How to setup a camera for remote access only in BI5?

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pov2

Getting the hang of it
Sep 7, 2018
229
46
Canada
I added a baby cam to my BI5 with the only purpose to access it remotely with tinyCam Monitor, so I don't have to setup a VPN or open ports. Unlike other cameras, I don't want the BI to monitor this camera at all. I only want it to become active when I connect remotely so the BI can webcast it. I unchecked all I reasonably could - nothing is checked in the Trigger tab, nothing in Record, in Alert, in Watchdog. I unchecked "Continue to display and stream video while inactive" in the Schedule tab. I checked "Limit decoding unless required" to see if it made a difference. Nope.

The problem is that while remote streaming works fine when I connect remotely, BI continues to pull the stream from the camera all the time. I wanted to avoid this as I rarely connect remotely. I tried to make the camera hidden but then I can't stream is remotely.

Is there any way to prevent the BI from pulling the stream all the time and do it only when needed?
 
pov2 said:
I added a baby cam to my BI5 with the only purpose to access it remotely with tinyCam Monitor, so I don't have to setup a VPN or open ports. Unlike other cameras, I don't want the BI to monitor this camera at all. I only want it to become active when I connect remotely so the BI can webcast it. I unchecked all I reasonably could - nothing is checked in the Trigger tab, nothing in Record, in Alert, in Watchdog. I unchecked "Continue to display and stream video while inactive" in the Schedule tab. I checked "Limit decoding unless required" to see if it made a difference. Nope.

The problem is that while remote streaming works fine when I connect remotely, BI continues to pull the stream from the camera all the time. I wanted to avoid this as I rarely connect remotely. I tried to make the camera hidden but then I can't stream is remotely.

Is there any way to prevent the BI from pulling the stream all the time and do it only when needed?
Click to expand...
You still have to open ports or use a vpn if you want to monitor it remotely via tiny cam.
 
You can't have BI stop streaming from the camera when you aren't looking at it. That is not the purpose of BI so it is not something BI supports.

If you are okay with enabling and disabling the camera remotely using UI3, you can find disabled cameras in the Full Camera List panel. Then you don't need the mobile app.

upload_2019-7-31_17-28-13.png
 
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fenderman said:
You still have to open ports or use a vpn if you want to monitor it remotely via tiny cam.
Click to expand...
That's not my issue. I've already set up access to other cams via reverse https proxy. Since I have this access anyway I thought I'd use it for other purposes too.
 
bp2008 said:
You can't have BI stop streaming from the camera when you aren't looking at it. That is not the purpose of BI so it is not something BI supports.
Click to expand...
Thanks for confirming that what I want is not possible. I'll leave the cam streaming. There is almost no impact on resources. tinyCam Monitor is just very convenient for a quick look. I can be bothered with enabling and disabling cameras but my wife can't.
 
pov2 said:
That's not my issue. I've already set up access to other cams via reverse https proxy. Since I have this access anyway I thought I'd use it for other purposes too.
Click to expand...
You mentioned it the vpn and port forwarding as if it was relevant.
If you are using tiny cam why do you need BI in the equation. Simply connect direct to the camera - the camera wont stream unless you are connected. Problem solved.
 
fenderman said:
You mentioned it the vpn and port forwarding as if it was relevant.
If you are using tiny cam why do you need BI in the equation. Simply connect direct to the camera - the camera wont stream unless you are connected. Problem solved.
Click to expand...
I meant I didn't want to open another port directly to the camera. It would be a security risk. I have an open port to the proxy, and no VPN. The convenience with the proxy is that neither my wife nor I have to do anything extra, simply open tinyCam and view. VPN has to be enabled beforehand.
 
pov2 said:
I meant I didn't want to open another port directly to the camera. It would be a security risk. I have an open port to the proxy, and no VPN. The convenience with the proxy is that neither my wife nor I have to do anything extra, simply open tinyCam and view. VPN has to be enabled beforehand.
Click to expand...

There are ways to have OpenVPn connect automatically, and just leave it connected.
 
bp2008 said:
You can't have BI stop streaming from the camera when you aren't looking at it. That is not the purpose of BI so it is not something BI supports.
Click to expand...
I didn't write to Ken, I don't know how but this function showed up in the camera's Schedule tab "Camera is only active when: Viewed remotely or full screen". It does exactly what I wanted in the OP. Praise the developer!
 
pov2 said:
I didn't write to Ken, I don't know how but this function showed up in the camera's Schedule tab "Camera is only active when: Viewed remotely or full screen". It does exactly what I wanted in the OP. Praise the developer!
Click to expand...
This was available in BI4...
 
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