WebRTC Smarthome Live Video

WebRTC Smarthome Live Video

Q: How can I use go2RTC for your Cameras Live Video in Home Assistant, ioBroker and Node-RED?

A: All HD, Full HD and WQHD INSTAR cameras can be used with go2rtc to generate a WebRTC stream that can be used in your smarthome dashboard. All you need to do is to run the official go2rtc container and configure it to have access to your camera's RTSP stream.

WebRTC Smarthome Live Video

go2rtc

Start by pulling the latest version of the go2rtc container from Docker Hub:

Docker Hub
- alexxit/go2rtc:latest: Latest release based on alpine (amd64, 386, arm, arm64) with support hardware transcoding for Intel iGPU and Raspberry
- alexxit/go2rtc:master: Latest unstable version based on alpine
- alexxit/go2rtc:master-hardware: Latest unstable version based on debian 12 (amd64) with support hardware transcoding for Intel iGPU, AMD GPU and NVidia GPU

docker pull alexxit/go2rtc:master-hardware

You can use the provided Docker Compose file to run the go2rtc container. Note that the file contains a path ~/go2rtc that would store the configuration file in your Linux home directory. Change this directory to something suites your operating system:

docker-compose.yml

services:
  go2rtc:
    image: alexxit/go2rtc:master-hardware
    network_mode: host       # important for WebRTC, HomeKit, UDP cameras
    privileged: true         # only for FFmpeg hardware transcoding
    restart: unless-stopped  # autorestart on fail or config change from WebUI
    environment:
      - TZ=Asia/Hong_Kong # timezone in logs
    volumes:
      - "~/go2rtc:/config"   # folder for go2rtc.yaml file (edit from WebUI)

Execute the file using docker-compose which requires Docker and Docker Compose:

docker-compose up -d

The web interface can now be accessed through your browser on the following URL: http://localhost:1984/. Navigate to the configuration tab and add the RTSP paths for all your HD, Full HD or WQHD cameras. The configuration file go2rtc.yaml will be stored in the directory you have chosen in the docker-compose file:

go2rtc.yaml

streams:
  8415:
    - rtsp://admin:instar@192.168.2.125:554/livestream/11
    - rtsp://admin:instar@192.168.2.125:554/livestream/12
    - rtsp://admin:instar@192.168.2.125:554/livestream/13
  8015:
    - rtsp://admin:instar@192.168.2.15:554/11
    - rtsp://admin:instar@192.168.2.15:554/12
    - rtsp://admin:instar@192.168.2.15:554/13
  9408:
    - ffmpeg:rstp://admin:instar@192.168.2.115/livestream/11
    - ffmpeg:rstp://admin:instar@192.168.2.115/livestream/12
    - ffmpeg:rstp://admin:instar@192.168.2.115/livestream/13
  9420:
    - ffmpeg:rstp://admin:instar@192.168.2.56/livestream/11
    - ffmpeg:rstp://admin:instar@192.168.2.56/livestream/12
    - ffmpeg:rstp://admin:instar@192.168.2.56/livestream/13

Changing to the Streams tab you should now be able to see all your cameras. And clicking on the links link leads you to a collection of all URLs to available video streams that are generated by go2rtc:

All Codecs

stream.html with auto-select mode / browsers: all / codecs: H264, H265*, MJPEG, JPEG, AAC, PCMU, PCMA, OPUS
rtsp rtsp with only one video and one audio / codecs: any
rtsp for MP4 recording (Hass or Frigate) / codecs: H264, H265, AAC
rtsp with all tracks / codecs: any ffplay -fflags nobuffer -flags low_delay -rtsp_transport tcp "rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/8415"

H264/H265 source

stream.html WebRTC stream / browsers: all / codecs: H264, PCMU, PCMA, OPUS / +H265 in Safari
stream.html MSE stream / browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari Mac/iPad / codecs: H264, H265, AAC, PCMA, PCMU, PCM / +OPUS in Chrome and Firefox
stream.mp4 legacy MP4 stream with AAC audio / browsers: Chrome, Firefox / codecs: H264, H265*, AAC
stream.mp4 modern MP4 stream with common audio / browsers: Chrome, Firefox / codecs: H264, H265*, AAC, FLAC (PCMA, PCMU, PCM)
stream.mp4 MP4 stream with any audio / browsers: Chrome / codecs: H264, H265*, AAC, OPUS, MP3, FLAC (PCMA, PCMU, PCM)
frame.mp4 snapshot in MP4-format / browsers: all / codecs: H264, H265*
stream.m3u8 legacy HLS/TS / browsers: Safari all, Chrome Android / codecs: H264
stream.m3u8 legacy HLS/fMP4 / browsers: Safari all, Chrome Android / codecs: H264, H265*, AAC
stream.m3u8 modern HLS/fMP4 / browsers: Safari all, Chrome Android / codecs: H264, H265*, AAC, FLAC (PCMA, PCMU, PCM)

MJPEG source

stream.html with MJPEG mode / browsers: all / codecs: MJPEG, JPEG
stream.mjpeg MJPEG stream / browsers: all / codecs: MJPEG, JPEG
frame.jpeg snapshot in JPEG-format / browsers: all / codecs: MJPEG, JPEG

We can now continue using those URLs to add the video stream to our smarthome web user interface of choice.

Home Assistant

WebRTC Camera: Home Assistant Integration

Start by installing the WebRTC Camera Add-on:

Restart Home Assistant and you should now be able to add the WebRTC Camera Integration:

Here you can add the API URL from your go2rtc container:

Edit your dashboard and add a Custom: WebRTC Camera card with one of the following configurations:

type: 'custom:webrtc-camera'
url: 'rtsp://rtsp:12345678@192.168.1.123:554/av_stream/ch0'

---

type: 'custom:webrtc-camera'
url: 'camera1'  # stream name from go2rtc.yaml

---

type: 'custom:webrtc-camera'
entity: camera.generic_stream  # change to your camera entity_id

Since I already added cameras to go2RTC I will simply use the ID that I assigned to them there: