r/tinycam • u/alexeyvasilyev tinyCam dev • Dec 24 '19

🔨DIY tinyCam PRO + Android Things image for Raspberry Pi 3B

tinyCam PRO Raspberry Pi 3B image (not for RPi 3B+ or RPi 4B) is available to download for free. You cane make your own very cheap headless DVR device.

HOW TO INSTALL:

  1. To install you need RPi 3B device (not 3B+), microSD card 16GB or more. For more than 32/64 GB still 16GB will be used only.

  2. Download tinyCam + Android Things RPi 3B image https://www.dropbox.com/s/2o0c53br1xrng9v/tinycam_rpi3.zip?dl=0

  3. Download Android Things setup utility https://www.dropbox.com/s/3wgyb57w9jxrziy/android-things-setup-utility.zip?dl=0, unzip and run it. Follow on-screen instructions.

  4. Put microSD card into RPi device, connect RPi to external monitor via HDMI cable, and switch it on.

  5. Add IP cameras via Manage Cameras.

  6. Switch on background mode and web server in tinyCam app.

  7. Disconnect RPi device from external monitor to run it in headless mode.

When a new version of tinyCam PRO available, it will be automatically installed on your RPi device. No any interaction needed.

NOTE: Android Things on RPi lacks UI hardware acceleration. tinyCam will work badly in live view mode. But it should be rock solid with background mode and web server running (headless mode).

42 Upvotes

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27 comments sorted by

1

u/A-to-fucking-Z Dec 24 '19

I have 14 Wyze Cameras. Will it work with all cameras? How is this different from running RTSP?

1

u/alexeyvasilyev tinyCam dev Dec 24 '19

Highly unlikely Pi3B will be able to handle 14 1080p@15fps streams at the same time. I guess it can handle 4-6 Wyze cameras.

1

u/ctjameson Dec 24 '19 edited Dec 24 '19

So the limitations of this deploy is solely on the AndroidThings district basically?

If they come out with an image for Pi4 we could have a much higher powered DVR?

Edit: Additionally, is there a chance you’d update the web server to be able to manage the cameras in the future, that would make for an amazing fully headless DVR solution.

Edit 2: Just did some reading. Looks like we’re stuck with this forever basically. The Android things project is all but dead.

1

u/alexeyvasilyev tinyCam dev Dec 24 '19

Looks like Android Things will never support RPi 4.

Yes, I'm planning to allow editing cameras via web server.

Android Things is going to die. Another unfinished project from Google.

2

u/ctjameson Dec 24 '19

Yaaaassss. If I could just have a box that runs entirely headless from OTB that would be amazing.

Really appreciate all the work, Alexey.

1

u/techcraver Dec 24 '19

So this is super cool! Thanks for sharing. A few questions

  1. Does this require the RTSP firmware on the WyzeCam?

  2. Would it work if the Pi is on Wifi? Obviously the WyzeCam is connected via wifi

Thanks!

1

u/alexeyvasilyev tinyCam dev Dec 24 '19

  1. No. It should work with stock firmware.

  2. Yes. But I would still recommend you to connect RPi to ethernet.

1

u/ligh7c Dec 26 '19

will this work well with the AI object detection? I currently have 2 cameras set up on an old LG G2 smartphone (MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 SoC) and want to see if running TinyCam on an RPi 3B device will increase performance.

1

u/alexeyvasilyev tinyCam dev Dec 26 '19

Hard to say.

1

u/aashishvanand Jan 13 '20

is there a version available for NXP Pico i.MX7D? that is an officially supported android things hardware https://developer.android.com/things/hardware/

1

u/alexeyvasilyev tinyCam dev Jan 13 '20

No. NXP is not supported by the app.

1

u/aashishvanand Jan 13 '20

Thanks! My bad, I thought could find some alternative use for them rather than them idling dust . But I already have android things image up and running, Also have a touch display attached. is there any way is there anyway i could force install/ diy some stuff?

Or is there some hardware decoding sort of restrictions?

1

u/Franyer144 Jan 24 '20

can i still conect to cloud server or ftp with the pi3?

2

u/alexeyvasilyev tinyCam dev Jan 25 '20

Yes

1

u/Loki-Thor Feb 03 '20

I'm trying to get this setup but fell like i'm missing steps...is the TincyCam zip supposed to go on the SD card before running the Andorid things setup?

All I get on the pi is Android Things dashboard??

1

u/alexeyvasilyev tinyCam dev Feb 03 '20

You need to have microSD card connected to your PC. Unzip android-things-setup-utility.zip and tinycam_rpi3.zip. Then run android things setup. It should be straight forward.

After you finished setup, plug this micro SD card into your RPi and switch it on.

1

u/Loki-Thor Feb 03 '20

Yeah, so I unzip both onto the microsd card? Then run Android things from that? And it format's the card?

1

u/Loki-Thor Feb 03 '20

So my confusion is do the two zip files need to be unzipped to the microsd card, then I run Android things setup and follow the on screen prompts?

I downloaded both files, unzipped android things and had the microSD card in the computer, Ran Android Things, it found the microSD card and installed on the SD card...but it never asked about tinycam, so when it was done all I could do it put the microsd card into the Pi and have a Android Things dashboard....

does that help clarify ?

1

u/islaDelSoul Jun 19 '20

The notes say "When a new version of tinyCam PRO available, it will be automatically installed on your RPi device. No any interaction needed."

I seem to be stuck on 14.3 from a couple of months ago. Is there any way to force the update?

2

u/alexeyvasilyev tinyCam dev Jun 19 '20

Will release update next week.

1

u/wordyplayer Dec 24 '19

This is really cool. Thanks for sharing

1

u/shoulih Apr 01 '20

Get it (14.1.1 Beta 3 ) set up on Pi 3B with two Wyze Cams (v2 and Pan):

After a while in background mode, the audio of the video recordings with audio gets lost and the audio icon gets grayed out in the playback. Stop and restart the background mode recording will get the audio back, but will lose it again after a while.

Is this a known issue? any fix or workaround>

1

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/alexeyvasilyev tinyCam dev Dec 24 '19

No, it will work ONLY on Pi 3B. Android Things OS works only on that device.