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I am streaming video from multiple Pi zero WHs, via ethernet, to a master Pi 3B+ which saves the streams to a hard drive. I chose Pi zeros due to their low cost and low power draw (I'm running from battery), and ethernet for low latency and high reliability over a UDP connection. But I haven't come up with a great way to actually implement the ethernet connection.

The options I'm aware of are:

  • Micro-USB to RJ45 Adaptor [1] - Seems great in theory but I've read that many of these AliExpress adaptors have bandwidths orders of magnitude lower than advertised, which could be an issue for video streaming.
  • Micro-USB OTG Adaptor & USB to RJ45 Adaptor (Male-Female) [2] [3] - This is what I'm using now and it works, but it feels a bit cludgy with how many cables and connections it involves
  • Micro-USB OTG Adaptor & USB to RJ45 Adaptor (Male-Male) [2] [4] - Well-reviewed, but I can't find any similar products rated for more than 500kbaud--too slow for video streaming

Other notes:

  • The first two options come from this helpful existing answer
  • I'm working with a ~2.5MBps minimum bandwidth to accommodate my video streams
  • I'll be hooking up upwards of 12 cameras, so I'd like to keep cost down, if possible
KPM
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  • [4] is a serial cable - so, forget that - you say you need 2.5MBps ... in other words 20 megabits/second? or did you mean 2.5Mbps (note the b instead of the B) - if you did mean 20megabits/second .. that's 240 over 12 cameras ... and the pi3B+ will struggle with that – Jaromanda X Jul 30 '19 at 02:26
  • @JaromandaX I can definitely switch to a beefier master unit if I need to, but I've seen anywhere from 20MBps to 50MBps write speeds cited on the 3B+, and I don't expect my gstreamer filesinks to be computationally taxing beyond the writing itself--so I figured I'd at least give it a try. – KPM Jul 30 '19 at 18:21
  • really? 160 to 400 megabits per second ethernet on a 3B+? Due to USB2.0 it's limited to 330mbit and real world you get less than that, so, not sure where your 400mbit is coming from – Jaromanda X Jul 30 '19 at 22:45
  • @JaromandaX I think the theoretical limit for USB2.0 is 480Mbps (per the USB2.0 spec), so 400 is possible and 240 seems doable. Thanks for the heads-up, though; I'll be sure to do some testing to make sure I can do it in practice. – KPM Jul 30 '19 at 22:59
  • Yeah, I know the spec is 480, but the documentation for the 3+ states that the limit is 330 ... maybe that's the "real world" figure based on the theoretical limit. Sorry to take you off track so much though. In my opinion, although it's "cludgy" I think your current solution is probably the best – Jaromanda X Jul 30 '19 at 23:02

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