[MMM-RTSPStream] - Video Streaming from Live Feeds & Security Cameras

Cr4z33

@axled woah gonna try it now! :thumbs_up_medium-light_skin_tone:

evroom

@axled
Interesting. Will give it a try.

djuscha

@shbatm
@shbatm> Also, please check the MM logs and post if you see any errors. You should be seeing two calls to start omxplayer. You can also do pm2 status to make sure both streams are running.

what am I doing wrong?

barnosch

i have the same problem like @djuscha
The second stream does not show up.
Can it be a layering issue? Maybe its underneath the other one and just needs to moved down via a
or something?
As soon as i turn autorotate=on i can see both streams , but the delay between the switch is useless. I see 10 sec the stream1 than for 10 sec black and then for 10sec the other stream2.
(if i watch the pm2 status while in rotate mode, it stops the whole stream, thats why it takes forever to load, i guess. shutdowndelay option seems not to change something)

I would like to see them in parallel if possible.
Any idea or suggestion?

shbatm

@barnosch said in [MMM-RTSPStream] - Video Streaming from Live Feeds & Security Cameras:

the delay between the switch is useless.

I agree, unfortunately this is a an OMXPlayer problem – it takes anywhere from 5-10s to actually open and play a stream, so rotating the streams with OMXPlayer is limited unless you’re willing to accept the delay. I’ve played with everything I can think of to leave a stream open in the background–but nothing worked. The shutdown delay option only affects FFMPEG.

@djuscha For some reason only 1 stream is being started (the PM2 status is showing STOPPED for the other stream). I think I must have broken something in one of the last releases, try reverting back to an old version and see if it works:

cd ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream
git checkout f583553

I will work on troubleshooting and see what I broke.

djuscha

@shbatm said in [[MMM-RTSPStream] - Video Streaming from Live Feeds & Security

@djuscha For some reason only 1 stream is being started (the PM2 status is showing STOPPED for the other stream). I think I must have broken something in one of the last releases, try reverting back to an old version and see if it works:
cd ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream
git checkout f583553

I will work on troubleshooting and see what I broke.

Name │ id │ mode │ status │ ↺ │ cpu │ memory │
├─────────────┼────┼──────┼────────┼────────┼─────┼────────┼──────────┤
│ mm │ 0 │ N/A │ fork │ online │ 0 │ 0% │ 2.6 MB │
│ omx_stream1 │ 1 │ N/A │ fork │ online │ 6 │ 0% │ 2.8 MB │
│ omx_stream2 │ 2 │ N/A │ fork │ online │ 0 │ 0% │ 2.8 MB │
└─────────────┴────┴──────┴────────┴────────┴─────┴────────┴──

It works!!
Many Thanks!!

shbatm

STATUS UPDATE

Just wanted to give everyone a quick status update about this module.

Bad news first: the current version in the master branch is malfunctioning. Please revert to a previous version (see post above) until I get time to undo the commit.
EDIT - I’ve reverted the changes that I think broke the master channel. Please try updating your module to the current master branch and test.

Good news! The reason I haven’t fixed the main branch yet is because the most recent version of the Raspbian image (Nov '18) has introduced a native version of VLC with hardware acceleration. I am actively working on a version of this module that will abandon OMXPlayer in favor of VLC, and have a working prototype in the develop branch for anyone interested in testing!

Requirements:

Must have the most recent version of Raspbian with Desktop (> Nov '18). Google how to upgrade, but you may be better off starting with a fresh image.
Enable OpenGL (Fake KMS) driver in raspi-config
Increase GPU/CPU Memory Split to at least 128 (do this after enabling OpenGL because it will reset it to 64).
Upgrade Electron to v3.0.13 (v2.0.16 in MM v2.6 is not working with OpenGL–see MM Issue #1500:

    cd ~/MagicMirror
    # Remove the node_modules folder to start fresh
    rm -R ./node_modules
    # Either manually update the required electron version in package.json to 3.0.13 or use the sed command below
    sed -i 's/electron": "\^2\.0\..*",/electron": "^3.0.13",/g' package.json
    # Re-install the MM node modules
    npm install

