network IP camera

[TakeFlight]

Has anybody found a way to integrate a network IP camera with Sage? I have a couple Panasonic BL-C1A netcams that have all kinds of commands that can be sent to them via their built in web servers. You can send a command to pull up the latest picture in memory or even a live video feed simply using a URL. It would appear to do a live video feed it requires an ActiveX plugin. But, to view static images requires nothing special at all. And if SageTV could keep refreshing the same URL every second it would be a slow pseudo video feed good enough for seeing who's at the front door when the doorbell rings.

[Wirenut]

I would also like that functionality.

I tried my hand at studio and had some stuff kludged together, but I'm not very fluent in Studio. I'm sure it would be easy for some of the Studio wizards in the group. I frankly, being swamped at work right now, have given up til maybe winter. I was unable to get a hook to pop up the newest picture from the camera... but I kinda got it to work.

I think the complexity would be attempting to support so many different manufacturers and models of IP Cams out there... but I know it can be done. [or at least... I'm pretty sure.]

Wirenut

[CollinR]

Originally Posted by Wirenut

I think the complexity would be attempting to support so many different manufacturers and models of IP Cams out there... but I know it can be done. [or at least... I'm pretty sure.]

Thats the problem.


You should probably look at the network encoder and how that works.

Regular old analog cameras work great.

You might be able to use the embedded browser and not have any controls, just call it by URL.

Otherwise you'll need a hardware decoder.

[TakeFlight]

Originally Posted by Wirenut

I think the complexity would be attempting to support so many different manufacturers and models of IP Cams out there... but I know it can be done. [or at least... I'm pretty sure.]
Wirenut

Maybe not if Sage can just display the image generated by the custom URL. Then you would just configure sage by supplying the correct URL for your camera. HomeSeer (home automation software) has a new beta NetCam plugin that works this way. It will work with just about any netcam simply because it doesn't try to address the camera directly. It simply shows the results of the URL. No different than just showing a website for example.

I was mainly curious if someone had done something like this so that I didn't reinvent the wheel. I searched and didn't come up with anything. Maybe if I get a few free moments I'll see if I can come up with something in Studio. But, for anybody that is interested, don't count on me at this point.