PiPlay: PI Display for RTSP Camera Streams on Bookworm lite!

Disclaimers

• Screen Output: If you do not have a screen powered on at service launch time, the service WILL fail! Eglfs detects the screen capabilities at launch in order to maximize the PyQT6 space usage.
• Compatibility: This was designed for Raspberry Pi 4 and later running Bookworm Lite. It may not function properly if you have a desktop GUI, as it pipes output to the framebuffer.
• Performance on Pi 3: I don't recommend more than a couple streams on a PI 3. It performs smoothly with several streams on a Pi 4. Pi 5 should work well (Tested working, awaiting feedback from others.)
• Camera Compatibility: It works with the handful of cameras tested so far (e.g., Hik, Geo, Unifi, Wyze via Bridge Docker). Tested with H265!!
• Requirements: The apt packages from the install script have been mostly validated and will be tweaked as I find redundancies.
• Wyze Bridge: If you run the Docker bridge for Wyze, rtsp streams are oddly encoded. I had to use the m3u8 stream to make them read properly.

Donations

If you like this and feel extra thankful, https://paypal.me/HussX1

Installation

1. Clone:

   • Install git from apt and clone this:

     sudo apt-get install git
     git clone https://github.com/HussX/piplay.git
     cd piplay

2. Modify config.yaml:

   • This tool is not built for custom screen locations or multiple screens. Just a generic grid.
   • Ensure you have the correct number of cameras for your grid. For example, a 2x2 grid for 3-4 cameras.
   • Rotation: Adjusts the output to the framebuffer to avoid screen rotation issues on the Pi.
   • FPS: Lowering this value skips more incoming frames, reducing CPU load.
   • Grid Setup: Set up the grid using the row and column variables. For instance, 2 rows and 3 columns will be arranged as such in 0 or 180-degree rotation. In 90 or 270-degree rotation, it will be a 3x2 grid. The stream order will fill the grid based on a 0-degree rotation.

3. Run the Installer:

   • Once config.yaml is modified to your requirements, run the following commands:

     sudo chmod +x ./install.sh
     sudo ./install.sh

   • This will download the necessary Python packages, move piplay.py, startup.sh, and config.yaml to /opt/piplay, and enable the piplay.service file.

4. Start the service:

   • Run:

     sudo systemctl start piplay

   • If you need to troubleshoot, check sudo systemctl status piplay and/or journalctl -f. Program logfiles are stored at /var/log/piplay.log.
   • Note: If you download piplay.py directly and install manually, ensure to pull the framebuffer exports from startup.sh along with the config.yaml.

Contributions and Maintenance

• I do not have a plan to actively maintain this project unless I run across active needs, but I am open to recommended changes. Feel free to fork and modify it as needed.
• This project was created to replace my use of displaycams and enable running up-to-date OSes on newer Raspberry Pis. After extensive searches, I found no other developed tools that worked well, so I am sharing this solution. Developed as a joint effort between myself and some AI assistance.