[HN Gopher] OpenIPC: Open IP Camera Firmware
___________________________________________________________________
OpenIPC: Open IP Camera Firmware
Author : zakki
Score : 176 points
Date : 2025-08-01 15:41 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (openipc.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (openipc.org)
| roscas wrote:
| We need more projects like this. I have a tp-link "tapo" home
| "security" camera.
|
| Setup is made online. Then try to use that without a permanent
| internet connection... it turns itself off.
|
| It needs a permament connection to tp-link. Now you imagine why.
| cnst wrote:
| Yup, requiring permanent internet connection is such BS.
|
| I had one of these "no-brand" cameras that had an integrated
| MicroSD card, which would make you think that it'd work just
| fine even without the internet.
|
| We had no power in Austin for several days, but I kept my
| camera on a portable battery, because, why not?
|
| After the power and the internet were restored and I checked
| the app, turns out, nothing was recorded! Even though it was
| online the whole time.
|
| Such a major disappointment.
| Sanzig wrote:
| I have two Tapo units at home, they seem to be working fine
| without an internet connection.
|
| I created a new subnet and an associated WiFi SSID for it,
| connected the Tapo cameras, and set them up to act as RTSP
| cams. I then firewalled the subnet off from anything other than
| my Frigate NVR server and gateway. They still work fine, they
| are streaming video to Frigate without complaint. Maybe because
| they have DNS from my gateway still? (I should probably block
| that off, it's a common data exfil vector).
|
| Very annoying that internet connectivity is required for
| initial setup, I'll agree there. They could have just had a
| bare bones web interface.
| systemswizard wrote:
| This is great
| happyPersonR wrote:
| Is there a list of camera models that are known compatible? I
| took a quick glance, this looks really cool!
| efrecon wrote:
| Link from the homepage: https://openipc.org/supported-
| hardware/featured
| stragies wrote:
| This is a list of SOCs, not a list of devices containing
| these SOCs.
|
| And for most cameras sold, you'll have a hard time figuring
| out pre-buy, what SOC it contains.
| cnst wrote:
| I'm happy for anyone who can make a use out of it, and it's
| nice to see one of the only examples where non-US users are
| ahead of the US, but...
|
| Do you have any Amazon ASIN for any of these products,
| available for sale in the US?
|
| There's a whole bunch of random no-name IP cameras available
| on Amazon US, often costing as low as $15 USD, possibly
| because some of them are subsidised by their cloud offerings,
| but I've never seen any of these brands listed on OpenIPC.
| I'm sure some of the brands we see, are simply whitelabels,
| but, how do you figure these things out, without a
| disassembly to look at the boards?
| cure wrote:
| There seem to be a few camera manufacturers listed under
| "Supporters" on the introduction page, namely Goodcam and
| RunCam.
| cnst wrote:
| It'd be really nice if any of the $15 cams on Amazon were
| supported.
| cnst wrote:
| I've looked into it a few years ago when I was shopping and
| setting up my security cams. Super cool!
|
| But, unfortunately, I wasn't able to translate any supported
| devices into an Amazon ASIN in the US.
|
| Normally, many services on the internet only work in America.
| With OSS security cams, it seems to be the exact opposite.
| Eastern Europe and China are way ahead here.
| roacato wrote:
| Despite the name, openipc isn't fully open - the main
| recorder/encoder app (majestic) is closed source. Many openipc
| developers have moved to an alternative project named "thingino"
| which has a fully open source recorder/encoder/streamer.
| stragies wrote:
| This project only seems to support Ingenic SOCs (as per
| https://github.com/themactep/thingino-firmware). A far cry from
| the list supported by openipcam.
|
| Edit: But they have a list of product names, where they support
| installation of Thingino:
| https://github.com/themactep/thingino-firmware/blob/master/d...
| cnst wrote:
| > https://github.com/themactep/thingino-
| firmware/blob/master/d...
