App Link on Your Dashboard

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1

are you able to add an app link to your dashboard?
possibly for something that isn't directly supported by hubitat, but has its own app ?

2

You can add a URL link, so if the app can be somehow triggered from a URL, it should work.

3

When you refer to an "app", are you talking about an app installed on the HE hub, or an app installed on a mobile device where you are viewing a dashboard?

4

I am talking about a mobile app downloaded out of the play store.
so like have a button for the Unifi Protect app from the play store as a tile on the dashboard ?

5

The best I can think of would be to use Tasker and Autoremote, as long as you are on Android.

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6

I don't even need to automated.
just on my hubitat dashboard, having a tile which is literally the Unifi Protect app to open, then in the app, view and control the cameras?

7

I understand you want to open the app, it's more that I just don't know a way to do that directly from the dashboard, though the effect of what I was suggesting would hopefully appear that way. But if you can find a way to do it without Tasker, that would be a better outcome

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8

agree with the tasker integration. have a virtual button to send a command to your phone, then it opens the app when that command is received

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9

I think I am following, but just to confirm you mean, it would open the app on the wall mounted tablet where my dashboard is, not my phone, correct ?

10

I was honestly hoping, just to be able to put a link or a button to manually push from the dashboard to open an app u downloaded from the play store.

11

Yes, that's correct, it will open on the device you choose. I have setup a thread outlining opening a dashboard on my tablet using this approach. I'll get a link shortly.

I have used this to open a dashboard / turn on the tablet in Tasker. You will need to adjust the action in Tasker to open an app.

And you need to replace the motion aspect of my solution with a button.

12

There's a chance we may be able to do this more simply.... Haven't tried it myself... And don't know if we will strike any problems....

But this looks promising also....

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13

okay thanks alot! I was totally happy with my unifi protect system but totally regretting it now that it seems like some of the only cameras that can't be easily integrated with hubitat :frowning:

14

What are you missing? Mainly live video? You can get most other functionality with my UniFi Protect integration.

What do you want to do exactly? Have a Hubitat dashboard be up most of the time and then be able to switch to video without going to the home screen?

15

ideally, would be having live feeds from thr unifi cameras on my HE dashboard 24/7.
but I figured a work around could be the split screen idea where half screen is hubitat dashboard and half screen in the unifi protect app with the camera view page showing.

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16

Just making sure I understand- why do you want it on the Hubitat dashboard instead of the Protect app? I'm assuming you want to interact with other entities in Hubitat while the videos are still live?

I haven't done it, but I think it is trivial to transcode the video for display on a dashboard. The catch is that it would require an external machine to do the processing.

You could certainly do it on a PC or a RPi. Would that be an acceptable option?

17

I just wanted the live streams on the hubitat dashboard, figuring it would look nicer on a 24/7 display.
but I am totally fine with the live video being in the protect app, if that app can be open and show the live streams while the dashboard is up.

essentially, I just want to be able to see live feeds from my unifi protect cams 24/7 while still having the the dashboard options to control lights, temp, music, etc.

whichever way is the easiest, most stable and reliable way to do that I am ok with :+1: thanks so much for the help on this

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18

This worked for me: Using VLC transcode Video RTSP stream to MJPEG / ActionTiles Forum / AT Support & Ideas

  1. Install VLC on your Windows PC.
    Probably will work in other environments, but I only tested on Windows.
  2. Go to UniFi Protect via the browser interface on your computer.
    In the Devices section of UniFi Protect, click on a camera and go to the Manage section, then enable at least one RTSP stream. Copy the URL (I used the 'unsecure' one).
  3. Open a Windows cmd window with Administrator access.
    Browse to the VLC directory: <Program Files>\VideoLAN\VLC
    Execute this command (no line-breaks!): vlc.exe -R <RTSP unsecure URL from UniFi Protect> --sout "#transcode{vcodec=mjpg,vb=2500,scale=1.0,fps=10,acodec=none}:standard{access=http{mime=multipart/x-mixed-replace; boundary=7b3cc56e5f51db803f790dad720ed50a},mux=mpjpeg,dst=:8888/videostream.cgi}
  4. Add an Image tile to your dashboard
    Set the Image URL to: http://<IP address of PC running VLC>:8888/videostream.cgi

You should see the video stream on your dashboard. Note that this will likely only work on your local network.

You would want to customize the dst=:8888/videostream.cgi part to use different ports or paths if you wanted to run multiple streams at once.

Obviously you would probably want to auto-launch the vlc.exe command on boot and/or if it crashes for some reason.

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19

I'd been wondering about vlc for streaming myself, not so much for cameras, but streaming tv from my pvr. Nice work.

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20

awesome, thanks so much for the info! I've only ever used Mac, but will maybe try this on a pi4! thanks!