What would you choose to record and broadcast video?

[gounthar]

Hi Gang,

 

I'm wondering which SBC running Armbian could be good at recording and broadcasting sound and video (for a conference).
I asked the question on Twitter too.

[Magnets]

I'd use this to get the HDMI output of your DSLR encoded (720p only)

 

https://blog.danman.eu/new-version-of-lenkeng-hdmi-over-ip-extender-lkv373a/

 

Then a raspberry pi or pi0 to do the hw h264 re-encoding

[gounthar]

Wow, pretty interesting indeed (for the video encoding part), thanks!
Now, if someone had a suggestion on how to generate that video without a DSLR... but a cam that would work directly with a SBC...

[tkaiser]

6 minutes ago, gounthar said:

if someone had a suggestion on how to generate that video without a DSLR... but a cam that would work directly with a SBC

 

Just a quick snippet below. The 'video surveillance' use case is the only one where we still use Raspberries. The encoding job is done on the proprietary VideoCore IV VPU, raspivid gets the raw h.264 stream, sends it through the network with netcat (lowest latency) and on some Armbian box the streams are received via netcat and then both recorded to disk and 'transcoded' via VLC so that they can be viewed by any RTP capable client (VLC for example):

# sender
raspivid -b 4000000 -t 3600000 -fps 30 -w 960 -h 540 -br 55 -co 25 -sh 25 -o - | nc -k -l 2222

# receiver (needs /bin/zsh)
setopt MULTIOS
nc 192.168.2.108 2222 >/sata/camera/test-3.h264 | cvlc -vvv stream:///dev/stdin --sout '#rtp{sdp=rtsp://:8554/camera1/}' :demux=h264

The slowest devices Armbian supports (Allwinner A20 boards) can cope with up to 8 or 9 streams at the same time.

[gounthar]

Thanks. I am logging the information there: https://gist.github.com/gounthar/6e207308c05b0c6cf52e14e3c0f778af .

[chwe]

'in theory' you  could do it on an asus tinkerboard with th 4.4 kernel. I got it working months ago, problem is that it breaks to much stuff and the kernel had so many issues that I kept the project 'on hold'.. From what I know, @JMCC tested it once with the ISP driver and it shouldn't perform that bad. Full HD recording should be possible...

But there's a bit too much 'should' and 'could' so if you need a solution which works now and well tested it's obviously a bad idea. For sure there's some stuff to get it working. And you might compile the one or the other kernel on your own to test it. The isp driver should also work for RK3399 boards with a mipi csi but everything is untested there. 

[gounthar]

Thanks @chwe. It doesn't have to work now, as the target solution (DSLR camera, Windows Laptop and proprietary software) has already been found and validated.
My goal is to propose a FOSS ARM cheaper alternative... If it doesn't work now, that's not really a problem. I'd like it to work by November; the first solution will be put at work in September, but would be scaled next year.
If I ever can find something before the end of the year, that would be nice.

As logged in my gist, I have access to:

• Two Orange Pi Zero
• Orange Pi One Plus
• Two Raspberry Pi 3B+
• Two Raspberry Pi 3B
• Odroid XU4
• NanoPi Fire3
• Renegade Elite in September
• video converter
• octopuss

Something working with Armbian (at least partially) would be really cool.

I still have to investigate on CSI cameras, lenses and so on...

[gounthar]

It looks like CSI is way more powerful than USB because of bandwith, direct access to GPU, and other reasons.
The problem is most of my boards don't have a CSI connector; the Raspberry Pi is the only one.

The NanoPi Fire3 has a DVP interface, but the camera choice seems to be smaller...

The Renegade Elite will have a CSI interface, but it will not be available before September, and it could take a few months to get it working under Armbian.

I will try to understand ISP/CSI/DVP and make a choice...

[gounthar]

On 7/24/2018 at 3:44 PM, Magnets said:

I'd use this to get the HDMI output of your DSLR encoded (720p only)

 

https://blog.danman.eu/new-version-of-lenkeng-hdmi-over-ip-extender-lkv373a/

 

Then a raspberry pi or pi0 to do the hw h264 re-encoding

I'm still fighting to get a video through the network... For the time being, I only have one still picture despite the network being flooded by rtp (my router quits).

[gounthar]

I'm interested in the ArduCam cameras, but I'm not sure at all about the focal length. With the Omnivision OV5647 sensor, what focal length lens should I get?

I got an answer from the manufacturer:

Quote

The RPI camera optical format is 1/4", so you can calculate what kind of focal length lens  you need when used on RPI camera.

I will investigate...
Afterwards, I will have to find the cheapest CSI-able SBC running Armbian.

[chwe]

1 hour ago, gounthar said:

Afterwards, I will have to find the cheapest CSI-able SBC running Armbian.

The only board with a RPi 'compatible' CSI is to my knowledge the tinker... Some RK3399 boards do also have CSI ports but I'm not sure if they've the same pin-out (had in mind that they've mostly a 'firefly' compatible which differs from the 'rpi' compatible). Just check it properly before you choose one.  

[gounthar]

My, oh my!
I had not seen that coming...
So, if you have any suggestion regarding CSI camera for all the variations and SBCs, I'm all ears.

[chwe]

38 minutes ago, gounthar said:

So, if you have any suggestion regarding CSI camera for all the variations and SBCs, I'm all ears.

not really. The tinker can work with RPi cameras e.g. OV5647 and IMX219 as long they've the same pinout (sold as 'RPi compatible') but the kernel must be fixed first.. go through:

and

 

firefly compatibles (not my field cause I don't own it and never spent much attention to it) but there was someone who digged into the OV13850 during ISP1 development:

https://github.com/rockchip-linux/kernel/issues/33

https://github.com/rockchip-linux/kernel/issues/112

https://www.bountysource.com/issues/48831243-rockchip-isp1-driver

 

I had in mind that they got it finally working but no idea where that post is... 

 

I assume this one as compatible.. but that's up to you to clarify it before you buy one..  

https://www.amazon.com/OV13850-Camera-Module-Firefly-RK3288-Optional/dp/B06XBMNH77

 

For the tinker:

https://github.com/chwe17/build/blob/rockchip-default/config/kernel/linux-rockchip-default.config back then 'worked' but for sure the patch series and a bunch of other stuff will be broken now.. go through:

https://github.com/chwe17/build/commit/c26f02b65e6ac1c697b48d7677d1f178017f3994 to get an idea... I somehow lost the interest back then.. 

[gounthar]

Thanks.
Today's ramblings about sound: https://gist.github.com/gounthar/6e207308c05b0c6cf52e14e3c0f778af#sound

[gounthar]

For the time being, the encoding part is not available on the OrangePi RK3399, but OrangePi have at last supplied a camera for the board.
The one I had bought from FriendlyArm was freezing the board.

[esbeeb]

At FOSDEM 2020, in roughly a few days (at 2pm, Sunday 2nd of Feb, Brussels time), there will be a livestreamed explanation given of the “FOSDEM Video Box” HDMI capturing devices.  They use almost 60 of these ARM-based devices during the FOSDEM conference to capture both the video output of all presenters laptops, and the video and audio of the camera filming of the presenter. Serious video hackery accomplishes this. I would encourage anyone interested to check out the bio of Luc Verhaegen, one of the presenters.

 

Using these "Video Boxes", FOSDEM inexpensively streams 720p videos of all 800+ presentations! This is a small miracle, IMHO.

 

They use Olimex Lime 2 boards, because apparently they believe that the Allwinner A20 is easier to do their custom video stuff on.

[gounthar]

My oh my, I absolutely have to witness that!

Thanks a lot for the links.