[HN Gopher] OpenIPC is an alternative open firmware for your IP ...
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OpenIPC is an alternative open firmware for your IP camera
Author : danboarder
Score : 119 points
Date : 2024-03-02 08:28 UTC (14 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (openipc.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (openipc.org)
| boiler_up800 wrote:
| Super cool. Embedded camera software is tough. Number one issue
| when I worked on it was dropping frames. You have 10 ms or so to
| get the frame to the next I/O stage - for example for streaming -
| and a lot has to happen. Double the challenge for stereo cameras.
| pingec wrote:
| To me this seems to be for cameras what OpenWrt is for routers?
|
| I've found web ui screenshots here: https://openipc.org/web-
| interface
| tw04 wrote:
| It's interesting, but I'm curious if they're ever going to target
| higher end cameras from the likes of dahua. Those cameras are all
| Linux based and most have serial headers so it should be doable.
| squarefoot wrote:
| It appears the list indicates various SoCs, not the devices
| employing them. It is possible Dahua cameras already use one or
| more of these chips, but the only way to tell would be to tear
| apart one or find someone who did. Before flashing, however,
| one should triple-check anyway that the SoC is the same, as
| models could switch from a SoC to another one without any
| noticeable difference to the user apps. I would also 2nd for
| Hikvision cameras support as they're cheap and ubiquitous. They
| already offer downloadable firmware and SDK that can be
| examined to infer the employed SoC:
| https://www.hikvision.com/en/support/download/software/
| MostlyStable wrote:
| According to the list [0] in this comment [1], some Dahua
| cameras are supported
|
| [0] https://github.com/OpenIPC/wiki/blob/master/en/guide-
| support...
|
| [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39574547
| TrueDuality wrote:
| They have a list of specific chips the firmware supports which is
| very useful but I couldn't find any concrete camera models this
| was for or the features the firmware supports.
|
| Maybe I missed it but it'd be nice to raise the visibility of
| that a bit more.
| mdaniel wrote:
| https://github.com/OpenIPC/wiki/blob/master/en/guide-support...
| says it was last updated 5 months ago so that seems like a
| reasonable place to start
| chpatrick wrote:
| I had the same problem. Which camera should I buy if I want to
| use this?
| bombcar wrote:
| That's something every project like this should highlight at
| the top - the robot firmware replacement for vacuums had that
| _after_ the warning that it was a personal project and you
| get what he wants and that's it.
|
| Perfection. If I want it, I know what to order.
|
| You can even get a bit of affiliate revenue.
| pests wrote:
| > the robot firmware replacement for vacuums had that after
| the warning that it was a personal project and you get what
| he wants and that's it.
|
| I noticed this too back when that project was posted.
| eichin wrote:
| https://github.com/EliasKotlyar/Xiaomi-Dafang-Hacks is a
| particularly good example, the top of the README is a list
| of camera models and pictures of the camera. (It also
| mentions "Any other Device with Ingenic T10/T20" at the end
| of the list, so it might overlap with OpenIPC somewhat?)
| baby_souffle wrote:
| > I had the same problem. Which camera should I buy if I want
| to use this?
|
| Their docs have a general "we don't provide specifics because
| $OEM can change the internals on a whim" disclaimer. That is
| true. OEMs can/will change the internals out but leave the
| model number the same. You see this ALL THE TIME with the
| cheap SOHO routers.
|
| However, those changes are _usually_ paired with a bump in
| version / revision on the product label.
|
| In any case, a community sourced page of devices that were -
| at one point in time - known to contain a supported chip
| would be helpful. Even if the OEM had changed the internals,
| at least you'd know that the internals have changed and that
| scouring eBay for an older serial number of the same model
| might get you a supported one.
|
| In any case, I opened up a few of the amcrest cameras I have
| lying around and found a poorly support ambrella SoC and
| another SoC that is not supported at all.
| believ3 wrote:
| The old Nest DropCam cameras are about to go EOL next month in
| April 2024. It's too bad that hardware isn't supported by this
| project.
| saidinesh5 wrote:
| Fun fact: This firmware is also being used to currently repurpose
| cheap IP Camera hardware + Off the shelf wifi hardware to get
| digital FPV on racing drones:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMFqk3vMupE ( Feel free to scroll
| to the parts that interest you ).
| FrankPetrilli wrote:
| Unfortunately the latency is nowhere near good enough for
| racing - best case actual results are ~100ms E2E. The project
| authors have claimed some absurdly low latency numbers in the
| past but they're laden with asterisks, like using a wired
| connection.
| saidinesh5 wrote:
| The latency numbers were indeed shady .. like he advertised
| "cheapest digital fpv" and for that price they were doing
| 720p60fps with the latency around 80-100 indeed.. but with
| the more expensive 120fps setup, they were getting closer to
| interesting latency: https://youtu.be/i_Wz9oAK5z4?t=224
|
| The other issue is that a lot of their source code isn't open
| source yet. The majestic etc.. bits.
