RPi Cam Web Interface

[btidey]

Hi btidey,
thanks for your thoughts, especially for the hint to lower the framerate. This helps me lowering the cpu load when connecting from my pc. I was not aware that there are parameters possible.
Unfortunately it doesn't help me with my local Display. Calling cam_pic_new.php in the browser always pushes my cpu-load to 100%. Same with vlc
Only calling min.php with browser increases cpu-load only to 70-80%.
In all cases the image did not fit to the display, but I think I can adjust this when I've found the best way for the display.
Every browser and even vlc need an xserver for display and that costs performance. That's why I'd like to avoid an xserver.
Raspivid and omxplayer use the GPU of the RasPi directly and therefore need no xserver, but omxplayer sucks with this latency-issue and raspivid cannot open the camera device, because it's used by raspimjpeg.
I'd like to read more of your thoughts.

Only 1 camera MMAL application can access the camera at any one time. That is why you can't use raspivid while raspimjpeg has the camera open. You can close the raspimjpeg connection temporarily (e.g. stop camera on web interface) in order to use raspivid but then all the other raspimjeg functionality is suspended.

raspimjpeg is targetted at web use so doesn't have the direct live preview capability of raspivid.

It may be possible to add a direct preview option to raspimjpeg but this is quite a complex area as the MMAL connection set up is already quite complex. It will need a bit of time to research further. It is also complicated a bit in that I do all my raspberry development headless so don't have a natural environment for testing local screen preview.

[HaMaSch]

Hi btidey,
thanks for your thoughts, especially for the hint to lower the framerate. This helps me lowering the cpu load when connecting from my pc. I was not aware that there are parameters possible.
Unfortunately it doesn't help me with my local Display. Calling cam_pic_new.php in the browser always pushes my cpu-load to 100%. Same with vlc
Only calling min.php with browser increases cpu-load only to 70-80%.
In all cases the image did not fit to the display, but I think I can adjust this when I've found the best way for the display.
Every browser and even vlc need an xserver for display and that costs performance. That's why I'd like to avoid an xserver.
Raspivid and omxplayer use the GPU of the RasPi directly and therefore need no xserver, but omxplayer sucks with this latency-issue and raspivid cannot open the camera device, because it's used by raspimjpeg.
I'd like to read more of your thoughts.

Only 1 camera MMAL application can access the camera at any one time. That is why you can't use raspivid while raspimjpeg has the camera open. You can close the raspimjpeg connection temporarily (e.g. stop camera on web interface) in order to use raspivid but then all the other raspimjeg functionality is suspended.

raspimjpeg is targetted at web use so doesn't have the direct live preview capability of raspivid.

It may be possible to add a direct preview option to raspimjpeg but this is quite a complex area as the MMAL connection set up is already quite complex. It will need a bit of time to research further. It is also complicated a bit in that I do all my raspberry development headless so don't have a natural environment for testing local screen preview.

Yes, I was afraid to hear that.
And sorry, I was wrong: Of course vlc runs without xserver, in the meantime I got it running. First vlc recognized my screen as ASCII-display. Funny, but not what I wanted. Now I get a correct picture, but with a latency of about 2 sec. and a cpu load of 96%.
So, this is also not the wanted solution.
I think, the best results i will achieve with midori, min.php and maybe a little bit overclocking.
Many thanks for your thoughts and your time!

[RDPUser]

Hallo btidey,

when downloading the videos as ZIP from Firefox, I've noticed the problem that at about 2-3GB filesize of the ZIP-Archive I get an extraction error with 7ZIP and WinRar. These error was also with previous versions and different setups of raspian, meaning even between different new system setups problem persists.
Is this a know problem or any idea how it happens?

[btidey]

Hallo btidey,

when downloading the videos as ZIP from Firefox, I've noticed the problem that at about 2-3GB filesize of the ZIP-Archive I get an extraction error with 7ZIP and WinRar. These error was also with previous versions and different setups of raspian, meaning even between different new system setups problem persists.
Is this a know problem or any idea how it happens?

Can't say I have tried a zip of that size. It could be on the generating end. The php generates a zip cmd with a list of the files to be included and then creates a stream from that which is downloaded. It could either be a limit on the length of the cmd due to many files or a 2GB limit somewhere in the zip or streaming process.

One could differentiate between these two possibilities by artificially creating a few very large files adding up to > 2GB. If that downloads and opens OK then it is a problem with length of cmd. If it still fails then there is a 2GB limit somewhere.

