# Live Camera Setup

> Take a USB or built-in webcam live 24/7 for free, and watch it from the Live Camera page — the cost-effective ffmpeg → YouTube Live runbook plus HLS and Cloudflare alternatives.

---

## How the Live Camera page works

The **[Live Camera](/camera)** page renders whatever you point `CONFIG_STREAM_URL`
at — a **YouTube Live** URL or an **HLS** (`.m3u8`) playlist — as the public 24/7
feed. Delivery is free (the platform/CDN bears the bandwidth) and needs **no extra
backend**. With no URL set, the page falls back to a **local webcam monitor**
(`getUserMedia`) that only ever runs in your own browser.

```bash
# .env
CONFIG_STREAM_URL=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOUR_LIVE_VIDEO_ID
```

.. toc::

## Go live for free — webcam → YouTube Live

This is the cheapest robust 24/7 path: YouTube hosts and delivers the stream at no
cost, and the page embeds it.

1. In **YouTube Studio → Go Live → Stream**, create a stream and copy the
   **Stream URL** (`rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2`) and **Stream key**.
2. Push your webcam to it with a single always-on `ffmpeg` process:

```bash
# macOS (AVFoundation). List devices first:  ffmpeg -f avfoundation -list_devices true -i ""
ffmpeg -f avfoundation -framerate 30 -i "0:0" \
  -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -b:v 3000k -maxrate 3000k -bufsize 6000k \
  -pix_fmt yuv420p -g 60 \
  -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ar 44100 \
  -f flv "rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/YOUR-STREAM-KEY"
```

```bash
# Linux (V4L2 webcam at /dev/video0)
ffmpeg -f v4l2 -framerate 30 -i /dev/video0 -f alsa -i default \
  -c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -b:v 3000k -maxrate 3000k -bufsize 6000k \
  -pix_fmt yuv420p -g 60 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ar 44100 \
  -f flv "rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/YOUR-STREAM-KEY"
```

3. Set `CONFIG_STREAM_URL` to the broadcast's watch URL and reload the page.
4. **Keep it alive.** Run the `ffmpeg` line as a service so it restarts on failure —
   e.g. a `systemd` unit with `Restart=always`, a `launchd` agent on macOS, or a
   small `while true; do ffmpeg ...; sleep 2; done` supervisor.

> **Trade-offs:** free delivery and minimal plumbing, but ~10–30 s latency, platform
> branding/ads, and YouTube's unattended-stream quirks. Best as the cost-effective
> default; swap in a route below if you need lower latency or full product control.

## Alternative — self-host (lowest cost, more control)

Run **[MediaMTX](https://github.com/bluenviron/mediamtx)** on a small VPS; push the
webcam in with `ffmpeg` and serve **HLS** or sub-second **WHEP**:

```yaml
# mediamtx.yml — pull an RTSP camera, or accept an ffmpeg/RTMP publish
paths:
  cam:
    source: publisher          # ffmpeg publishes to rtmp://<host>:1935/cam
```

Then point `CONFIG_STREAM_URL` at the HLS playlist (`http://<host>:8888/cam/index.m3u8`);
the page attaches `hls.js` automatically. You own the 24/7 process, TLS, and restarts.

## Alternative — managed (lowest ops)

**Cloudflare Stream Live**: create a Live Input (RTMP/SRT ingest), push the webcam to
it with `ffmpeg`, and set `CONFIG_STREAM_URL` to the HLS playback URL. Managed,
robust, signed URLs, near-zero maintenance — billed by usage.

## What's deferred

WHIP browser-publish, a `/whip-token` mint, Cloudflare `/cf-webhook` + a viewer-count
websocket, and recording/DVR all belong to the later streaming control-plane phase
(which moves the app to the FastAPI backend). v1 keeps the camera free, embeddable,
and backend-light.


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*Source: /live-camera*