Basically its simple rotating pages that
show iframes from security cams for x-secs.
The contents are a stream from 'motion'.
Apache2 operates the web pages.

Displays *perfectly* on my (MX) laptop.

But not on rpOS.

Tried the latest Bookworm-derived. Then went back
a step to Bullseye. Chromium shows the border of
the frame, but no content. Firefox just hangs
and you have to pull the plug.

Now if you bring up a motion port DIRECTLY it
displays as expected with a mjpeg stream. But
the web pages, what's needed for the show/wait/next,
a total loss.

Googled. Ducked. Can't even find anything even
kinda-sorta on the subject ... it's always some
esoteric issue and doesn't cover the images not
appearing AT ALL.

Pi3b+

Would use a Pi4 but they're hard/expensive to get
right now.

Heard Pi5 is "coming" ... but 4's and 5s are really
more horsepower than the application needs/deserves.

This smells like some weird OS issue.

On 24/10/2023 03:00, 56d.1152 wrote:
> Basically its simple rotating pages that
> show iframes from security cams for x-secs.
> The contents are a stream from 'motion'.
> Apache2 operates the web pages.
>
> Displays *perfectly* on my (MX) laptop.
>
> But not on rpOS.
>
> Tried the latest Bookworm-derived. Then went back
> a step to Bullseye. Chromium shows the border of
> the frame, but no content. Firefox just hangs
> and you have to pull the plug.
>
> Now if you bring up a motion port DIRECTLY it
> displays as expected with a mjpeg stream. But
> the web pages, what's needed for the show/wait/next,
> a total loss.
>
> Googled. Ducked. Can't even find anything even
> kinda-sorta on the subject ... it's always some
> esoteric issue and doesn't cover the images not
> appearing AT ALL.
>
> Pi3b+
>
> Would use a Pi4 but they're hard/expensive to get
> right now.
>
> Heard Pi5 is "coming" ... but 4's and 5s are really
> more horsepower than the application needs/deserves.
>
> This smells like some weird OS issue.

You really haven't provided enough information here... like what is the
code the browser is actually running?

And remember a Pi can barely display *one* video stream let alone half a
dozen.
Try a console screen running 'top' and then launch the browsers and see
how much CPU it's chewing.

--
All political activity makes complete sense once the proposition that
all government is basically a self-legalising protection racket, is
fully understood.

On 10/23/23 11:15 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 24/10/2023 03:00, 56d.1152 wrote:
>> Basically its simple rotating pages that
>> show iframes from security cams for x-secs.
>> The contents are a stream from 'motion'.
>> Apache2 operates the web pages.
>>
>> Displays *perfectly* on my (MX) laptop.
>>
>> But not on rpOS.
>>
>> Tried the latest Bookworm-derived. Then went back
>> a step to Bullseye. Chromium shows the border of
>> the frame, but no content. Firefox just hangs
>> and you have to pull the plug.
>>
>> Now if you bring up a motion port DIRECTLY it
>> displays as expected with a mjpeg stream. But
>> the web pages, what's needed for the show/wait/next,
>> a total loss.
>>
>> Googled. Ducked. Can't even find anything even
>> kinda-sorta on the subject ... it's always some
>> esoteric issue and doesn't cover the images not
>> appearing AT ALL.
>>
>> Pi3b+
>>
>> Would use a Pi4 but they're hard/expensive to get
>> right now.
>>
>> Heard Pi5 is "coming" ... but 4's and 5s are really
>> more horsepower than the application needs/deserves.
>>
>> This smells like some weird OS issue.
>
> You really haven't provided enough information here... like what is the
> code the browser is actually running?

Cut it back and back - no webkit scaling or anything - until
it was basically just a page.pgp ... even tried an experimental
page.html. Nada. The frame border at most, no pix.

This shouldn't happen.

As said, on my MX laptop the pages display exactly what they
should, promptly. But on the Pi ........

> And remember a Pi can barely display *one* video stream let alone half a

Yea ... but a p3b+ ain't THAT bad. It's really only
doing ONE thing - I wanna see my cams one after the
other in a loop. Tiny JavaScript bit does the timing,
page1 calls page2 and so forth until page1 comes
around again at the end. That part IS working, but
I just get empty page after empty page.

