ESP32-Cam with Tasmota and RTSP

Third party integrations
1

Setup:
Home Assistant OS 6.2 on Unraid
ESP32-Cam AI-Thinker, firmware Tasmota 9.5.0.7

Problem:
During my testing of the Tasmota on ESP32-Cam, I’ve encounter following issues

  • HTTP stream randomly stops working,
  • when activating RTSP support, device hangs (ping stops, no response on Web GUI etc …)
    Generally Tasmota on ESP32-Cam work unreliable. I think device just runs out of the memory. ESPHome works OK, but unfortunately does not support HTTP stream or RTSP. As far I could found out ESPHome sends video via Home Assistant API.
    Since I want to integrate ESP32-Cam with the Frigate, RTSP is required.

Solution
Possible solution could be to disable some of the Tasmota features that are not required during normal operation. For example internal Web Server and GUI are not required and could be disabled/deactivated. This might reduce memory utilisation of the Tasmota firmware and RTSP streaming could work reliable.

With regards to this requirements I think there are two options

  1. Disable Web Server using config.yaml file. When this approach is used even MQTT could be disabled.
  2. Disable Web Server using MQTT commands

I prefer option 1, but I could not find any configuration example how to add ESP32-Cam configuration to the config.yaml file

I wonder if someone could help me clarify if this can be done and any example is appreciated.

Thanks

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2

Update:
On the end I managed to get Tasmota on ESP32 Cam working.
According to my experiences with Tasmota, it is crucial to first disable video Web stream. Looks like this is releasing some RAM usage and ESP32 Cam can work reliable. I have as well disabled HTTP API.
To disable Web stream go to the Console and enter command:

wcstream 0

Hope that helps!

3

Good tip.

I have 10 or so Esp-cams, running both Esphome and Tasmota one tip I can offer is. Get at least a 1.5 amp 5v supply.

I started off powering with with 500mA-1A supply’s, had all kinds of problems.

4

I have as well notice that ESP32 Cam is quite power hungry. I mainly use POE power adapters and looks they can handle ESP32 Cam load.

Akriss, what is your usage scenario for ESPHome on ESP32 Cam?
I like ESPHome approach. However since it does not support RTSP I had no choice but to switch to Tasmota.

5

All Esphome cam’s (4) I’m just using to take static pic on a set time (or via movement. Not finished I’m still squashing bugs).

All the other cam’s need RTSP to work so they run Tasmota. RTSP link to a Zoneminder server. However I need to log in to the Tasmota web interface once to activate the RTSP stream for some reason upon a reboot.

At one point I did have a few Esphome cam’s linked to Zoneminer, But it was not stable, and it was months ago, and my memory is not the greatest.

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6

Somewhere in the tasmota discussion it was mentioned that choosing too high a resolution will crash the esp32/tasmota due to insufficient RAM available.

One way is to set a viable image/stream resolution in the >B boot up section (scripting) and start the stream at WiFi connect (>S), like so:

>D
res=0
w=0
h=0

>B
res=wc(0 8)
; img w/h
w=wc(3)
h=wc(4)
dp2.0

>S
if wific>0
then
  ; start stream on wifi connect
  res=wc(5 1)
endif

References:
Tasmota Scripting => “ESP32 Webcam support”
ESP32 Tasmota Webcam

No more crashing esp32 using the esp32cam here.

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7

Hello
i have also flashed tasmota to my esp32 cam.
how can i activte the rtsp stream?

8

Enter on console:
wcrtsp 1

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