v1.5.t13

Added the ability change the video codec via the config file.

Changed the install script to now install the application in the /opt
directory and then symm link to /usr/bin. Doing this allowed me to
create a run script to start the application and enable the
OPENCV_VIDEOIO_DEBUG parameter for opencv. This should make it easier to
diagnose video-io issues with opencv.

Updated the README documentation with all of the changes done to the
application since v1.5.

README.md

@@ -33,41 +33,39 @@ recording_stream = rtsp://1.2.3.4:554/h264
 # this is the url to the main stream of the IP camera that will be used
 # to record footage.
 #
-output_dir = /path/to/footage/directory
+web_root = /var/www/html
 # this is the output directory that will be used to store recorded footage
-# from the camera. the file naming convention uses the current date for
+# from the cameras as well as the web interface for the application. it is
-# playlist files which points to hidden video clips taken from the camera.
+# recommended to leave it on the default value if using apache2 as the
+# http(s) server.
 #
-buff_dir = /tmp/ramdisk/cam_name
+buff_dir = /tmp
 # this application records small clips of the footage from the camera and
 # then stores them into this directory. any clips with motion detected in
-# them are moved to output_dir, if no motion they are deleted. highly
+# them are moved to web_root; if no motion is detected, they are deleted.
-# recommend to use a ramdisk tempfs for this since this directory is used
+# it is highly recommend to use a ramdisk tempfs for this since this
-# for lots of writes.
+# directory is used for large amounts of writes.
 #
-consec_threshold = 512
+cam_name = cam-1
-# motion is detected by comparing each frame in the camera feed for
+# this is the optional camera name parameter to identify the camera. this
-# differences in the pixels. this value determine how many consecutive
+# name will be used to form the directory structure in the web_root as
-# pixels need to different or how large the suspect object in motion
+# well as buff_dir. if not defined, the name of the config file will be
-# needs to be.
+# used.
 #
-block_threshold = 1024
+pix_thresh = 150
-# this value tells the application how many "lines" of pixels need to
+# this value tells the application how far different the pixels need to be
-# exceed consec_threshold before being considered motion.
+# before the pixels are actually considered different. think of this as
+# pixel diff sensitivity, the higher the value the lesser the sensitivity.
 #
-block_x = 64
+frame_gap = 10
-# this is the x coordinate size or horizontal size of a block of pixels
+# this value is used to tell the application how far in between frames to
-# that the application will use to detect the presents of motion.
+# check the pixel diffs for motion. the lower the value, the more frames
+# will be checked, however with that comes higher cpu usage.
 #
-block_y = 60
+img_thresh = 1024
-# this is the y coordinate size or vertical size of a block of pixels
+# this indicates how many pixels need to be different in between frame_gap
-# that the application will use to detect the presents of motion.
+# before it is considered motion. any video clips found with frames
-#
+# exceeding this value will be moved from buff_dir to web_root.
-duration = 60
-# this sets the internal timer used to reset to the detection loop and
-# then call post_cmd if it is defined. note: this time is extended if
-# motion was detected. this will also reload the config file so changes
-# to the settings will be applied without restarting the application.
 #
 post_cmd = move_the_ptz_camera.py
 # this an optional command to run after the internal timer duration has
@@ -75,35 +73,64 @@ post_cmd = move_the_ptz_camera.py
 # position of it's patrol pattern. note: the call to this command will be
 # delayed if motion was detected.
 #
+duration = 60
+# this sets the internal timer used to reset to the detection loop and
+# then call post_cmd if it is defined. this will also reload the config
+# file so changes to any settings will be applied without restarting the
+# application.
+#
 max_days = 15
 # this defines the maximum amount of days worth of video clips that is
-# allowed to be stored in the output_dir. whenever this limit is met,
+# allowed to be stored in the web_root. whenever this limit is met, the
-# the oldest day is deleted.
+# oldest day and all of it's associated video clips will be deleted.
+#
+max_clips = 30
+# this is the maximum amount of video clips that is allowed to be stored
+# in web_root per day. whenever this limit is met, the oldest clip is
+# deleted.
+#
+max_log_size = 50000
+# this is the maximum byte size of all log files that can be stored in
+# web_root. whenever this limit is met, the log file will be deleted and
+# then eventually recreated blank.
 #
 vid_container = mp4
-# this is the video file format to use from recording footage from the
+# this is the video file format to use for recording footage from the
 # camera. the format support depends entirely on the under laying ffmpeg
 # installation.
+#
+vid_codec = copy
+# this is the video codec to use when pulling footage from the camera
+# via ffmpeg. the default is "copy" meaning it will just match the codec
+# from the camera itself without trans-coding.
+#
+web_text = #dee5ee
+# this can be used to customize the color of the text in the web
+# interface. it can be defined as any color understood by html5 standard.
+#
+web_bg = #485564
+# this can be used to customize the background color of the web
+# interface. just like web_text, it also follows the html5 standard.
+#
+web_font = courier
+# this will customize the text font family to use in the web interface.
+# it is recommended to use mono-spaced font because this is also used to
+# display logs and logs are best displayed in mono-spaced font.
 ```
 
 ### Setup/Build/Install ###
 
 This application is currently only compatible with a Linux based operating
-systems that are capable of building and installing the opencv API from source.
+systems that are capable of installing opencv. The following 3 scripts make
-
+building and then installing convenient.
-The following 3 scripts make this convenient by downloading, compiling and then
-installing the opencv API for you directly from opencv's git repository. This
-also makes sure FFMPEG and all of it's dependencies are installed because this
-application needs it to work properly.
-
-```
-note 1: be sure to run setup.sh and install.sh as root (or use sudo).
-note 2: if building from scratch the following scripts will need to
-        be run in this order - setup.sh -> build.sh -> install.sh.
-```
 