Have a p4b sporting 'motion', for 7 (low-fps) cams,
and Apache. NOT over-loaded. Kinda impressive.

> Try a console screen running 'top' and then launch the browsers and see
> how much CPU it's chewing.

Did, repeatedly. I know the drill. Apache AND 'motion'
amount to less than 100% of a core. As said, impressive.
Waiting for the promised Pi5s ... did they free themselves
from Chinese suppliers ?

And again, on my laptop everything displays as it
should, promptly. It's NOT the server end.

I could believe a problem with BookWorm - kinda new
and some definite deviations from past versions - but
this persists even with BullsEye.

Do NOT like BookWorm - on a Pi or anything else.
It's making Deb start to stink of Canonical -
too much stuff where it shouldn't be according
to a decade+ of docs ... for NO real gains.

The Pi doesn't even include the Gnome network
tweaker ... you have to find/install on your
own. dhcpcd/wpa-supplicant weren't perfect,
but you knew where you stood and there were
tons of detailed docs. /etc/network/interfaces
was even better, and better documented. They
all worked - why change ? Canonical can do
what idiocies it wants, but Deb should NOT follow.
Keep it simple, consistent.

Using Chromium - has a handy CL options to start
maximized and suppress "improper shutdown" messages.
FireFox is just a disaster here, totally hangs ...

Anyway, interested in whether other people have
seen similar problems - and HOW to fix them.

No, not doing some of those other Linux groups.
Too many assholes now :-)

56d.1152 <56d.1152@ztq9.net> wrote:
> On 10/23/23 11:15 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> You really haven't provided enough information here... like what is the
>> code the browser is actually running?
>
> Cut it back and back - no webkit scaling or anything - until
> it was basically just a page.pgp ... even tried an experimental
> page.html. Nada. The frame border at most, no pix.

Did you try without the frame, or even loading the video URL
directly? It sounds a lot like the video acceleration problems in
web browsers on the Pi that people have talked about here often in
the past, unless it really only happens when frames are involved.

Personally I don't play video in web browsers anywhere so I can't
help with that, but it might narrow down the issue for others here
to make suggestions.

--
__ __
#_ < |\| |< _# | Note: I won't see posts made from Google Groups |

On 2023-10-24, 56d.1152 <56d.1152@ztq9.net> wrote:
>
> Would use a Pi4 but they're hard/expensive to get
> right now.
>

Maybe expensive, but I'd have thought easy to get hold of now.

https://rpilocator.com/?cat=PI4

Is showing pi4's "in stock" all over the world.

On 10/24/23 3:02 AM, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
> 56d.1152 <56d.1152@ztq9.net> wrote:
>> On 10/23/23 11:15 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>> You really haven't provided enough information here... like what is the
>>> code the browser is actually running?
>>
>> Cut it back and back - no webkit scaling or anything - until
>> it was basically just a page.pgp ... even tried an experimental
>> page.html. Nada. The frame border at most, no pix.
>
> Did you try without the frame, or even loading the video URL
> directly? It sounds a lot like the video acceleration problems in
> web browsers on the Pi that people have talked about here often in
> the past, unless it really only happens when frames are involved.

I can load the "motion" mjpeg stream directly, a url:port, and
it displays perfectly on the Pi. But the web pages, even though
they use the same url:port(s) to create the iframes ... nada
on the Pi (except the surrounding frame border), but perfectly OK
on an MX laptop.

Checked wifi speed, the Pi gets as good as anything else on site.

Now I HAVE this working on some 'work' units - again Pi's with
Chromium showing pages of iframes loading their stuff from 'motion'.
Those work very well. Some are quad-frames - 4 cams live on
a page.

I created a simple test page with an iframe pointed at a YouTube
video. Again, won't load it.

I'm gonna experiment with loading a couple of video-viewers,
VLC, maybe MPV as well. maybe showing the frames taps some
of the features of those ? Shouldn't, but ...

