Project Page: github/rtsp-server-rpi-gstreamer

Overview

This is a new route using gstreamer to get a working secure RTSP server running on a Raspberry Pi. Uses the gst-rtsp-server library with a simple wrapper server.

The previous attempt using the v4l2-rtsp-server project wasn’t reliable (frequent frame drops and connection loss).

Setup

• Download Raspian image
• Flash with Etcher

Prep Headless Config

• Open /boot partition on host
• Create empty file ssh to enable ssh
• Create file wpa_supplicant.conf to enable wifi

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=CA

network={
    ssid="«your_SSID»"
    psk="«your_PSK»"
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

• Edit config.txt to enable camera

start_x=1
gpu_mem=256
disable_camera_led=1

• Put the sd card into pi and boot
• SSH to pi
• Set secure password and setup public key based SSH auth (~/.ssh/authorized_keys)

Requirements

Install Docker as described here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/docker-comes-to-raspberry-pi/

curl -sSL https://get.docker.com | sh

GStreamer Build

Checkout this repo to /opt/raspi-rtsp

GStreamer 1.14 build process is encapsulated in a Docker environment.

Run build-gst.sh to compile the GStreamer binaries into /opt/gstreamer

Server App

• Customize server.c to configure password and port
• Build server with build.sh

Service

Add rtsp-server.service to /etc/systemd/system/rtsp-server.service

Load the SystemD module

sudo systemctl enable rtsp-server
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start rtsp-server
sudo systemctl status rtsp-server

Check logs with

sudo journalctl -u rtsp-server

Client

Play with ffplay or other client

ffplay \
  -rtsp_transport udp \
  -sync ext \
  -fflags nobuffer \
  -framedrop \
  rtsp://user:[email protected]:8554/stream

References:

• https://www.stev.org/post/raspberrypisimplertspserver
• https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/a/57023