31–40 of 64 posts
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wZAHkWHfBF4
Mostly a continuation of the OpenHD project. But it's quite promising.
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> OpenIPC source code is released under one of the most simple open source license agreements, MIT License, giving users express permission to reuse code for any purpose, even as part of a proprietary software. We only ask you politely to contribute your improvements back to us. We would be grateful for any feedback and suggestions. Edit: since people are arguing with me, the text I quoted is right of the main page f…
> Majestic code while is not open, provides unprecedented performance and capabilities for a wide range of hardware. The author of Majestic streamer is looking into possibilities to open-source the codebase after he secures enough funds to support further open development. You can help to make it happen sooner. Source: https://openipc.org/
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Oh man I didn't realize that when I last ran into this project. I wonder how hard it would be to run your own streamer pipeline or whatnot on these things? How far a starting place do we get when we install our own Linux; do peripherals (camera networking) work or is there a bunch of special sauce in userland running half the hardware?
That's the problem right there: the Linux kernel situtation. As OP noted they just use the vendor's (long outdated) Linux kernel, with the vendor's (typically crap) kernel drivers. They just don't clean up that situation in that project, let alone try to mainline the drivers. It's where I thought I could help, but... see my other post on why that didn't work out. With mainline-supported cameras using a standard API,…
Security in this space is a absolute disaster.
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> Majestic code while is not open, provides unprecedented performance and capabilities for a wide range of hardware. The author of Majestic streamer is looking into possibilities to open-source the codebase after he secures enough funds to support further open development. You can help to make it happen sooner. Source: https://openipc.org/
I can't find that text anywhere on the page (the word "Majestic" literally doesn't appear anywhere).
Having looked into this myself prior was mostly asking for disappointment. Getting a random Chinese IP camera to convert to open firmware is great in theory, but the problem is actually buying a camera or 10, or buying more over time. You never really know what hardware ships internally at any given time, ie what SoC a camera really is. They change frequently in random Chinese manufacturers with internal SoC hardware…
I also wish there were an option for someone to buy cameras with open HW/SW, to get away from the random cloud services they want you to open your network up to with cheap cameras.
Having looked into this myself prior was mostly asking for disappointment. Getting a random Chinese IP camera to convert to open firmware is great in theory, but the problem is actually buying a camera or 10, or buying more over time. You never really know what hardware ships internally at any given time, ie what SoC a camera really is. They change frequently in random Chinese manufacturers with internal SoC hardware…
When in doubt, I take for granted that every camera with closed firmware contains malware that phones home or waits dormant to be used to steal sensitive video+audio or to take part in a botnet, which already happened several times. The solution as of today is to put a firewall in between that blocks any traffic to the LAN and from the outside, except from trusted applications. There are many multi ETH port mini PCs…
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Yup, also the userspace application that does the actual streaming is closed-source as well: https://github.com/OpenIPC/majestic (The git repo is for bug reports only, no source-code there)
Oh man I didn't realize that when I last ran into this project. I wonder how hard it would be to run your own streamer pipeline or whatnot on these things? How far a starting place do we get when we install our own Linux; do peripherals (camera networking) work or is there a bunch of special sauce in userland running half the hardware?
Agree with the_biot: The actual streaming component is not too hard. If this were the biggest problem, I'd be thrilled to contribute to (or just write) an open source streaming server to complement my open source NVR. [1] The driver situation is indeed a bit harder—these things don't just have mainline Linux support with v4l2 for the video capture and encoding. Or open source drivers of any kind to crib from AFAIK.
The biggest problem IMHO is that there just aren't any good cameras to buy, even completely ignoring the software aspect. I want a camera that:
1. doesn't support genocide. Nothing that involves Dahua, Hikvision, or Huawei. See IPVM articles on the subject. And a lot of available cameras are relabeled Dahua/Hikvision stuff and/or use Huawei components.
2. is legal for sale / authorized for use in the US. (See the Secure Equipment Act of 2021.) Mostly this excludes the same companies.
3. has good night mode performance: IR/day switch, a sensor that is at least 1/1.8", reasonable resolution (somewhere from HD to 4k).
4. has an "eyeball" or "turret" form factor rather than "bullet". The latter seems to really attract spiders, so you end up with a really nice video of a web...
5. supports PoE.
6. is weatherized (IP54 or so).
7. is reasonably priced.
If you ignore #1 and #2, there's some nice hardware out there, but I'm not willing to do that. If you ignore #3, there are a few options (GeoVision, maybe Reolink, maybe Hanwha.) If you ignore #4 and #7, there might be a couple (Axis, maybe Hanwha.) Nothing that ticks all the boxes.
Hard to get excited about investing a lot in the software when the hardware isn't there.
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Oh man I didn't realize that when I last ran into this project. I wonder how hard it would be to run your own streamer pipeline or whatnot on these things? How far a starting place do we get when we install our own Linux; do peripherals (camera networking) work or is there a bunch of special sauce in userland running half the hardware?
> I wonder how hard it would be to run your own streamer pipeline or whatnot on these things? Agree with the_biot: The actual streaming component is not too hard. If this were the biggest problem, I'd be thrilled to contribute to (or just write) an open source streaming server to complement my open source NVR. [1] The driver situation is indeed a bit harder—these things don't just have mainline Linux support with v4l…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I wonder how hard it would be to run your own streamer pipeline or whatnot on these things? Agree with the_biot: The actual streaming component is not too hard. If this were the biggest problem, I'd be thrilled to contribute to (or just write) an open source streaming server to complement my open source NVR. [1] The driver situation is indeed a bit harder—these things don't just have mainline Linux support with v4l…
I expect you'll get flak for #1, but the morality aspect of it bothers me a great deal as well. Not just supporting products of companies that contribute to China's surveillance state, but I worry that writing open source software contributes to surveillance everywhere as well. I don't have an answer :-(
This part doesn't bother me. Making open source software available for general purpose needs equalizes things, which I consider an improvement. See e.g. what happens when folks have cameras pointed at the cops slowly murdering George Flynn.
But directly giving my money to the companies that are writing software specifically to support genocide (e.g. Uighur classification) and are doing the installations for contract at what's essentially concentration camps...that's way over my personal ethical line, even if my few dollars are insignificant.
OpenIPC is one of those projects where the core team is Russian, and their communication is Russian, and they use Telegram (or a bridge) for everything. As a non-Russian speaker you're pretty lost trying to contribute, and as a result they attract hardly anyone outside the russosphere. I've tried telling them they're artifically limiting their project, but was predictably ignored. This project has so much potential,…
Being russian and clearly trying to steer project towards drone use https://github.com/OpenIPC/sandbox-fpv doesnt help either, we all know what russian drones are used for right now.