Raspicam

The Raspicam is the video module for the Raspberry Pi devices. We recommend that you use the latest Raspbian distribution that has the video capture tools in /opt/vc pre-installed.

Enable RaspiCam

Execute the raspi-config command and then select Enable Camera. Leave raspi-config and reboot your Raspberry Pi.

Configure Restreamer

For Restreamer to be able to access the RaspiCam, you have to stop the Restreamer if it is currently running:

docker stop restreamer
docker rm restreamer

Restart the Restreamer with the environment variable RS_MODE set to RASPICAM and mounting the directory with the Raspberry Pi video capture tools into the container (/opt/vc). Also you have to raise the privileges for the docker container in order to access the camera.

docker run -d --restart always \
    --name restreamer \
    -e "RS_USERNAME=..." -e "RS_PASSWORD=..." -e "RS_MODE=RASPICAM" \
    -p 8080:8080 \
    -v /mnt/restreamer/db:/restreamer/db \
    -v /opt/vc:/opt/vc \
    --privileged \
    datarhei/restreamer-armv7l:latest

In order to stream what your RaspiCam is recording, you have to put rtmp://127.0.0.1/live/raspicam.stream into the “RTMP/RTSP/HLS Video Source” field and press “Start”. Keep in mind that you should set the video setting to copy because the RTMP stream from the RaspiCam is already H.264 encoded.

RaspiCam

Environment Variables

These environment variables enable you to control the Raspberry Pi camera.

Name	Default	Description
`RS_RASPICAM_HFLIP`	`false`	Set to `true` to flip the video horizontally.
`RS_RASPICAM_VFLIP`	`false`	Set to `true` to flip the video vertically.
`RS_RASPICAM_INLINE`	`true`	Set to `true` to insert inline SPS and PPS headers on every I-Frame. This is recommended for HLS streaming.
`RS_RASPICAM_STABILIZATION`	`false`	Set to `true` to enable video stabilization.
`RS_RASPICAM_FPS`	`25`	Set the framerate. Possible values are between `2` and `30`.
`RS_RASPICAM_GOP`	`50`	Set the GOP size. Usually the framerate multiplied by 2 is a good value.
`RS_RASPICAM_BITRATE`	`5000000`	Bitrate of the video stream in bit/s. E.g. `5000000` is 5Mbit/s. For a high quality H264 stream with 1920x1080@30 a bitrate of 15Mbit/s would be suffucient. The maximum is `25000000` (25Mbit/s)
`RS_RASPICAM_H264PROFILE`	`high`	H264 profile. Possible values are `baseline`, `main`, or `high`.
`RS_RASPICAM_H264LEVEL`	`4`	H264 level. Possible values are `4`, `4.1`, or `4.2`.
`RS_RASPICAM_CODEC`	`H264`	Video codec. Possible values are `H264` or `MJPEG`. We do not recommend to change this value.
`RS_RASPICAM_WIDTH`	`1920`	Video stream width in pixels. Possible values are between `64` and `1920`.
`RS_RASPICAM_HEIGHT`	`1080`	Video stream height in pixels. Possible values are between `64` and `1080`.
`RS_RASPICAM_SHARPNESS`	`0`	Sharpeness of the video. Possible values are between `-100` and `100`.
`RS_RASPICAM_CONTRAST`	`0`	Contrast of the video. Possible values are between `-100` and `100`.
`RS_RASPICAM_BRIGHTNESS`	`50`	Brightness of the video. Possible values are between `0` and `100`.
`RS_RASPICAM_SATURATION`	`0`	Saturation of the video. Possible values are between `-100` and `100`.
`RS_RASPICAM_QP`	`0`	Set quantisation parameter. Possible values are between `10` and `40`. This affects the image quality. Higher values reduce the quality. Set to `0` to turn off.
`RS_RASPICAM_ISO`	`0`	Set the ISO level. Possible values are between `100` and `800`. `0` for automatic ISO.
`RS_RASPICAM_EV`	`0`	Set EV compensation, steps of 1/6 stop. Possible values are between `-10` and `10`
`RS_RASPICAM_EXPOSURE`	`auto`	Set exposure mode. Possible values are: `off`, `auto`, `night`, `nightpreview`, `backlight`, `spotlight`, `sports`, `snow`, `beach`, `verylong`, `fixedfps`, `antishake`, or `fireworks`
`RS_RASPICAM_FLICKER`	`off`	Set flicker avoid mode. Possible values are: `off`, `auto`, `50hz`, or `60hz`
`RS_RASPICAM_AWB`	`auto`	Set AWB mode. Possible values are: `off`, `auto`, `sun`, `cloud`, `shade`, `tungsten`, `fluorescent`, `incandescent`, `flash`, or `horizon`
`RS_RASPICAM_IMXFX`	`none`	Set an image effect. Possible values are: `none`, `negative`, `solarise`, `sketch`, `denoise`, `emboss`, `oilpaint`, `hatch`, `gpen`, `pastel`, `watercolour`, `film`, `blur`, `saturation`, `colourswap`, `washedout`, `posterise`, `colourpoint`, `colourbalance`, or `cartoon`
`RS_RASPICAM_METERING`	`average`	Set a metering mode. Possible values are: `average`, `spot`, `backlit`, or `matrix`
`RS_RASPICAM_DRC`	`off`	Enable dynamic range compression. Possible values are: `off`, `low`, `med`, or `high`
`RS_RASPICAM_AUDIO`	`false`	Set this to `true` to enable audio from your USB microphone. Please read more below in the Audio Support section.
`RS_RASPICAM_AUDIODEVICE`	`0`	The audio device number according to the ALSA utilities. Please read more below in the Audio Support section.
`RS_RASPICAM_AUDIOBITRATE`	`64000`	Bitrate of the audio stream in bit/s, e.g. `64000` is 64Kbit/s.
`RS_RASPICAM_AUDIOCHANNELS`	`1`	Number of audio channels. Please read more below in the Audio Support section.
`RS_RASPICAM_AUDIOLAYOUT`	`mono`	Layout of audio channels. Please read more below in the Audio Support section.
`RS_RASPICAM_AUDIOSAMPLING`	`44100`	Sampling rate of the audio signal. Please read more below in the Audio Support section.

