Simple DVR

A lightweight DVR service built with Node.js + FFmpeg for:

• live HLS streaming from cameras and other video source URLs;
• archive playback by time range;
• MP4 archive export;
• automatic retention cleanup using retentionDays.

Repository: https://github.com/rosteleset/Simple-DVR.git

What the service does

• Starts one ffmpeg process per camera from config.json.
• Stores segments in /var/dvr/<camera>/YYYY-MM-DD/HH/*.m4s.
• Optionally mirrors a camera stream to RTMP while keeping DVR recording enabled.
• Serves live and archive playlists over HTTP.
• Generates minute preview clips.
• Runs cleanup in a dedicated worker thread (cleanup-worker.js).

Quick start

1. Copy the config template:

cp config.example.json config.json

2. Update source URLs and camera settings in config.json.

3. Install dependencies:

npm init -y
npm install express

4. Run:

sudo -u www-data -g www-data node server.js

If you use the default /var/dvr, this avoids creating DVR files as root:root.

Main endpoints

• GET /:camera/live.m3u8 (aliases: index.m3u8, video.m3u8, *.fmp4.m3u8)
• GET /:camera/dvr.m3u8?start=<ISO>&end=<ISO>
• GET /:camera/index-:timestamp-:duration.fmp4.m3u8
• GET /:camera/archive-:from-:duration.mp4
• GET /:camera/recording_status.json
• GET /:camera/:yyyy/:mm/:dd/:HH/:MM/:SS-preview.mp4
• GET /dvr/... direct DVR file access via nginx alias

For full API and deployment details, see INSTALL.md.

For a complete production setup of Simple-DVR + SRS + nginx with WebRTC/WHEP, see WEBRTC-SRS-HOWTO.md.

Configuration

See config.example.json.

Key parameters:

• dvrRoot: DVR storage root directory (defaults to /var/dvr)
• segmentDuration: HLS segment duration (seconds)
• liveWindow: live window size (segments)
• cleanupIntervalMinutes: cleanup interval
• cameras[]: camera list (name, source, retentionDays, audioArgs, ffmpegInputArgs, ffmpegArgs, rtmpPushUrl)
• source: input URL or path for the camera stream; legacy rtsp is still accepted for backward compatibility
• audioArgs: per-camera audio args passed to ffmpeg (e.g. ["-an"] or ["-c:a","aac","-b:a","96k"])
• ffmpegInputArgs: extra input args inserted before -i for this source
• ffmpegArgs: extra output args inserted before final playlist path for this camera; for SRS/WebRTC RTMP push, keep the exact args from the install example
• rtmpPushUrl: optional RTMP endpoint; when used for SRS/WebRTC, the matching ffmpegArgs are required, not optional tuning
• disableAudio: legacy fallback; when audioArgs is not set: true -> -an, otherwise audio defaults to -c:a copy

For a complete example of publishing a camera to local SRS and exposing it via WebRTC WHEP, see WEBRTC-SRS-HOWTO.md.

Systemd notes

If you run this as a service, verify:

• WorkingDirectory points to the real project directory.
• ExecStart points to the real server.js path.

License

Licensed under LICENSE.