|
| Good list. Happy to see Imou and Wansview on the list, these
| "unknown" brands have been selling directly on Amazon US for
| a while now:
|
| https://www.amazon.com/stores/Wansview/page/1E1F86AB-C01A-45.
| ..
|
| https://www.amazon.com/stores/Imou/page/73EC8A3D-1E78-42C5-8.
| ..
| wltechblog wrote:
| The ING in Thingino stands for Ingenic. The Ingenic chips are
| MIPS, all the other cams are ARM. Focusing on these chips
| allows us to produce a firmware that actually works (not my
| experience with openipc) and is already configured for a
| specific product so you don't have to spend hours figuring
| out specifics for your camera to enable the hardware
| features!
| stragies wrote:
| Thank you for your work! Can you recommend a compatible LAN
| POE camera available on Amazon(.de?)
| wltechblog wrote:
| POE hasn't really made it to the commodity level you'll
| find on Amazon. There are some Vanhua models available on
| Aliexpress.. we also have some users successfully using
| various POE to USB adapters. I don't use one myself so i
| can't personally vouch for one... note that not all cams
| have data available on their USB ports, if you have
| questions about a specific choice, come visit us on
| Discord!
| asveikau wrote:
| I guess encoder app is separate from encoder proper, because I
| have to assume the bulk of the encoder is done in hardware. I
| mean, those things can do realtime h265 in 4k without a beefy
| CPU or getting hot.
| wltechblog wrote:
| Most of the image/video related stuff is done in the
| hardware, as well as a bunch of other functionality that
| would be hard to do on a 1 watt cpu. Check out the block
| diagram of the T31 processor:
| https://en.ingenic.com.cn/products-detail/id-21.html
|
| Our streamer (prudynt-t) communicates with those blocks to
| handle settings, overlays, etc and receives the pre-processed
| image/video/audio data, packages it up for rtsp//mjpeg/etc,
| and handles client connections, motion sending, day/night
| vision, etc.
|
| This is the status quo for ip cameras regardless of vendor!
| cnst wrote:
| How much memory do these cams have? What's the beefiest
| camera that's still a good value, e.g., cheap? Any support
| 5GHz yet?
| crazysim wrote:
| https://thingino.com/
|
| I love how the front page doesn't scream SOCs/SOMs to you and
| is just straight up here's the compatible cameras with pictures
| (with some SOM info below).
| cnst wrote:
| Yup. And these cameras supported by thingino are also
| available on Amazon for under $30, too, some as low as $20 or
| below!
| cnst wrote:
| > https://thingino.com/
|
| > https://github.com/themactep/thingino-firmware
|
| Nice, it actually supports several popular Amazon US "no-name"
| brands, including Imou and Wansview! (Plus, several mainstream
| Eufy, TP-Link and Wyze cameras are supported by thingino as
| well.) Seems to be more user-friendly than OpenIPC, too.
| wltechblog wrote:
| I'm generally the guy making "easy installers" for Thingino
| cams. The default way to install on a cam is to use a flash
| programmer, some devices you can use a uart adapter.. I try
| to find opportunities in the factory firmware that allow you
| to flash using just a SD card when possible, and publish
| walkthrough videos on my channel. Some other devices you can
| flash with a flash glitch trick at boot, which I have several
| devices documented for that method as well. I'm a huge
| proponent of privacy and security being available to everyone
| and not just the technically minded user, and being able to
| get a commodity priced camera to faithfully serve a non-
| technical user is my goal!
|
| More info is at my installers repo
| https://github.com/wltechblog/thingino-installers or my YT
| channel (WLTechBlog)
| cnst wrote:
| Thanks for doing that! And welcome to HN!
|
| Do you know if Wansview Q5 can be installed easily or not?
| I think it's one of the only cams on the thingino list
| that's available in the US with super-fast Amazon FBA
| shipping for under $20 USD and with lots of stock.
| wltechblog wrote:
| The Q5 is on our supported list. I have a user who YOLOd
| and tried the Cinnado D1 (t23) installer and claimed
| success. Cinnado and Wasnview (and galayou and a few
| others!) are owned by the same company so a lot of things
| are shared.
| cnst wrote:
| > I have a user who YOLOd and tried the Cinnado D1 (t23)
| installer and claimed success.
|
| Oh, wait, Cinnado D1 is only $14.99!
