wnbx/rtsp-webcam-rpi

A simple RTSP server that uses a USB webcam and a Raspberry Pi 4B to stream via RTSP to my NVIDIA Jetson Nano running DeepStream applications.

RTSP Webcam Server on a Raspberry Pi

A simple RTSP server that uses a USB webcam and a Raspberry Pi 4B to stream via RTSP to my NVIDIA Jetson Nano running DeepStream applications.

Requirements:

• Raspberry Pi 4B 4GB with WiFi (unsure how models older than 4 will do)
• MicroSD card (at least 16GB)
• USB-C power supply (3.5A recommended example)
• USB Webcam (mine is the CyberTrack H4)
• (Optional) Ethernet cable for headless setup, GPIO fan for temperature management

Raspberry Pi Setup

1. Flash the recommended Raspbian OS using Raspberry Pi Imager and add a blank file (no extensions) to the /boot folder before ejecting the MicroSD card.

On Linux-based systems, you can open the /boot folder in your terminal and use: touch ssh

2. Assuming you are using headless mode (if you connect a monitor and mouse/keyboard, the UI is very easy to follow instead), plug in an ethernet cable before connecting the power, wait for the Pi to boot for a minute, and find its IP address using your router admin page or an IP scanner. Then issue the following command:

    ssh pi@[IP_ADDRESS] (default password is 'raspberry')
   

3. Update and upgrade packages using sudo apt update --fix-missing && sudo apt upgrade -y and then reboot.

Assuming you are using a Raspberry Pi with armv7 architecture like I did, you can just clone this repo and modify the config file as needed

    git clone https://github.com/chaiai/rtsp-webcam-rpi.git
    cd rtsp-webcam-rpi/rtsp
    chmod +x rtsp-simple-server
    (Optional) nano rtsp-simple-server.yml
    ./rtsp-webcam-rpi

View the stream with VLC using: vlc rtsp://[RPI_IP_ADDRESS]:8554/webcam

To see config options and how to install/setup from scratch on the Pi, see INSTALL.md