Remote Android camera to blue iris through RTSP Server

...which can then be added to blue iris.

Is this possible? In theory, it is, but I'm struggling.

Can anyone assist?

If this works, I have a killer of an idea....

I did set that up a few years back, so it is possible but the performance (for me, at least) was impractically laggy so I stopped using it. Admittedly, that could have been a limitation in some of my hardware, but it seemed more effort than it was worth to try to reuse an old phone instead of just getting a camera that's actually designed for that purpose.

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@sean1

could you elaborate?

It's not about 'buying a camera'...my idea would only work with an android phone, streaming to a rtsp (?) server from tinycam, when the server is running at home on an always on pc.

Then read into blue iris, for a number of reasons.

At some point a few years ago, I realized I had an old Android I was no longer using and I could utilize it as another security camera. I installed Tiny Cam Pro and streamed that to my computer, and then I used Blue Iris to set up a feed that I could then embed in one of my Hubitat dashboards.

I was able to get all that to work, and I could open the dashboard and see a "live" feed from my old Android. But, like I said, it was very laggy. Like, easily 10-20 seconds behind even after I took the sampling rate way down. Possibly just because I was using an older phone, or maybe a configuration on my computer. Regardless, it definitely wasn't useful to me as a security camera.

I was playing with it more to see if I could find a use for an old phone than actually needing it as another camera, so I didn't really pursue it much beyond that. If I just wanted a still image every 30 or 60 seconds or something, it might've been fine for that, but I don't have a use case where a periodic still image would be useful for me.

Ah, sorry. This is the part I'm struggling with. Do you recall how?

I don't recall the specifics -- and I'm sure the software's been updated several times since I messed with it anyway -- but I think the biggest hurdle I had there had something to do with the specific ports. Like, the port that Blue Iris defaulted to had to be opened manually or didn't match up with the port Tiny Cam Pro defaulted to or something.

Sorry I don't remember things more clearly, but hopefully that's able to get you in the right direction at least.

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Progress. It's possible.

Installation — MonaServer (compiled MonaServer download | SourceForge.net)

Installed that onto my cctv box which runs BlueIris:

Extract:

image

Run:

Take note of your internal ip address of my BI box, and set a router rule dor port forwarding for 1935:

image

Install IP Webcam Pro:

Change the streaming setting (note I use a servebeer redirector for external access, default user/pass admin/admin but this can be changed), then choose 'start server' in the app:

Finally, into BlueIris and add a camera:

....

tada.

image

There are tweaks to be made, but here's what I've ordered from AliExpress...

Hopefully this is worthwhile. The idea is to have an android phone on my motorbike, hidden, with external cam, using tasker to do some cool stuff linked to travel and security. Tasker plugin for IPWebcan allows the stream to be stopped/started remotely. I'm assuming a USB OTG adapter can be used to keep the devices powered. We shall see. Mental, but simple overall, just with a fair few components.

Pretty much a dashcam with unlimited recording, viewable remotely exactly like my cctv system. Woo...

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Update.

I purchased an otg adapter to allow charging whilst connected. Fail. My samsung s9 fails to recognise the adapter at all, nor will it even charge.

Plug this into a fire tab and the charging works just fine, but I can't do a lot software-wise with the kids tablet without reflashing etc, which is a bit much to test.

I also tried a crappy old android tv box. I can confirm that the ip Webcam software does indeed recognise my crappy Webcam and streams.

So next, I need to either:

  1. Give this a go on a half-decent android phone which works with usbOTG in full

Or

  1. Connect the cam to a decent tablet, using the tab as a host, and have a seperate bog standard android phone to handle tasker, data and wifi hot-spot.

Also, interesting read:

Neat idea, but how about a decent dashcam that will sync to a server when you get back home and on wifi?

Canny, but I want the live option and also, wish to be able to log in at will.

Don't know about Europe but you can get a decent dashcam on Amazon that could do all that and much easier to mount for quite cheap.

Hi, not sure that's quite true. Live streaming to a remote bi server?

If I'm mistaken, I'd love to see the product/an example.

I believe the cheapo dashcams (and even the expensive ones) can't do what I'm asking.