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Getting Started#

This section contains instructions to create a streaming Raspberry Pi.

It contains:

  • The Requirements
  • How to start the server
  • How to enable autostart
  • How to include into clients

Requirements#

This solution was tested on a Raspberry Pi 4 with the 32-bit Raspberry Pi OS Debian 10 (Buster) and 11 (Bullseye).

Camera wise a Raspberry Pi Camera Module is necessary or a USB Webcam with integrated H264 encoder. It was tested with V1 and V2 of the RPI Camera and Victure SC30 USB Webcam. USB Webcams don't have many supported settings and the Bitrate is trash.

Raspberry Pi Camera#

The Camera driver needs to be activated. This can be done in the Raspberry Pi Config in the interface section.

sudo raspi-config

USB H264 Camera#

The Camera needs to have a Device Node /dev/video* that provides Video with the H264 Codec.

Some Cameras will provide multiple Device Nodes, you can check what Formats they provide by using:

v4l2-ctl --list-formats -d /dev/video0

Fast Method#

  • Connect the camera with the included ribbon cable.

  • Install the OS (Raspberry Pi OS (Legacy) with desktop) and

  • then activate the camera interface (raspi-config). (for additional information seesetupraspberrypi) (Optional on Bullseye, activate legacy stack libcamera)

  • Download newest precompiled version from repository.

Unzip with and move into folder with

tar xf berrymse.tar.gz
cd berrymse

The folder should contain:

  • berrymse, the executable
  • config.yml a config file
  • for_autorstart a folder with convenience scripts
  • readme.md

Make executable exectuable:

chomd +x ./berrymse

and run it.

Run#

sudo ./berrymse

This runs a server that provides a demo website. Without a config file port 2020 is standard. To open it visit localhost:2020.

The server provides a webpage (index.html), a websocket stream of the camera (/video_websocket) and the javascript (/msevideo.js) to run it. For more information on how to integrate this into another project please see the chapter below.

For HTTP port 80 use sudo and specify port (0.0.0.0:80). 

sudo ./berrymse -l <raspberry pi ip address>:<port> -d /dev/video<X>

or configure the executable by placing a config.yml with the following content in the same folder as the executable. The possible parameters can be seen under berrymse -h.

Info

If these configurations don't work/match your camera this can freeze the camera stack. e.g. using resolutions above 1920 times 1080 created crashes.

config.yml
camera:
  sourceFD: "/dev/video0"
  width: 1280
  height: 720
  bitrate: 1500000

server:
  url: "0.0.0.0:80"

Run with sudo and visit website under localhost.

Register Service#

To register the executable as an autostart service:

  • download the repository or release folder
  • compile or place the executable in the armv7l folder (path must match the path in the berrymse.service file)
    Then use the provided convenience scripts in the for_autostart folder. 
cd for_autostart
chmod +x ./register.sh
sudo ./register.sh

Restart to test the service.

Compile Manually#

Install Golang (use either armv6l for 32-bit or arm64)

sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go && sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.17.7.linux-armv7l.tar.gz

Add PATH and GOPATH

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin
export GOPATH=$HOME/go
export PATH=$PATH:$GOPATH/bin

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Ch3ri0ur/berrymse.git
cd berrymse

Install pkger and dependencies:

GOOS=linux go get -v ./...
go install github.com/markbates/pkger/cmd/pkger

Build:

cd cmd/berryMSE
make

Find executable in the arm7l folder.

chmod +x ./armv7l/berrymse

Execute from folder with config.yml

sudo ./armv7l/berrymse

How to integrate into another Project#

Add the following snippets to the html file.
Add the script to the header.

<script src="msevideo.js"></script>

Add the video element and Buttons inside the body.

<video autoplay controls muted></video>
<button id="play-button" type="button">Pause</button>
<button id="auto-skip-button" type="button">Auto Skip Enabled</button>
<button id="reset-button" type="button">Reset</button>

The msevideo.js expects the websocket connection under /video_websocket at the same origin as the website. This is done because it is expected that a reverse proxy is used for this application.

The autoplay controls muted classes are advised.