NVR for Home assistant and Live view

R4ziel

R4ziel

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Hey guys, I am looking for some advice and wonder what setups people run out there.

I currently have an Xprotect NVR running to do live viewing of my cameras which i have on a screen in the house, but I also want these cameras in Home assistant, so for that I do RSTP streams directly from the cameras.

I am looking for an NVR that integrates well into Home assistant for recordings as well as motion detection, but also have a customizable live view where I can adjust the grid to the way i want it, most of the DVR's I have tried struggles quite a bit with having a proper live view interface

I have 6x Hikvision IP cameras if that makes a difference

The live view at the moment is handled by the Xprotect smart client running on an old laptop, but I would prefer a nice web interface that can do fullscreen and a custom grid

Any suggestions?
 
PsyWulf said:
Tried Shinobi?
Click to expand...

I have not tried it but know that name from reading it in some of the comparison articles, do you run it and willing to answer some stupid questions?
 
Running in docker with the basic Motion-recording plugin so I can check alarm timestamped events
 
Watching some videos about it, seems pretty decent, might give it a try over the weekend.

Alternatively I would like to have the live view separate from the NVR, just need something that can show RTSP streams in a grid configured the way I want it.

Ive kindof got it set up in HA but cannot figure out how to get the cards to fill the space the are in and the cards to stretch the full screen

1701775371701.png
 
SauRoNZA said:
What do you mean? Outside of HA?
Click to expand...

I have a monitor connected to a laptop which constantly shows live views of the cameras, I have tried Frigate and it gives me an option to add all the cards in a grid, but I have tried and cannot get that grid completely fullscreen without any gaps, which is a bit annoying, so I am using an external client for that, which I want to get rid of and use a single solution for everything if possible

See the grid in HA in my previous posts, if I could get that to display 100% fullscreen without any gaps, I can essentially use any underlying NVR for recordings or whatever in the background
 
R4ziel said:
I have a monitor connected to a laptop which constantly shows live views of the cameras, I have tried Frigate and it gives me an option to add all the cards in a grid, but I have tried and cannot get that grid completely fullscreen without any gaps, which is a bit annoying, so I am using an external client for that, which I want to get rid of and use a single solution for everything if possible

See the grid in HA in my previous posts, if I could get that to display 100% fullscreen without any gaps, I can essentially use any underlying NVR for recordings or whatever in the background
Click to expand...

I just don't see the gaps you are referring to.

It looks about as screen filling as it can get.

But maybe worth trying is one that just rotates the cameras?

Personally I never look at the cameras and rely on automations to send me notifications which is sort of the point of it being smart.

Sitting and staring at the things is a recipe for breeding paranoia.
 
SauRoNZA said:
I just don't see the gaps you are referring to.

It looks about as screen filling as it can get.

But maybe worth trying is one that just rotates the cameras?

Personally I never look at the cameras and rely on automations to send me notifications which is sort of the point of it being smart.

Sitting and staring at the things is a recipe for breeding paranoia.
Click to expand...

To each his own I guess, I don't sit and stare at the cameras all day but like having them there to see movement around the house when it catches your eye
 
R4ziel said:
Alternatively I would like to have the live view separate from the NVR, just need something that can show RTSP streams in a grid configured the way I want it.
Click to expand...
You don't need to do recording on Shinobi,you pick and choose what you want to do/see
I don't use the live grid really since it's on my NVR and Mobile app,so I use it for motion recording as that's the missing piece in my case
 
SauRoNZA said:
Sc
Scrypted NVR maybe?
Click to expand...

I've seen a lot of people recommending this and it looks pretty smooth, definitely a lot less cumbersome than Xprotect, have asked on the discord what the options are for customizing the grid view, thanks for the replies, it is much appreciated
 
InusB said:
The Hookup spoke highly of Blue Iris.
But it is not free to use
Click to expand...
Been running BI for a couple of years now and honestly it just works. Drawbacks are that its not free AND has to run in Windows but it honestly just works. Very customisable and supports a massive range of cameras and formats. It has a webview and i have been able to seamlessly integrate that into HA
 
Mzezman said:
Been running BI for a couple of years now and honestly it just works. Drawbacks are that its not free AND has to run in Windows but it honestly just works. Very customisable and supports a massive range of cameras and formats. It has a webview and i have been able to seamlessly integrate that into HA
Click to expand...

Been looking into BI as well, does not seem I'm going to get away with a free version for what I want to achieve.

Mind showing me your integration into HA via PM, and maybe what the options are for customizing the live view grid?

Also If I pay the $80 or whatever, is that a once off price or is it a yearly thing?
 
R4ziel said:
Been looking into BI as well, does not seem I'm going to get away with a free version for what I want to achieve.

Mind showing me your integration into HA via PM, and maybe what the options are for customizing the live view grid?

Also If I pay the $80 or whatever, is that a once off price or is it a yearly thing?
Click to expand...
Happy to share here as well in case others also can benefit

Licensing - this buys you the product for the first year
1701859798185.png

After the first year you then need to stay on a yearly maintenance / support plan to keep the app working. I have never needed support in the time I have used it so you can budget accordingly
1701860040810.png

Configure view - Once installed and setup you can then go through and get your cameras configured. Lots of guides around this. I have 6 Reolinks and 1 TPLink Tapo. From the main app you can then setup your view grid. You can also setup different users and user rights (User X can only view Camera Y between 10 and 12 am etc)

1701860500354.png

1701860548181.png

Webview - BI has a built-in webview that you can access on the IP of the machine you've setup: port 83. it shows exactly how you've setup in the main app. You can also access any clips, a live view and timeline view all from the browser. In addition you also have admin access should you want to change settings via the web UI
1701860902316.png

Integration to HA - I went the lazy route and just setup the Blue iris integration in its entirety in HA. Other people have integrated via mqtt but you could also go RTSP to each camera should you choose. I setup a homeassistantBlueIris user that only reads the views

1701861114473.png
The integration exposes the camera view as well as any sensors that may exist on your installation, e.g. binary sensors for movement
1701861226818.png

You can then use those entities in your automations etc. I just have a grid view of the cameras
1701861269024.png

Hope this helps and gets you started.
 
That is exactly what I am looking for, just wasn't sure of the price as the others seem to do the same thing for relatively cheap or free, but that pretty much covers all my needs. Thank you so much, I appreciate the detailed response.

So the initial price is $80 or something, and then for the basic, what is the renew cost every year, or is it $80 every year?
 
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