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cctv-to-virtualcam-guide.md

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For getting the AlertAlfred to work with a CCTV camera, we need to stream the CCTV footage to a virtual camera using the v4l2loopback kernel module. This will allow us to use the virtual camera as a source for the AlertAlfred.

Here's how to set up the virtual cameras on a Raspberry Pi:

Step 1: Install Required Packages

The first step is to install the required packages:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install v4l2loopback-dkms
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Step 2: Create the Virtual Cameras

To make the virtual cameras (/dev/video10, /dev/video11, /dev/video12) permanent across reboots, you'll need to ensure that the v4l2loopback kernel module is loaded automatically with the desired parameters every time your Raspberry Pi boots up. Here’s how you can do that:

The first step is to load the v4l2loopback module at boot by adding it to the system modules list.

  1. Create a Module Load Configuration File:

    Create a file in /etc/modules-load.d/ to load the v4l2loopback module:

    echo "v4l2loopback" | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/v4l2loopback.conf

    This ensures that the module is loaded at boot.

Step 3: Create a Modprobe Configuration File for Parameters

Next, we need to define the parameters that should be used when the module is loaded. This will create the virtual video devices with the correct numbers and labels.

  1. Create a Module Parameters Configuration File:

    Create a file in /etc/modprobe.d/ to set the module options:

    sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf

  2. Add the Following Configuration to the File:

    options v4l2loopback video_nr=10,11,12 card_label="Virtual Camera 1","Virtual Camera 2","Virtual Camera 3" exclusive_caps=1
    • video_nr=10,11,12: Specifies the virtual devices numbers (/dev/video10, /dev/video11, /dev/video12).
    • card_label="Virtual Camera 1","Virtual Camera 2","Virtual Camera 3": Assigns labels to each virtual camera.
    • exclusive_caps=1: Ensures exclusive access for each camera, useful for compatibility.

  3. Save and Exit: Press Ctrl + X, then Y, and press Enter to save and exit the editor.

Step 4: Update the Initramfs (Optional)

On some systems, it may be necessary to update the initramfs to include the new module settings, so that it is loaded correctly at boot.

Run the following command to update the initramfs:

sudo update-initramfs -u

Step 4: Reboot and Verify

Now, reboot your Raspberry Pi to see if the virtual cameras are correctly created on startup:

sudo reboot

After rebooting, you can verify the virtual cameras by running:

v4l2-ctl --list-devices

You should see:

Virtual Camera 1 (platform:v4l2loopback-000):
    /dev/video10

Virtual Camera 2 (platform:v4l2loopback-001):
    /dev/video11

Virtual Camera 3 (platform:v4l2loopback-002):
    /dev/video12

Summary

  1. Create /etc/modules-load.d/v4l2loopback.conf to load v4l2loopback automatically at boot.
  2. Create /etc/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf to define the parameters for the virtual cameras.
  3. Update initramfs (optional).
  4. Reboot and verify.

This setup will ensure that your virtual cameras are recreated automatically every time the Raspberry Pi starts, allowing them to be used for various purposes without manual intervention.

After setting up the virtual cameras, we need to pass the CCTV footage to the virtual camera using ffmpeg. Here's the command to do that:

Test command to start a Gstream on the CCTV Camera

gst-launch-1.0 rtspsrc location=rtsp://username:[email protected]:554/stream1 ! rtph264depay ! avdec_h264 ! videoconvert ! autovideosink

Ounce everythig is working as intented you can use the following commandto make the CCTV Camera to a Virtual Display at video10

To capature and process the camera feed we need to use a package called motion, follow this repo to setup motion properly https://github.com/apple-fritter/RTSP.to-webcam

Ounce you are done with the motion setup you can use the following command to stream the CCTV camera to the virtual camera:

ffmpeg -re -i rtsp://username:[email protected]:554/stream1 -r 30 -f v4l2 -vcodec rawvideo -pix_fmt yuyv422 /dev/video10

Please note the the -pix_fmt yuyv422 is the format of the virtual camera, you can change it to the format of your virtual camera. This format also needs to be added into the hailo-rpi5-examples/basic_pipelines/hailo_rpi_common.py in line number 162-166:

    elif source_type == 'usb':
        source_element = (
            f'v4l2src device={video_source} name={name} ! '
            'video/x-raw, format=YUY2, width=640, height=360 ! '
        )

If everything is working you will get this outout

   Input #0, rtsp, from 'rtsp://username:[email protected]:554/stream1':
     Metadata:
       title           : Session streamed by "TP-LINK RTSP Server"
       comment         : stream2
     Duration: N/A, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
     Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (Main), yuv420p(tv, bt709, progressive), 640x360, 15 fps, 16.67 tbr, 90k tbn
     Stream #0:1: Audio: pcm_alaw, 8000 Hz, mono, s16, 64 kb/s
   Stream mapping:
     Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> rawvideo (native))
   Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
   Output #0, video4linux2,v4l2, to '/dev/video10':
     Metadata:
       title           : Session streamed by "TP-LINK RTSP Server"
       comment         : stream2
       encoder         : Lavf59.27.100
     Stream #0:0: Video: rawvideo (YUY2 / 0x32595559), yuyv422(tv, bt709, progressive), 640x360, q=2-31, 61440 kb/s, 16.67 fps, 16.67 tbn