This Real Fake Window Provides a Live View of the Outside World via an RTSP Camera and Raspberry Pi

from hackster.io

Pseudonymous maker "snicker1633" has given his office a space-bending upgrade: a live view fake window, peering through a solid internal wall to their home's exterior via a webcam and a Raspberry Pi.

"My office has no windows," snicker1633 explains of the reason for the project's existence. "Thanks to a Wyze Cam v3 (RTSP firmware) and a Raspberry Pi (omxplayer), I’ve created a false window to live stream my front yard."

The heart of the fake window is a simple TV, connected to a Raspberry Pi single-board computer via HDMI. The TV is recessed behind a fake window frame, to create a more convincing illusion — which could be further enhanced with the inclusion of a windowsill and some curtains.

The source for the stream is a Wyze Cam network camera, running a firmware that provides its stream via the RTSP standard — a standard omxplayer, running on the Raspberry Pi, can understand and decode for display on the TV.

"It’s streaming over the internet from home to office," snicker1633 explains of the connection between the Raspberry Pi and the camera — a connection that doesn't require the two to be on the same network, or even within the same country. "It takes no more bandwidth than any surveillance cameras that stream to the cloud take."

It's worth pointing out for anyone looking to follow in snicker1633's footsteps that omxplayer has been deprecated, as of the release of Raspberry Pi OS "Bullseye." Those looking to create their own can either switch to using VLC in its place, or run the legacy version of Raspberry Pi OS.

More details are available on the project's Reddit thread.