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBBT5RMP
|
| That's cheaper than Wansview Q5! (Unless the Woot deal
| returns.)
| wltechblog wrote:
| yep I've got a video on the installation on my channel
| too!
| skywal_l wrote:
| I wonder if there is business in buying those cameras in
| bulk, flash them with thingio and resell them as "open"
| camera. Not sure if it's even legal. I guess flashing the
| camera probably void the warranty and the margin would be
| razor thin anyway.
| ww520 wrote:
| It should be sold at a higher price. You perform a
| service by "unlocking" the camera.
| wltechblog wrote:
| Our firmware is open source, if you think you can provide
| an upsell on pre-installed cams, go for it!
| wltechblog wrote:
| There are people using Thingino to provide security
| camera services. Just selling the cam pre-flashed
| probably isn't a great plan as I go out of my way to make
| it as easy as possible for people to flash our firmware
| themselves!
| cnst wrote:
| I have the impression that most security cameras on
| Amazon are subsidized with their subscription services.
|
| Also, because many of these brands are no-name, you get
| the inverse volume discounts -- you can get 1 camera for
| less per-unit cost compared to buying 2 or more.
|
| Starting a business may make more sense if you're willing
| to go directly to the manufacturer, and have the
| manufacturer flash the firmware directly at the factory.
| Even then, why would people buy from you at $30 when they
| can buy an encumbered version for $15 and follow a few
| instructions?
| darkteflon wrote:
| That's a great project, thanks for your work. I even have a
| couple of cameras around the house that look like they
| should work with this. Do you have any suggestions for an
| open NVR to pair with cameras running this firmware?
| baby_souffle wrote:
| There are easily 50 different NVR applications out there.
| They differentiate themselves based on processing and
| analysis versus supported platforms.
|
| Frigate is a reasonably immature project but it is
| getting better with each release. Blue Iris is adored but
| it does have a Windows requirement so that might
| disqualify it for you.
| cnst wrote:
| I looked at the list on https://thingino.com/ , and one of the
| cheapest cameras supported by thingino is Wansview Q5.
|
| I'm NOT exactly sure on the exact version, because 2 different
| versions exist on Amazon, 3MP/2019 and 5MP/2024, in 2 colors
| each, but the older 3MP version is available for under $20.00 USD
| with FBA:
|
| https://www.amazon.com/stores/Wansview/page/1E1F86AB-C01A-45...
|
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QKXM2D3 -- $16.14 FBA for black 3MP
| Q5 Wansview
|
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QKWPT8J -- $19.78 FBA for white 3MP
| Q5 Wansview
|
| It's also been on sale at $9.99 on Woot a few months ago, but
| sold out.
|
| https://electronics.woot.com/offers/wansview-2k-ip-security-...
|
| EDIT: looks like the cheapest one in the US is actually Cinnado
| D1 2k, it's under $14.99 on Amazon.
|
| https://github.com/wltechblog/thingino-installers/tree/main/...
|
| https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBBT5RMP -- <=$14.99 FBA for Cinnado
| D1
| thatcherc wrote:
| Cool! It looks like the Wansview Q5 has a similar
| SoC/camera/wireless setup as the Wansview W7, which as an
| installer guide on the Thingino wiki [1]. I wonder if that same
| installation process (but with the q5 firmware) would work. For
| $16 I'm inclined to try it out.
|
| [1] - https://github.com/wltechblog/thingino-
| installers/tree/main/...
| wltechblog wrote:
| Generally the cheapest fro Amazom is by Cinnado. I have a video
| on installing it my channel as well. I've bought this model for
| as low as $9.50 shipped.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phqR49t75Ak
| cnst wrote:
| Wow, under $14.99 for Cinnado D1 2k is nice! Thanks!