> Personally I don't play video in web browsers anywhere so I can't
> help with that, but it might narrow down the issue for others here
> to make suggestions.

Using a browser was THE easiest approach. A lot of the
needed capabilities just come with browsers. I'd writ several
python scripts employing Pillow and the OpenCV library but
never got 'em to work as smoothly as desired. Not necessarily
a lost cause ... just more of a pain than I'd hoped. Best
results were loading still-frames the cams generate using
curl and saving them as files. Still tend to get half-frames,
even with a locking scheme.

On 10/24/23 11:38 AM, Jim Jackson wrote:
> On 2023-10-24, 56d.1152 <56d.1152@ztq9.net> wrote:
>>
>> Would use a Pi4 but they're hard/expensive to get
>> right now.
>>
>
> Maybe expensive, but I'd have thought easy to get hold of now.
>
> https://rpilocator.com/?cat=PI4
>
> Is showing pi4's "in stock" all over the world.

It's getting better now - Amazon was selling p4s for
over $220-US at one point, and sometimes they ran
out of those.

Of course the p5 is coming out next month. Don't
know how long until decent supplies show up in
the US retail chain. Do I want more p4s, or to
wait for the p5s ???

Anyway, the p3s were not awful. Was updating
an original p1b+ the other day. Still does its
one little thing perfectly after all these years.
Was running a REALLY old version of Raspbian,
moved it up to Bullseye 32bit. It' not connected
so the old old ver still would have been safe.

Followup note :

OK, found the cause. It's an authentication problem with 'motion'.

At the other place I'd set this up there is no auth for motion
streams because none are shared with the universe. In this new
application some of the streams ARE NAT-redirected, so we want
authentication. The usual "http://username:passwd@111.222.111.222:12345"
form in an iframe line doesn't work, at least when motion and
Apache are running on the same unit. CAN bring up a frame, but
have to manually authenticate. Not ideal. From afar, the usual
form works perfectly to get to the exposed mjpeg stream using
any browser (ok, not the ancient text-based browsers :-)

I'll have to look into the motion dox. Might be some Apache
tweak too.

I am going to use another Pi to SAVE a frame from those mjpeg
streams every x minutes, so I need to get the auth working
as expected. Already have a good python app for that. Yea, you
CAN run ZoneMinder on a Pi - but it's a real CPU hog even if
you disable the motion-detection stuff. Kinda drags-down a
"real PC". ZoneMinder is really just a very fancy front-end
for ffmpeg ... so a home-made ffmpeg daemon is not necessarily
a CPU saver here.

Hmm ... found a YouTube vid awhile ago about bringing up THE
first web page (which STILL exists, it's at CERN, basically
the defs for the 'www project'). The guy used a serious
blend of old tech and maybe a PDP-11 computer and finally
loaded the thing using a strip of PAPER TAPE with all the
login stuff on it. Interesting.

On 25/10/2023 02:22, 56d.1152 wrote:
> On 10/24/23 11:38 AM, Jim Jackson wrote:
>> On 2023-10-24, 56d.1152 <56d.1152@ztq9.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> Would use a Pi4 but they're hard/expensive to get
>>> right now.
>>>
>>
>> Maybe expensive, but I'd have thought easy to get hold of now.
>>
>> https://rpilocator.com/?cat=PI4
>>
>> Is showing pi4's "in stock" all over the world.
>
>   It's getting better now - Amazon was selling p4s for
>   over $220-US at one point, and sometimes they ran
>   out of those.

My 1GB Pi4B delivered last week was £35 - say $50

>   Of course the p5 is coming out next month. Don't
>   know how long until decent supplies show up in
>   the US retail chain. Do I want more p4s, or to
>   wait for the p5s ???
>
before xmas for sure

>   Anyway, the p3s were not awful. Was updating
>   an original p1b+ the other day. Still does its
>   one little thing perfectly after all these years.
>   Was running a REALLY old version of Raspbian,
>   moved it up to Bullseye 32bit. It' not connected
>   so the old old ver still would have been safe.