|
| What I am hopeful is that: once there is easy to use hardware
| for people to tinker around with, the project will actually
| improve to the point of being a real system like ExpressLRS.
| bee_rider wrote:
| Do people use IPC as a shortening for IP Cameras often? I
| associate it more with inter-process communication.
| formerly_proven wrote:
| Yes
| daemonologist wrote:
| I was thinking instructions per cycle. I suppose with three
| letters acronyms collisions are going to be pretty frequent.
| bee_rider wrote:
| True. I could definitely be convinced, even, that
| instructions per cycle was the somehow "stronger"
| association.
|
| I think the reason I went to inter process communication is
| that is seems like the sort of thing that would benefit from
| libraries to standardize. OpenIPC could be a great name for
| such a library. For instructions per cycle--maybe a
| benchmarking suite? Haha.
| neilv wrote:
| I suspect "OpenIPCam" would've been better branding, if a goal
| is to reach outside of whatever community(?) calls IP cameras
| "IPCs".
| Zandikar wrote:
| When the context of IP Camera's/CCTV/surveillance or video
| security is establish, yes, it's very common jargon.
| kjkjadksj wrote:
| What is the cheapest option for a barebones IP camera that can
| install this? My biggest criteria is cheap as possible but also
| internal power source and wifi so I don't have to run any wires.
| It's fine if I have to wipe proprietary stuff off it first.
| Waterproof would be a plus for outdoor cameras too.
| NavinF wrote:
| > internal power source
|
| Prepare to be disappointed. You'll find that there's a huge gap
| between real IP cameras (PoE powered) and consumer crap
| (battery powered)
| bombcar wrote:
| You really _really_ want to just run the Ethernet. It's not
| that painful, and you can transition to WiFi if you need to.
|
| Battery WiFi cameras are toys and complete shit. PoE is where
| it is at.
|
| (Someone should release power management software for PoE
| called Edgar Allen)
| jwells89 wrote:
| PoE cameras (and doorbell) is something I've been looking
| at, but from the looks of it running ethernet in my house,
| which is a newer build (~2005) and wasn't designed with
| things like that in mind isn't going to be fun. Might as
| well go this route since I'll be running regular ethernet
| between rooms anyway, but seems like it might be enough of
| a pain to be worth hiring a professional to do it instead
| of trying to DIY it.
| LoganDark wrote:
| You don't have to run the ethernet inside the walls. I
| used coaxial ties to run my ethernet cable along the
| surface of the wall and it works just fine.
| tetris11 wrote:
| Sounds like you want a smartphone. Try some of the more better
| supported PostmarketOS models
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| I thought the last time this project was posted here, people
| pointed out that at least some of it uses closed-source binary
| blobs from the manufacturers? Are they even building their own
| kernels? If not, this doesn't remotely fix the trust issues.
| walterbell wrote:
| You can also use OSS Rust Neolink with unmodified Reolink
| PoE/WiFi cameras, to proxy their proprietary streaming protocol
| to standard RTSP for NVRs. For security, keep the cameras on
| their own VLAN.
|
| _" Hacking Reolink cameras for fun and profit"_,
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33091698
|
| https://github.com/thirtythreeforty/neolink
|
| https://support.reolink.com/hc/en-us/articles/900000617826-W...
| therobotking wrote:
| I was really hoping to see my Google cameras on the list of
| supported models. I'm expecting them to be EOL'd any day.
|
| I am slowly migrating and replacing my way to an entirely self-
| hosted smart home setup, but my Google cameras were expensive and
| it would be fantastic to be able to flash and integrate them with
| the rest.
| surajrmal wrote:
| Why do you think they will be EOLd?
| https://support.google.com/product-
| documentation/answer/1023...? Shows they are guaranteed to be
| updated for at least 5 years after release, so you have at
| least 2 more years, but hopefully longer. Only 1 nest product
| has stopped receiving updates so far and there are several that
| are 4 years past their guarantee date so precedent would
| indicate you still have a fairly long support window. This
| isn't the same as supporting a phone.
| superkuh wrote:
| I've been working on getting openipc compiling libusb and rtl-sdr
| packages so I can flash it to the $15 chinese sbc dvr w/sata port
| (ICsee Xmeye XM Nvr Board 4K 10Ch Hisilicon chip Hi3536E IP
| Recorder Embedded Linux) that's openipc compatible and just use
| those boards for running my rtl-sdr software defined radio
| dongles instead of $50-100 rpis or odroids. Their build system is
| a bit weird but it's not bad. Having to flash over serial to
| install is tedious but well worth it for the price and
| functionality.
|
| That said, the actual FPV/camera stuff with openipc is cool too.
| I definitely would rather pay $50-80 for a 2k 90fps
| camera/transceiver/receiver system I can hack on in linux than
| than $300 for a (much better) dji o3 pro. I'm hoping I can get
| the HDMI out formatted properly to use with my HTC Vive head
| mounted display instead of having to fork out for something new I
| can't buy (-11 diopter) prescription lenses for. There's
| basically no support for glasses wearers in any FPV goggles
| except the dji ($$$$) stuff.
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