|
| It looks like right now it's available for 14.99 less the 25%
| promo code, that's $11.25 USD shipped, for OSS hardware?
| Niiice!
| defraudbah wrote:
| is thingino an alternative to open ipc? A newbie question
|
| _update_ seems like it 's software for a camera module. Now I
| have to figure how to match that with cameras or how to connect
| it to my raspberry pi
| wltechblog wrote:
| Thingino is a full replacement firmware for Ingenic-based ip
| cameras. While we have some overlap with OpenIPC it's fair to
| say that our missions are quite different. I don't consider
| us competing projects, they even use some of our code (and
| possibly vice-versa) in their firmware.
| wltechblog wrote:
| The 5MP version is not yet supported! it's identical to the
| Cinnado D1 5MP, and in addition to the better sensor (and dual
| band wifi!) they use the next generation Ingenic processors.
| Work in progress!
| qmr wrote:
| Last time I bought cameras refurbished Wyze cams were available
| stupid cheap, $5-$10 or something.
| wltechblog wrote:
| wyze doorbell v1 is very cheap refurb on ebay and has an
| actual 4 megapixel selsor they run at 1080p for no particular
| reason in their firmware. It's 4 megapixel when you run
| Thingino!
| ck2 wrote:
| this is neat too as it can control some of my cameras
|
| https://team.openipc.org/ipcam_dms/
|
| (note the english translated link)
| miiiiiike wrote:
| Whenever I look into IP cameras I close the tabs because it feels
| like I walked into a store brand cereal aisle where all the boxes
| are exclaiming "Now with fewer razor blades!" or "Only half the
| reported cases of salmonella than similar store brands!"
|
| What's a good brand for IP cameras? What's the best, in terms of
| open source support and reliability?
|
| I need a mix of PoE indoor and outdoor cameras. 15 outdoor/10
| indoor. Cost isn't a factor, I need something reliable.
| dekhn wrote:
| I have used MindVision gigabit cameras, I believe they have
| some POE models (but they are mostly indoor-industrial-machine-
| vision. They do have a Linux SDK (basically a .so and a Python
| wrapper for the .so).
|
| I'm going to look at all the links in the comments in this post
| to see if I can find things which are: better documented, more
| affordable, and easier to integrate.
| fullstop wrote:
| While not open source, I have had good experiences with
| Reolink. They integrate well into Home Assistant and Frigate.
| miiiiiike wrote:
| Yeah, I need open source firmware.
| formerly_proven wrote:
| Yeah, you have to choose. Either a decent camera, or open
| source. Can't have both.
| hungmung wrote:
| You could rig up some rPi's, but then you gotta maintain
| everything yourself. Weatherproofing is probably a PITA
| too.
| charcircuit wrote:
| rPi don't have an open source firmware either.
| formerly_proven wrote:
| And no decent image sensors.
| bc569a80a344f9c wrote:
| The ones they sell aren't great, but you can - with a bit
| of perseverance as it's non-trivial - connect CSI-2 MIPI
| to a Raspberry Pi, and use any image sensor that supports
| that. Which includes a ton of great Sony CMOS sensors.
| qmr wrote:
| 3d printer plexiglass and silicone caulk ez pz
| starky wrote:
| What is the requirement for open source FW? As long as you
| get a camera that is ONVIF certified then there is no risk
| of lock in as it is an open standard that is compatible
| with most VMS software.
| crote wrote:
| Don't forget that it is still an IP connected device,
| which will realistically _never_ receive a security
| update.
|
| Best-case scenario it'll call back to the mothership,
| worst-case scenario it'll turn into a backdoor for your
| entire network and you'll start receiving ransomware
| threats with awkward photos/videos attached to them.
| hn_go_brrrrr wrote:
| You can avoid this by preventing any traffic to or from
| the device except from Frigate.
