homelab-configs/thinkstation/frigate/frigate-cctv-setup.md

Frigate NVR & CCTV Setup

Last Updated: May 2026 Host: thinkstation-p710 — 192.168.88.41

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Hardware

Component	Details
Machine	Lenovo ThinkStation P710
CPU	Intel Xeon E5-2623 v4 @ 2.60 GHz (4 cores / 8 threads, boost to 3.2 GHz)
RAM	24 GB
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB VRAM)
OS Disk	234 GB SSD (/dev/sda2)
Media Storage	14 TB HDD — mounted at /mnt/14TB-HD/frigate/media

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Frigate Docker Setup

Item	Value
Image	ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable-tensorrt
Container name	frigate
Config path	/srv/docker/frigate/config/
Media path	/mnt/14TB-HD/frigate/media
Compose file	thinkstation/frigate/docker-compose.yml (this repo)
Web UI	http://192.168.88.41:5000 → https://cameras.jgitta.com
RTSP port	8554
WebRTC port	8555

GPU acceleration: Container runs with runtime: nvidia and NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=all. The GTX 1050 Ti handles:

• LPR (licence plate recognition) via GPU
• Birdseye re-stream encoding via h264_nvenc
• ONNX object detection via the onnx detector

Shared memory: shm_size: 1024mb — required for frame buffers across 6 cameras.

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Object Detection

Item	Value
Detector	ONNX (GPU-accelerated)
Model	YOLOv9-t-320 (yolov9-t-320.onnx)
Input size	320 × 320
Label map	COCO-80
Model path	/config/model_cache/onnx/yolov9-t-320.onnx

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Licence Plate Recognition (LPR)

Item	Value
Enabled	Yes
Device	GPU
Model size	Small

Known plates:

Name	Plate
Joe	ABC1234
Cynthia	ABC4567
Wesley	XYZ9876

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Camera Inventory

All cameras are Reolink PoE units on the 192.168.88.0/24 subnet.

Camera	IP	Model notes	Mount location
front_driveway	192.168.88.105	Dual-lens panoramic (7680×2160 = two 4K sensors stitched)	Front driveway
front_yard	192.168.88.104	4K 811A	Front yard
shop	192.168.88.103	4K 811A (uses HTTPS for API)	Shop / outbuilding
deck	192.168.88.101	4K 811A	Deck
back_yard	192.168.88.102	4K 811A	Back yard
front_right	192.168.88.100	4512×2512 sensor (non-standard resolution)	Front right

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Camera Stream Settings

All cameras confirmed via Reolink API (May 2026):

Camera	Main Resolution	Main Codec	Bitrate	FPS	I-frame	Sub Resolution	Sub Codec
front_driveway (.105)	7680×2160	H.265	10240 Kbps	20	1x	1536×432	H.264
front_yard (.104)	3840×2160	H.265	6144 Kbps	25	1x	640×360	H.264
shop (.103)	3840×2160	H.265	6144 Kbps	25	1x	640×360	H.264
deck (.101)	3840×2160	H.265	6144 Kbps	25	1x	640×360	H.264
back_yard (.102)	3840×2160	H.265	6144 Kbps	25	1x	640×360	H.264
front_right (.100)	4512×2512	H.265	8192 Kbps	20	1x	896×512	H.264

I-frame interval set to 1x on all cameras so Frigate can start/end recording clips cleanly without waiting for a keyframe.

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go2rtc Stream Architecture

Chrome/Firefox cannot play H.265 (HEVC) via MSE (Media Source Extensions), so each camera requires two go2rtc streams:

camera_h265   →  native H.265 RTSP from camera
                 └─ consumed by Frigate ffmpeg for RECORDING (stream copy, no re-encode)

camera        →  ffmpeg:camera_h265#video=h264  (software H.265 → H.264 transcode)
                 └─ served to browser via MSE WebSocket for LIVE VIEW

camera_sub    →  native low-res H.264 RTSP sub-stream
                 └─ consumed by Frigate for OBJECT DETECTION only

Key behaviour notes:

• go2rtc uses lazy initialization — transcoders only start when a browser opens the live view, and shut down ~30 seconds after the last viewer leaves. This causes a 2–3 second gray screen on first view, which is expected and unavoidable.
• The _h265 streams are kept alive continuously by Frigate's recording ffmpeg processes, so recording starts instantly.
• The #hardware flag for NVENC transcoding in go2rtc causes EOF crashes with Reolink cameras and must not be used. Software transcoding (libx264) is used instead.
• Reolink cameras drop RTSP connections every 5–20 minutes (firmware behaviour). go2rtc reconnects automatically; this produces a brief gray screen, not static.

shop camera note

The shop camera (192.168.88.103) redirects HTTP → HTTPS. All API calls to shop must use https:// with -k (skip cert verification).

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Frigate Camera Detection Zones

Camera	Detect Resolution	Tracked Objects	Notes
front_driveway	1536×432	person, car, dog, cat, license_plate	Has zone + LPR; alerts require front_driveway_zone
front_yard	640×360	person, car, dog, cat	—
shop	640×360	person, car, dog, cat	Motion mask on upper-right and mid-frame
deck	640×360	person, car, dog, cat	Two motion masks
back_yard	640×360	person, car, dog, cat	Two motion masks
front_right	896×512	person, car, dog, cat	Motion mask on upper-centre

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Recording & Retention

Type	Retention
Alert clips	30 days
Detection clips	30 days
Motion clips	30 days
Continuous	Disabled
Snapshots	30 days

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Known Issues & Quirks

• Reolink H.265 sub-stream firmware bug: On some Reolink firmware versions, setting the sub-stream to H.265 produces a corrupted bitstream that go2rtc rejects with 404. Sub-streams should always remain H.264.
• front_driveway panoramic: The 7680×2160 resolution is two 4K sensors stitched side by side. The wide 1536×432 detect resolution in the Frigate config accounts for this.
• front_right non-standard resolution: Camera reports 4512×2512 rather than standard 4K. Model unknown — may be a 5MP variant or older sensor.
• Swap pressure: ThinkStation runs ~5.5 GB swap used under normal load. Monitor if adding more cameras or enabling Birdseye.