I'll investigate further when i get a chance.

[nospam]

I'd like to make a request/suggestion:

Under preview.php you show disk space available. Could you add an option to display disk space for a configurable second directory path? I've manually added a second folder for a USB drive and it would be nice to have something that will be available in future upgrades without having to modify the PHP code each time I upgrade.

Code: Select all

   function diskUsage() {
      //Get disk data
      $totalSize = round(disk_total_space(BASE_DIR . '/' . MEDIA_PATH) / 1048576); //MB
      $totalSize2 = round(disk_total_space('/media/usb0') / 1048576); //MB
      $currentAvailable = round(disk_free_space(BASE_DIR . '/' . MEDIA_PATH) / 1048576); //MB
      $currentAvailable2 = round(disk_free_space('/media/usb0') / 1048576); //MB
      $percentUsed = round(($totalSize - $currentAvailable)/$totalSize * 100, 1);
      $percentUsed2 = round(($totalSize2 - $currentAvailable2)/$totalSize * 100, 1);
      if ($percentUsed > 98)
         $colour = 'Red';
      else if ($percentUsed > 90)
         $colour = 'Orange';
      else
         $colour = 'LightGreen';
      if ($percentUsed2 > 98)
         $colour2 = 'Red';
      else if ($percentUsed2 > 90)
         $colour2 = 'Orange';
      else
         $colour2 = 'LightGreen';
      echo '<div style="margin-left:5px;position:relative;width:300px;border:1px solid #ccc;">';
         echo "<span>Used:$percentUsed%  Total:$totalSize(MB)</span>";
         echo "<div style='z-index:-1;position:absolute;top:0px;width:$percentUsed%;background-color:$colour;'>&nbsp;</div>";
         echo "<br><span>USB:$percentUsed2%  Total:$totalSize2(MB)</span>";
         echo "<div style='z-index:-1;position:absolute;top:20px;width:$percentUsed2%;background-color:$colour2;'>&nbsp;</div>";
      echo '</div>';
   }

[btidey]

Hallo btidey,

when downloading the videos as ZIP from Firefox, I've noticed the problem that at about 2-3GB filesize of the ZIP-Archive I get an extraction error with 7ZIP and WinRar. These error was also with previous versions and different setups of raspian, meaning even between different new system setups problem persists.
Is this a know problem or any idea how it happens?

Can't say I have tried a zip of that size. It could be on the generating end. The php generates a zip cmd with a list of the files to be included and then creates a stream from that which is downloaded. It could either be a limit on the length of the cmd due to many files or a 2GB limit somewhere in the zip or streaming process.

One could differentiate between these two possibilities by artificially creating a few very large files adding up to > 2GB. If that downloads and opens OK then it is a problem with length of cmd. If it still fails then there is a 2GB limit somewhere.

I'll investigate further when i get a chance.

I did a test recording a number of 150MB videos totalling 3.5GB. This downloaded (via Chrome on Windows) successfully and opened OK using 7zip. This was done using a wired ethernet connection. When I tried the same using wifi I did get a failure, so I suspect using wifi to transfer files of this size may be more prone to errors.

Are you downloading over a wifi connection?

[btidey]

I'd like to make a request/suggestion:

Under preview.php you show disk space available. Could you add an option to display disk space for a configurable second directory path? I've manually added a second folder for a USB drive and it would be nice to have something that will be available in future upgrades without having to modify the PHP code each time I upgrade.

Code: Select all

   function diskUsage() {
      //Get disk data
      $totalSize = round(disk_total_space(BASE_DIR . '/' . MEDIA_PATH) / 1048576); //MB
      $totalSize2 = round(disk_total_space('/media/usb0') / 1048576); //MB
      $currentAvailable = round(disk_free_space(BASE_DIR . '/' . MEDIA_PATH) / 1048576); //MB
      $currentAvailable2 = round(disk_free_space('/media/usb0') / 1048576); //MB
      $percentUsed = round(($totalSize - $currentAvailable)/$totalSize * 100, 1);
      $percentUsed2 = round(($totalSize2 - $currentAvailable2)/$totalSize * 100, 1);
      if ($percentUsed > 98)
         $colour = 'Red';
      else if ($percentUsed > 90)
         $colour = 'Orange';
      else
         $colour = 'LightGreen';
      if ($percentUsed2 > 98)
         $colour2 = 'Red';
      else if ($percentUsed2 > 90)
         $colour2 = 'Orange';
      else
         $colour2 = 'LightGreen';
      echo '<div style="margin-left:5px;position:relative;width:300px;border:1px solid #ccc;">';
         echo "<span>Used:$percentUsed%  Total:$totalSize(MB)</span>";
         echo "<div style='z-index:-1;position:absolute;top:0px;width:$percentUsed%;background-color:$colour;'>&nbsp;</div>";
         echo "<br><span>USB:$percentUsed2%  Total:$totalSize2(MB)</span>";
         echo "<div style='z-index:-1;position:absolute;top:20px;width:$percentUsed2%;background-color:$colour2;'>&nbsp;</div>";
      echo '</div>';
   }

