RPi Camera 3 compatibility

[Firesphere]

Will MotionEye, in its current state, be compatible with the new RPi cam 3?
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/new-autofocus-camera-modules/

The new Camera Module 3 is only supported by the modern libcamera software environment and by the libcamera-based Picamera2 beta under Raspberry Pi OS Bullseye, and not by the legacy closed-source camera stack

[hotducker]

I just try RPI3b (MotionEyeOS) + RPI Camera 3, It's not work and still find the solution.

[gpambrozio]

I found a way to make it work with the current motioneye version on a pi zero w with the new camera module 3.

First, create a file named motion.sh in /home/pi:

#!/bin/bash

/usr/bin/libcamerify /usr/bin/motion $@

Now, edit your motioneye.conf file (should be in /etc/motioneye) and make sure that the line with motion_binary looks like this:

motion_binary /home/pi/motion.sh

Depending on your debian distribution you might have to also install libcamera-tools with sudo apt-get install libcamera-tools

Now restart motioneye and you can configure your camera as a local camera on /dev/video0

The information that led me to this solution was found here

[MidnightLink]

I found a way to make it work with the current motioneye version on a pi zero w with the new camera module 3.

First, create a file named motion.sh in /home/pi:

#!/bin/bash

/usr/bin/libcamerify /usr/bin/motion $@

Now, edit your motioneye.sh file (should be in /etc/motioneye) and make sure that the line with motion_binary looks like this:

motion_binary /home/pi/motion.sh

Now you can configure your camera as a local camera on /dev/video0

The information that led me to this solution was found here

I tried this but unfortunately it doesn't work. A couple things I've noticed, though.

motioneye.sh is actually motioneye.conf and the correct chmod permissions need to be given to the motion.sh

libcamera-tools has to be installed

I edited my camera-1.conf and changed the video device to /dev/video0 and when running libcamera-hello I'm getting a message that the device is in use...so it feels like it's close!

[gpambrozio]

@MidnightLink I edited my post to correct the file and add the libcamera-tools (I didn't need that as I have the latest debian and it already includes it).

I think your issue is that you can't be running libcamera-hello (or any other application that tries to use the camera) when you start motioneye

[johnm-w]

Now restart motioneye and you can configure your camera as a local camera on /dev/video0

Hi @gpambrozio - can you explain how to do this? In MotionEye, Add Camera, I select "Local V4L2 Camera" from the "Camera Type" dropdown, then it lists several options for "Camera". With the module 2 camera, I had to try each one until I found the one that worked, but I can't manually enter a device path.

Also, please can you let me know the exact OS you're running? I tried your fix on Buster & Bullseye with no luck (on an RPi4).

Thanks!

[gpambrozio]

Now restart motioneye and you can configure your camera as a local camera on /dev/video0

Hi @gpambrozio - can you explain how to do this? In MotionEye, Add Camera, I select "Local V4L2 Camera" from the "Camera Type" dropdown, then it lists several options for "Camera". With the module 2 camera, I had to try each one until I found the one that worked, but I can't manually enter a device path.

Best way might be to just pick any cameras, then shutdown motioneye and edit camera-1.conf (probably in /etc/motioneye) and make sure that the videodevice line is videodevice /dev/video0. The start motioneye again.

Also, please can you let me know the exact OS you're running? I tried your fix on Buster & Bullseye with no luck (on an RPi4).

Using bullseye on a pi zero w.

[MisterEmm]

Tried this earlier on a Pi 3B with the latest Bullseye release, fresh install of motioneye, followed the steps above and it works well, I can see the view from the camera via the web interface. For now it doesn't seem to want to let me make any changes, keeps saying "Refresh Recommended" if I try to change resolution or something. I can see the changes reflected in camera-1.conf but the display doesn't change. Will have another poke at it tomorrow, but grateful to have got this far thanks to the previous posts.

