NextNVR

A lightweight, self-hosted video recorder for IP cameras. Records 8 RTSP streams into 5-minute MP4 clips with near-zero CPU usage. Built for the Casa Alba Mindelo guesthouse.

Quick Install

Copy and paste this single line into your terminal:

curl -sSL https://git.lohmar.co.uk/cclohmar/NextNVR/raw/branch/main/setup.sh | bash

That's it. The script installs everything needed and starts NextNVR automatically.

Once done, open the web interface in your browser (the script prints the URL).

Supported Systems

Distro	Package Manager	Status
Debian 12+ / Ubuntu 22.04+	`apt`	✅ Tested
Fedora 40+ / RHEL 9+	`dnf` / `yum`	✅
Arch Linux	`pacman`	✅
Alpine Linux	`apk`	✅
Other (systemd)	auto-detect	✅
Other (no systemd)	fallback to `nohup`	✅

ARM64 (Raspberry Pi, etc.) — auto-detected
Root or sudo — handles both

What It Does

Feature	Detail
📹 Recording	8 cameras simultaneously, 5-minute MP4 clips
💾 Storage	Saves to `/mnt/recordings/` — keeps 18 days, auto-deletes older
🖥️ Live Wall	4×2 grid showing all cameras at once. Click one to enlarge.
🔍 Playback	Browse recordings by camera and date with presets (Today, Yesterday, Last 7 Days)
⚙️ Setup Wizard	Scans your network for cameras and helps you name them
🔒 Local Only	Everything runs on your own hardware. No cloud, no subscriptions.

Server

What	Detail
Web interface	`http://<server-ip>:8080`
Config file	`/opt/nextnvr/config.yaml`
Recordings	`/mnt/recordings/`
Logs	`sudo journalctl -u nextnvr -f` (systemd) or `tail -f /opt/nextnvr/nextnvr.log` (nohup)

Useful Commands

sudo systemctl status nextnvr     # is it running?
sudo systemctl restart nextnvr    # restart after changing config
sudo systemctl stop nextnvr       # stop recording
sudo journalctl -u nextnvr -f     # watch live logs

How It Works

IP Cameras                    NextNVR                        Your Browser
───────────                 ──────────                      ─────────────
192.168.1.201 ─┐                                          
192.168.1.202 ─┤   RTSP      FFmpeg -c copy      .mp4     http://192.168.1.10:8080
192.168.1.203 ─┼──────────►  (no re-encoding) ────────►   Live Wall + Playback
    ...        ┤              5 min segments               Settings + Setup
192.168.1.209 ─┘              auto-delete >18d

Zero transcoding — FFmpeg copies the video stream directly. CPU stays under 5%.
Crash-proof — if a camera disconnects, it auto-reconnects after 5 seconds.
Atomic files — recording in progress uses .part.mp4. Only renamed to .mp4 when complete. No corrupted files.

Adding or Changing Cameras

Open the web interface in your browser
Click the Settings tab
Click 🔍 Scan Network to find your cameras
Give each camera a name and description
Click 💾 Save Configuration
Restart: sudo systemctl restart nextnvr

Or edit the config file directly:

sudo nano /opt/nextnvr/config.yaml
sudo systemctl restart nextnvr

Updating

curl -sSL https://git.lohmar.co.uk/cclohmar/NextNVR/raw/branch/main/setup.sh | bash

The script pulls the latest version and restarts the service automatically.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Check
Can't open the web page	Is NextNVR running? `sudo systemctl status nextnvr`
No cameras showing	Check `config.yaml` — are camera IPs and passwords correct?
Recordings not saving	Does `/mnt/recordings/` exist? Is the disk mounted? (`df -h`)
Disk full	Recordings older than 18 days are auto-deleted. Check `df -h /mnt/recordings`

Built with ❤️ in Mindelo, Portugal. 🇵🇹

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