I am not a camera expert, just basically want to view some rooms to start with, and definitely don't want any "inside the house" views going on the internet. So I bought some Wyze pan cameras and installed the Dafang hack on them. I am wondering what issues you want to avoid? Maybe they are issues that I am just ignorant enough about cameras to not realize . Right now I am not even using RTSP.
The nice thing about the Dafang hack is if you end up not liking it, remove the microSD card and then have the Wyze app update the firmware, easy peasy.
I disabled the https stuff in the hack since the cameras are on my internal network, and as a result I can view the camera images in the dashboard by using an image tile. Then when the dashboard does its update, the images get updated. That's not great for security (on so many levels I suppose!), but fine for keeping an eye on the cats and anybody we may have over to take care of them.
That's literally the entire reason why I tried the alternate firmware on my Wyze cameras. LOL Without RTSP, I can't have centralized recordings of all cameras in a single location. Currently, I have 14 PoE cameras (both inside and out) that record videos to three locations; My DVR records constantly, Blue Iris records motion and then both back up to a central NAS.
As for the other issues, I found that with Dafang (and OpenIPC), it was just way too slow. The bug regarding the night vision sensor on the V2 cameras was also a show stopper for me.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the Wyze cameras. I just need literally one thing to make them work in my home and that's RTSP.
Been waiting on this for a while too. Though I feel like when it does come they are going to cripple it in some way. Or make us have to buy a v3 camera to get it. I'm hoping not but we will see.
Up to now, they've been pretty consumer friendly in terms of features, but, business puts business first. So yeah. I'd actually be OK buying a v3 if it does proper RTSP and has better internals at a good price point.
If you watch the QA video @ 5:50 they discuss RTSP that is planned for Q2 this year. They've managed to not drop any features, but cannot add more features on top of adding RTSP. The current camera CPU will not support it. So you can expect to be required to buy a new camera if you want RTSP and additional features beyond that firmware revision. You'll be able to add new features without adding RTSP in a separate firmware, but they could always draw a line in that sand and force you to either upgrade to a single version with RTSP support, or buy a new camera. The latter makes the most sense for revenue generation, but they've had some good funding rounds. Not sure they need it and their very good customer service model is working well for them. Probably wouldn't want to disrupt that.
I thought on their forums they said there was hardware and firmware storage limitations with the v2 cameras, which was part of the reason for some features not being able to be included with the RTSP firmware....
Or did I read that on one of the threads here?
I was very interested in the panning cameras. But I want the same things you want.
That is indeed the claim they make. Do I buy it? I don't know.
I've dug around in the internals of a broken Wyze V2 cam and judging by the components, I don't believe that they couldn't offer other features along with RTSP. With that said, the components are pretty cheap and underpowered for sure. I also don't know how they have the onboard firmware baked in and what kind of optimizations they have made/not made at that level.
Anyone in IT has been told at some point by management to say things like "feature X is going to be limited because of [network|hardware|time|development costs]" and knows its not true. My boss pulls that on me all the time.
Just sayin' it's all about getting that extra dollar.
You can only save Wyze video or snapshots by using the wyze software or Tinycam pro. Tinycam can save snapshots on-demand. There is also integration with tasker which allows for webrequests to be a trigger. So, there probably is a way to do this but it's going to be very clumsy.
@Robin is using a software called Blue Iris which sends out a video stream. I don't have Blue Iris, but @eneiford mentioned above that they are using a link in this format: [BI_IP]:[BI_PORT]/mjpg/[CAMERA_SHORTNAME]/video.mjpg
As for adding this to the dashboard, I believe they are using an image tile. You don't have to select a device, just set the template to image and then you put your link in the new box that shows up below that.
If they are doing something different then I would like to know too.
I am curious to know if streaming video through HE would put undue load on the system. I haven't seen anyone have issues with response times due to video feeds, but so far I have only seen one to two feeds on a single page. If you choose to add a lot of feeds just be mindful of your system's response times and make sure to do your due diligence to ensure it will respond when you need it to.
At the moment, I am leaning towards having a snapshot on my dashboard like @sptrr99 mentioned above just to get basic info. I am also thinking of having a separate 24/7 recording system since sometimes the best image is before something is triggered. Once the system is triggered you usually get the back of their head.
Brand new to HE, so excuse me if I haven't tripped on this in another thread yet. I started messing around with Shinobi.video based on another thread, and it also has the ability to send out a stream.
http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/[API KEY]/monitor/[GROUP KEY]/[MONITOR ID]
**JPEG Snapshot.** Snapshot must be enabled in Monitor Settings
http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/[API KEY]/jpeg/[GROUP KEY]/[MONITOR ID]/s.jpg
**MJPEG Stream.** Stream type must be MJPEG.
http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/[API KEY]/mjpeg/[GROUP KEY]/[MONITOR ID]
As a total noob to both HE and Shinobi, I'm obviously missing something easy and critical. What is it?
Now I'm wondering if I need BI or Shinobi at all. Something new to test tonight.
I only have one model of Amcrest camera in my house, so I don't know how other ones work. But seeing what the input needs to be for the tile, I don't see why I couldn't pull the same mjpeg feed straight from the camera's URL rather than the server running the CCTV software.
I can pull this URL (or similar) directly from the camera: http://user:Pwd@ip:port/cgi-bin/mjpg/video.cgi?[channel=]&subtype=1
Unless the tile specifically looks for a jpeg file. Guess we'll see.
Yeah, if your camera system supports outputting a MPEG or JPEG, then you don't need an intermediary app like BI or Shinobi.
The use cases for them come into play when you want them to interact more fully with your hub or your cameras don't support outputting RTSP, MPEG, or JPEG streams/images. So, in my case, when my mode changes in HE, it kicks off profile changes in BI which triggers certain cameras to record and report motion differently. For instance, my backyard cameras only need to record and report motion at night or when I'm not at home. So, HE, which controls all my house modes, changes the profile in BI to match the mode the house is in and the profile controls which cameras record and report motion. The same can be achieved (I believe) in Shinobi as well.
My Amcrest DVR will render out RTSP, MPEG, and JPEG streams, but doesn't have a controllable API.
. Right now I am not even using RTSP.