If running well, leave well alone.
--
Climate is what you expect but weather is what you get.
Mark Twain

On 25/10/2023 03:37, 56d.1152 wrote:
> I need to get the auth working
> as expected.

I built a proxy video streamer for TVheadend

This may work for you:

You pass the url to this php script as an argument: It uses
name/password to open the stream on a remote server and pushes it back
to the sender.

This should be enough to fool the browser that it isn't actually talking
to a remote content generator...

<?php
// file general interface to tvheadend API

if(!isset($_GET['channel']))
exit();
$channel=$_GET['channel'];
$url = "http://192.168.0.101:9981/stream/channelid/".$channel;

$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 10);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_DIGEST);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "name:password");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, function($curl, $data) {
echo $data;
ob_flush();
flush();
return strlen($data);
});
curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);

--
"An intellectual is a person knowledgeable in one field who speaks out
only in others...”

Tom Wolfe

On 10/25/23 1:34 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 25/10/2023 02:22, 56d.1152 wrote:
>> On 10/24/23 11:38 AM, Jim Jackson wrote:
>>> On 2023-10-24, 56d.1152 <56d.1152@ztq9.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Would use a Pi4 but they're hard/expensive to get
>>>> right now.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Maybe expensive, but I'd have thought easy to get hold of now.
>>>
>>> https://rpilocator.com/?cat=PI4
>>>
>>> Is showing pi4's "in stock" all over the world.
>>
>>    It's getting better now - Amazon was selling p4s for
>>    over $220-US at one point, and sometimes they ran
>>    out of those.
>
>  My 1GB Pi4B delivered last week was £35  - say $50

From WHERE ???

But, should I spend $$$ on a 4 when the 5s are
soon to hit the market ??? They're claiming
at least TWICE the performance (I guess at the
same power-consumption).

On 10/25/23 1:43 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 25/10/2023 03:37, 56d.1152 wrote:
>> I need to get the auth working
>> as expected.
>
> I built a proxy video streamer for TVheadend
>
>
> This may work for you:
>
>
> You pass the url to this php script as an argument: It uses
> name/password to open the stream on a remote server and pushes it back
> to the sender.
>
> This should be enough to fool the browser that it isn't actually talking
> to a remote content generator...
>
> <?php
> // file general interface to tvheadend API
>
> if(!isset($_GET['channel']))
>     exit();
> $channel=$_GET['channel'];
> $url = "http://192.168.0.101:9981/stream/channelid/".$channel;
>
> $ch = curl_init();
> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$url);
> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 10);
> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_DIGEST);
> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "name:password");
> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, function($curl, $data) {
>     echo $data;
>     ob_flush();
>     flush();
>     return strlen($data);
> });
> curl_exec($ch);
> curl_close($ch);
>
>
>

I'll see what I can do with it. Apparently the standard
solution is to use JavaScript to get an auth token and
then pass that in the iframe URL. I really really hate
JavaScript .........

Been experimenting with 'motion' ... and have had some
success enabling/disabling auth on a per-camera level.
'Motion' requires a number of small config files for
each cam (over one cam) and there are standard lines
for enabling/disabling auth. By having two kinds of
streams I can theoretically NAT-forward the auth
streams but use the non-auth streams for my local
application. Got 2 of 3 running so far ..... but
each stream burns CPU. I can dump a couple ...

On 25/10/2023 07:08, 56d.1152 wrote:
> On 10/25/23 1:34 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> On 25/10/2023 02:22, 56d.1152 wrote:
>>> On 10/24/23 11:38 AM, Jim Jackson wrote:
>>>> On 2023-10-24, 56d.1152 <56d.1152@ztq9.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Would use a Pi4 but they're hard/expensive to get
>>>>> right now.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Maybe expensive, but I'd have thought easy to get hold of now.
>>>>
>>>> https://rpilocator.com/?cat=PI4
>>>>
>>>> Is showing pi4's "in stock" all over the world.
>>>
>>>    It's getting better now - Amazon was selling p4s for
>>>    over $220-US at one point, and sometimes they ran
>>>    out of those.
>>
>>   My 1GB Pi4B delivered last week was £35  - say $50
>
>
>   From WHERE ???
>
https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b

Coincidentally only a few miles away

>   But, should I spend $$$ on a 4 when the 5s are
>   soon to hit the market ??? They're claiming
>   at least TWICE the performance (I guess at the
>   same power-consumption).
>
Depends whether you *need* that performance.

