Does Blue Iris support multiple camera favorites?

[Mario P]

I've watched a bunch of videos but none of them show the viewing experience of the cameras as it would be for the end-user (wife) on the TV.
I'm going to assume that I can select 10-15 or 50 cameras, and organize them in the order I want, and push them out of the HDMI port to the TV.

My question is: Does Blue Iris allow for customizing of multiple camera layouts (groups, or favorites), and more importantly, can I change them on the fly by HTTP or some other trigger (relay closure or similar)

I would like to have:

• a trigger for the Front Yard, where 8 cameras come up when someone triggers one of the driveway sensors.
• a trigger for my wife to trigger when I'm away and she hears a thump in the night to turn on the 23 outside cameras.
• a trigger for party mode where some inside cameras and most of the outside and pool cameras come up, so when my wife is laid out in bed, she can still keep an eye on the grandkids and great-grandkids (yes there are other adults present with the kids).

I do have a sophisticated security system with relay outputs, an automation platform (C4 and HAI), and Alexa if that helps with actual command issuance.

Background: I have 50 various IP cameras at my house. Currently, I'm using a Dahua 128ch NVR, but I'm running into an issue where I can only set up 4 favorite views (Bank0 16ch, Bank1 16ch, first 25cam, 30cam, and 64cam.
We have the HDMI output from the NVR piped to the TVs throughout the house.
The problem is, even with large format TVs, it's hard to see all the cameras on the 64ch from the typical, TV sitting distance of 15-20'.
When selecting 8,9,16, or even 25 camera views, the experience is much better, and totally satisfactory, but NVR doesn't allow you to pick which cameras to show and just shows them in order.

 

[wittaj]

Yes, with BI you set cameras up in groups and then you simply toggle which group to display.

It is very easy to have it display only the cameras you want to see.

 

[Mario P]

Yes, with BI you set cameras up in groups and then you simply toggle which group to display.

It is very easy to have it display only the cameras you want to see.

How do I change the views remotely? Is there an HTTP trigger I can send to PC to change Fav1, Fav2, etc?

 

[TonyR]

If you mean when you bring up BI's webserver (UI3) then yes, your URL can specify which group to display initially.
Read UI3's built-in "Help" or here ==>> UI3 Help

Essentially, in BI you'd create a group named "Fav1", assign cams to that group and use an URL like this example to bring up just that group:

http://BI-server-IP:BI-server-port/ui3.htm?group=Fav1

EDIT: 082523 @ 0952 CST:

You can also include the authentication in the URL such as:

http://BI-server-IP:BI-server-port/ui3.htm?group=Fav1&user=username&pw=password

Sub in the YOUR "username" and "password" as appropriate.

Additionally, you must also go to BI's settings under “Web server” => “Advanced" and UNcheck “use secure session keys and login page”.

 

[Mario P]

Thank you for the responses.
I will load BI on my machine, configure the cameras, and play with the settings you've outlined.

 

[wittaj]

You will quickly find out why many of us here ditched NVRs a long time ago in favor of BI LOL.

 

[Mario P]

You will quickly find out why many of us here ditched NVRs a long time ago in favor of BI LOL.

Even on jobs for clients?
I don't do CCTV a lot, but I do sell them from time to time. That's how I ended up with a mixed bag of Lilin, Dahua, HikVision, Luma, etc.
Just yesterday, this came in. Still have to install it.

 

[wittaj]

There are many people here that install BI for clients as well. Mostly small retail, mom/pop type stores, small offices, etc. But I am sure someone here has deployed BI for larger as well.

Cool camera!

 

[bp2008]

Have a look at Blue Iris's help file. The Administration -> HTTP Interface -> Admin commands section may be of particular interest to you as it describes many HTTP commands you can run to remotely control Blue Iris's local console (the graphical interface you see when you run Blue Iris). These commands are also usable via MQTT (search the help file for MQTT).

The web interface "UI3" also supports some amount of automation and remote control capability via URL Parameters and via MQTT, but you'll find that Blue Iris's local console is much more powerful in terms of its automation capabilities.

 

[bp2008]

Also, web server authentication can be bypassed for specific IP addresses in the advanced web server settings. The help file describes this in detail, but here is a basic example where I make it so any http connections coming from 127.0.0.1 are automatically granted admin privilege and not required to log in:



It is very helpful for automation purposes if you just whitelist the address that will be sending commands so you don't need to worry about authentication.