Description
Thanks to @mickgiles for the inspiration in #508, I wanted to share what worked for me in newer versions (v3) of homebridge-camera-ffmpeg. If running in docker, remember to pass through your /dev/dri:/dev/dri devices.
Obviously you'll need a working copy of ffmpeg that has been built with VAAPI (h264_vaapi) support. Lots of resources for compiling your own out there.
ffmpeg.sh Script
The script acts a middle man between homebridge and ffmpeg. This is needed to fix a few hardcoded elements in the ffmpeg command, this wouldn't be needed if the plugin gave the additional config control needed. Also #504 is still an issue and should be reopened.
Update the CMD variable to be the actual path to ffmpeg.
What it does:
-
-pix_fmt yuv420pis changed to-pix_fmt vaapi -
-filter:v <value>is removed from the command when a snapshot is being performed (see Still images not updating when using custom videoFilter #504) -
scalefilters are changed toscale_vaapifilters
#!/bin/bash
CMD="/home/user/bin/ffmpeg"
SNAPSHOT="FALSE"
while [[ $# > 1 ]]
do
key="$1"
if [[ "${key}" == "-frames:v" ]]; then
SNAPSHOT="TRUE"
fi
case ${key} in
-pix_fmt)
CMD+=" $1 vaapi"
shift
;;
-filter:v)
if [[ "${SNAPSHOT}" == "FALSE" ]]; then
CMD+=" $1"
else
shift
fi
;;
*)
CMD+=" $1"
;;
esac
shift
done
CMD="${CMD//scale=/scale_vaapi=}"
exec $CMD ${!#}
Plugin config:
Update the videoProcessor value to be the path to your ffmpeg.sh script.
This seems to work with and without videoFilter, but I have left it in for now as it's used in all VAAPI examples I've seen.
"platform": "Camera-ffmpeg",
"videoProcessor": "/home/user/bin/ffmpeg.sh",
"cameras": [
{
"name": "Front Camera",
"videoConfig": {
"source": "-vaapi_device /dev/dri/renderD128 -hwaccel vaapi -hwaccel_output_format vaapi -rtsp_transport tcp -i rtsp://axis-accc8e6d470a.local/axis-media/media.amp?streamprofile=Media?tcp",
"stillImageSource": "-i http://axis-accc8e6d470a.local/axis-cgi/jpg/image.cgi?resolution=1280x720",
"encoderOptions": "-bf 0",
"vcodec": "h264_vaapi",
"videoFilter": "format=nv12|vaapi,hwupload"
"maxBitrate": 0,
"packetSize": 940
}
}
Config notes:
-
maxBitrateandpacketSizeare not essential, but gave me much higher quality streams -
encoderOptionsset to-bf 0is the same as using the traditionalbframes=0, without this the frame rate is very poor -
If the H264 profile of your camera is baseline (normally the case with lower power, cheaper devices), you might need to add the following parameter into the
sourcevalue to have ffmpeg/vaapi ignore the profile and try to process the stream anyway:
-hwaccel_flags allow_profile_mismatch
View your live camera in the Home app, and then run intel_gpu_top on the host machine to confirm the GPU cores are being used. Success.