I am gradually assembling my home server and only the TV server is a tad
marginal on CPU.

I have not run out of RAM, proving that by and large graphics is what
chews up CPU and memory!

--
WOKE is an acronym... Without Originality, Knowledge or Education.

On 25/10/2023 07:14, 56d.1152 wrote:
> On 10/25/23 1:43 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> On 25/10/2023 03:37, 56d.1152 wrote:
>>> I need to get the auth working
>>> as expected.
>>
>> I built a proxy video streamer for TVheadend
>>
>>
>> This may work for you:
>>
>>
>> You pass the url to this php script as an argument: It uses
>> name/password to open the stream on a remote server and pushes it back
>> to the sender.
>>
>> This should be enough to fool the browser that it isn't actually
>> talking to a remote content generator...
>>
>> <?php
>> // file general interface to tvheadend API
>>
>> if(!isset($_GET['channel']))
>>      exit();
>> $channel=$_GET['channel'];
>> $url = "http://192.168.0.101:9981/stream/channelid/".$channel;
>>
>> $ch = curl_init();
>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$url);
>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 10);
>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_DIGEST);
>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "name:password");
>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, function($curl, $data) {
>>      echo $data;
>>      ob_flush();
>>      flush();
>>      return strlen($data);
>> });
>> curl_exec($ch);
>> curl_close($ch);
>>
>>
>>
>
>   I'll see what I can do with it. Apparently the standard
>   solution is to use JavaScript to get an auth token and
>   then pass that in the iframe URL. I really really hate
>   JavaScript .........
>
Join the club...

Unfortunately it is relatively unavoidable.

>   Been experimenting with 'motion' ... and have had some
>   success enabling/disabling auth on a per-camera level.
>   'Motion' requires a number of small config files for
>   each cam (over one cam) and there are standard lines
>   for enabling/disabling auth. By having two kinds of
>   streams I can theoretically NAT-forward the auth
>   streams but use the non-auth streams for my local
>   application. Got 2 of 3 running so far ..... but
>   each stream burns CPU. I can dump a couple ...

That script entirely solved it for me. Just put a call to that script on
the server inside each i-frame. It is very low overhead on the server

--
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit
atrocities.”

― Voltaire, Questions sur les Miracles à M. Claparede, Professeur de
Théologie à Genève, par un Proposant: Ou Extrait de Diverses Lettres de
M. de Voltaire

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b
>
> Coincidentally only a few miles away

For the record, I understand that Pi5s can be bought over the counter at the
Raspberry Pi store in Cambridge. Limited to one per customer, but that rate
limit may mean they can maintain stock.

(yes I know you might be allergic to Cambridge :-)

Theo

On 25/10/2023 17:13, Theo wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b
>>
>> Coincidentally only a few miles away
>
> For the record, I understand that Pi5s can be bought over the counter at the
> Raspberry Pi store in Cambridge. Limited to one per customer, but that rate
> limit may mean they can maintain stock.
>
> (yes I know you might be allergic to Cambridge :-)
>
By the time I have driven in or paid the park and ride fare, and wasted
a whole day, the cost of ordering online even if I have to wait a few
days is far far less in time, money, and sheer waste of life that
Cambridge represents these days.

> Theo

--
New Socialism consists essentially in being seen to have your heart in
the right place whilst your head is in the clouds and your hand is in
someone else's pocket.

On Wed, 25 Oct 2023 18:29:06 +0100
The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

> days is far far less in time, money, and sheer waste of life that
> Cambridge represents these days.

