View Video Stream (e.g. Security Camera) on a Raspberry Pi with Read Only System

Update apt packages
sudo apt update
Install omxplayer
sudo apt install omxplayer
Test Video Stream*
/usr/bin/omxplayer --win "961,541,1920,1080" "rtsp://username:password@ip_address:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0"

* This is for an Amcrest IP camera. Look up the URL for your specific camera. You can remove ‘–win “961,541,1920,1080”‘ to make the video full screen. “subtype=0” is high bitrate stream. “subtype=1” is low bitrate stream.

Close Video Stream

Control-c to stop

Create Video Script
nano video.sh
#!/bin/bash

/usr/bin/omxplayer --win "961,541,1920,1080" "rtsp://username:password@ip_address:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0"

Control-o to save, Control-x to exit

Make the script executable
chmod +x video.sh
Run Script
./video.sh

Control-c to stop

Move into Systemd Service Directory
cd /etc/systemd/system
Create Video Service
sudo nano video.service
[Unit]
Description=Video Service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=pi
Group=pi
Environment=PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
ExecStart=/home/pi/video.sh
Restart=always
RestartSec=3

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Control-o to save, Control-x to exit

Enable Service
sudo systemctl enable video
Start Service
sudo systemctl start video
Temporarily Stop Video
sudo killall omxplayer
Adafruit Read Only Instructions*

https://learn.adafruit.com/read-only-raspberry-pi

* You can now enable OverlayFS as an alternative to these read only instructions. Go to raspi-config > Advanced Options > Overlay FS and enable it. This will make the system read only. You can undo and redo this if you need to make changes to the system.

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