35.4:123 (time.google.com)."
CGroup: /system.slice/systemd-timesyncd.service
└─30120 /lib/systemd/systemd-timesyncd
Jul 19 09:48:38 raspberrypizerow systemd[1]: Starting Network Time Synchronization...
Jul 19 09:48:38 raspberrypizerow systemd[1]: Started Network Time Synchronization.
Jul 19 09:48:38 raspberrypizerow systemd-timesyncd[30120]: Synchronized to time server 216.239.35.4:123 (time.google.com).
If necessary it may be needed to update the NTP server configuration in /etc/systemd/timesyncd.conf
h264 video codec
config.json
{
"cameras": [
{
"name": "Pi 3B Camera",
"motion": true,
"switches": true,
"videoConfig": {
"source": "-re -r 30 -video_size 1920x1080 -f video4linux2 -input_format h264 -i /dev/video0 -crf 18 -threads 3",
"stillImageSource": "-video_size 1920x1080 -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 -ss 1.5",
"maxStreams": 2,
"maxFPS": 30,
"vcodec": "h264",
"audio": false,
"vflip": false,
"hflip": false,
"debug": true
}
}
],
"platform": "Camera-ffmpeg"
}
notes
The crf and threads parameters allow for setting adequate video quality and using multiple RPI cores. Works across all iOS/MacOS devices but with significant CPU overhead.
h264_omx video codec
config.json
{
"cameras": [
{
"name": "Pi 3B Camera",
"motion": true,
"switches": true,
"videoConfig": {
"source": "-re -r 30 -video_size 1920x1080 -f video4linux2 -input_format h264 -i /dev/video0",
"stillImageSource": "-video_size 1920x1080 -f video4linux2 -i /dev/video0 -ss 1.5",
"maxStreams": 2,
"maxFPS": 30,
"maxBitrate": 500000000,
"vcodec": "h264_omx",
"audio": false,
"vflip": false,
"hflip": false,
"debug": true
}
}
],
"platform": "Camera-ffmpeg"
}
notes
While fast, and working across all iOS/MacOS devices, the h264_omx video codec doesn't support many options and provides sub-standard quality compared to the other options (at least when using a RPI camera). E.g.
$ ffmpeg -h encoder=h264_omx
ffmpeg version 3.2.14-1~deb9u1+rpt1 Copyright (c) 2000-2019 the FFmpeg developers
built with gcc 6.3.0 (Raspbian 6.3.0-18+rpi1+deb9u1) 20170516
configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version='1~deb9u1+rpt1' --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf --incdir=/usr/include/arm-linux-gnueabihf --enable-gpl --disable-stripping --enable-avresample --enable-avisynth --enable-gnutls --enable-ladspa --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libebur128 --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-libpulse --enable-librubberband --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libssh --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-omx --enable-omx-rpi --enable-mmal --enable-openal --enable-opengl --enable-sdl2 --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libiec61883 --arch=armhf --enable-chromaprint --enable-frei0r --enable-libopencv --enable-libx264 --enable-shared
libavutil 55. 34.101 / 55. 34.101
libavcodec 57. 64.101 / 57. 64.101
libavformat 57. 56.101 / 57. 56.101
libavdevice 57. 1.100 / 57. 1.100
libavfilter 6. 65.100 / 6. 65.100
libavresample 3. 1. 0 / 3. 1. 0
libswscale 4. 2.100 / 4. 2.100
libswresample 2. 3.100 / 2. 3.100
libpostproc 54. 1.100 / 54. 1.100
Encoder h264_omx [OpenMAX IL H.264 video encoder]:
General capabilities: delay
Threading capabilities: none
Supported pixel formats: yuv420p
h264_omx AVOptions:
-omx_libname <string> ED.V.... OpenMAX library name
-omx_libprefix <string> ED.V.... OpenMAX library prefix
-zerocopy <int> E..V.... Try to avoid copying input frames if possible (from 0 to 1) (default 0)