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

shbatm

@imdickie OK, couple more things to try:

Make sure you are actually on the wip branch to use OMXPlayer:
- Run cd ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream/ && git status and the first line should say: On branch wip. If it says On branch master then run git checkout wip to switch.
Change the port setting of stream2 to port: 10000 (or some other free port, different than stream1 – this shouldn’t matter when using omxplayer, but if it works it means there’s probably a bug I need to fix.
Can you please restart the MM2 script and post (or send in a chat) your Mirror’s server log–e.g. the output to the console/log file and not the DevTools/browser?
- If you’re using pm2 to run the MM script, this would be in ~/.pm2/logs/ on a RPi or run pm2 restart mm && pm2 logs mm
- I’m looking for any errors and the lines that start with “Starting WebSocket server on port…” and “Starting stream stream1 with args…”

imdickie

@shbatm Changing the ports did allow me to see separate streams.

However, when I did the && git status command it did come up On Branch Master so I ran git checkout wip. When I kicked off the MM script after that change my screen just goes black. I went back to master with the different port numbers for now.

I am not running pm2. I can rebuild from scratch and set it up though. This is all pretty new to me and I am learning as I go.

Ctl+q doesn’t stop MM when in the black screen. I had to alt+tab to the console window and ctl+c to stop the script.

Below is the console from when I ran the MM script and it went to a black screen. Hopefully that gives you some idea what is going on.

Thanks again for the help.

pi@raspberrypi:~/MagicMirror $ npm start

> magicmirror@2.1.2 start /home/pi/MagicMirror
> sh run-start.sh

Starting MagicMirror: v2.1.2
Loading config ...
Loading module helpers ...
No helper found for module: alert.
Initializing new module helper ...
Module helper loaded: updatenotification
No helper found for module: clock.
Initializing new module helper ...
Module helper loaded: calendar
No helper found for module: compliments.
No helper found for module: currentweather.
Initializing new module helper ...
Module helper loaded: newsfeed
Initializing new module helper ...
Module helper loaded: MMM-WunderGround
WARNING! Could not load config file. Starting with default configuration. Error found: Error: Cannot find module 'ps-tree'
Loading module helpers ...
No helper found for module: alert.
Initializing new module helper ...
Module helper loaded: updatenotification
No helper found for module: clock.
Initializing new module helper ...
Module helper loaded: calendar
No helper found for module: compliments.
No helper found for module: currentweather.
Initializing new module helper ...
Module helper loaded: newsfeed
Initializing new module helper ...
Module helper loaded: MMM-WunderGround
App threw an error during load
Error: Cannot find module 'ps-tree'
    at Module._resolveFilename (module.js:470:15)
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (/home/pi/MagicMirror/node_modules/electron/dist/resources/electron.asar/common/reset-search-paths.js:35:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:418:25)
    at Module.require (module.js:498:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:20:19)
    at Object. (/home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream/node_helper.js:15:16)
    at Object. (/home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream/node_helper.js:188:3)
    at Module._compile (module.js:571:32)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:580:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:488:32)
Whoops! There was an uncaught exception...
{ Error: Cannot find module 'ps-tree'
    at Module._resolveFilename (module.js:470:15)
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (/home/pi/MagicMirror/node_modules/electron/dist/resources/electron.asar/common/reset-search-paths.js:35:12)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:418:25)
    at Module.require (module.js:498:17)
    at require (internal/module.js:20:19)
    at Object. (/home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream/node_helper.js:15:16)
    at Object. (/home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream/node_helper.js:188:3)
    at Module._compile (module.js:571:32)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:580:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:488:32) code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND' }
MagicMirror will not quit, but it might be a good idea to check why this happened. Maybe no internet connection?
If you think this really is an issue, please open an issue on GitHub: https://github.com/MichMich/MagicMirror/issues
Launching application.
^C
pi@raspberrypi:~/MagicMirror $

shbatm

@imdickie If you were on the Master branch it makes sense now why you were getting duplicate views, it was using ffmpeg and looking at only the first port for both cameras. The work-in-progress branch does not use websockets/ports for local playback since OMXPlayer just draws directly on top of the MM’s browser window.

