Integration with HomeBridge/HomeKit

[cat2devnull_162239480881385]

Hi all,

Trying to bring my Reolink cameras into HomeKit via HomeBridge using the Homebridge Camera FFmpeg plugin. Unfortunately I can't seem to get the live video feed to work (stills work fine).
According to the logs, HomeBridge is performing the video transcode but the HomeKit end devices just will not display the stream.
I've tried both the RLC-410 and RLC-420 cameras without success.
Has anyone got this working?

If I disable libx264 transcoding and just pass the raw h.264 stream from the camera to HomeKit then it does work.

My config is pretty default.

            "name": "Camera FFmpeg",
            "interfaceName": "en0",
            "cameras": [
                {
                    "name": "Retreat",
                    "model": "RLC-410",
                    "serialNumber": "ec:71:db:e5:44:8b",
                    "videoConfig": {
                        "source": "-i rtsp://xxx:xxx@192.168.178.142:554/h264Preview_01_main",
                        "stillImageSource": "-i http://192.168.178.142:80/cgi-bin/api.cgi?cmd=Snap&channel=0&user=xxx&password=xxx",
                        "audio": true,
                        "debug": true
                    }
                }
            ],
            "platform": "Camera-ffmpeg"

Screen-Shot-2020-08-14-at-3.48.36-pm.jpg

[Cynthia_124785627824270]

Hi,
Thank you very much for your test! Currently, our camera only supports Google Home and Alexa. We have not been tested for compatibility with Homekit. But we will collect customers’ needs and forward them to R&D team and let them arrange the plan in time!

[cat2devnull_162239480881385]

Hi,
Currently, our camera only supports Google Home and Alexa. We have not been tested for compatibility with Homekit. But we will collect customers' needs and forward them to R&D team and let them arrange the plan in time!

Hi Cynthia,
From the outside it appears that Reolink has some really talented hardware engineers but their software team is significantly under resourced.
HomeKit was released 6 years ago and support isn't even on your development roadmap yet, I don't think it is realistic for your customers to expect it will ever be supported within the lifetime of the products they own.
Given that your software still requires Flash which was deprecated in favour of HTML5 in 2014 and went EOL in 2017, I think you have other priorities that will consume your organisations software team bandwidth for the foreseeable future.
I understand that HomeKit support does have some significant software/security requirements. Maybe rather than putting it off indefinitely you could investigate HomeBridge support which is much easier (should take <10min to setup in a lab) and will solve the problem for your customers who are motivated to integrate Reolink products into the apple ecosystem.
While we are on the integration topic. Is there any way to reach the raw streams of cameras that are sitting behind a NVR?
This needs to be possible in order to avoid having to purchase a second PoE switch to run the cameras. Maybe it would be possible to setup a simple port forward arrangement in the NVR NAT table.
Eg if the NVR is on 10.0.0.2 each camera could be available on an incremental port;
camera xx - rtsp://10.0.0.2:554xx/h264Preview_01_main

camera 01 - rtsp://10.0.0.2:55401/h264Preview_01_main
camera 02 - rtsp://10.0.0.2:55402/h264Preview_01_main
                      """
camera 16 - rtsp://10.0.0.2:55416/h264Preview_01_main

Or if we want to think outside the box, Reolink could add HomeBridge to their NVR. Now that really would be something amazing.

[daniel_186379744329898]

While we are on the integration topic. Is there any way to reach the raw streams of cameras that are sitting behind a NVR?

Any luck with this? I posted a new forum post regarding this.
https://reolink.com/topic/third-party-camera-feed-access-though-nvr/

[Mike_295325442285788]

Why not just pass the raw stream then? Any particular reason to transcode it?[br][/br]
Also, have you tried capturing the live transcoded video and analyzing it? Chances are there may be something about the 264 stream that is either unusual that prevents a successful transcode using default settings, or the transcoding process itself is causing a malformation of the data in some way that is preventing Homekit devices from understanding it.[br][/br]
Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Reolink hardware utilizes some kind of "watchdog" which monitors the live stream and ensures that frames are delivered within a certain tight time constraint. If the stream breaks this time constraint, I believe the stream is dropped and then re-established. It's possible that the transcoding process is taking up just enough time to exceed this time constraint, causing the stream to drop.[br][/br]
Just some ideas, I've just recently started working with the Reolink hardware myself, so I'm no expert.[br][/br]
I'm all for finding a way to make it work with HomeKit. I know quite a few people that Reolink could pick up as customers if HomeKit compatibility could be established.[br][/br]
As a side note, adorable cat.

