Circles or bars
Pick the familiar circle view or a very compact bar view. Both show how your current upload is split across the active interfaces. The display is not a speed test and does not measure the maximum capacity of a link.
See which connection is carrying how much, right in the stream
For Orange Pi 5 Plus and Radxa ROCK 5B Plus. The IRL4YOU network overlay adds a circle or bar display, your choice, to the BELABOX encoder. Every active network interface you enter in the configurator is shown automatically, up to eight connections. The bar view also shows total bitrate, SRT RTT, and, if you want it, the temperature of the box. Names, colors, background, number display, and corner can still be matched to your own stream.
1. What does the network overlay show?
Total, RTT, and temperature
The total display can show current total bandwidth and SRT RTT. In the bar view you can also show the temperature of the box. Existing measurements are reused, and the temperature is read locally from the system.
Dynamic display
If a cable is unplugged or a hotspot becomes unreachable, the affected connection disappears after a short while. When it returns, it is slotted back in automatically without restarting the stream.
Right in the picture
The overlay is rendered directly on the Orange Pi 5 Plus or Radxa ROCK 5B Plus running BELABOX software and blended into the encoded video there. In OBS you need neither an extra browser source nor a second stats service.
2. Approved hardware and signal paths
| Area | Approved setup | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Box | Orange Pi 5 Plus | Version 1.2 tested with circle and bar view |
| Box | Radxa ROCK 5B Plus | Version 1.2 approved; same RK3588 encoder path |
| RTMP | 1080p30 and 1080p60 | both views; local input: rtmp://BOX-IP/ |
| HDMI | Video and HDMI audio | circle and bar view use the same pipeline |
| USB/UVC | USB camera, 1080p30 | both views; webcam/UVC mode |
| Output | H.265 via hardware encoder | your existing BELABOX SRT settings still apply |
Approval status as of September 20, 2026: The tests apply to BELABOX systems that were fully updated on that date. The Orange Pi 5 Plus and ROCK 5B Plus use the same install command, the same overlay component, and the same configuration. The installer detects the board automatically. The last direct circle-to-bar switching test was done on the Orange Pi 5 Plus. After later fundamental changes to BELABOX, the operating system, or the pipelines, compatibility should be checked again.
Deliberately narrow approval: Other BELABOX hardware, cameras, resolutions, and frame rates may work technically, but version 1.2 does not yet mark them as tested.
3. Prepare the view, names, colors, and position
For each connection, use the existing interface name on your BELABOX, for example eth0 or wlan0. You can find it in the BELABOX web interface, or reliably over SSH with ip -br link. Then you pick circles or bars, display names, individual colors, text color, background opacity, and one of the four corners. We recommend 40 percent opacity. The bar view can summarize total bitrate, RTT, and temperature at the top. The plus button adds up to eight interfaces. If a connection drops out, the remaining displays close the gap automatically. Your entries never leave the browser.
Preparing over SSH:
- Turn on SSH in the BELABOX interface.
- macOS or Linux: open a terminal and log in with
ssh user@IP-DER-BELABOX. - Windows: use the same command in PowerShell or Windows Terminal. Alternatively, open PuTTY, enter the BELABOX IP address under Host Name, choose port
22and connection type SSH, click Open, and log in asuser. - After logging in, enter
sudo -iand confirm with the user's password. - Check with
whoami: the output must beroot. - Use
ip -br linkto show the actual interface names. Typical names areeth0,wlan0, orwlan1. Do not enterlo. - Then set the view, names, colors, and corner in the configurator, copy your personal install command, and run it in the same SSH console.
If you have already set up an SSH key for root access, you can log in directly with ssh root@IP-DER-BELABOX instead.
The preview values are sample data. On the box, percentage and kilobit values come from the bytes actually transferred on the active interfaces. In status mode, colors, names, and bars or circles stay visible while the numbers are dropped. Temperature belongs to the bar view only.
4. Download the installation package
The package contains the shared circle/bar renderer, installer, reset, uninstaller, four pipelines, default configuration, checksums, test report, GPL license, and the modified source code.
File: irl4you-belabox-netzwerk-overlay-1.2.zip
SHA-256: 53a60256bf40bd1370babee53bd4e26646594c135814a8ab6df91d5015cbaa84
Before installing: Fully update the BELABOX base system, stop the running stream, and keep a working SD card as a fallback. The installer also creates a backup of the previous software state automatically.
5. Installing on a fresh BELABOX
- Fully update the BELABOX base system and enable SSH.
- Log in through a terminal, Windows Terminal, PowerShell, or PuTTY, and switch to
root. - In the configurator, set the view, interfaces, labels, colors, text color, opacity, corner, and update interval.
- Copy the personal
wgetcommand generated there and run it on the box. - After the interface restarts automatically, reload the BELABOX page.
- Pick one of the four new pipelines under
custom/and test it privately first.
The personal command is identical on the Orange Pi 5 Plus and the ROCK 5B Plus. It downloads the ZIP package, checks the SHA-256 checksum, starts the installer, and then writes exactly the configuration generated in your browser to /etc/irl4you-net-overlay.conf. The installer detects the board itself and checks the architecture, package checksums, runtime libraries, and required GStreamer modules. Missing GStreamer runtime packages are added as needed. Compilers and development packages are not installed in a normal installation. The existing original pipelines are not overwritten.
Quick test after installation:
- Pick one of the new
custom/pipelines and start the stream. - Check in the video whether all active connections you entered in the configurator are shown.
- Briefly disconnect one connection. Its display should disappear and come back automatically after it reconnects.
If video and audio stay smooth through all that, the overlay is working as intended. Even so, do a short private test run before a public stream.
Standard installation without your own selection
If you want the bundled bar view with default colors, you can use exactly one of the two following commands instead. wget is the recommended way. If wget, curl, or unzip is missing, the command you choose installs only the tool it needs.