 ```
 sh ./setup.sh <--- only need to run this once if compiling for the first
 sh ./build.sh      time or if upgrading from the ground up.
 sh ./install.sh
 ```
+```
+note 1: be sure to run setup.sh and install.sh as root (or use sudo).
+note 2: if building from scratch the following scripts will need to
+        be run in this order - setup.sh -> build.sh -> install.sh.
+```

build.sh

@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-
 mkdir -p ./.build-mow
 cd ./.build-mow
 cmake ..
 make -j4
-

install.sh

@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-
+if [ ! -d "/opt/mow" ]; then
-cp ./.build-mow/mow /usr/bin/mow
+  mkdir /opt/mow
+fi
+cp ./.build-mow/mow /opt/mow/bin
+printf "#!/bin/sh\n" > /opt/mow/run
+printf "export OPENCV_VIDEOIO_DEBUG=1\n" >> /opt/mow/run
+printf "/opt/mow/bin \$1 \$2 \$3\n" >> /opt/mow/run
+chmod +x /opt/mow/run
+chmod +x /opt/mow/bin
+rm /usr/bin/mow
+ln -s /opt/mow/run /usr/bin/mow

setup.sh

@@ -1,11 +1,28 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-
 apt update -y
 apt install -y pkg-config
-apt install -y cmake g++ wget unzip git ffmpeg gstreamer1.0* libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev libswscale-dev libgstreamer1.0-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev
+apt install -y cmake
-apt install -y x264 libx264-dev
+apt install -y make
-apt install -y libopencv-dev apache2
+apt install -y g++
+apt install -y wget
+apt install -y unzip
+apt install -y git
+apt install -y ffmpeg
+apt install -y gstreamer1.0*
+apt install -y libavcodec-dev
+apt install -y libavformat-dev
+apt install -y libavutil-dev
+apt install -y libswscale-dev
+apt install -y libgstreamer1.0-dev
+apt install -y x264
+apt install -y libx264-dev
+apt install -y libopencv-dev
+apt install -y apache2
 add-apt-repository -y ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
 apt update -y
-apt install -y gcc-10 gcc-10-base gcc-10-doc g++-10
+apt install -y gcc-10
-apt install -y libstdc++-10-dev libstdc++-10-doc
+apt install -y gcc-10-base
+apt install -y gcc-10-doc
+apt install -y g++-10
+apt install -y libstdc++-10-dev
+apt install -y libstdc++-10-doc

src/common.cpp

@@ -199,7 +199,9 @@ bool rdConf(shared_t *share)
         share->maxLogSize  = 50000;
         share->camName     = path(share->conf.c_str()).filename();
         share->webRoot     = "/var/www/html";
+        share->buffDir     = "/tmp";
         share->vidExt      = "mp4";
+        share->vidCodec    = "copy";
         share->recLoopWait = false;
         share->skipCmd     = false;
         share->webBg       = "#485564";
@@ -228,11 +230,13 @@ bool rdConf(shared_t *share)
                 rdLine("max_clips = ",        line, &share->maxClips);
                 rdLine("max_log_size = ",     line, &share->maxLogSize);
                 rdLine("vid_container = ",    line, &share->vidExt);
+                rdLine("vid_codec = ",        line, &share->vidCodec);
             }
 
         } while(!line.empty());
 
         share->outDir     = cleanDir(share->webRoot) + "/" + share->camName;
+        share->buffDir    = cleanDir(share->buffDir) + "/" + share->camName;
         share->recLogPath = share->outDir + "/rec_log_lines.html";
         share->detLogPath = share->outDir + "/det_log_lines.html";
 

src/common.h

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ using namespace cv;
 using namespace std;
 using namespace std::filesystem;
 
-#define APP_VER  "1.5.t12"
+#define APP_VER  "1.5.t13"
 #define APP_NAME "Motion Watch"
 
 struct shared_t
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ struct shared_t
     string   conf;
     string   buffDir;
     string   vidExt;
+    string   vidCodec;
     string   camName;
     string   webBg;
     string   webTxt;

src/main.cpp

@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ void recLoop(shared_t *share)
         auto bufPath = cleanDir(share->buffDir) + "/%03d." + share->vidExt;
         auto secs    = to_string(share->secs);
         auto limSecs = to_string(share->secs + 3);
-        auto cmd     = "timeout -k 1 " + limSecs + " ffmpeg -hide_banner -i " + share->recordUrl + " -y -vcodec copy -map 0 -segment_time 00:00:10 -f segment -t " + secs + " " + bufPath;
+        auto cmd     = "timeout -k 1 " + limSecs + " ffmpeg -hide_banner -i " + share->recordUrl + " -y -vcodec " + share->vidCodec + " -map 0 -segment_time 00:00:10 -f segment -t " + secs + " " + bufPath;
 
         thread th2(detectLoop, share);