Cambridge was a nice place going downhill fast when I left it in
1993.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/
Host: Beautiful Theory meet Inconvenient Fact
Obit: Beautiful Theory died today of factual inconsistency

On 25/10/2023 19:14, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Oct 2023 18:29:06 +0100
> The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>> days is far far less in time, money, and sheer waste of life that
>> Cambridge represents these days.
>
> Cambridge was a nice place going downhill fast when I left it in
> 1993.
>

It gets worse every time I go.
Roads blocked off, car parks closed, cyclists in dark clothes without
lights slamming across in front of you from off the pavements, or the
wrong way up one way streets after dark, 20mh speed limits.
And unsurprisingly, all the town centres shops are now restaurants or
mobile phone shops.

Killed by a 'woke' Labour council and the Internet

--
When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over
the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that
authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.

Frédéric Bastiat

Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>> https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b
>> Coincidentally only a few miles away
>
> For the record, I understand that Pi5s can be bought over the counter at the
> Raspberry Pi store in Cambridge. Limited to one per customer, but that rate
> limit may mean they can maintain stock.
>
> (yes I know you might be allergic to Cambridge :-)
>
> Theo

Yes, they have stock. I bought a Pi5 with power supply and case from there
this afternoon.

Although Cambridge was heaving (it’s half term, so lots of families with
kids), getting in and out via Madingley Road Park and Ride electric buses
was smooth, quick and very little wait either way.

--
Paul at the paulhardy.net domain

On 10/25/23 4:14 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 25/10/2023 07:14, 56d.1152 wrote:
>> On 10/25/23 1:43 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>> On 25/10/2023 03:37, 56d.1152 wrote:
>>>> I need to get the auth working
>>>> as expected.
>>>
>>> I built a proxy video streamer for TVheadend
>>>
>>>
>>> This may work for you:
>>>
>>>
>>> You pass the url to this php script as an argument: It uses
>>> name/password to open the stream on a remote server and pushes it
>>> back to the sender.
>>>
>>> This should be enough to fool the browser that it isn't actually
>>> talking to a remote content generator...
>>>
>>> <?php
>>> // file general interface to tvheadend API
>>>
>>> if(!isset($_GET['channel']))
>>>      exit();
>>> $channel=$_GET['channel'];
>>> $url = "http://192.168.0.101:9981/stream/channelid/".$channel;
>>>
>>> $ch = curl_init();
>>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$url);
>>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 10);
>>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_DIGEST);
>>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "name:password");
>>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, function($curl, $data) {
>>>      echo $data;
>>>      ob_flush();
>>>      flush();
>>>      return strlen($data);
>>> });
>>> curl_exec($ch);
>>> curl_close($ch);
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>    I'll see what I can do with it. Apparently the standard
>>    solution is to use JavaScript to get an auth token and
>>    then pass that in the iframe URL. I really really hate
>>    JavaScript .........
>>
> Join the club...
>
> Unfortunately it is relatively unavoidable.
>
>
>>    Been experimenting with 'motion' ... and have had some
>>    success enabling/disabling auth on a per-camera level.
>>    'Motion' requires a number of small config files for
>>    each cam (over one cam) and there are standard lines
>>    for enabling/disabling auth. By having two kinds of
>>    streams I can theoretically NAT-forward the auth
>>    streams but use the non-auth streams for my local
>>    application. Got 2 of 3 running so far ..... but
>>    each stream burns CPU. I can dump a couple ...
>
> That script entirely solved it for me. Just put a call to that script on
> the server inside each i-frame. It is very low overhead on the server

Gimme a few days ... juggling too many things
at the moment ... only APPROACHING retirement :-)

The 'within motion' trick does have appeal as you
don't really have to do anything special. Gonna
see if I can get the last two cams running without
auth, for local consumption, in a few days. The
forwarded streams DO still work, needing auth,
as desired.

