Subscriber Discussion

Viewing IP Cameras On Site With A Smart TV

SW
Steven Wirz
Jan 24, 2016

My client needs a monitor in the warehouse to view 5 or 6 IP cameras. The facility has 15 cameras total. My thought was to load viewing software on a small form factor PC, mount it to the back of the TV and restrict access (via the password) to only view the 5 or 6 cameras live. Can I do the same thing cleaner with a Smart TV?

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Sean Nelson
Jan 25, 2016
Nelly's Security

mostly no, because the smart TV's are built with browsers that dont support the required plugins to show the video that most cameras and NVR's need. a mini computer or even a mini NVR behind the TV is the best bet.

(3)
UE
Undisclosed End User #1
Jan 25, 2016

The new generation of Intel 'compute sticks' might make this possible very shortly. They are low powered, but as long as you don't try to flood them with multiple high resolution/high frame rate cameras it may work. I'd be interested for someone to try it......

MI
Matt Ion
Jan 25, 2016

You could possibly do it with some sort of Android media device, and have it auto-run an appropriate generic IP camera viewer app. Not really an out-of-the-box solution, but might be workable.

Hikvision has a multi-camera decoder that would do the job though - basic model has VGA, HDMI/DVI, and composite output and I believe will do up to a 4x4 camera grid, and has both direct support for a number of brands, as well as for most ONVIF cameras.

(2)
U
Undisclosed #2
Jan 25, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Success reported here.

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Joel Kriener
Jan 25, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Look at the ACTi ECD1000 unit. See if that meets your requirements. No need for computer or smartTV. Just single HDMI connection.

I've deployed several for specific purposes and they perform what I needed.

jk

MR
Miriam Rautiainen
Jan 25, 2016

I'm a product manager at Aimetis. Our Thin Client is designed for this application.

JH
John Honovich
Jan 25, 2016
IPVM

Though you could (nearly) buy a Smart TV for the cost of your Thin Client, yes/no?

(1)
UE
Undisclosed End User #6
Feb 07, 2016

We utilize your A10D for this purpose and have had great success with it. PoE Powered with an HDMI out makes it stupid simple to use.

MR
Miriam Rautiainen
Jan 25, 2016

Not sure a Smart TV could decode the video properly (e.g. will it support ONVIF Profile S). The other issue is the decode capability of the hardware. A Smart TV won't have enough decode horsepower for a multi-view display, and normally there is a lot of latency, because they are more designed for movie watching than security applications where low latency is a must.

MI
Matt Ion
Jan 25, 2016

A SmartTV browser wouldn't have the coding to display multiple views either.

U
Undisclosed #2
Jan 25, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Ben Molloy has shown the way.

We've had good luck with using an Android TV (Nexus Player) and the IP Cam Viewer Pro app. Never had a problem with crashing or delayed video.

Multi-view picture shown above.

Have a looks.

U
Undisclosed #3
Jan 25, 2016

Chromecast can "cast" multi-view display

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Jan 25, 2016

Steven,

I saw an interesting product at the ISC East show. Digital Watchdog is selling a new device that they call a "Spot Monitoring Module" DW-HDSPOTMOD. It sells for around $200-250

LINK

It displays up to 4 cams that are on the local network. all menu driven.

Looked like a pretty kewl device.

Disclaimer: I never tried it.

(1)
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Brian Karas
Jan 25, 2016
Pelican Zero

I would not trust any TV's built-in apps for this. None of the TV makers I've seen or used appear to have any commitment to these apps. They get randomly upgraded (or not), moved around in the menus, and sometimes disappear to make room for new apps. Most of the time the user has little control over any of this.

If you were asking for your own house, I'd say try it, but for a customer there is no way I'd want to rely on selling a solution based on such an unpredictable platform.

The worst scenario could be that your client actually *likes* the built-in app, and in a year wants you to add another TV, or that TV dies and you need to replace it, and you find out that the current-gen TV's have a totally different interface and app platform.

I would go with the small PC, Android stick, or something similar in an external hardware component.