[cat2devnull_162239480881385]

Why not just pass the raw stream then? Any particular reason to transcode it?[/quote]

If I don't transcode (add to the config "vcodec": "copy") then everything works but the camera dumps a 7Mbps steam that overloads the 3G/4G link to my mobile if I check the camera feed remotely. And yes I can configure the camera to output a lower res, compressed stream but I am also pulling this into an NVR to record and review later so I want that at full quality. I don't believe that there is anyway to ask the camera for a specific res stream.

[quote quote=1060999]Also, have you tried capturing the live transcoded video and analyzing it? Chances are there may be something about the 264 stream that is either unusual that prevents a successful transcode using default settings, or the transcoding process itself is causing a malformation of the data in some way that is preventing Homekit devices from understanding it.[/quote]

Yep, I haven't found a good way to do it and the issue is that any player (eg VLC) that I push the steam into is most likely to be more tolerant and will play what HomeKit can't so I doubt I will learn anything useful.
The plugin seems to be working well for everyone else so begs the question, is there something broken about Reolink's h264 implementation.
If you are interested, I'm also trying to debug this fault with the HomeBridge Camera FFmpeg plugin author over on GitHub.

[quote quote=1060999]Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Reolink hardware utilizes some kind of ”watchdog” which monitors the live stream and ensures that frames are delivered within a certain tight time constraint. If the stream breaks this time constraint, I believe the stream is dropped and then re-established. It's possible that the transcoding process is taking up just enough time to exceed this time constraint, causing the stream to drop. [/quote]

I can't speak to this as it's outside my understanding. I can confirm via tcpdump that the stream is pouring in, being transcoded and sent out again. It's just as though HomeKit isn't either receiving the stream or doesn't understand it.

[quote quote=1060999]I'm all for finding a way to make it work with HomeKit. I know quite a few people that Reolink could pick up as customers if HomeKit compatibility could be established. As a side note, adorable cat.

Agreed and agreed.

[Cynthia_124785627824270]

We really appreciate your efforts. We will also forward this problem to our R&D team. If you have any progress, we will be glad to know. Thank you very much!
You can also contact us on the website https://reolink.com/

[Mike_295325442285788]

My best bet is that Reolink's implementation is not exactly standards compliant. I'll have to grab the raw stream and run it through an analysis for anything out of the ordinary.

[Cynthia_124785627824270]

I have answered your questions on your post, please check whether it is helpful for you.

[cat2devnull_162239480881385]

Hi Cynthia,
I think you missed the point of Daniel's post.
He was interested in connecting to the camera feed via 3rd party software when it is connected into the NVR directly.
That saves the need for a second PoE switch.
As I mentioned above, it would require the NVR to map the ports through its NAT firewall.
You mentioned in August that you were talking to your R&D team about this. Any progress?

[daniel_186379744329898]

Hi Cynthia,
I think you missed the point of Daniel's post.
He was interested in connecting to the camera feed via 3rd party software when it is connected into the NVR directly.
That saves the need for a second PoE switch.
As I mentioned above, it would require the NVR to map the ports through its NAT firewall.
You mentioned in August that you were talking to your R&D team about this. Any progress?

Thanks! got it sorted. I posted in my thread.
https://reolink.com/topic/third-party-camera-feed-access-though-nvr/#post-1099634

[Cynthia_124785627824270]

Thank you very much for your feedback, but it seems that this problem is still relatively complicate. The R&D team is still studying.

[Cynthia_124785627824270]

Hello, since it is a complicated task, our enginners need some time to to evaluate and implement it.
Thank you in advance for your patience.

[cat2devnull_162239480881385]

Hello, since it is a complicated task, our enginners need some time to to evaluate and implement it.
Thank you in advance for your patience.

Don't worry, the feature already exists, it was just undocumented. Daniel managed to work it out.
See https://reolink.com/topic/third-party-camera-feed-access-though-nvr/

[vartaxe]

any news regarding apple homekit support? this would be so epic!

[adelante43_531461393580275]

any news regarding apple homekit support? this would be so epic!

Please....!!!!!