Are you storing media over both SD card and USB? If so how have you set that set up?

If you are storing in usb only then it would seem the usage should still be showing one volume but that of usb. That might be easier to handle.

[Freedroid]

This is all very new to me and I'm clearly being a bit thick but I followed the installation instructions to the letter (I think!) but when I try to view RPI CWI I get a page of text rather than a camera view (see pic).

Can anyone help please?

[btidey]

This is all very new to me and I'm clearly being a bit thick but I followed the installation instructions to the letter (I think!) but when I try to view RPI CWI I get a page of text rather than a camera view (see pic).

Can anyone help please?

Not seen that one before. It clearly isn't interpreting the php at the server and delivering the correct web data. You are accessing the ip address. Did you change the subfolder during the install or just used the defaults. The default is to install under subfolder html so the browser should be ipAddress/html

If that doesn't help then I would advise you start clean and do following.

1) Clean out /var/www (sudo rm -r /var/www/*)

2) Clean out your home RPI installer folder (rm -r ~/RPi_Cam_Web_Interface )

3) Now do the steps in the wiki again.

[Freedroid]

Thanks for the help but it's working now.

Think it's a problem with one of the USB ports - my wifi dongle doesn't seem to work properly when it's in this port but it's fine in the other.

Not a major issue, I'm trying to make a wildlife cam with a spare RP so I really only need one USB port anyway.

[Freedroid]

I think the USB port is actually dodgy but it appears the reason it wasn't working was a little easier (and dumber!).

I was using Raspbian Stretch not Raspbian Jessie!

[btidey]

I think the USB port is actually dodgy but it appears the reason it wasn't working was a little easier (and dumber!).

I was using Raspbian Stretch not Raspbian Jessie!

OK Good it is sorted now. Stretch is fine.

Camera / software also works fine on Pi ZeroW which can be a nice platform for smaller cameras.

[RDPUser]

Hallo btidey,

when downloading the videos as ZIP from Firefox, I've noticed the problem that at about 2-3GB filesize of the ZIP-Archive I get an extraction error with 7ZIP and WinRar. These error was also with previous versions and different setups of raspian, meaning even between different new system setups problem persists.
Is this a know problem or any idea how it happens?

Can't say I have tried a zip of that size. It could be on the generating end. The php generates a zip cmd with a list of the files to be included and then creates a stream from that which is downloaded. It could either be a limit on the length of the cmd due to many files or a 2GB limit somewhere in the zip or streaming process.

One could differentiate between these two possibilities by artificially creating a few very large files adding up to > 2GB. If that downloads and opens OK then it is a problem with length of cmd. If it still fails then there is a 2GB limit somewhere.

I'll investigate further when i get a chance.

I did a test recording a number of 150MB videos totalling 3.5GB. This downloaded (via Chrome on Windows) successfully and opened OK using 7zip. This was done using a wired ethernet connection. When I tried the same using wifi I did get a failure, so I suspect using wifi to transfer files of this size may be more prone to errors.

Are you downloading over a wifi connection?

Just tried with Chrome and an archive of ab 2.4 GB. Opening with 7ZIP is ok, but when testing the archive it gives an error. One CRC error and unexpected archive end. I've selected all mp4 video files in the folder. du -ch *.mp4 in /var/www/html/media gives 4.0 GB in total

I use a wired connection and never had problems with the switch I'm using.

