Camera Configuration

Setting Up Camera Inputs

Several inputs can be configured for each camera and the role of each input can be mixed and matched based on your needs. This allows you to use a lower resolution stream for object detection, but create recordings from a higher resolution stream, or vice versa.

A camera is enabled by default but can be temporarily disabled by using enabled: False. Existing events and recordings can still be accessed. Live streams, recording and detecting are not working. Camera specific configurations will be used.

Each role can only be assigned to one input per camera. The options for roles are as follows:

Role	Description
detect	Main feed for object detection. docs
record	Saves segments of the video feed based on configuration settings. docs
audio	Feed for audio based detection. docs
rtmp	Deprecated: Broadcast as an RTMP feed for other services to consume. docs

mqtt:
  host: mqtt.server.com
cameras:
  back:
    enabled: True
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://viewer:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.10.10:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=2
          roles:
            - detect
            - rtmp # <- deprecated, recommend using restream instead
        - path: rtsp://viewer:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.10.10:554/live
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      width: 1280 # <- optional, by default Frigate tries to automatically detect resolution
      height: 720 # <- optional, by default Frigate tries to automatically detect resolution

Additional cameras are simply added to the config under the cameras entry.

mqtt: ...
cameras:
  back: ...
  front: ...
  side: ...

For camera model specific settings check the camera specific infos.

Setting up camera PTZ controls

caution

Not every PTZ supports ONVIF, which is the standard protocol Frigate uses to communicate with your camera. Check the official list of ONVIF conformant products, your camera documentation, or camera manufacturer's website to ensure your PTZ supports ONVIF. Also, ensure your camera is running the latest firmware.

Add the onvif section to your camera in your configuration file:

cameras:
  back:
    ffmpeg: ...
    onvif:
      host: 10.0.10.10
      port: 8000
      user: admin
      password: password

If the ONVIF connection is successful, PTZ controls will be available in the camera's WebUI.

An ONVIF-capable camera that supports relative movement within the field of view (FOV) can also be configured to automatically track moving objects and keep them in the center of the frame. For autotracking setup, see the autotracking docs.

ONVIF PTZ camera recommendations

This list of working and non-working PTZ cameras is based on user feedback.

Brand or specific camera	PTZ Controls	Autotracking	Notes
Amcrest	✅	✅	⛔️ Generally, Amcrest should work, but some older models (like the common IP2M-841) don't support autotracking
Amcrest ASH21	❌	❌	No ONVIF support
Ctronics PTZ	✅	❌
Dahua	✅	✅
Foscam R5	✅	❌
Hikvision	✅	❌	Incomplete ONVIF support (MoveStatus won't update even on latest firmware) - reported with HWP-N4215IH-DE and DS-2DE3304W-DE, but likely others
Reolink 511WA	✅	❌	Zoom only
Reolink E1 Pro	✅	❌
Reolink E1 Zoom	✅	❌
Sunba 405-D20X	✅	❌
Tapo C200	✅	❌	Incomplete ONVIF support
Tapo C210	❌	❌	Incomplete ONVIF support
Uniview IPC672LR-AX4DUPK	✅	❌	Firmware says FOV relative movement is supported, but camera doesn't actually move when sending ONVIF commands
Vikylin PTZ-2804X-I2	❌	❌	Incomplete ONVIF support