On 10/25/23 4:12 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 25/10/2023 07:08, 56d.1152 wrote:
>> On 10/25/23 1:34 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>> On 25/10/2023 02:22, 56d.1152 wrote:
>>>> On 10/24/23 11:38 AM, Jim Jackson wrote:
>>>>> On 2023-10-24, 56d.1152 <56d.1152@ztq9.net> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Would use a Pi4 but they're hard/expensive to get
>>>>>> right now.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Maybe expensive, but I'd have thought easy to get hold of now.
>>>>>
>>>>> https://rpilocator.com/?cat=PI4
>>>>>
>>>>> Is showing pi4's "in stock" all over the world.
>>>>
>>>>    It's getting better now - Amazon was selling p4s for
>>>>    over $220-US at one point, and sometimes they ran
>>>>    out of those.
>>>
>>>   My 1GB Pi4B delivered last week was £35  - say $50
>>
>>
>>    From WHERE ???
>>
> https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b
>
> Coincidentally only a few miles away
>
>>    But, should I spend $$$ on a 4 when the 5s are
>>    soon to hit the market ??? They're claiming
>>    at least TWICE the performance (I guess at the
>>    same power-consumption).
>>
> Depends whether you *need* that performance.

Well. "potential" is always good ... so long as
the price isn't too high. Think I'm gonna wait
for the 5s.

From what I can gather so far, the p5's double
the performance, but at about the p4 power
consumption. That's worth it.

Alas Pi's were NEVER good for embedded, esp
for "field" use where solar charging was part
of the equation unless you wanted a BIG panel
and battery. Last things I did like that used
Arduino's - with cellular modems. You could
cut the power consumption back to nearly zero
between data samples. Tiny panels/batts worked.

> I am gradually assembling my home server and only the TV server is a tad
> marginal on CPU.

Used correctly, you can do a LOT with a Pi ... they
are really impressive tech. Just have to be smart
about your code and such. I've been using P3s as
'motion' servers for security webcams for years.

A p3 can handle about three or four cams at a
few FPS no problem. P4's are better if you need
to format/resize said images for display. Have a
big monitor that shows successive and sometimes
multiple, in-motion, frames (what I'm trying to
emulate at home) where the pix ARE resized/tweaked.
Works great. P4-4gb.

Gotta go to lengths to keep the damned monitor
from going to sleep though ... xfce4-power-manger
and "caffeine" run in autostart seems to do it.
"Power-saving" is an obsession these days, you
have to go to lengths to defeat it. There's a
"move-mouse" thing in TKinter (and Lazarus)
that can be employed too - "move" the mouse
one pixel every 5 minutes. Emulating a mouse
move in 'c' is actually quite complicated,
deep 'device' stuff.

HAVE had a few issues with the P3's though. After
a couple of years the WiFi tends to fail. Had
three do that. So far no such issues with P4s.
Have one 'original' P1b+, the kind with fewer pins,
that's been doing it's ONE thing since forever.
Not net connected though and doesn't have WiFi.
Recently updated the ANCIENT Raspbian to Bullseye
basic version and new SD though ... should be good
for another decade.

> I have not run out of RAM, proving that by and large graphics is what
> chews up CPU and memory!

Just write it smart and you can go much further
with a Pi than you initially expected.

Gotta look into how you can force Linux to run
stuff on alternate cores ..... too much tends
to run on ONE core, leaving the others with
little to do. Got 'em, USE 'em.

On 10/25/23 4:14 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 25/10/2023 07:14, 56d.1152 wrote:
>> On 10/25/23 1:43 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>> On 25/10/2023 03:37, 56d.1152 wrote:
>>>> I need to get the auth working
>>>> as expected.
>>>
>>> I built a proxy video streamer for TVheadend
>>>
>>>
>>> This may work for you:
>>>
>>>
>>> You pass the url to this php script as an argument: It uses
>>> name/password to open the stream on a remote server and pushes it
>>> back to the sender.
>>>
>>> This should be enough to fool the browser that it isn't actually
>>> talking to a remote content generator...
>>>
>>> <?php
>>> // file general interface to tvheadend API
>>>
>>> if(!isset($_GET['channel']))
>>>      exit();
>>> $channel=$_GET['channel'];
>>> $url = "http://192.168.0.101:9981/stream/channelid/".$channel;
>>>
>>> $ch = curl_init();
>>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$url);
>>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 10);
>>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH, CURLAUTH_DIGEST);
>>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERPWD, "name:password");
>>> curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, function($curl, $data) {
>>>      echo $data;
>>>      ob_flush();
>>>      flush();
>>>      return strlen($data);
>>> });
>>> curl_exec($ch);
>>> curl_close($ch);
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>    I'll see what I can do with it. Apparently the standard
>>    solution is to use JavaScript to get an auth token and
>>    then pass that in the iframe URL. I really really hate
>>    JavaScript .........
>>
> Join the club...
>
> Unfortunately it is relatively unavoidable.
>
>
>>    Been experimenting with 'motion' ... and have had some
>>    success enabling/disabling auth on a per-camera level.
>>    'Motion' requires a number of small config files for
>>    each cam (over one cam) and there are standard lines
>>    for enabling/disabling auth. By having two kinds of
>>    streams I can theoretically NAT-forward the auth
>>    streams but use the non-auth streams for my local
>>    application. Got 2 of 3 running so far ..... but
>>    each stream burns CPU. I can dump a couple ...
>
> That script entirely solved it for me. Just put a call to that script on
> the server inside each i-frame. It is very low overhead on the server
>