Change the defaults of these environment variable with care and make sure that you know what you are doing. Read more about the available camera settings in the Raspberry Pi camera documentation.

Audio Support

Audio support is disabled by default, however an audio track with silence encoded as AAC will be added to the stream. Use the environment variables RS_RASPICAM_AUDIOBITRATE, RS_RASPICAM_AUDIOLAYOUT, and RS_RASPICAM_AUDIOSAMPLING to modifiy the parameter of the audio stream. Values for RS_RASPICAM_AUDIOLAYOUT are usually mono or stereo. There are more known layouts, but they are less common.

Audio is currently only supported on Linux Docker hosts that have the /dev/snd device available. In order to make the sound device available inside of the docker container, you have to add it to the container and enable audio with RS_RASPICAM_AUDIO=true:

docker run -d --restart always \
    --name restreamer \
    -e "RS_USERNAME=..." -e "RS_PASSWORD=..." \
    -e "RS_MODE=RASPICAM" -e "RS_RASPICAM_AUDIO=true" \
    -p 8080:8080 \
    -v /mnt/restreamer/db:/restreamer/db \
    -v /opt/vc:/opt/vc \
    --device /dev/snd \
    --privileged \
    datarhei/restreamer:latest

The sound device is accessed with the ALSA drivers. Depending what system you have, there may be several audio devices available and you have to pass the RS_RASPICAM_AUDIODEVICE with the correct value for your USB camera. To find the correct value, call (you need to have the alsa-utils installed):

arecord --list-devices

The output could be similar to this:

**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 1: HD3000 [Microsoft® LifeCam HD-3000], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: C170 [Webcam C170], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

The value for RS_RASPICAM_AUDIODEVICE is the number after card. In this example it is 1 for the audio from the LifeCam. It is also possible that there are several devices with the same card number. Then you also have to specify the device number in the value, separated with a , after the card number, e.g. 1,0.

For the audio environment variables RS_RASPICAM_AUDIOCHANNELS and RS_RASPICAM_AUDIOSAMPLING you need to know the capabilities of the device. You can list those with the command:

arecord --dump-hw-params  --device hw:1,0

The output could be similar to this:

Recording WAVE 'stdin' : Unsigned 8 bit, Rate 8000 Hz, Mono
HW Params of device "hw:1,0":
--------------------
ACCESS:  MMAP_INTERLEAVED RW_INTERLEAVED
FORMAT:  S8 S16_LE
SUBFORMAT:  STD
SAMPLE_BITS: [8 16]
FRAME_BITS: [8 16]
CHANNELS: 1
RATE: [8000 48000]
PERIOD_TIME: [1000 65536000]
PERIOD_SIZE: [32 524288]
PERIOD_BYTES: [64 524288]
PERIODS: [2 1024]
BUFFER_TIME: (1333 131072000]
BUFFER_SIZE: [64 1048576]
BUFFER_BYTES: [64 1048576]
TICK_TIME: ALL
--------------------
arecord: set_params:1339: Sample format non available
Available formats:
- S8
- S16_LE

The field CHANNELS tells you which channel setups are available (here 1, i.e. mono) and RATE tells you in which range the value for RS_RASPICAM_AUDIOSAMPLING can be (here between 8000 and 48000).

docker run -d --restart always \
    --name restreamer \
    -e "RS_USERNAME=..." -e "RS_PASSWORD=..." \
    -e "RS_MODE=RASPICAM" -e "RS_RASPICAM_AUDIO=true" -e "RS_RASPICAM_AUDIODEVICE=1,0" \
    -p 8080:8080 \
    -v /mnt/restreamer/db:/restreamer/db \
    -v /opt/vc:/opt/vc \
    --device /dev/snd \
    --privileged \
    datarhei/restreamer:latest

In this example, the available sound devices are the microphones from USB cameras that are also connected to the Raspberry Pi. However, you can use any USB device that declares itself as audio device to the ALSA drivers.

raspi-config is missing

If you are running a Linux on your Raspberry Pi that is missing the raspi-config program, you have to install it first:

cd /tmp
sudo apt-get update && apt-get install -y alsa-utils
wget https://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/pool/main/r/raspi-config/raspi-config_20180406+1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i raspi-config_20180406+1_all.deb

Please check https://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian/pool/main/r/raspi-config/ for the lastest available version of raspi-config.

Source