What does "preload_stream" do?

stevemann · July 17, 2021, 9:39pm

I see this on my cameras, but I have no idea what it does. I know that it’s supposed to reduce latency when streaming from an ip camera, but I can’t see a difference if it’s checked or not.

ondras12345 · July 17, 2021, 9:43pm

The documentation says this:

The Preload stream option will start the camera feed on Home Assistant startup and continue to keep the stream alive. This will result in reduced latency when opening the stream in the frontend, as well as when using the play_stream service or Google Assistant integration. It does, however, utilize more resources on your machine, so it is recommended to check CPU usage if you plan to use this feature.

stevemann · July 17, 2021, 9:45pm

Would that I am running HA on an Intel NUC i5 be why I don’t see a difference?

ondras12345 · July 17, 2021, 9:47pm

Not necessarily.
I guess your camera is pretty quick at starting a new stream.

nickrout · July 18, 2021, 2:10am

If you want to reduce camera lag, this option works well.

tom_l · July 18, 2021, 2:31am

Damn it Apple!

nickrout · July 18, 2021, 2:37am

Yeah I always ithought that, inever iowned one.