I’ve now managed to get the stream of my HiWatch Series, model HWI- T641H-Z 2.8-12 mm by accessing via browser to rtsp://USERNAME:PASSWORD@192.168.30.50:554/Streaming/Channels/101. Working nice. But on its own, very unusful unless I get storage and image detection going. So, I need something like Frigate.

I believe the Frigate docs suggest running in a docker container installed on a VM. Very convienient as I have Proxmox (installed on a optiples 7070 micropc with 32MB ram) running a VM on which i have a few containers. The idea is to mount a “frigate” dataset created on my Truenas server on Proxmox which is then mounted to the VM. Lots of layers but hoping it should be ok.

I heard that the Google Coral TPU is not sold anymore. Is this going to be a problem for Frigate image recognition? Are there alternatives to the Coral TPU?

  • MuttMutt@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    1 month ago

    You can still get the Google Coral (both the USB dongle and M.2/PCIe versions), but Google has effectively abandoned the official drivers. You’ll need to use community-maintained DKMS drivers if you go with the PCIe version on newer Linux kernels.

    If you want a modern alternative, look into the Hailo-8 or Hailo-8L M.2 AI accelerators. They plug right into an open M.2 slot and natively integrate into recent versions of Frigate. Keep in mind that these accelerators ONLY process object detection inference - they do not handle video decoding.

    For video decoding, your OptiPlex 7070’s Intel CPU has Quick Sync Video (QSV). You can pass /dev/dri through to your container, and Intel iGPU hardware acceleration will handle decoding the RTSP streams with minimal CPU overhead.

    If you prefer an all-in-one approach, an Intel or Nvidia GPU can handle both video decoding and object detection (via OpenVINO or TensorRT), but a Micro PC limits your physical expansion options.

    Storing recordings on a TrueNAS share over NFS or SMB works just fine. Mount the NFS share directly in Proxmox or the VM host, then pass the directory through to your Docker container.

  • SteveTech@aussie.zoneEnglish
    2·
    1 month ago

    Regarding Google Coral, from the docs: https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/hardware

    The Coral is no longer recommended for new Frigate installations, except in deployments with particularly low power requirements or hardware incapable of utilizing alternative AI accelerators for object detection. Instead, we suggest using one of the numerous other supported object detectors. Frigate will continue to provide support for the Coral TPU for as long as practicably possible given its still one of the most power-efficient devices for executing object detection models.

    Personally, I’d recommend OpenVINO. It works on iGPUs, and if that’s not possible it’s quite performant on CPUs. I currently run a Google Coral and the Linux driver is no longer officially maintained meaning it breaks every now and then after a kernel update, next time it breaks I’m going with OpenVINO.

    Also, I’d install Docker in an LXC for Frigate, it makes passing the iGPU through to it a lot easier.

  • ikidd@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    I try Frigate about once a year and go right back to Blue Iris very quickly. I wish I could say otherwise.

    • trilobite@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      1 month ago

      Because you can’t get it working or because you think BI is better? And if the latter, can you expand on the “why”?

      • ikidd@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2·
        1 month ago

        Oh, I can get it working well enough. But it’s really bare of features. PTZ is a mess to get working. Motion-sensor control is very non-intuitive. The mobile app is a PWA. Don’t even get me started on Frigate’s docuentation.

        BI completely outclasses it, in so many directions. It’s ONVIF self-configuration is flawless. The AI object recognition lets you use multiple backends if you don’t want to use the CodeProject one they ship. Automations are very easy to set up and clone/slave to other cameras. The WebUI is almost as full featured as the desktop client. The mobile app is it’s own beast and can easily jump between servers. Support gets back to you quickly.

        I could go on, but it’s not even a contest currently. Maybe someone that has hours upon hours to work on Frigate would be able to configure the same things, but it’s not at all easy.

        I’d absolutely love to go with something opensource and I keep trying to find something, hell, I’ve tried to build it myself. But I’m not hopeful that I’m going to find enough reason to stop paying $70/yr for anything that’s even half as good.

        But good luck.