RTSP Camera Stream Dashboard

After years of reliable camera streaming, I recently upgraded my RTSP Camera Dashboard from a Raspberry Pi to a Dell Mini OptiPlex with Ubuntu. I am still using the Wyze Cameras flashed with the RTSP firmware, which works great as long as your Wi-Fi connection is reliable. I also rewrote the camera streaming software using C++.  This setup lets you live stream four cameras to a monitor, which works great for a DIY home security system.

Setup

  1. Copy the C++ code and create a new file called rtsp_viewer.cpp
  2. Update the 4 RTSP URLs in the rtsp_viewer.cpp file  to be your camera URLS
  3. sudo apt install libopencv-dev libsdl2-dev
  4. g++ rtsp_viewer.cpp -o rtsp_viewer `pkg-config –cflags –libs opencv4 sdl2` -pthread
  5. ./rtsp_viewer
  6. Setup this application to start on reboot

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Simple Under Cabinet Lighting

Under-cabinet lighting can improve the functionality and look of your kitchen. With today’s LED light strips, installing them is a breeze. The most challenging part is finding the power to conceal your power plug. If you already have a plug inside your cabinets for your microwave or behind your fringe, using an existing outlet makes this a great DIY weekend project. If you have to add power inside a cabinet, you may need additional assistance.

I decided to use some affordable LED lights strips from Amazon. They had good reviews and multiple options on how they could be connected. In total, my kitchen took nine LED light strips. I also purchased three extra lights to use as replacements in the future if any of them go bad. This kit comes in soft white and daylight, so make sure you get the right color to match your existing lights. I also used an extension power plug to join lights over a gap.

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