Surveillance Camera Feeds

#2

The telly suggestion in Channels DVR + Xteve / Telly works great for me and handful of cameras. To get it working, you'll need to setup an HTTP server that serves a playlist of camera streams to Telly, setup Telly and configure it look at that playlist, then point Channels at Telly. Here's how my config looks:

[Discovery]
  Device-Auth = ""
  Device-ID = "TELLY"
  Device-UUID = ""
  Device-Firmware-Name = ""
  Device-Firmware-Version = ""
  Device-Friendly-Name = "Telly TV"
  Device-Manufacturer = ""
  Device-Model-Number = "HDHR-TELLY"
  SSDP = false

[IPTV]
  FFMpeg = true
  Streams = 4
  Starting-Channel = 9000
  XMLTV-Channels = true

[Log]
  Level = "warn"
  Requests = true

[Web]
  Base-Address = "localhost:6077"
  Listen-Address = "0.0.0.0:6077"

[[Source]]
  Name = "cameras"
  Provider = "Custom"
  M3U = "http://files/telly.m3u"

In this config, files is a local http server serving this playlist at telly.m3u:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,AC HD CAMERA
http://ac-stream/index.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,ATRIUM HD CAMERA
http://atrium-stream/index.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,BACK PORCH HD CAMERA
http://back-porch-stream/index.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,FRONT YARD LEFT HD CAMERA
http://front-yard-left-stream/index.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,GARAGE HD CAMERA
http://garage-stream/index.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,GATE HD CAMERA
http://gate-stream/index.m3u8
#EXTINF:-1,PERGOLA HD CAMERA
http://pergola-stream/index.m3u8

Each of those URLs point to my cameras streams. Once that's all setup, you can add the telly server to channels as a TVE source and then see the feeds on any of the client apps. Magic!

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#3

Is there a chance you camera support DLNA? If so, and you have a smart TV, they may appear as viewable items right from the TV's GUI.

#4

I had never even thought of this, but it would be an awesome idea. I've struggled with trying to find easy ways to get my security cameras on Apple TV, but none make me happy. It would be great if I could just tune to channel "Cam 1" or channel "Cam 2".

#6

Have you looked into homebridge?

I have a fantastic Ring package that puts them in HomeKit. They work great in tvOS 14. It even pops up on a doorbell ring.

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#7

On my Samsung smart TV, all I have to do is plug it into my network with Ethernet, and anything on the local network that it knows how to talk to shows up on the Sources menu. So I see all kinds of stuff, like my HDHR tuners, various media servers on my computers, even (I think) SMB shares. The interface is pretty clunky (sort of presents everything as if you're navigating file folder/files) but it gets the job done.

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#8

I am using the IP Cam Soft app on the Apple TV and it works great with my wifi security cameras.

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#9

You guys might want to check out the feature we just put into Pre-Release. You can now create custom channels using an m3u playlist.

You can learn more about how it works here

Read through the whole document to see our custom extended metadata tags for m3u streams. It allows you to really dress up the channels to look good in Channels.

@jnewland's trick using Xteve or Telly is no longer required since we support this right in Channels DVR Server now.

You can read more about it in the beta thread

3 Likes
#10

I noticed the option earlier in the week. Can't wait to try it out. Unfortunately, I just switched my cams over to HomeKit, and they won't allow the option to do RTSP & HomeKit at the same time :frowning:

I've got a couple other cameras in my closet that I can start testing in a week or so. This will be so great to have that in my Channels interface on Apple TV.

I know Channels is by no means a security company, but wouldn't it be awesome if you could trigger certain channels to pop-up to PIP when motion is detected :open_mouth:

#12

Just curious, but what camera hardware are you using that lets you switch between RTSP or HomeKit? I am currently using Ring cameras with a HomeBridge server on a Raspberry Pi and HomeCam on the AppleTV, and it all works really well, but I'd like to also explore all of the other options out there for a separate home project that's coming up.

