tinyCam PRO free image for Raspberry Pi 3B

alexvas

tinyCam Developer
Joined
Sep 12, 2015
Messages
222
Reaction score
199
tinyCam PRO running as DVR on Raspberry Pi 3B (not for 3B+) on Android Things OS. Very cheap headless DVR device.


IMG_20191224_112332.jpg
tinyCam PRO + RPi 3B headless setup


LIVE DEMO (tinyCam PRO + RPi 3B):

Username: demo
Password: demo

Wyze Pan camera on that server writes to microSD card on motion if person or pet detected (object detection done on 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 tinycam_rpi3.zip
  3. Download Android Things setup utility android-things-setup-utility.zip, 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.
IMG_20191224_110051.jpg
tinyCam PRO and RPi 3B connected to external monitor


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).
 
Last edited:

pbc

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
156
Hi Alexey, just emailed you, didn't realize you had a subforum on this site. Trying to use an Android box I had lying around to act as a webserver with nothing else installed on it. Details on it below.

Was working fine with 3 cameras for a while, but now am getting 503 Video errors intermittently until the app crashes.

Wondering if the Pi 3 would be a good device to act as a dedicated web server for say 7 cameras instead of this box, or are there settings I should be looking at to improve performance? Not sure if the Pi 4 is running Tinycam as of yet.


Beelink Mini Mx III Specs

Amlogic S905X
Amlogic S905X is a low cost version of Amlogic S905 with a lower operating frequency, built-in stereo DAC, integrated Ethernet PHY, 4K VP9 and HDR10 & HLG support.
DDR3 2GB RAM, eMMC 32GB Flash
Configure 2GB memory and 32GB of storage space, with smooth and responsive navigation and apps that launch quickly.
Dual Band WIFI
With support for 2.4Ghz and 5.8Ghz band, it can transmit higher amounts of data, and its naturally less congested.
1000M LAN
1000M LAN can improve the net speed and the performance to a large extent.
4K Resolution
The latest in a line of broadcast and media resolutions, 4K is due to replace 1080p as the highest-resolution signal available for in-home movies and television. With a minimum resolution of 3,840 pixels wide and 2,160 pixels high, making it the equivalent to two 1080p screens in height and two in length.
 

alexvas

tinyCam Developer
Joined
Sep 12, 2015
Messages
222
Reaction score
199
tinyCam uses Android Things OS for RPi3 which works only on RPi 3B. No any support for RPi 3B+ or 4B.
I think tinyCam+RPi3B can handle 4 cameras (record on motion switched on for all of them). Probably it can handle 7 cameras but all of them should be in substream mode.

P.S. Can you submit report on app crash? Or just send me logs right after the app crashed in app Settings - Developer Settings - Read App Logs.
 

pbc

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
156
Hmmm...rebooted the android box this morning and ensured the stream was set to sub. The Beelink seems to be handling all 7 cameras on a webserver relatively well now. I am not using it to record motion at all so maybe that is helping keep the processing power down.
 

pbc

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
156
Maybe I'll try turning on background mode at some point just to see if the box can handle it at all, assuming a 32gb drive is enough for it. Assume I can set it to just record events on a few of the cameras vs all?
 

pbc

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
156
Alexey...if I'm just using the box as a webserver (not recording, etc), is it recommended to put it into background mode? I basically am simply using it to drive some tiles on a tablet I'm using for automation, so don't need much running on the box itself, picture below. Using this command in the sharptools.io interface .

Also, is hardware or software acceleration recommended?

IMG_20191227_095940 (1).jpg
 

alexvas

tinyCam Developer
Joined
Sep 12, 2015
Messages
222
Reaction score
199
Well, if you are using web server it is already in background.
If you are talking about background mode, then no. Background mode is designed only for background motion detection and background recording. Not your case.

Regarding HW or SW decoder. It is hard to say which is better for you. Just check both in live view and see which one generates less CPU usage.
 

pbc

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
156
Picked up a Pi 3 B on Kijiji. Going to give this little unit a try for fun. Hope it performs better as a webserver than the android box in any event!
 

pbc

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
156
tinyCam PRO running as DVR on Raspberry Pi 3B (not for 3B+) on Android Things OS. Very cheap headless DVR device.


View attachment 52829
tinyCam PRO + RPi 3B headless setup


LIVE DEMO (tinyCam PRO + RPi 3B):

Username: demo
Password: demo

Wyze Pan camera on that server writes to microSD card on motion if person or pet detected (object detection done on 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 tinycam_rpi3.zip
  3. Download Android Things setup utility android-things-setup-utility.zip, 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.
View attachment 52830
tinyCam PRO and RPi 3B connected to external monitor


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).
Alex, does one have to install noobs on the SD card, or literally just what you've noted above?

Also, in step 2 you don't say what to do with the tinycam_rpi3.zip. Do I extract that on to the SD CARD after installing the android things image?
 
Last edited:

pbc

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
156
So when I download android things and image the 16gb card, when I then extract the tincam file onto the card it tells me it needs 15.9gb free to do so?
 

alexvas

tinyCam Developer
Joined
Sep 12, 2015
Messages
222
Reaction score
199
You need to extract tinycam_rpi3.zip on your local PC storage, not to SD card. Then run android-thing~utility binary (you need to extract it as well) and specify path to iot_rpi3.img
 

pbc

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
156
After extracting the tinycam zip to my PC, do I do anything with it to get it onto the raspberry pi?
 

pbc

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
156
Managed to get it running finally. Do you have any recommendations on recording settings (e.g., 10 min cut by duration and 100mb cut by size ok), and or other settings you would recommend to ensure the unit is working best outside of background mode?
 

pbc

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
156
Strangely I'm getting way more dropped frames with the Raspberry Pi than I was with the Beelink device. Hmm..
 

Pavel-V

Young grasshopper
Joined
Oct 2, 2019
Messages
32
Reaction score
12
Location
Czech Republic
Hallo, I would like to use the solution only as surveillance monitor to oversee ten RTSP streams from Ubiquity Video NVR (low resolution 640x360). The device will be connected to HDMI TV.

Now I am considering options. Originaly I was going for Rapsberry with linux (a lot of work and some troubleshooting). Than I considered android box with TinyCam Pro from Google Play installed (pretty decent and easy solution). And now I see this Android Things OS running on Rapsberry.

Might this solution including Rapsberry running Android Things bring some advantages over the Android Box? On place of android box I might use Android TV insted. In my case the concern is only LiveView.

Thank you for response.
 

MrBike

n3wb
Joined
Jun 13, 2020
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Location
Switzerland
Hello,
I've successfully set up TinyCam Pro (now in 14.3 version) on my Raspi 3B to have my single cam record in background mode to my Onedrive account on motion detection (Persons only). This initially worked great but after a while the OneDrive account got unlinked. When clicking on "unlinked" it would link once again but recording was spotty henceforth. despite background mode being set at startup, power outages provoked the same behavior: an unlinked account.
Manually unlinking and re-linking the account did not improve reliability. Is there a way to make the cloud link permanent so it will survive a power loss?
any help appreciated.
 

pbc

Getting comfortable
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
1,024
Reaction score
156
Alex seems to be MIA, and the raspberry demo is no longer working.

I'm having zero success with the Pi, even with just two cameras enabled. Simply trying to use it as a webserver to my sharptools.io dashboard tiles, at best maybe both cameras work for a few hours, then only 1 works, sometimes none.
 
Top