Recommended: with wget
set -e; command -v unzip >/dev/null || { apt-get update && apt-get install -y unzip; }; command -v wget >/dev/null || { apt-get update && apt-get install -y wget; }; IRL4YOU_TMP="$(mktemp -d)" && cd "$IRL4YOU_TMP" && wget -O overlay.zip https://irl4you.de/downloads/irl4you-belabox-netzwerk-overlay-1.2.zip && echo "53a60256bf40bd1370babee53bd4e26646594c135814a8ab6df91d5015cbaa84 overlay.zip" | sha256sum -c - && unzip -q overlay.zip && cd BELABOX-NETZWERK-OVERLAY-1.2.0 && bash ./INSTALLIEREN.shAlternative: with curl
set -e; command -v unzip >/dev/null || { apt-get update && apt-get install -y unzip; }; command -v curl >/dev/null || { apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl; }; IRL4YOU_TMP="$(mktemp -d)" && cd "$IRL4YOU_TMP" && curl -fL --retry 3 https://irl4you.de/downloads/irl4you-belabox-netzwerk-overlay-1.2.zip -o overlay.zip && echo "53a60256bf40bd1370babee53bd4e26646594c135814a8ab6df91d5015cbaa84 overlay.zip" | sha256sum -c - && unzip -q overlay.zip && cd BELABOX-NETZWERK-OVERLAY-1.2.0 && bash ./INSTALLIEREN.shThe temporary files live under /tmp. The actual installation and the automatic backup are still handled by INSTALLIEREN.sh.
When updating: The personal command replaces the previous overlay configuration with your current selection. The installer backs up the previous state automatically first.
6. Uninstalling and restoring the original state
Before uninstalling, stop the stream and log in over SSH as root. The following command restores the original BELABOX state from before the first IRL4YOU installation. The extra IRL4YOU pipelines then disappear from the selection. Existing backups are kept for emergencies.
bash /opt/irl4you/network-overlay/release-1.2.0/DEINSTALLIEREN.shIf you only want to go back to the previous IRL4YOU version, ZURUECKSETZEN.sh stays in the installation package as well.
7. Which pipeline fits which input?
| Source | Pipeline in the BELABOX interface | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| local RTMP, 1080p30 | custom/ | from the RTMP stream |
| local RTMP, 1080p60 | custom/ | from the RTMP stream |
| HDMI input | custom/ | HDMI |
| USB/UVC camera, 1080p30 | custom/ | the camera's USB audio source |
With RTMP, the source sends to rtmp://BOX-IP/
8. What was tested in practice?
Orange Pi 5 Plus: Fresh install, RTMP at 1080p30 and 1080p60, HDMI with HDMI audio, DJI Action 5 Pro over USB/UVC at 1080p30 with USB audio, dynamic interface changes, a reboot, and a ten-minute 1080p60 endurance test. Circle and bar view were switched directly and tested in practice.
Radxa ROCK 5B Plus: The same four input pipelines, plus a misconfiguration, restoring the official BELABOX pipelines, and three controlled stream restarts. Version 1.2 uses the same RK3588 renderer and the same configuration file there.
- plugging and unplugging LAN, and switching a Wi-Fi hotspot off and on
- automatic hiding, closing the gap, and re-slotting the connection
- percentage, kilobit, and status-only display without numbers
- circle and bar view with an optional total display
- total bitrate and RTT switchable on and off independently of the connection values
- video and audio with each intended audio source
- automatic backup and reset
By default the display updates every two seconds. The video keeps running at its set frame rate independently of that.
Note on USB LAN: With routers connected over USB, the USB network connection may not be detected at first after a BELABOX reboot. If that happens, unplug the USB cable once and plug it back in. As soon as Linux provides the interface, the network overlay picks it up in the display again automatically.
9. License, source code, and clear limits
The modified belacoder is based on the open BELABOX project. That is why this extension is also provided under the GNU GPL version 3 or later. The full license text, the modified source code, and a reproducible build script are included right in the download package.
The GPL allows use, inspection, modification, and redistribution. If you distribute a modified version, you must pass on the same freedoms, keep the license notices, and provide the corresponding source code under the GPL.
- no guarantee for other boards or untested sources
- percentages describe the share of the current upload, not the reserves of a connection
- RTT belongs to the SRT output and is not a general ping test of each individual link
- always do a complete private test before important productions
10. Feedback from other setups
The approval deliberately stays limited to the tested setup. You can report results with other hardware or additional USB cameras in the IRL4YOU Discord, with source, resolution, frame rate, and audio source.
Several cameras in one picture
For the BELABOX, the IRL4YOU BOX is a free add-on for picture-in-picture with up to four cameras. It is a beta.
11. Common questions
Is the network overlay a speed test?
No. It shows how your current upload is split across the active interfaces. It does not measure the most a link could carry. And a percentage does not tell you how much headroom a connection still has.
Do I need a browser source in OBS?
No. The overlay is rendered on the BELABOX itself and is already part of the encoded video. You need neither a browser source nor a second stats service.
Which hardware is approved for version 1.2?
The Orange Pi 5 Plus and the Radxa ROCK 5B Plus with RTMP, HDMI, and USB/UVC. The details are in the compatibility section. Other BELABOX hardware, cameras, resolutions, and frame rates may work too, but they are not marked as tested.
How many connections can the overlay show?
Up to eight. If one drops out, its display disappears after a short while and the others move up. When it comes back, it is slotted in again without restarting the stream.
What do I do if a USB router is not shown after a reboot?
Unplug the USB cable once and plug it back in. As soon as Linux provides the interface, the overlay picks it up again automatically. More on this is in the test status section. If it behaves differently, let us know through the feedback section on Discord.