Now that Channels works with RTSP streams, a whole new door of possibilities has opened up!

1 Like
#13

I’ve got a bunch of Eufy indoor cams that support RTSP, but when I enable the HomeKit mode, RTSP is not allowed. I guess it’s too much for the cameras to handle. It looks like some of their battery operated cams in conjunction with their Homebase may support both protocols. If I get a chance to test with Channels this weekend, I’ll post back.

#14

This is awesome! Loaded an Amcrest rtsp cam in no problem! Thank you!!

2 Likes
#15

I have 5 Amcrest Cameras (3 x IP2M-841B, 2x IPM4-1051). Would you mind relaying the steps you used to view these in Channels?

#16 
#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="South" channel-number="13004" tvg-name="South" tvc-guide-title="South" tvc-guide-description="Live view from South" tvc-stream-vcodec="h264" tvc-stream-acodec="aac" tvc-guide-art="http://192.168.1.25:9000/images/rtsp/South.jpg",South
rtsp://USERID:[email protected]/h264Preview_01_main
#17

amcrest
amcrest509×805 67.8 KB

#18

Homebridge has a really helpful set of rtsp camera configs that are likely useful for folks setting this up in Channels too. https://sunoo.github.io/homebridge-camera-ffmpeg/configs/ or use the source: https://www.ispyconnect.com/camera/amcrest

1 Like
#19

Any luck with this? I have the Eufy's to and can't figure out a way to make it work.

#20

Has anyone been successful using Nest Cams with a starling home hub?

#21

Using Spud's post I used the Eufy configuration RTSP url and it works. Note that for battery operated cameras the camera has to be 'triggered' to stream to rtsp. The indoor cameras can be set to continuously stream and will always be available.

But for me, even with the battery cameras that require a secret 'nudge' to activate or motion activation before they will stream still works okay...if someone is at the door, the camera has already been activated. The indoor cameras work all of the time, no issues.

I created a playlist (text) option in custom channels.

#EXTM3U

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="Front Porch" channel-number="99001" tvg-name="Front Porch" tvc-guide-title="Front" tvc-guide-description="Front Camera" tvc-stream-vcodec="h264" tvc-stream-acodec="aac" tvc-guide-art="",Front
rtsp://1.1.1.1/live2

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="Back" channel-number="99002" tvg-name="Back" tvc-guide-title="Back" tvc-guide-description="Back Camera" tvc-stream-vcodec="h264" tvc-stream-acodec="aac" tvc-guide-art="",Back
rtsp://1.1.1.1/live4

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="Indoor Camera" channel-number="99004" tvg-name="Indoor" tvc-guide-title="Indoor" tvc-guide-description="Indoor Camera" tvc-stream-vcodec="h264" tvc-stream-acodec="aac" tvc-guide-art="",Indoor
rtsp://1.1.1.2/live0

Note that 1.1.1.1 is the ip of the homebase that the battery cameras are communicating through. The other cameras have their own dedicated IP so probably a good idea to make them static DHCP, etc.

#22

I have the Eufy wired 2k doorbell. I entered this but it times out and never displays anything after like 32 seconds. The stream format I have selected is MPEG-TS and Source is Text.

I have several Eufy cameras I’d like to add if possible. Was h has its own IP address on my network.

#EXTM3U

#EXTINF:-1 channel-id="Doorbell" channel-number="9000" tvg-name="Doorbell" tvc-guide-title="Doorbell" tvc-guide-description="Doorbell" tvc-stream-vcodec="h264" tvc-stream-acodec="aac" tvc-guide-art="",Doorbell
rtsp://192.168.1.26

Can someone please kindly tell me what I’m doing wrong?

#23

Eufy cameras, for the most part, do not stream continuously. They only stream when there is activity that triggers an event. I have an indoor camera that has the NAS option for “continuous recording” which keeps the stream live, but this option is not available on the battery cameras.