Mac Mini home camera server (Frigate) still stutters despite fixes
Someone runs the home-camera monitoring software Frigate on a , connecting cameras from several brands (Hikvision, Google Nest via Starling Hub, Aqara, and Reolink) into , a smart-home control platform. Live viewing is choppy for most cameras.
The only one that plays back smoothly is the Aqara camera, and only when viewed through Apple's Home app. Frigate was initially run inside a , but after asking Google's Gemini AI for advice, the setup was switched to running Frigate natively on the Mac Mini instead.
Even after that change, live streams inside 's Advanced Camera Card widget remain choppy, even though the same streams look smooth in Frigate's own . Gemini suggested adding a go2rtc block (a streaming relay tool) to the to fix the choppiness, but that did not solve the problem.
Key points
- Switched Frigate from running in Docker to running natively on a
- Cameras involved: Hikvision, Google Nest (via Starling Hub), Aqara, and Reolink
- Only the Aqara camera streams smoothly, and only inside Apple's Home app
- Frigate's own web UI streams smoothly, but 's Advanced Camera Card still stutters
- Adding a go2rtc relay block to the config did not fix the stuttering