IP Camera app/channel

Archived
1

Is there a channel/app for roku so that one can connect to and view IP Cameras?

if not, is it possible to create one? or not?

2

There is a USB app that reads FAT filesystems. Many cameras are just that so will work with this channel.

–Kevin

3

so if i have a ip camera connected to the same network as the roku player, how will i point it to the camera’s live feed.

for example, on a pc, you can just go to a certain url and you can view the camera feed live.

4

Send me an email with the link of your live ip camra feed. also I need some information about how you are streaming. What kind of media server are you using? If you are not using a media server, give me detail on your full setup everything from your camira to server(if any) to the web hosting (if any) to the url. jseigle85@gmail.com

5

well i haven’t setup anything yet as i am trying to find out what the options are or if its possible, then i can try to make a channel. this way one can watch cameras outside their house, remote cabin, a friends camera etc… using the roku player and there would be no need to attach a PC to the TV to view it.

one can use IE to open up the address for the cameras which are similar to these:
http://192.168.1.66:8088
http://192.168.1.66:8011
and these links opens a live feed to the camera in IE(using active-x) or firefox.

if i setup the camera with static public ip, then i can view it from anywhere using a browser.

this is what i am looking to buy but only if it will work with roku.

http://www.foscam.com/Products_List.asp?id=173
●Support multiple network protocols: HTTP/TCP/IP/UDP/STMP/DDNS/SNTP/DHCP/FTP
● Support WEP/WPA/WPA2 encryption

here is the user manual:
http://www.foscam.com/down/FI8918%20FI8 … Manual.rar

6

I kind of figured that is what you wanted to be using it for. You will probably need to transcode the video stream into mp4/m4v or HLS streaming for roku to be able to display it, and you also probably want to have some kind of authentication setup for the roku and website address or you’ll be allowing hackers and thieves free access to your home video feed when you’re not there.

“bollywood” wrote:
well i haven’t setup anything yet as i am trying to find out what the options are or if its possible, then i can try to make a channel. this way one can watch cameras outside their house, remote cabin, a friends camera etc… using the roku player and there would be no need to attach a PC to the TV to view it.

one can use IE to open up the address for the cameras which are similar to these:
http://192.168.1.66:8088
http://192.168.1.66:8011
and these links opens a live feed to the camera in IE(using active-x) or firefox.

if i setup the camera with static public ip, then i can view it from anywhere using a browser.

this is what i am looking to buy but only if it will work with roku.

http://www.foscam.com/Products_List.asp?id=173
●Support multiple network protocols: HTTP/TCP/IP/UDP/STMP/DDNS/SNTP/DHCP/FTP
● Support WEP/WPA/WPA2 encryption

here is the user manual:
http://www.foscam.com/down/FI8918%20FI8 … Manual.rar

7

so even though there is no link to a mp4/m4v file, if i find a camera that streams in a compatible format and i just put this in “http://192.168.1.66:8088”, will this work?

i doubt it but are there cameras that do hls?

8

would have to be an .m3u8 not an mp4 for live streaming, wouldn’t it? .mp4 (h.264) is for playing archived media.

9

Did anyone else come up with the specs on the video output format? I reviewed the manual quickly, and didn’t find anything useful.

In my experience with IP cameras (which was close to 8 years ago now), they didn’t necessarily always actually output a video when you visited the webpage. Often, it was a quickly updating static image (JPEG or PNG). The FTP settings for the camera supports this, as they can often be configured to connect to an external FTP server and drop the images there.

If that’s the case, it’s fairly easy to replicate an updating image display using the Roku by selecting the image URL and repeatedly downloading and displaying it. I’m not sure what type of frame rate you’ll get with roImageCanvas (which is the easiest way to implement what I mentioned above), but roScreen could be used for better performance (it’s just more complicated).

If you wanted to make it really slick, you could even have the remote control the camera movement/zoom…

10

Yeah, I actually started working on one based on cameras that serve a .jpg frame (most do), back when there was a discussion on this subject last year or early this year. Fun idea. I’m sure there are some security cams that do HLS now.

  • Joel
11

This would be great. Anyone have any luck with this?