(1)
MI
Matt Ion
Jan 26, 2016

I would not trust any TV's built-in apps for this. None of the TV makers I've seen or used appear to have any commitment to these apps. They get randomly upgraded (or not), moved around in the menus, and sometimes disappear to make room for new apps. Most of the time the user has little control over any of this.

In addition to this, there likely isn't a way to have the TV start up with a specific app, so any time it gets power cycled, someone would have to launch the desired app manually, and possibly go through some configuration/selection steps within the app.

(2)
FL
Frank Lin
Jan 25, 2016

Put in an NVR appliance that has HDMI out. Many of our customers have used this with great success. Easy to configure/use, cost effective, no pc.

http://www.qnapsecurity.com/n/en/product/model.php?II=246

Disclaimer: We use/distribute QNAP for such applications. There are others such as Synology too and most NVR Appliances have HDMI out I would assume.

FL
Frank Lin
Jan 25, 2016

SW
Steven Wirz
Jan 26, 2016

Hi Guys,

Thanks so much for the help. One thing that I did not think about, that I did not see mentioned here is perhaps using a self contained (All In One) PC. I'd have to check to see if it is cost effective. I did like the idea of using a Nexus Player. It looks inexpensive enough, even just to play around with.

You guy's did provide me with a lot of options however.

Thanks again,

Steve

AD
Andrew Del Biondo
Feb 07, 2016

This AIO PC solution works well with good client software and can be supported remotely.

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Campbell Chang
Feb 08, 2016

I'd use an NUC over an AIO. With an NUC, you're not limited to screen size. They're also quite a bit cheaper too.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #5
Jan 26, 2016
Disclaimer: I am a Digital Watchdog rep. I have had customers deploy the Intel Compute Stick (Windows 8.1 version) with success. I have not tested the Win10 version, and was unsuccessful with the Linux version, though. The Win8.1 version has been solid with DW Spectrum client loaded on it; displaying 1-6 cameras. The new HDSPOTMOD is a pretty sweet addition to the lineup, too! It will discover ONVIF S cameras and live stream them in single view or quad view. It supports upto a 5MP image.
(2)
Avatar
Mike Dotson
Feb 01, 2016
Formerly of Seneca • IPVMU Certified

Steve,

The viewing part of a VMS solution is very dependent on the VMS or other application you intend on using.

Is this possibly as simple as running 5-6 copies of VLC or even mulltiple Web views of each camera....with no VMS involved?

If you need to use a VMS, then the system hardware needs to be matched with the stream pixel count and FPS and overall bit rate....as well as the efficiency of the VMS.

My lab testing of many mainstream VMS Clients (FULL Clients) has shown there is a large spread of hardware resource demands depending on the VMS. The more efficient VMSs are able to handle twice as many total tiles as the average ones on the same hardware.

If you can set up your monitoring with the 'mobile' Client (Thin Client)...then all the heavy lifting is done on a larger machine elsewhere and the small form factor machine attached to the TV/Monitor can be a much smaller unit such as a compute stick.

Suggestion.... If a compute stick is on your radar... our lab testing suggests sticking with the ones that are fanless.

SW
Steven Wirz
Feb 08, 2016

"I'd use an NUC over an AIO". Please excuse my ignorance but...what is an NCU and an AIO?

By the way, thanks to all of you for all of the suggestions.

Steve

U
Undisclosed #3
Feb 08, 2016

AIO

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiBzOKUjufKAhWF7xQKHdQXAEUQFggqMAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.intel.com%2Fcontent%2Fwww%2Fus%2Fen%2Fall-in-one%2Fall-in-one.html&usg=AFQjCNEzWbewsZkvjnLVmD8ksTDA9o4u8Q

NUC

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/overview.html

Avatar
Campbell Chang
Feb 08, 2016

AIO - All in One.

Look like this

https://www.asus.com/au/allinone-pcs/

NUC - Next Unit of Computing from Intel.

Look like

http://www.intel.com.au/content/www/au/en/nuc/overview.html

SW
Steven Wirz
Feb 08, 2016

Thanks guys, I'm stuck in alarm and access control mode right now!

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