[RDPUser]

Sometimes I have remaining .h264 Files in the folder, which are not boxed. Mainly because of sudden powerout or stopping video und immediatly shutting down after. I know I can box with MP4Box like described in the manual, but is there no option in the Webinterface to box remaining h264 files? Or even the sheduler could do it: If there is no recording the boxing script is executed to box all h264 files in the media folder. I thought doing it myself with a cronjob like every minute or so, but it also boxes currently beeing recorded h264 files so this is no option.

[btidey]

Sometimes I have remaining .h264 Files in the folder, which are not boxed. Mainly because of sudden powerout or stopping video und immediatly shutting down after. I know I can box with MP4Box like described in the manual, but is there no option in the Webinterface to box remaining h264 files? Or even the sheduler could do it: If there is no recording the boxing script is executed to box all h264 files in the media folder. I thought doing it myself with a cronjob like every minute or so, but it also boxes currently beeing recorded h264 files so this is no option.

There is currently no option to do that. It could be done on a scheduler management task, but probably the most sensible thing to do is to add a check on start up and add any orphaned .h264 files to the boxing queue. I'll look into that when I get a chance.

[CharlyDelta]

I have made the image, timelapse, motion detection and video buttons change colour when active.

This is in latest 6.4.23

Thanks a lot, it's awsome !!

The buttons don't turn yellow anymore. Update have just been made (6.4.23). Tnx for your help !

[btidey]

The buttons don't turn yellow anymore. Update have just been made (6.4.23). Tnx for your help !

Strange. Still works for me. Is this an update on a different system? Note the javascript can be cached so that sometimes an older version can still be being used. Flush the browser data or sometimes holding shift key down doing a refresh will force the new script to get fetched.

If that doesn't help then check that the script.js in the js folder is the latest. Around line 150 you should see

Code: Select all

var btn_class_p = "btn btn-primary"
var btn_class_a = "btn btn-warning"

which are the definitions of the button classes which control the colours and are switched in and out as th ebuttons become active.

If that is not there then somehow you still have the old script.js; and you should re-install.

[CharlyDelta]

Flush the browser data or sometimes holding shift key down doing a refresh will force the new script to get fetched.

All ok now...

And about that:

cmdpipe = open("/var/www/html/FIFO", 'w')
cmdpipe.write('ca 1 10')
cmdpipe.close()

Everything works perfectly.
I think I'm almost at the end of the software side of my project.
Thank you so much for your help btidey !

[pundit]

Hello,

New to this forum and unsure if this is the right place to post my small issue.

I have setup my cam and it was accessible until last night.

However, this morning when I login all I can see is the "Index of /" folder and no cam in view.

Could someone please explain how I can troubleshoot this?

Thank you so much.

PS: My confusion is that raspicam port should be the same as the apache port correct?

[btidey]

Hello,

New to this forum and unsure if this is the right place to post my small issue.

I have setup my cam and it was accessible until last night.

However, this morning when I login all I can see is the "Index of /" folder and no cam in view.

Could someone please explain how I can troubleshoot this?

Thank you so much.

PS: My confusion is that raspicam port should be the same as the apache port correct?

If you installed in the default place (subfolder html web software in /var/www/html) and using the default port 80, then you access the camera by browsing to http://cameraIP/html where cameraIP is the ip address of your raspberry.

If you were to install with a blank subfolder then the software is installed at /var/www and you would access it at http://cameraIP/

If you use anything other than port 80 when you install e.g. 8080 then that must be included in the browser URl http://cameraIP:8080/html

All raspicam access is via the web server (Apache) so the install configs up the port for itself on the Apache. An Apache server can have different web apps running on different ports.

[nospam]

I'd like to make a request/suggestion:

Under preview.php you show disk space available. Could you add an option to display disk space for a configurable second directory path? I've manually added a second folder for a USB drive and it would be nice to have something that will be available in future upgrades without having to modify the PHP code each time I upgrade.