I have a Linksys WVC54GCA web cam I would love to be able to add as a Roku Channel. Someone mentioned maybe being able to do this with a camera that does HLS, I think my webcam does this. Though I am not sure.

I will follow this thread in case anyone makes a break through with this.

12

if i can find a camera that does hls and does not cost an arm and a leg, i will write the code for it.

I am trying to understand the rapidly refreshing jpg image concept and how i can program that in bs. once i get some good idea, i will try writing some code.

any code examples or suggestions that can help me write the code will be great.

13

Pseudo-code follows:


time = get_current_time_in_ms()
refresh = 100 ' in ms, 10 times a second
targetTime = time
while true
    ' Pre-compute target time so image download and display doesn't cause unnecessary lag
    targetTime = get_current_time_in_ms() + refresh
    image = get_image_from_url()
    show_image_on_screen(image)
    sleepTime = targetTime - get_current_time_in_ms()
    ' Only sleep if we don't think another image is ready yet
    if sleepTime>0 then sleep(sleepTime)
end while

Your choice as to whether you use roImageCanvas or roScreen.

14

“richddean” wrote:

I have a Linksys WVC54GCA web cam I would love to be able to add as a Roku Channel. Someone mentioned maybe being able to do this with a camera that does HLS, I think my webcam does this. Though I am not sure.

Darn, I was wrong my Linksys web cam does not do HLS. It appears to do MJPG motion video and JPG snapshots. It also appears to do some sort of RTS for mobile streaming but not HLS.

How hard would it be to have a channel that pulled the JPG every few seconds from the snapshot URL. As much as I would like the streaming, being able to see a quick snap shot just to make sure no one has kicked in my front door would be nice. :slightly_smiling_face:

15

“richddean” wrote:
How hard would it be to have a channel that pulled the JPG every few seconds from the snapshot URL. As much as I would like the streaming, being able to see a quick snap shot just to make sure no one has kicked in my front door would be nice. :slightly_smiling_face:

Not hard at all.

You could have a pile of cameras and refresh the images as fast as your cameras can deliver them (which, in my experience, is not very fast!) With the new 3.0 features, you could probably do it without flicker too.

What I stalled on was coming up with an algorithm for automatically subdividing the screen into smaller and smaller squares as more cameras are added to the system. Seemed really simple, but never quite figured it out…

  • Joel
16

“jbrave” wrote:

Not hard at all.

You could have a pile of cameras and refresh the images as fast as your cameras can deliver them (which, in my experience, is not very fast!) With the new 3.0 features, you could probably do it without flicker too.

What I stalled on was coming up with an algorithm for automatically subdividing the screen into smaller and smaller squares as more cameras are added to the system. Seemed really simple, but never quite figured it out…

  • Joel

Hmmm… Well I might play around with the ROKU channel SDK because I would happy with just one live JPG for one camera everytime I select my “Web Cam” channel. I would not be really monitoring that close to need video. I just want to be able to hit that channel and see if it is snowing outside or raining, or again that someone has not kicked in my front door or if one of the big trees near my property has been blown down onto the house. :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks,
Rich

17

And your web browser wouldn’t be able to do that? Sounds like a neat little project especially if your front door gets kicked in 3 or 4 times per week. :slightly_smiling_face:

18

“destruk” wrote:
And your web browser wouldn’t be able to do that? Sounds like a neat little project especially if your front door gets kicked in 3 or 4 times per week. :slightly_smiling_face:

:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
Yeah, my place is in a rough section of town. Those bears and raccoons can be aggressive.

But yeah it is a silly project, but I was looking for something to try out with the Roku SDK.

19

Maybe not that silly. It’s been asked for a number of times before this. I wouldn’t have any use for it, but apparently some do.

20

I would love to have a IP Camera app/channel as well. I just bought my Roku 3 days ago and thought wouldn’t it be great to connect my foscam ip camera that we use as a baby monitor on to the Roku. After not finding one I started digging and found this thread. I think that a lot of people would enjoy this app. I would pay for this app and I am sure others would as well if it can be done. We currently stream the live feed to our Droid phones.