Any means to show local camera feed on Echo

[Michael McSharry]

I have only tinkered with some IP cameras so a neophyte on the subject. My objective is show a live stream on an Echo screen. I tried a Reolink camera using the Reolink Alexa skill and was able to view the camera, but it looks to me that the video routing was up to the cloud and back again so with low bandwidth internet the experience is very poor.

Is there a means to perform camera routing directly between the camera and the Echo? Is there a voice-controlled means to view local camera feeds on other display devices?

[simplextech]

I tinkered with Monocle a little.

https://monoclecam.com/

[Eman]

I have only tinkered with some IP cameras so a neophyte on the subject. My objective is show a live stream on an Echo screen. I tried a Reolink camera using the Reolink Alexa skill and was able to view the camera, but it looks to me that the video routing was up to the cloud and back again so with low bandwidth internet the experience is very poor.

Is there a means to perform camera routing directly between the camera and the Echo? Is there a voice-controlled means to view local camera feeds on other display devices?

I don't know if this is good enough for you : https://www.the-ambient.com/how-to/h...mera-alexa-493

This also looks interesting : https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-u...curity-camera/

Eman.

[jbfoster]

I use these two cameras with my Echo Show 8. I put one on my front porch and the other one above my garage door. I have the camera's up since January and they are still working fine outside even though they say they are indoor camera. The only thing is I can't get the cameras to work with HomeSeer. I'm ok with that since I have IP cameras in the same location. These were so cheap I got them to work just with my Echo Show 8. The smaller camera is $25. The taller one you can move side to side.

Jim

[jbfoster]

I have the one on a stand on my front porch. The other one has a magnetic base so It stuck to my vent above the garage door.

Jim

[Michael McSharry]

Is the Wyze skill based upon cloud routing of video or does video route only on the LAN between the Cam and Echo? With dial-up modem internet speeds the idea of streaming over internet just does not work here.

[jbfoster]

I missed the part of your post about Low Bandwidth. I do have the Wyze Skill on my echo. I would think the video stream would be local but I am not sure. I have fast internet so I don't even know how I would test it.

Jim

[Michael McSharry]

Since the general case is that each Echo can be anywhere in the world, I suspect that the Wyse skill is just like the Reolink skill.

[srodgers]

Monocle works great. I have 3 Dahau IP cams that I display on a fire stick connected to a TV in my MBR. Alexa show Driveway or Front Port etc and camera video comes up. Bonus is the Fire stick support CEC HDMI control so it turns on the TV if it is off and displays stream. Will not turn off TV though if you command to stop viewing but that ok.

[Michael McSharry]

It looks like Monocle is exactly what I am looking for. I signed up for an account, downloaded and enabled the Alexa skill, defined a camera using rtsp, setup the gateway service. I followed the instructions that provided a good step by step for the setup. No issues during this process. The final step "Alexa, show backyard" was recognized, but "camera is not responding" is what Echo responds in about 10 seconds. I can use VLC and IPCAM to stream the same rtsp URL. I will try again tomorrow. Any suggestions?

[Eman]

Part 6: Known problems or peculiarities


Special feature of HD cameras: If you have an HD series camera (IN-5905HD, IN-5907HD, IN-7011HD, IN-6001HD, IN-6012HD, IN-6014HD), then you would have on your camera under Multimedia - Audio the Deactivate audio completely. Unfortunately, the RTSP player that is integrated in Amazon devices is very limited by the codecs. Unfortunately, the currently used codec would not work.

When using the Monocle Gateway, you can leave Audio enabled, but if you want to access the cameras directly without the Monocle Gateway, audio should be disabled anyway, otherwise access will not work.

Special characters with the Monocle account or the camera: Unfortunately it is not possible to use special characters in the password to register with Monocle or to access the video via RTSP at the camera. We therefore recommend passwords with letters and numbers. If you choose a long password and also use uppercase and lowercase letters, the password will also be very secure.

Source : https://wiki.instar.com/Advanced_Use...nocle_Gateway/



Eman

[Pete]

Been using Monocle here for a a while with RTSP / HikVision test camera boards and Hikvision wireless doorbell. Works well. Did have some issues using it with my Wireless doorbell. It was all about a receipe of using just the right resolution and one of the Monocle adds written about over here ==> Tagging cameras

Looking at the Monocle forum here ==> ReoLink personally I would follow the Reolink RLC 411 settings to see if that works for you.

I would post on the Monocle forum and ask about the correct "receipe" for use with your Reolink RLC 410 settings.

I have not tried it on a family's Alexa Show device that is seen on my network as I do not think it will work because the Monocle app is a local Lan reverse proxy application.

It's been so long that I have forgotten about it running. I using the cameras in RTSP mode and JPG mode here for old legacy stuff and ONVIF mode for newer stuff. (IE: Onvif mode is used for JPG captures for HAI Omnitouch 5.7e's, Homeseer Touchscreens, RTSP for Zoneminder, et al).

I have though disconnected any propietary camera mobile applications and utilize VPN these days to access the cameras via outside of lan mobile and tablet devices. Just related to the custom mobile applications and Hikvision is that they seem to take over the camera and can change the firmware doing a "me first" things with the cameras rendering the rest of the features useless sometimes.

Other folks have tested the Amazon Show devices using browser links (there is a built in browser and the Amazon Show is an Android device). Not totally sure how you would call up a specifically named browser interface for one camera though.

[srodgers]

It looks like Monocle is exactly what I am looking for. I signed up for an account, downloaded and enabled the Alexa skill, defined a camera using rtsp, setup the gateway service. I followed the instructions that provided a good step by step for the setup. No issues during this process. The final step "Alexa, show backyard" was recognized, but "camera is not responding" is what Echo responds in about 10 seconds. I can use VLC and IPCAM to stream the same rtsp URL. I will try again tomorrow. Any suggestions?

Check resolution. Mine are 1920x1080(16:9): Yours show 1920x1920(1:1) . Is that correct for you cameras?

Try 2560x1920 for your RLC-410 if i read the specs correctly for a 5MP.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[wpiman]

I second Monocle. I have Blue Iris with about 8-10 cameras. Works well.

[Michael McSharry]

Monocle works great. I have 3 Dahau IP cams that I display on a fire stick connected to a TV in my MBR. Alexa show Driveway or Front Port etc and camera video comes up. Bonus is the Fire stick support CEC HDMI control so it turns on the TV if it is off and displays stream. Will not turn off TV though if you command to stop viewing but that ok.

I setup a Fire TV stick at a different location, but never tried Voice with it. In that setup the TV has an antennae, and HDMI inputs where the FireTV as connected to the second HDMI and A/V Receiver to the first. In this configuration it seems to me that one first needs to selected the TV input to the Fire TV and then the voice could be used. Is there a configuration where voice could be used that included the selection of the HDMI input? Is your stick the original Fire or a Fire 4K?

I changed the URL for the Reolink to use the 720x480 sub stream and changed the Monocle setup for this resolution. Unfortunately it did not make any difference. I also setup a Trendnet TV-IP320PI with 1280x800, with and without @tunnel and have the same result on the Echo Spot. I did get success with Amcrest IP3M-954 at 1920x1080. This is the max resolution that the Echo Spot will support. While the other cameras are interesting, the one I want to use with voice is the Reolink so I will go to Monocle for support.