I want to configure a local webcam to stream (and possibly record) a live feed open to the internet, and acess it half-world away while traveling, using FOSS only acessing it via Android VLC
This guide was quite comprehensive; however the packages for nginx-rtmp are quite abandoned in arch linux. So I thought maybe WebRTC could be an alternative - the communication itself should be encrypted, which WebRTC seems to do; however, I still can’t figure out if VLC will handle this well
Also, it seems that I might need to self-host a VPN to achieve this? What are my options? Has anyone else done this ?
MediaMTX can sort a lot of this for you. Then its just a matter of accessing your feed on vlc.
VPN is the safer option of accessing your network
Personally, I use this as a camera proxy bit it can record. I use zoneminder otherwise
MediaMTX
Going to Mars seems easier and less resource intensive than that thing.
MediaMTX can sort a lot of this for you. Then its just a matter of accessing your feed on vlc.
Here is how you really “just access your feed from VLC” in three easy easy steps:
Step 1. Configure nginx repositories (http://nginx.org/en/linux_packages.html)
Step 2. Install nginx / nginx-rtmp
Step 3. Edit nginx config to add:
rtmp { server { listen 1935; chunk_size 4096; allow publish 127.0.0.1; deny publish all; application live { live on; exec_pull /usr/bin/ffmpeg -f v4l2 -input_format h264 -video_size 1920x1080 -i /dev/video4 -copyinkf -codec copy -f flv rtmp://127.0.0.1/live/stream; record off; } } }
A few notes:
/dev/video4
is your camera;- Some systems (debian) may require this
sudo usermod -a -G video www-data
to make sure it will work. Becauseffmpeg
will be launched with thewww-data
user that doesn’t have access to the video cameras. - It will even turn off the camera if nobody is connected;
- Use
ffmpeg -f v4l2 -list_formats all -i /dev/video0
to find what formats your camera supports; - Watch the stream from VLC with the url:
rtmp://device-ip/live/stream
Enjoy.
Thank you, I managed to get it working with MediaMTX and DockoVPN I still don’t know how I would manage dynamic IP changes during the days I’m away, that would break the VPN
Amazing! Congrats :)
For the dynamic ip address that you can get a free domain name from afraid or noip or maybe others and point your vpn to your domain name instead of direct ip address. Following that you can run cron job scripts to ensure the ip address that the domain points to is up to date
I just set up a security camera for my dad’s office: zoneminder running the webcam and tailscale for access anywhere.
this is the way. Not sure if you can watch webrtc streams with vlc though. But you can always use rtmp or hls