For the black screen: I forgot the wip branch has an additional node package required. This should take care of your problem:

cd ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream
git checkout wip
git pull
npm install

You may or may not need to also add a moduleOffset config option: see the posts above for pictures, if the video doesn’t line up with the border, you can add moduleOffset: X to shift the video over (where X is a number of pixels).

For more information about the wip branch, there is an updated README on the Github page: https://github.com/shbatm/MMM-RTSPStream/tree/wip

For pm2: it’s definitely not a requirement, but I find it’s nice to have; I included in the note above just in case you were already using it. It will automatically run the MM script for you on startup. See this page if you want more information.

To all using the module: Thanks for bearing with me, I haven’t had a lot of time this past month to finish out the hardware-accelerated version (wip/development branch) but I hope to get it done in the next month or so. I really do appreciate any feedback / issues you have to help me improve this module.

imdickie

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

…

That did it. Thanks a ton.

Not sure if it is omxplayer or not, but the stream seems to be much clearer. There is definitely less lag.

Excellent work, thanks again.

imdickie

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

You may or may not need to also add a moduleOffset config option: see the posts above for pictures, if the video doesn’t line up with the border, you can add moduleOffset: X to shift the video over (where X is a number of pixels).

I read through everything I can find and am stuck at the final setting. Can you provide the exact syntax for for the moduleOffset setting?

I tried several iterations and finally got it to shift, but it shifts an equal amount vertically and horizontally.

First I tried this:

moduleOffset:
     {
     top: x
     right: x
     bottom: x
     left: x
     },

and that put the video smack dab in the center and flipped between the two streams.

Then I tried this:

moduleOffset: -20,

and it shifted the video up and left 20 pixels.

What I am trying to accomplish is shift the videos up but stay the same left/right.

Thanks.

shbatm

@imdickie The 2nd one was the correct method. I made an adjustment to the code so now you can specify separate vertical & horizontal offsets.

// Both methods below should work now:

// Same Offset for Horizontal & Vertical:
moduleOffset: -20    // any number works
// Different Offsets for Horizontal & Vertical:
moduleOffset: { top: -20, left: 0 }

I didn’t get a chance to double check on my mirror, so please pull the update and let me know if you have any issues:

# Run the following to update the module
cd ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream
git pull

If you want to make any further adjustments yourself without waiting for me, see this post above on where to edit the code directly.

imdickie

I was able to get the overlay to match perfectly without using the moduleOffset variable by setting the module to the bottom bar.

It offsets when I positioned it other spots. Also, since you are working on this I noticed when the RTSPStream module is placed near another module that can shift in size like newsfeed it will sift the overlay. That was why I thought to place it in the bottom bar so it became the anchor in the bottom justification.

Thanks again for a great module. It really helped with the wife acceptance factor.

shbatm

@imdickie Great! I’m glad it’s working!

WRT the offset – that part is definitely a work in progress and the moduleOffset setting is a stop-gap.

For anyone who is proficient in JavaScript – I need a better way to get the position of the camera window’s canvas tag with respect to the corner of the screen and not the browser window. Currently I’m using canvas.getBoundingClientRect() which doesn’t account for all of the borders, margins, or paddings.

barnosch

Do i understand correctly?
Local Player means that it only can playback a source, directly installed at the pi?
No source from a wlan attached ip cam?

Tried the wip branch for my IP cam, since the ffmeg player uses 100% and has 6 seconds delay in my case.
With the omx player i do not get a picture anymore. (At least i do not have a complete black screen anymore ;) )

shbatm

@barnosch Here is a picture to explain:

Please make sure you run the following after switching branches:

    cd ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream
    npm install

Do you have any errors in the console log?
Please check omxplayer is installed

    which omxplayer
    # Should show '/usr/bin/omxplayer'

Please check omxplayer is running when the video should be playing:

    pgrep omx
    # Should show a number (process ID)

barnosch

Thanks for the explanation.
It was already working, but i could not see the stream remotely within a VNC session (the ffmpeg stream was visible).
It works perfect now. No delay, and way sharper.
But…
If i restart the mirror because of changes in the config, i get a blank black screen.
The omxplayer does not stop completely. One instance is still running and is not killable.

Additionally it seems that something kills the DNS of the pi. (Could be something else, but i guess it starts by adding your module).
Now the stupid thing. if i restart the service with “dhclient”, the name resolution works again, but i need to restart the mirror, that the scripts are loading.
If i restart the mirror, dns is not working anymore. (etc/resolve.conf is correct)

It would really helpful if the omxplayer would shutdown completely if i
pm2 stop mirror.sh
or
pm2 restart mirror.sh
to not get a blank screen.