[johnm-w]

Thanks @gpambrozio - I have it working to a point now - I can see the camera's feed. Unfortunately:
I don't see all the camera's controls in the Video Device section (like I do with the camera module 2) and performance isn't great.

And like @MisterEmm , If I make any changes via the web app: "An error occurred. Refreshing is recommended." - but refreshing does appear to persist settings

I've also had very similar results running:

libcamera-vid -t 0 --inline -o - | cvlc stream:///dev/stdin --sout '#rtp{sdp=rtsp://:8554/stream1}' :demux=h264

(https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/camera_software.html#libcamera-vid)

Then adding the camera as a network camera in motioneye using:

rtsp://localhost:8554/stream1

then selecting the UDP option that appears.

Neither option seems as quite as good as when I'm using the v2 camera - but maybe I just need to experiment/tweak more. Or hopefully someone with the right skills can update motioneye.

Also, @gpambrozio please could you explain what your motion.sh script does?

[gpambrozio]

@johnm-w motion.sh is a wrapper to make motion use libcamerify as described in this document. Without that /dev/video0 doesn't work as motion expects it.

I tried just changing motion_binary to libcamerify motion but that doesn't work so I created this simple script to trick motioneye.

[ReneMuetti]

I have proceeded according to these instructions. The camera can now be integrated into MotionEye and a picture is displayed.
#2683 (comment)
but unfortunately errors are still written to the log file:

[0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] conf_load: Processing thread 0 - config file /etc/motioneye/motion.conf
[0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] config_camera: Processing camera config file camera-1.conf
[0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] motion_startup: Logging to syslog
[0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] motion_startup: Motion 4.3.2 Started
[0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] motion_startup: Using default log type (ALL)
[0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] motion_startup: Using log type (ALL) log level (WRN)
[2:22:53.594696843] [21329]  INFO Camera camera_manager.cpp:299 libcamera v0.0.3+40-9b860a66
[2:22:53.617144741] [21330] ERROR V4L2 v4l2_device.cpp:352 'imx708_wide': Unable to set controls: Das Gerät oder die Ressource ist belegt
[2:22:53.619075612] [21330]  WARN CameraSensorProperties camera_sensor_properties.cpp:205 No static properties available for 'imx708_wide'
[2:22:53.619170872] [21330]  WARN CameraSensorProperties camera_sensor_properties.cpp:207 Please consider updating the camera sensor properties database
[2:22:53.665191035] [21330]  INFO RPI raspberrypi.cpp:1425 Registered camera /base/soc/i2c0mux/i2c@1/imx708@1a to Unicam device /dev/media3 and ISP device /dev/media0
[2:22:53.665626136] [21329]  INFO Camera camera.cpp:841 Pipeline handler in use by another process
[2:22:53.665809312] [21329] ERROR V4L2Compat v4l2_camera.cpp:34 Failed to acquire camera
/home/pi/motion.sh: Zeile 3: 21328 Speicherzugriffsfehler  /usr/bin/libcamerify /usr/bin/motion $@

i also couldn't find out yet why the vido is so jerky ...
and how I activate the nightvision mode I have also not yet figured out

I also noticed that after starting MotionEye the camera is addressed completely wrong. The settings from the file /usr/share/libcamera/ipa/raspberrypi/imx708_wide.json were all deleted again.

this is how it looks directly after the import.

libcamera-hello --list-camera
Available cameras
-----------------
0 : imx708_wide [4608x2592] (/base/soc/i2c0mux/i2c@1/imx708@1a)
    Modes: 'SRGGB10_CSI2P' : 1536x864 [120.13 fps - (768, 432)/3072x1728 crop]
                             2304x1296 [56.03 fps - (0, 0)/4608x2592 crop]
                             4608x2592 [14.35 fps - (0, 0)/4608x2592 crop]

After starting MotionEye everything is gone again.

libcamera-hello --list-camera
Available cameras
-----------------
0 : imx708_wide [4608x2592] (/base/soc/i2c0mux/i2c@1/imx708@1a)
    Modes: 'SBGGR10_CSI2P' : 1536x864 [30.00 fps - (0, 0)/0x0 crop]
                             2304x1296 [30.00 fps - (0, 0)/0x0 crop]
                             4608x2592 [30.00 fps - (0, 0)/0x0 crop]

Service-Status:

systemctl status motioneye.service
● motioneye.service - motionEye Server
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/motioneye.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2023-01-28 18:37:00 CET; 6s ago
   Main PID: 6675 (meyectl)
      Tasks: 14 (limit: 1934)
        CPU: 4.347s
     CGroup: /system.slice/motioneye.service
             ├─6675 /usr/bin/python2 /usr/local/bin/meyectl startserver -c /etc/motioneye/motioneye.conf
             ├─6710 /bin/bash /home/pi/motion.sh -n -c /etc/motioneye/motion.conf -d 5
             ├─6711 /usr/bin/motion -n -c /etc/motioneye/motion.conf -d 5
             └─6735 /usr/bin/python2 /usr/local/bin/meyectl startserver -c /etc/motioneye/motioneye.conf

Jan 28 18:37:02 raspberrypi motion[6711]: [0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] motion_startup: Logging to syslog
Jan 28 18:37:02 raspberrypi motion[6711]: [0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] motion_startup: Motion 4.3.2 Started
Jan 28 18:37:02 raspberrypi motion[6711]: [0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] motion_startup: Using default log type (ALL)
Jan 28 18:37:02 raspberrypi motion[6711]: [0:motion] [NTC] [ALL] motion_startup: Using log type (ALL) log level (WRN)
Jan 28 18:37:03 raspberrypi motion[6711]: [1:ml1:Camera1] [ERR] [VID] v4l2_fps_set: Fehler beim Einstellen der FPS. Rückkehrcode -1
Jan 28 18:37:04 raspberrypi meyectl[6675]:     INFO: cleanup started
Jan 28 18:37:04 raspberrypi meyectl[6675]:     INFO: wsswitch started
Jan 28 18:37:04 raspberrypi meyectl[6675]:     INFO: tasks started
Jan 28 18:37:04 raspberrypi meyectl[6675]:     INFO: mjpg client garbage collector started
Jan 28 18:37:04 raspberrypi meyectl[6675]:     INFO: server started

[mgrn0]

unfortunately I could not get my camera module 3 to work via any of the suggestions above with a raspberry pi 4 / b running bullseye. Really hope the new cameras will be supported without workarounds in motioneye soon.

[MaRaGaWa]

@gpambrozio
It works ! Many thanks !

My setup :

• RPI 4 with 1 GB RAM, 16 GB SD-Card
• RPI OS, Rasbian GNU/Linux 11 (Bullseye)
• Motioneye vs 0.42.1, Motion vs 4.3.2
• Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3 NoIR

Some additional advices/observations:

• after adding Camera1 in Motioneye make sure you select the upper 'Unicam'
• note that the 'camera-1.conf' file does not pop-up in /etc/motioneye sooner than after adding that Camera1,
• then edit the 'camera-1.conf' as in the above instructions
• and... you can additionally improve the picture-quality dramatically by editing 'stream_quality' and 'movie_quality' in 'camera-1.conf'(I both increased them to 150, perfect quality !)
• and the infrared also works, and even automatically :-)

[notabotscott]

For those who have gotten this workaround to work:

• Are you using a 64 bit or 32 bit OS version of Bullseye?
• Did you enable legacy camera support in raspi-config?
• Are you adding the camera as V4L2 or MMAL?
• Are you using the main branch of Motioneye (python2) or the Dev branch (python3)?

I just keep getting the following errors no matter what i try:

[1:ml1:Camera1] [ERR] [VID] v4l2_device_capability: Not a V4L2 device?
[1:ml1:Camera1] [ERR] [VID] vid_start: V4L2 device failed to open