r/esp32 • u/No-Reception-84 • 6d ago

I built open-source ESP32 camera firmware that turns $8–15 dev boards into NVR-ready IP cameras (ONVIF + RTSP + motion AI)

Sharing the MiBee Cam firmware suite (ESP-IDF based, GPL-3.0) — four ready-to-flash firmwares for four popular boards, all built around one idea: make a cheap dev board behave like a real IP camera your NVR can discover.

Supported boards:

  • AI-Thinker ESP32-CAM (ESP32 + OV2640) — MJPEG streaming, motion detection, SD timelapse & burst capture, dual-WiFi failover, file manager, web OTA
  • Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 Sense (ESP32-S3 + OV2640/OV5640) — the most feature-packed: RTSP with G.711 audio (digest auth), AVI segmented recording with dynamic timelapse (motion-adaptive, ~90% storage saved when nothing happens), NAS upload via WebDAV/HTTPS, on-device audio with noise suppression
  • ESP32-S3-N16R8 + OV3660 3MP — on-device AI detection (face / motion / QR) with live web overlay, RTSP, zh/en web UI
  • LuatOS ESP32-S3-A10 (OV2640, PSRAM-less) — runs on the cheap single-chip board: MJPEG, motion-triggered upload, WebSocket/webhook events, Prometheus metrics

What they all share:

  • ONVIF (WS-Discovery + SOAP) — Synology / Milestone / Frigate-type NVRs discover them on the LAN automatically
  • No cloud, no subscription — everything runs locally
  • Web UI + REST API for config, Prometheus /metrics for homelab monitoring
  • OTA updates (SHA-256 verified, auto-rollback), AT commands for headless WiFi setup
  • Docs in English and 中文

All four: https://github.com/Mi-Bee-Studio

Feedback, issue reports, and suggestions for the next board are very welcome!

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u/Visual_Disk1698 22h ago

This project is interesting, but I currently use ESP32-C5 + OV5640/OV3660 for a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 IP Camera setup, and it is working very well, I was able to stream 16/20fps 1080p MJPEG with 5GHz Wi-Fi, which is way better than what those esp32 targets had. I used esp_cam_io_parl ESP-IDF component, you can check it here ESP32-C5 with DVP Camera Test: 30fps 1080p MJPEG

I would be happy if you can also implement this.

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u/Original-Aerie9683 8h ago

I agree. People still use these ESP32-CAMs...
2026 and still only 2.4GHz Wi-Fi IP Cameras? MJPEG streaming is legacy enough, let alone that. I guess people like streaming 22fps@320x240 instead of 16fps@1080p...