| ejstronge wrote:
| There's no reason to re-invent the wheel - ipcamtalk has a
| comprehensive set of explanatory posts. Don't buy Reolink,
| avoid Amcrest - Loryta (rebranded Dahua) and Hikvision are the
| strongest, but there are other strong options, especially on
| the refurbished commercial camera front.
| eco wrote:
| ipcamtalk feels completely captured by resellers and
| affiliates. I'd suggest taking any advice you see there with
| a grain of salt.
| BehindTheMath wrote:
| What's wrong with Amcrest IP cameras?
| rexreed wrote:
| Here's what IPCam says about Reolink. Mostly bad night time
| performance: https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/convince-me-
| reolink-is-bad-to-...
| cchance wrote:
| hikvision are great, not sure why annke aren't mentioned more
| also, thats what i run and they're also really good.
| serf wrote:
| amcrest and reolink are some of the only large Chinese
| resellers that actually ensure onvif is implemented.
|
| yeah they have a login wall without a reflash, but most of
| them do -- but the hardware isn't bad and you can keep it
| local after setup.
|
| That said -- yes : hikvision is the de-facto generic IPcam
| without issues. Most CCTV softwares are built around
| hikvision cameras and firmwares as generics.
| colechristensen wrote:
| Why not buy Reolink? I bought one for my parents and it just
| works for them as well as can be expected. Local storage,
| local vision recognition of people/pets/vehicles, an app with
| push notifications. Maybe a little rough around the edges but
| for a non-cloud device it's pretty darn good.
|
| We got the Duo Floodlight PoE for reference.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| I have a whole bunch of brands. I wrote ONVIF stuff, some
| years back. I gave up on it, as the spec sucks.
|
| Hikvision has probably been the best "all-around" camera, but
| they may be subject to import restrictions.
|
| Axis is very good (but un-cheap). Bosch is crappy (and also
| un-cheap).
|
| I have a Dahua, which is quite good. I also have a pretty
| good Panasonic.
|
| Funnily enough, probably the most reliable camera that I
| have, is also the cheapest. It's a $40 FLIR "eyeball" camera
| (not an IR camera -it's an OEM Chinese camera that several
| manufacturers rebrand).
|
| A bunch of my cameras are obviously just rebrands of the same
| cheap crap. The software is abominable.
| infogulch wrote:
| Also very interested in PoE cameras with open source firmware.
| Most of these seem to be wifi + power cable; I figure if I'm
| running a cable anyway it might as well be a data cable. Maybe
| wifi is easier to set up a couple devices, but once you get to
| 5+ cameras PoE is worth.
| formerly_proven wrote:
| > Cost isn't a factor, I need something reliable.
|
| Don't consider at all: All non-OEM Chinese stuff (1 trillion
| brands, way too many to list, including the usual consumer
| garbage that you might find in a store like Reolink etc.)
|
| Consider if cost turns out to be a factor: The two major
| Chinese OEMs, Hikvision and Dahua.
|
| Note: All Chinese OEMs are obviously implicated in the Chinese
| surveillance state. Obviously. A lot of "major" brands are
| OEMed by these two, even ones you might not expect. For
| example, much of Panasonic stuff is rebadged Dahua. Basically
| 90% of any CCTV camera Made in China comes from either Dahua or
| Hik, the lesser brands just mostly get (or rather, choose) the
| bargain-bin hardware with monkey-model firmware and of course
| no FW updates ever.
|
| If cost really isn't a factor: Bosch, Axis, Dallmeier, Mobotix
|
| Note: Most of these you cannot buy directly, and the vendor
| won't talk to you.
|
| > What's the best, in terms of open source support and
| reliability?
|
| These are found at completely opposite ends of the spectrum.
| All good CCTVs cameras use signed and more-or-less well
| encrypted firmware, even cross-flashing isn't much of a thing.
