Cake and eat it too

[Killer Kool]

Hello ,

I am using Blue Iris on several several cameras.. Currently running teamviewer for remote access. I would like to view the blue Iris live video to my tv screens at the house. What do you think would be the best way to do so? ...I hear a noise ......I push button on remotes and I have acess to live video from BI.....I see everything is good...so I push button TV comes back online.... I was thinking about using a usb micro pc stick and access teamviewer/BI that way....

any thoughts?

 

[actran]

@Killer Kool With my Sony TV, which is on Android OS, I installed Opera browser.

I simply point that browser to Blue Iris UI2 URL.

UI2 is light-weight and does not require alot of resources, especially versus TeamViewer or RDP.

If your TV doesn't have a browser option, then you should look for a HDMI stick device with browser and point to UI2.

 

[fenderman]

Dont remote into the machine using teamviewer...it is a cpu hog....its ok for temp access, not full time...
The most stable way of doing this is an hdmi over ethernet splitter....or use an android device as mentioned..

 

[bp2008]

The best way is as fenderman said, feeding HDMI directly from the PC to the TV and using an HDMI over ethernet adapter if the distance is too far for simple HDMI. You can even get some HDMI over ethernet adapters with USB built in which would let you attach a KB/mouse for remote control.

If a wire is simply out of the question, then UI2 in the TV's browser (if your TV has a web browser) is better than nothing, but I don't think you'll ever get it to load as easily as simply switching the input.

 

[DLONG2]

How would the TV be able to view BI using a cable? My PC had an Ethernet port and an HDMI port, and the television is in the next room. I do have an HDMI splitter not in use, but am wondering how the actual parts would connect.

Maybe something like this?

 

[TonyR]

Looks right to me. BTW, how far would the BI server PC be from the TV?

 

[DLONG2]

Looks right to me. BTW, how far would the BI server PC be from the TV?

The distance is about 20 feet, so in my case just a 25' HDMI cable should suffice.

 

[Killer Kool]

okay thank you...I have never messed with U12...Yes I would want wireless -probably try to exploit the 5ghz band- since I am running 15 cameras wireless on the 2.4ghz band now... when i get the time I will try u12...My smart TV is A cheap
Hisense 55 inch the "smart" features are limited

 

[bp2008]

There are a few wireless HDMI solutions, even some working on 5GHz (albeit with some video delay) but they are expensive and they won't likely work very well. In fact if you are using 15 wireless cameras, you probably know exactly what "not working very well" looks like. If you must go wireless, then I'd suggest some kind of simple android TV stick. You could connect it to Blue Iris, or to a few cameras directly.

 

[erkme73]

Another option is to get a Roku-based TV (or Roku stick). There is a "channel" (app) called IP camera viewer that will let you watch any single camera or group of cameras. There were security concerns initially due to the app requiring user credentials to log into the server. However, that can be overcome by making sure the Roku has a static IP address, and then adding that IP to the BI server as a white-listed admin IP. Then any request coming from the TV will get admin access, without ever having to provide any user credentials to the TV/app.

I now have several TCL Roku TVs that not only provide one-button access to the full cameras, but the TV's screen saver is configured to bring up the index group after x minutes of no activity on the TV. Thus, it automatically turns all my 55" TVs into real-time monitors. Live only, no replay, but if you need it to get QUICK access to live streams, that's pretty straight forward.

 

[TonyR]

The distance is about 20 feet, so in my case just a 25' HDMI cable should suffice.

Yep. I like the 'K.I.S.S.' approach (Keep It Simple Stupid).

 

[katamara]

I now have several TCL Roku TVs that not only provide one-button access to the full cameras, but the TV's screen saver is configured to bring up the index group after x minutes of no activity on the TV.

How did you get the TV to switch to the Roku after x minutes of no activity?

 

[erkme73]

How did you get the TV to switch to the Roku after x minutes of no activity?

It's a function of the Roku screensaver. Some apps (like Plex) have their own screensaver, or they don't honor the Roku screensaver functionality. So it doesn't work 100% of the time. But, if you're sitting on any of the Roku screens and don't provide any input, after the user-defined interval, the screensaver will kick in. Within Roku's screensaver settings you can specify whether to show pictures, or point to the IP Camera Viewer.

 

[bp2008]

I ran an hdmi cable to the bedroom and hooked it up to a small 21" monitor mounted to the wall. It's on 24/7 and I can see whats going on outside from my bed. Some people can't sleep with a tv on but I've always been able to. My wife learned to, lol. At night the cameras switch to black and white and the tv doesnt produce much more light than a night light would. My wife and I love this setup. We watch tv in the bedroom in the evenings and it's nice to see the kids come and go, or if UPS pulls up, etc without having to change inputs or run an app etc. Those things are much less instant.

I have a similar setup, only I went to great lengths to keep it dark in the room and preserve my night vision. I used a 27 inch monitor ( BenQ EW2750ZL ) which I got specifically because it had very dark black levels at minimum brightness. I put about 6 sheets of red cellophane giftwrap in front of the screen to filter out blue/green and leave only red, as red light doesn't affect night vision as badly as the full spectrum you'd normally get from gray/white pixels. The result is a screen dark enough that it doesn't really penetrate the eyelids. This is hooked up to a raspberry pi version 2 that plays a few camera streams via omxplayer, and it stays on 24/7 so there is no button pushing nonsense

 

[bob2701]

Another option is to get a Roku-based TV (or Roku stick). There is a "channel" (app) called IP camera viewer that will let you watch any single camera or group of cameras. There were security concerns initially due to the app requiring user credentials to log into the server. However, that can be overcome by making sure the Roku has a static IP address, and then adding that IP to the BI server as a white-listed admin IP. Then any request coming from the TV will get admin access, without ever having to provide any user credentials to the TV/app.

I now have several TCL Roku TVs that not only provide one-button access to the full cameras, but the TV's screen saver is configured to bring up the index group after x minutes of no activity on the TV. Thus, it automatically turns all my 55" TVs into real-time monitors. Live only, no replay, but if you need it to get QUICK access to live streams, that's pretty straight forward.

This looks interesting but what is "white-listed admin ip"? I couldn't get the app to see anything. It just showed me a cloud with a line through it.

 

[DLONG2]

This looks interesting but what is "white-listed admin ip"? I couldn't get the app to see anything. It just showed me a cloud with a line through it.

I believe a previous version of BI included an option for 'Secure Only' which this Roku app required one to uncheck, which resulted in hackers reaching my cameras on the old network, from credentials they got from the Roku app. Even after I shored up the security of BI, the Roku's IP kept hitting my BI server, and was able to login as admin. The convenience of the Roku app is not worth the worry in my opinion.

 

[bob2701]

I believe a previous version of BI included an option for 'Secure Only' which this Roku app required one to uncheck, which resulted in hackers reaching my cameras on the old network, from credentials they got from the Roku app. Even after I shored up the security of BI, the Roku's IP kept hitting my BI server, and was able to login as admin. The convenience of the Roku app is not worth the worry in my opinion.

I can't seem to get the app to work with BI. Can you share your settings?

 

[erkme73]

I can't seem to get the app to work with BI. Can you share your settings?

Sorry for the delay @bob2701. Rather than hijack the thread here, I've updated the original post on the thread dedicated to the Roku app (IP Camera Viewer) to reflect my current configurations (both BI and Roku). Have a look here to see how your settings compare with what I'm using.