I spent a lot of time trying to find some good software to run on a Raspberry Pi to turn it into a camera. Even tried to write my own using Perl, but all the libraries are in Python, so it took too much for a simple project.

I found the v4l2rtspserver (https://github.com/mpromonet/v4l2rtspserver) and decided to try it. The author has a good page, but assumes I knew how to configure ZoneMinder (which was mistaken).

Anyway, no GUI needed, so I did the Raspberry Pi OS Lite (https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/operating-systems/) and set it up, then did the following. Ended up with a pretty decent camera that is not “phoning home” with all your images.

1. Enable wlan by adding the following to /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

   country=US
   network={
      ssid="your ssid"
      psk="your psk"
   }

2. Enable camera interface

   raspi-config
   # go to Interface, and enable camera

3. Verify camera works

   raspistill -v -o test.jpg

# get pre-req's
apt -y install cmake liblog4cpp5-dev libv4l-dev git
git clone https://github.com/mpromonet/v4l2rtspserver
cd v4l2rtspserver
cmake .
make
sudo make install

v4l2rtspserver.service

# systemd configuration for v4l2rtspserver
# /etc/systemd/system/v4l2rtspserver.service
 
[Unit]
Description=v4l2rtspserver rtsp streaming server
After=network.target
 
[Service]
#ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl vertical_flip=1
ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl h264_i_frame_period=5
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/v4l2rtspserver -F 5 -W 640 -H 480
#ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
Type=simple
User=root
Group=video
Restart=always
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

systemctl start v4l2rtspserver

Create a new monitor in ZoneMinder with the following parameters

• Source Type: Remote
• Remote Protocol: RTSP
• Remote Method: RTP/Unicast
• Remote Host Name: Hostname or IP
• Remote Host Port: 8554
• Remote Host Path: /unicast
• Capture Width: 640
• Capture Height: 480

You should soon see the output in zoneminder.

For production, change the resolution of both the camera and the ZoneMinder configuration

1. Edit /etc/systemd/system/v4l2rtspserver.service
   1. Change -W and -H (width and height) to your desired parameters
      1. 1920 x 1080 (1080p) Gives you a lot of details, but also transfers a lot of traffic and is fuzzy
      2. 1280 x 720 (720p) Is a lot lower bandwidth and “prettier” picture

      3. # reload the systemctl daemon
         systemctl daemon-reload
         # reload the config for v4l2rtspserver
         systemctl restart v4l2rtspserver
         # Set v4l2rtspserver to autostart
         systemctl enable v4l2rtspserver

2. Edit Monitor on ZoneMinder
   1. Set Capture Resolution to same values as camera

• https://zoneminder.blogspot.com/p/rasbpeery-pi-zero-camera.html
• https://carlos-journal.blogspot.com/2017/05/setting-up-rtsp-server-in-raspberry-pi.html
• https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/322720/why-wont-my-enabled-systemd-service-start-on-boot