| some_random wrote:
| Hikvision and Dahua make a lot of cameras but I wouldn't call
| them the major OEMs, that would probably Ingenic, Goke,
| HiSilicon, uhhh Sigmastar, probably others I can't recall. If
| you're looking for one outside the PRC, Novatek is based in
| Taiwan.
| fullstop wrote:
| Doesn't Ingenic just make the SoC? For example, Wyze cams
| use an Ingenic T20, as do a lot of no-name cameras.
| cchance wrote:
| I feel like a few of those are SoC and not actual cameras
| starky wrote:
| This is pretty much exactly wrong. Dahua and Hikvision are
| by far the largest OEMs in the industry. The other
| companies you list are SoC vendors only.
| FuriouslyAdrift wrote:
| I've worked with Mobotix cameras before and they are
| fantastic... also about $3500.
|
| Usually we go for Geovision (still around $300 - $800) or
| Axis (little higher).
| _0xdd wrote:
| I think it's worth mentioning that, if you can, set these IP
| cameras up on a separate VLAN that doesn't have internet
| access (or access to the rest of your network), run an open
| source PVR, and use firewall rules to allow the PVR to access
| the local streams on the IP camera VLAN. I _think_ this
| mitigates much of the risk of using Chinese OEM cameras.
| scottlamb wrote:
| > I _think_ this mitigates much of the risk of using
| Chinese OEM cameras.
|
| I see two major problems buying from these companies.
|
| The first is the practical risk that they will deliberately
| spy on you or just (through poor software quality) make it
| possible for others to do so. And yeah, putting them in a
| (V)LAN that can't access the Internet seems more or less
| sufficient. In theory they could exploit your browser in
| some way but I don't worry about this too much.
|
| The second is the moral injury from buying from a company
| that actively participates in the Uyghur genocide. Not just
| "making cameras that the Chinese government buys through a
| retailer" but "writing software specifically to identify
| Uyghur ethnic feaures" [1] and/or "contracting with the
| Chinese government to install cameras at internment camps".
| [2] And there's no simply VLAN configuration that will wipe
| the blood off your hands.
|
| They're nice cameras especially for the price, and I still
| use some I bought before I knew about this, but I can't
| bring myself to buy more or recommend others do so.
|
| fwiw, I'm not aware of any evidence Reolink has
| participated in this, despite being a Chinese company. I
| try to stay away from Dahua, Hikvision, and Uniview, which
| is harder to do than it sounds because they make cameras
| sold under many brand names.
|
| [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/world/chinese-tech-
| patents-t...
|
| [2] https://ipvm.com/reports/hikvision-targeted
| some_random wrote:
| I really like Ubiquiti but they're pricey and to get the full
| value you really need to be running their network gear too.
| rpcope1 wrote:
| Some Reolink PoE cameras are OK, though a lot of people don't
| like them. Otherwise I would be looking for Axis (probably one
| of the best choices) or Dahua gear. Depending on how crazy you
| want to get, there are some vendors that make really excellent
| cameras like Costar/CohuHD, but be prepared to probably pay big
| dollars (and a lot of their stuff like my PTZ are huge
| cameras).
| johnbellone wrote:
| I have a friend with quite a large Reolink set up and he
| swears by them. I've been looking at them to replace my aging
| Ring outdoor cameras. Big downside for me is having to run a
| bridge for Home Kit integration.
| geophph wrote:
| Seems this comment thread is now its own cereal aisle
| akerl_ wrote:
| Axis.
|
| I have 5 outdoor and 6 indoor cameras. They all support PoE
| power; for some of the internal ones I'm using PoE, others I
| got an injector & wifi dongle.
|
| They'll talk to basically anything, the outdoor ones have
| handled several years of every possible kind of weather. I had
| one camera that died a week after it arrived; the RMA process
| w/ Axis was smooth and easy.
|
| Their support windows are what you'd expect from a company
| whose primary customer base is commercial rather than consumer:
| IIRC they emailed me a year or two ago to warn me that they'll
| no longer be shipping software updates for my outdoor cams
| starting in 2030.
| miiiiiike wrote:
| Thanks, Axis looks promising.
| EvanAnderson wrote:
| I'll second Axis. If you have the budget they are the best
| general Io cameras you can get. You also get root access on
| the OS (which is Linux-based).
| pbasista wrote:
| This seems nice. But if I am looking correctly, it does not
| support the devices from the mainstream brands like Hikvision.
|
| I am unaware of how good those typical $20 cameras are. Maybe
| they are decent. But for instance some of the Hikvision ones with
| 8MP sensors support 4K@25 fps.
|
| I think that it would be great if there would be an open source
| firmware for higher-end cameras like those.
| wltechblog wrote:
| Thingino doesn't support cams with ARM processors, we only
| support the chips made by Ingenic (which are a MIPS superset
| they call Xburst). We have a number of 4 megapixel (not 4k)
| devices we support, and are in the process of adding support
| for the next generation of Ingenic chips (Xburst2) which will
| bring up support for 8 megapixel (4k) devices.
|
| We're also focused mostly on the less expensive models, because
| they're obviously within reach for a lot more folks but also
| they're almost always subsidized by the expectation that a
| discounted purchase price is made up for by the vendor's cloud
| subscription. You can get a LOT of great camera models for a
| low price.
|
| I will say that there is a story about Hikvision that would
| likely steer most folks away from their brand.. it's bad enough
| that Google won't index it... With that said, I don't believe
| anyone should be trusting any third party with their video data
| in the first place...
| pbasista wrote:
| > I don't believe anyone should be trusting any third party
| with their video data in the first place
|
| Of course. No one is suggesting that storing _video data_
| from cameras in a cloud system over which the owner has no
| oversight and no control is reasonable.
|
| I was mostly interested in what kind of image quality can an
| end user expect to get from a camera with open source
| firmware.
|
| The mainstream brands like Hikvision had cameras with 4K@25
| fps capabilities several years ago. And if I understand what
| you have written in your message correctly, the Thingino may
| possibly, start supporting similar cameras sometimes in the
| future. Which is great. But it does not support them now.
|
| I fully understand that the focus is on the mass market where
| the devices are cheap. It makes sense. It is reasonable.
|
| But it is also necessary, in my opinion, to fully openly
| acknowledge that there indeed is a fairly broad gap in
| capabilities of what you can get with this kind of firmware
| when compared to the mainstream offerings.
| wltechblog wrote:
| Indeed we don't have that 4k yet but we've got a lot of 3k
| options and 4k coming soon. We're 100 transparent about
| which devices we support, the full list including photos
| and specs is on our homepage, there's not much room for
| confusion there.
| infogulch wrote:
| Does this firmware work with open source camera recorders ("NVR")
| like Shinobi [1], Frigate [2], ZoneMinder [3], etc?
|
| [1]: https://shinobi.video/ [2]: https://frigate.video/ [3]:
| https://zoneminder.com/
| baby_souffle wrote:
| Yes. I have a few of these cameras all pointed to a frigate
| instance.
|
| This firmware offers a variety of protocols so basically
| anything designed for viewing streaming video should just work
| boredemployee wrote:
| tangentially, does anyone know of any open-source and reliable
| implementations of the "AI" algorithms used in those expensive
| cameras? I'm looking to use features like face recognition,
| people counting, and similar capabilities, but with my own
| hardware and regular cameras. someone said to "avoid at all costs
| yolo" so i'm looking for alternatives
| asdefghyk wrote:
| I would post this if to IPVM ( IPvm.com ) if I had not been
| kicked out, because I did not have a company email address ...
| KyleBerezin wrote:
| I actually tried this before and it led nowhere. The list of
| supported hardware is specifically referring to the SoC, not a
| brand or anything. It can be very hard determining which physical
| cameras have which chips. On top of that, despite the name, most
| of the supported devices seem to be for webcams, and not chips
| used in modern off-the-shelf IP cameras. I really wish there was
| a ground up guide that used an obtainable, normal camera.