Above all this, i love the module and appreciate your work. Thanks a lot.
WAF is really huge for this great addon ;)

shbatm

@barnosch Great! I’m glad its working. You bring up an important point that I should emphasize:

For anyone using the OMXPlayer Version: OMXPlayer outputs directly to the screen via the GPU. The video window will show up on top of anything else and will not appear in any remote desktop, VLC, or remote browser windows. This is by design. Think of it like picture-in-picture on your TV.

About the OMXPlayer not exiting: this is a known issue and is the reason the wip branch hasn’t been made the master yet. I thought I had a fix for it, but it’s inconsistent.

A temporary fix is to try adding the following BEFORE the npm start line in your mirror.sh script to make sure everything is dead before restarting:

pkill omxplayer
pkill electron

LindaBrestine

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

@imdickie If you were on the Master branch it makes sense now why you were getting duplicate views, it was using ffmpeg and looking at only the first port for both cameras. The work-in-progress branch does not use websockets/ports for local playback since OMXPlayer just draws directly on top of the MM’s browser window.

For the black screen: I forgot the wip branch has an additional node package required. This should take care of your problem:
cd ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-RTSPStream
git checkout wip
git pull
npm install
You may or may not need to also add a moduleOffset config option: see the posts above for pictures, if the video doesn’t line up with the border, you can add moduleOffset: X to shift the video over (where X is a number of pixels).

For more information about the wip branch, there is an updated README on the Github page: https://github.com/shbatm/MMM-RTSPStream/tree/wip

For pm2: it’s definitely not a requirement, but I find it’s nice to have; I included in the note above just in case you were already using it. It will automatically run the MM script for you on startup. See this page if you want more information.

To all using the module: Thanks for bearing with me, I haven’t had a lot of time this past month to finish out the hardware-accelerated version (wip/development branch) but I hope to get it done in the next month or so. I really do appreciate any feedback / issues you have to help me improve this module.

thanks for your support. It really helps

barnosch

added the pkill commands but it does not work. It does not kill the apps.

From time to time, the feed disappears. Have not yet found when and why.
Sometimes it runs 2 days without problems, the other day it only lasts for some hours.
Weird.

Only thing what helps is currently a reboot of the whole pi.

Since it was to complicated to log in on a device to give the reboot command, i set up a
Amazon Dash Button and placed it right next to the mirror.
So my wife can reboot the mirror with just a simple ~~order-~~ click. ;)

Hopefully the OMX version will become more stable sooner or later.

xblackdemonx

I don’t understand, I downloaded the module, i’ve added this to my config.js file and I only see the square box where it’s supposed to show the feeed but it doesn’t show anything. The box is blank. If I put the same URL(rtsp://192.168.1.2:554/unicast/) in VLC on my magic mirror it works fine.
My MagicMirror is setup using Debian Jessie and I autostart MagicMirror via PM2. The camera I use is the XiaoMi XiaoFang Smart IP Security Home Camera running fang-hacks Please help.

{
module: ‘MMM-RTSPStream’,
position: ‘bottom_center’,
config: {
autoStart: true,
rotateStreams: false,
rotateStreamTimeout: 10,
showSnapWhenPaused: false,
moduleWidth: 704,
moduleHeight: 240,
stream1: {
name: ‘salon’,
url: ‘rtsp://192.168.1.2:554/unicast/’,
snapshotUrl: ‘’,
snapshotRefresh: 10, // Seconds
frameRate: “30”,
port: 9999,
width: “320”,
height: “240”,
},

kasperb

@barnosch Having the same issue; only a browser refresh or restart of the MM works. I started to question my camera and thought it was going offline, but looks like it’s related to the current WIP version. :-)

Niggich

@shbatm I try everything to get stream working with omxplayer but I always get a black blank screen. I don’t know what can I try anymore. When I change it back to ffmpeg the stream is working…

xblackdemonx

@Niggich Then why do you insist on using omxplayer then?

Niggich

@xblackdemonx The ffmpeg have a time difference from live to stream about 10 seconds.

xblackdemonx

@Niggich Not for me. I see maybe a 1/2 second delay only.