Delete your MMM-RTSPStream module directory and use the new installer script to install everything:

    rm -R ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream
    bash -c "$(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shbatm/MMM-RTSPStream/develop/scripts/installer.sh)"

Update your config.js section to use VLC: localPlayer: 'vlc'

Working:

VLC windows “placed” on top of the main Electron window inside the module’s box
Plays quickly, minimal lag, low CPU usage (4 streams @ ~35%)
Visible in VNC client (couldn’t do this with OMXPlayer)
Fast switching between streams – all VLC windows will remain open, and wmctrl utility used to toggle which one is on top.
- Make sure to set a shutdownDelay for in your module config section make it longer than it takes to rotate back to that stream time (e.g. if you have rotateStreamTimeout: 10, and 3 streams, then it will take 20s to get back to the first stream, so you should set shutdownDelay: 22– 20s + 2s buffer).
Suspend/Restore functions
New version of Raspbian also has a hw-accelerated version of FFMPEG; I’ve added a hwAccel: true option for ffmpeg users to use HW-accelerated decoding. FFMPEG still has a big CPU impact for the encoder though.

Not-yet-tested / left to-do:

Test if sound works
Figure out what I broke in the OMXPlayer version

Not-gonna-happen:

Embedding VLC into Electron window (NPAPI-plugins are no longer supported and this is the only way I know how to do that).
Using VLC as the viewer for “remote” windows (other web browser instances of the MM) – same reason as above.

Known Bugs:

When VLC windows are first created, you see them move around the screen. After they’re “put in the box” it they won’t fill up the box right away. After ~7 secs they should fill the box.
- I am using devilspie2 to remove window decorations and move the VLC windows; however, for some reason I have to call it twice (~7s apart) to get VLC to resize it’s video properly. Shouldn’t be an issue in the long-term, unless you are hiding/showing the module often.

anthony6608

@shbatm I can confirm that this method works. I tried to apply it to my original installation however during the ’ sed -i ‘s/electron": “^2.0…*”,/electron": “^3.0.13”,/g’ package.json’ command my installation failed half way through and seemed to mess my installation up. I have an open issue and you’ll see about 10+ responses from me as I tried to troubleshoot but its irrelevant as long as your Pi doesn’t lock up during this process.

The only issue I seem to be having now is when I add the MMM-GoogleMapsTraffic module I see the Live feed box but the video doesn’t appear.

I’m fairly new to this so I am not sure what could be causing it?

Thanks again for all of your help!

shbatm

@anthony6608 said in [MMM-RTSPStream] - Video Streaming from Live Feeds & Security Cameras:

I’m fairly new to this so I am not sure what could be causing it?

I probably should have explained better above what the sed command was for. The current version of MagicMirror uses Electron version 2.0.16–this is defined in the package.json file in the MM directory. The sed command updates package.json to use Electron version 3.0.13 instead. It’s probably best to remove the node_modules directory first and reinstall (cleaner). I updated the steps above.

The problem with updating Electron is there is a reason MM still uses the lower version–it was working–we don’t know what else the new version is going to break. On mine, I had to update Node to v10.15 from v8.15 to get one of my other modules to work.

MMM-GoogleMapsTraffic module

I have a love-hate relationship with this module. I use it, but seems to break my other modules too (KeyBindings, OnScreenMenu)… I’ll look into the cause of this one, but if I had to guess-- The VLC window is just that, another window setting on top of the browser page that is MM. If something causes the browser to get focus (as simple as clicking the black background), the VLC window falls behind it. If you have a keyboard hooked up, try Alt + Tab and see if it comes back. I’m already looking for a way to make the VLC windows modal so they stay on top.

anthony6608

Yep, Ive tried all different settings and I am not sure what is going on but the second I remove the MMM-GoogleMapsTraffic module from config.js the stream shows? Any idea why the two would conflict? I noticed when I remove the module from config.js then I see activity from RTSP stream in the logs when its added I dont see much: