How to save video to external storage

[loudboy10]

Raspberry Pi 4+, 8GB RAM, Bullseye 64bit, Kernel 6.1
MotionPlus 0.1.1-1_arm64, installed via gdebi-core
RPi Cam V2 and USB camera

First off, thank you for building and supporting this great bit of software. I've learned a lot in the process of getting my Pi/cameras/MotionPlus up and running. One thing that is stumping me is saving the movie files that MotionPlus creates to a storage SD card. I boot my Pi from a USB flash drive because I was told it boots quicker that way. I want to save the video files to an SD card because my Pi will be built into my truck's dash and inaccessible; the SD card will be on an extension that is more easily accessible. I have had no luck in convincing MotionPlus to save files to the SD card. Everything works great when I save files to /home/[pi]/motionplus, but as soon as I change the target directory to /media/[SDcard], MotionPlus has errors.

I have opened up permissions to Anyone for the SD card, I edited my fstab to lock in the SD card location and edit permissions, I used fstab to bind the SD card to the /home/[pi]/motionplus directory. I formatted the SD with the Pi and can manually add/view/remove files from it.

I run MotionPlus as its own user which starts fine at boot, or manually with "sudo systemctl..."

My fstab

PARTUUID=2886b4de-01  /boot           vfat    defaults          0       2
PARTUUID=2886b4de-02  /               ext4    defaults,noatime  0       1
# a swapfile is not a swap partition, no line here
#   use  dphys-swapfile swap[on|off]  for that

#lock in the SD card to as assigned position/name
/dev/mmcblk0p1  /media/DASHCAM        vfat    user,umask=0000  0       0

#route access to the SD card down through the /home directory
/home/carputer/motionplus /media/DASHCAM/motionplus none bind 0 0

A script to keep only the newest four files in the target directory. This works fine.

cd /home/carputer/motionplus; ls -t | sed -e '1,4d' | xargs -d '\n' rm
cd /media/DASHCAM/motionplus; ls -t | sed -e '1,4d' | xargs -d '\n' rm

My most recent failed attempt log, saving to /media/[SDcard], manually started and stopped.

Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][ALL][00:motionplus] log_init: Using log type (ALL) log level (NTC)
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][ALL][00:motionplus] mytranslate_init: Language: English
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][STR][00:motionplus] webu_init_webcontrol: Starting webcontrol on port 8080
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][STR][00:motionplus] webu_init_webcontrol: Started webcontrol on port 8080
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][ENC][00:motionplus] movie_global_init: libavcodec  version 58.91.100
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][ENC][00:motionplus] movie_global_init: libavformat version 58.45.100
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] libcam_start: Opening libcam
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][ALL][00:motionplus] main: Motionplus pid: 3583
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] libcam_start: Starting experimental libcamera .
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] libcam_start: EXPECT crashes and hung processes!!!
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_start: Opening V4L2 device
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_params: Starting.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_device_open: Opening video device /dev/video0
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_params: Finished.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_mgr: Starting.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_set_input: Name = "Input 1"- CAMERA
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_try: Unable to use palette YU12 (352x288)
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_palette_set: Configuration palette index 17 (YU12) for 352x288 doesn't work.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_list: Supported palettes:
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_list: (0) MJPG (Motion-JPEG)
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_list: (1) YUYV (YUYV 4:2:2)
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_try: Testing palette YUYV (352x288)
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_mgr: cam_mgr started.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_mgr: Finished.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_config: Starting.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_config: Configuration is valid
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_set: Using palette YUYV (480x320)
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_palette_set: Selected palette YUYV
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][ALL][01:ml01:Rear] mlp_ring_resize: Resizing buffer to 4 items
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_config: Finished.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_req: Starting.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_req: Finished.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_capture: Starting.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [WRN][ALL][01:ml01:Rear] draw_init_scale: Invalid text scale.  Adjusted to 4
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_capture: Finished.
Jun 30 05:55:07 [NTC][ALL][01:ml01:Rear] mlp_init: Camera 2 started: motion detection Enabled
Jun 30 05:55:09 [NTC][ALL][01:ml01:Rear] mlp_detected_trigger: Motion detected - starting event 1
Jun 30 05:55:09 [ERR][ENC][01:ml01:Rear] movie_set_outputfile: avio_open: Invalid argument File /media/DASHCAM/motionplus/Rear_06-30-2023_05:55:09.mkv: Invalid argument
Jun 30 05:55:09 [ERR][ENC][01:ml01:Rear] movie_set_outputfile: Error opening file /media/DASHCAM/motionplus/Rear_06-30-2023_05:55:09.mkv: Invalid argument
Jun 30 05:55:09 [ERR][ENC][01:ml01:Rear] movie_open: Could not set the stream
Jun 30 05:55:09 [ERR][EVT][01:ml01:Rear] event_movie_start: Error opening ctx_dev for movie output.
Jun 30 05:55:09 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start: Started all.
Jun 30 05:55:09 [NTC][ALL][00:ml00:Front] mlp_ring_resize: Resizing buffer to 4 items
Jun 30 05:55:09 [NTC][ALL][00:ml00:Front] mlp_init: Camera 1 started: motion detection Enabled
Jun 30 05:55:11 [NTC][ALL][00:ml00:Front] mlp_detected_trigger: Motion detected - starting event 1
Jun 30 05:55:11 [ERR][ENC][00:ml00:Front] movie_set_outputfile: avio_open: Invalid argument File /media/DASHCAM/motionplus/Front_06-30-2023_05:55:11.mkv: Invalid argument
Jun 30 05:55:11 [ERR][ENC][00:ml00:Front] movie_set_outputfile: Error opening file /media/DASHCAM/motionplus/Front_06-30-2023_05:55:11.mkv: Invalid argument
Jun 30 05:55:11 [ERR][ENC][00:ml00:Front] movie_open: Could not set the stream
Jun 30 05:55:11 [ERR][EVT][00:ml00:Front] event_movie_start: Error opening ctx_dev for movie output.
Jun 30 05:57:30 [NTC][ALL][00:ml00:Front] mlp_main: Exiting
Jun 30 05:57:30 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_stop: Stopped.
Jun 30 05:57:30 [NTC][ALL][01:ml01:Rear] mlp_main: Exiting
Jun 30 05:57:30 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_cleanup: Closing video device /dev/video0
Jun 30 05:57:31 [NTC][ALL][00:motionplus] main: Motionplus devices finished
Jun 30 05:57:31 [NTC][ALL][00:motionplus] main: MotionPlus terminating

My most recent successful log, saving to /home/[pi], manually started and still running just fine.

Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][ALL][00:motionplus] log_init: Using log type (ALL) log level (NTC)
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][ALL][00:motionplus] mytranslate_init: Language: English
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][STR][00:motionplus] webu_init_webcontrol: Starting webcontrol on port 8080
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][STR][00:motionplus] webu_init_webcontrol: Started webcontrol on port 8080
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][ENC][00:motionplus] movie_global_init: libavcodec  version 58.91.100
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][ENC][00:motionplus] movie_global_init: libavformat version 58.45.100
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][ALL][00:motionplus] main: Motionplus pid: 4276
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] libcam_start: Opening libcam
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_start: Opening V4L2 device
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] libcam_start: Starting experimental libcamera .
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_device_open: Opening video device /dev/video0
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] libcam_start: EXPECT crashes and hung processes!!!
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_params: Starting.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_params: Finished.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_mgr: Starting.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_set_input: Name = "Input 1"- CAMERA
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_try: Unable to use palette YU12 (352x288)
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_mgr: cam_mgr started.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_mgr: Finished.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_config: Starting.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_palette_set: Configuration palette index 17 (YU12) for 352x288 doesn't work.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_list: Supported palettes:
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_list: (0) MJPG (Motion-JPEG)
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_list: (1) YUYV (YUYV 4:2:2)
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_config: Configuration is valid
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_try: Testing palette YUYV (352x288)
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_pixfmt_set: Using palette YUYV (480x320)
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][01:ml01:Rear] v4l2_palette_set: Selected palette YUYV
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_config: Finished.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_req: Starting.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_req: Finished.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_capture: Starting.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][ALL][01:ml01:Rear] mlp_ring_resize: Resizing buffer to 4 items
Jun 30 06:30:27 [WRN][ALL][01:ml01:Rear] draw_init_scale: Invalid text scale.  Adjusted to 4
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start_capture: Finished.
Jun 30 06:30:27 [NTC][ALL][01:ml01:Rear] mlp_init: Camera 2 started: motion detection Enabled
Jun 30 06:30:29 [NTC][ALL][01:ml01:Rear] mlp_detected_trigger: Motion detected - starting event 1
Jun 30 06:30:29 [NTC][EVT][01:ml01:Rear] event_newfile: File saved to: /home/carputer/motionplus/Rear_06-30-2023_06:30:28.mkv
Jun 30 06:30:29 [NTC][VID][00:ml00:Front] cam_start: Started all.
Jun 30 06:30:29 [NTC][ALL][00:ml00:Front] mlp_ring_resize: Resizing buffer to 4 items
Jun 30 06:30:29 [NTC][ALL][00:ml00:Front] mlp_init: Camera 1 started: motion detection Enabled
Jun 30 06:30:31 [NTC][ALL][00:ml00:Front] mlp_detected_trigger: Motion detected - starting event 1
Jun 30 06:30:31 [NTC][EVT][00:ml00:Front] event_newfile: File saved to: /home/carputer/motionplus/Front_06-30-2023_06:30:30.mkv
Jun 30 06:35:28 [NTC][EVT][01:ml01:Rear] event_newfile: File saved to: /home/carputer/motionplus/Rear_06-30-2023_06:35:28.mkv
Jun 30 06:35:31 [NTC][EVT]

Thank you for any guidance.

[prokrypt]

vfat does not support ":" character in filenames.

[sroller]

To add to the former commentor if this is still an issue:

you should change the output name in you motionplus.conf to something like

movie_filename %Y%m%d/%Y%m%d_%H%M%S

to avoid the ':' in your filenames.