Code: Select all

   function diskUsage() {
      //Get disk data
      $totalSize = round(disk_total_space(BASE_DIR . '/' . MEDIA_PATH) / 1048576); //MB
      $totalSize2 = round(disk_total_space('/media/usb0') / 1048576); //MB
      $currentAvailable = round(disk_free_space(BASE_DIR . '/' . MEDIA_PATH) / 1048576); //MB
      $currentAvailable2 = round(disk_free_space('/media/usb0') / 1048576); //MB
      $percentUsed = round(($totalSize - $currentAvailable)/$totalSize * 100, 1);
      $percentUsed2 = round(($totalSize2 - $currentAvailable2)/$totalSize * 100, 1);
      if ($percentUsed > 98)
         $colour = 'Red';
      else if ($percentUsed > 90)
         $colour = 'Orange';
      else
         $colour = 'LightGreen';
      if ($percentUsed2 > 98)
         $colour2 = 'Red';
      else if ($percentUsed2 > 90)
         $colour2 = 'Orange';
      else
         $colour2 = 'LightGreen';
      echo '<div style="margin-left:5px;position:relative;width:300px;border:1px solid #ccc;">';
         echo "<span>Used:$percentUsed%  Total:$totalSize(MB)</span>";
         echo "<div style='z-index:-1;position:absolute;top:0px;width:$percentUsed%;background-color:$colour;'>&nbsp;</div>";
         echo "<br><span>USB:$percentUsed2%  Total:$totalSize2(MB)</span>";
         echo "<div style='z-index:-1;position:absolute;top:20px;width:$percentUsed2%;background-color:$colour2;'>&nbsp;</div>";
      echo '</div>';
   }

Are you storing media over both SD card and USB? If so how have you set that set up?

If you are storing in usb only then it would seem the usage should still be showing one volume but that of usb. That might be easier to handle.

Yes I am using both. I have a cron script generating timelapse JPG files. The script also renames the files and thumbnails and copies them over to the USB drive. The SD card is still being used for motion capture videos. The images are stored on the slower USB as long term storage.

I find I have to use both SD and USB because there is too much latency on the USB drive and that causes issues especially when writing video.

[pundit]

If you installed in the default place (subfolder html web software in /var/www/html) and using the default port 80, then you access the camera by browsing to http://cameraIP/html where cameraIP is the ip address of your raspberry.

If you were to install with a blank subfolder then the software is installed at /var/www and you would access it at http://cameraIP/

If you use anything other than port 80 when you install e.g. 8080 then that must be included in the browser URl http://cameraIP:8080/html

All raspicam access is via the web server (Apache) so the install configs up the port for itself on the Apache. An Apache server can have different web apps running on different ports.

Thank you so much! The /html/ at the end definitely worked from inside my network!

However, from the outside, I still cannot seem to access my cam. I get the error msg, "This site can't be reached".

Do I have to give it any further permissions? I have port forwarding setup correctly as yesterday i could get the Apache page but today I get the site can't be reached msg!

Any ideas would be appreciated and thanks once again guys!

[btidey]

Yes I am using both. I have a cron script generating timelapse JPG files. The script also renames the files and thumbnails and copies them over to the USB drive. The SD card is still being used for motion capture videos. The images are stored on the slower USB as long term storage.

I find I have to use both SD and USB because there is too much latency on the USB drive and that causes issues especially when writing video.

I'll look into this. It needs to be done in a way that is optional. Probably use a php include to bring in the extra code as required.

[btidey]

If you installed in the default place (subfolder html web software in /var/www/html) and using the default port 80, then you access the camera by browsing to http://cameraIP/html where cameraIP is the ip address of your raspberry.

If you were to install with a blank subfolder then the software is installed at /var/www and you would access it at http://cameraIP/

If you use anything other than port 80 when you install e.g. 8080 then that must be included in the browser URl http://cameraIP:8080/html

All raspicam access is via the web server (Apache) so the install configs up the port for itself on the Apache. An Apache server can have different web apps running on different ports.

Thank you so much! The /html/ at the end definitely worked from inside my network!

However, from the outside, I still cannot seem to access my cam. I get the error msg, "This site can't be reached".

Do I have to give it any further permissions? I have port forwarding setup correctly as yesterday i could get the Apache page but today I get the site can't be reached msg!

Any ideas would be appreciated and thanks once again guys!

No special permission is required (although it is advisable to use password security if accessible from outside. The web server is just responding to the URL request whether it is internal or forwarded from ouside.

The site can't be reached message indicates that the forwarding is not working now, so you need to double check that side. Depending on the router port fowarding can change the port number on the way through. The incoming port must be unique so the forwarder knows where to send the data. The outgoing ip and port must match the Raspberry hosting the camera. It is a good idea to set up a static address for the raspberry so that doesn't change and invalidate the forwarding rule.

[pundit]

Worked it out, I had to restart my modem for the changes to take effect. Rookie error! I restarted my router several times but little did i think i need to do the restart on the modem also!

Thanks once again.
Pundit.