Streaming local Webcam in a Linux machine, and acessing it when on vacations - which protocol to choose?

MediaMTX

Going to Mars seems easier and less resource intensive than that thing.

MediaMTX can sort a lot of this for you. Then its just a matter of accessing your feed on vlc.

Here is how you really "just access your feed from VLC" in three easy easy steps:

Step 1. Configure nginx repositories (http://nginx.org/en/linux_packages.html)

Step 2. Install nginx / nginx-rtmp

Step 3. Edit nginx config to add:

rtmp {
        server {
                listen 1935;
                chunk_size 4096;
                allow publish 127.0.0.1;
                deny publish all;

                application live {
                        live on;
                        exec_pull /usr/bin/ffmpeg -f v4l2 -input_format h264 -video_size 1920x1080 -i /dev/video4 -copyinkf -codec copy -f flv rtmp://127.0.0.1/live/stream;
                        record off;
                }
        }
}

A few notes:

• /dev/video4 is your camera;
• Some systems (debian) may require this sudo usermod -a -G video www-data to make sure it will work. Because ffmpeg will be launched with the www-data user that doesn't have access to the video cameras.
• It will even turn off the camera if nobody is connected;
• Use ffmpeg -f v4l2 -list_formats all -i /dev/video0 to find what formats your camera supports;
• Watch the stream from VLC with the url: rtmp://device-ip/live/stream

Enjoy.

Thank you, I managed to get it working with MediaMTX and DockoVPN I still don't know how I would manage dynamic IP changes during the days I'm away, that would break the VPN

this is the way. Not sure if you can watch webrtc streams with vlc though. But you can always use rtmp or hls