OK ... found a Different Way. I'm running 'motion' directly
on the Pi and made a really simple Python/OpenCV program
that can directly read/resize/display the streams. No browser
required. You just start reading a different mjpeg stream
port every x-seconds. Added scaling/cropping options in just
a couple of lines.

DID try a hundred FFMPEG examples for restreaming rtsp and/or
sequential cam frames to mjpeg and NONE of them worked worth
a damn. Either the video quality was HORRIBLE or the current
ffmpeg would not over-write a saved file (no, the -y option
is NOT working as advertised - USED to, but not now). OpenCV
can also read files and display them as rapidly-changing
still frames.

OpenCV is NOT super happy trying to keep several
rtsp streams going alas - I'd been opening them and storing
the handles in a list. RE-starting an rtsp feed seems to
take 8-10 seconds, so that's not a real solution. 'Motion'
IS happy to open and keep alive rtsp feeds.

IF you don't need a really high frame rate then 'motion' on
a Pi 3/4 can handle quite a number of cams without bogging
down. For 'security' purposes even one or two FPS is more
than enough.

56d.1152 wrote:

>But, should I spend $$$ on a 4 when the 5s are
> soon to hit the market ??? They're claiming
> at least TWICE the performance (I guess at the
> same power-consumption).

Unfortunately, power consumption is much higher and you need a much
stronger PSU. I'm not getting one since I do not need this kind of
performance on a Pi.

-jw-

--

And now for something completely different...

On 10/28/23 11:03 AM, Joerg Walther wrote:
> 56d.1152 wrote:
>
>> But, should I spend $$$ on a 4 when the 5s are
>> soon to hit the market ??? They're claiming
>> at least TWICE the performance (I guess at the
>> same power-consumption).
>
> Unfortunately, power consumption is much higher

CRAP !!!

> and you need a much
> stronger PSU. I'm not getting one since I do not need this kind of
> performance on a Pi.

What's next for Pi's ... a big-ass genuine
desktop PC power supply ????????? May as
well buy a big-ass desktop PC ...........

Pi's are SUPPOSED to fit a "niche".

I'm tired of buying ever-bigger power supplies,
usually with novel connectors, just for Pi's.
IMHO, "improvement" means more performance at
the SAME power consumption.

Anyway, solved MY problem with a 3B+

Low power, doesn't even NEED a fan.

On 10/25/23 1:29 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 25/10/2023 17:13, Theo wrote:
>> The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>> https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b
>>>
>>> Coincidentally only a few miles away
>>
>> For the record, I understand that Pi5s can be bought over the counter
>> at the
>> Raspberry Pi store in Cambridge.  Limited to one per customer, but
>> that rate
>> limit may mean they can maintain stock.
>>
>> (yes I know you might be allergic to Cambridge :-)
>>
> By the time I have driven in or paid the park and ride fare, and wasted
> a whole day, the cost of ordering online even if I have to wait a few
> days is far far less in time, money, and sheer waste of life that
> Cambridge represents these days.

Might do better with *walking* ......

Or just giving Cambridge the shaft entirely ...

Sorry. but 'Woke' really should = BROKE.