| wltechblog wrote:
| You might have better luck with the Thingino project, we target
| specific devices.
| KyleBerezin wrote:
| This looks great! Do a PoE outdoor camera! I'll keep an eye
| on your project, maybe I will find some time to contribute.
| baby_souffle wrote:
| When I last looked into a PTZ capable outdoor camera, the
| best advice was that I can probably get a supported camera
| module but I would have to source my own enclosure, lenses
| and everything else. There are standard dimensions for
| lenses and mount points ...etc but it was not going to be a
| straightforward thing that I could bang out in a weekend.
| fock wrote:
| looking at the russian sponsors linked on the russian site I
| suppose this is mostly for the people putting these things on
| drones or in trenches... I suppose they obtain their cameras
| somewhere...
| codr7 wrote:
| Sounds promising but soldering electronics is pretty far outside
| of my comfort zone, think I'm going to let this marinate for a
| while.
| jtchang wrote:
| A number of years back I got bored during covid and decided to
| reverse engineer as much of the Wyze Cam V2 camera I could and
| make some custom firmware for it. Right now that lives at
| https://github.com/openmiko/openmiko
|
| That said it's really hard to make long term supportable open
| source camera software/firmware. And when picking cameras it is
| even harder because the market as it stands now does not let you
| have it all. You need to pick what facets you really care about.
|
| Also keep in mind even the above code is not really opensource
| all the way: I still had to load the driver binaries. Not sure
| that source will ever be released. The kernel is also old as
| heck.
|
| What I do feel good about though is saving these old cameras from
| the dumpster if Wyze ever stops supporting them. The firmware
| works for simple cases: just load it up and you can start
| curl'ing frames. I used it in scripts to put together timelapse
| videos with ffmpeg. No need to screw around with authentication,
| phones apps, email, etc.
| dang wrote:
| Related:
|
| _Show HN: WFB-ng - long range high speed link for drones and
| robotics_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41293934 - Aug
| 2024 (3 comments)
|
| _Thingino: Camera firmware derived from OpenIPC focused on the
| Ingenic SoC_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40261046 -
| May 2024 (2 comments)
|
| _OpenIPC is an alternative open firmware for your IP camera_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39571025 - March 2024 (70
| comments)
|
| _OpenIPC: Alternative open firmware for your IP camera_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37812217 - Oct 2023 (59
| comments)
|
| _OpenIPC: Alternative open firmware for your IP camera_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35975383 - May 2023 (1
| comment)
| illwrks wrote:
| Somewhat related... I have an old dead Wi-Fi camera, it was
| always buggy but was useful when it worked initially.
|
| With a spare raspberry pi kicking around, I've put together a
| better solution using Motion, a Webcam, iNotify and a Dropbox
| uploader script. It works like a charm, after a powerloss etc the
| pi boots up, starts Motion and then starts watching for events,
| motion triggers and saves video clips to a folder, iNotify
| watches for new files saved and then uploads to Dropbox.
| MostlyStable wrote:
| I recently got a FOSCAM 3k wifi camera. It supports the RTSP
| stream standard and CGIProxy commands over http. After the
| initial setup (mostly just providing it with your network
| details), you never need to use the official app or cloud
| anything and it can be restricted to only your LAN with router
| firewall rules. This is, at least for me, a "good enough"
| solution that is not dependent on any cloud infrastructure and
| can be integrated, completely locally, with whatever services you
| want.
| cyanydeez wrote:
| Seems like figuring out the SoC is the hard part.
| geophph wrote:
| would love to see something like this for ycam homemonitor
| products
| TheMagicHorsey wrote:
| The licensing on this project is wonky. They have an MIT license,
| but then they say you can't use the software for commercial
| purposes without contacting them. That's in contradiction to an
| MIT license. An MIT license is basically "use it for anything".
| If you don't want that, then use some kind of "copyleft" license
| for non-commercial users, and specify separate commercial terms
| for users who want to keep closed source with their
| modifications.
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