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Camera

The camera integration allows you to use IP cameras with Open Peer Power.

Streaming Video

If your camera supports it, and the stream integration is setup, you will be able to stream your cameras in the frontend and on supported media players.

This option will keep the stream alive, and preload the feed on Open Peer Power startup. This will result in reduced latency when opening the stream in the frontend, as well as when using the play_stream service or Google Assistant integration. It does, however, utilize more resources on your machine, so it is recommended to check CPU usage if you plan to use this feature.

Screenshot showing Preload Stream option in Open Peer Power front end. Example showing the Preload Stream option in the camera dialog.

Services

Once loaded, the camera platform will expose services that can be called to perform various actions.

Available services: enable_motion_detection, disable_motion_detection, play_stream, record, snapshot, turn_off and turn_on.

Service enable_motion_detection

Enable the motion detection in a camera.

Service data attribute Optional Description
entity_id yes Name(s) of entities to enable motion detection, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.

Service disable_motion_detection

Disable the motion detection in a camera.

Service data attribute Optional Description
entity_id yes Name(s) of entities to disable motion detection, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.

Service play_stream

Play a live stream from a camera to selected media player(s). Requires stream integration to be set up.

Service data attribute Optional Description
entity_id no Name of entity to fetch stream from, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.
media_player no Name of media player to play stream on, e.g., media_player.living_room_tv.
format yes Stream format supported by stream integration and selected media_player. Default: hls

For example, the following action in an automation would send an hls live stream to your chromecast.

action:
  service: camera.play_stream
  data:
    entity_id: camera.yourcamera
    media_player: media_player.chromecast

Service record

Make a .mp4 recording from a camera stream. Requires stream integration to be set up.

Both duration and lookback options are suggestions, but should be consistent per camera. The actual length of the recording may vary. It is suggested that you tweak these settings to fit your needs.

Service data attribute Optional Description
entity_id no Name(s) of entities to create a snapshot from, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.
filename no Template of a file name. Variable is entity_id, e.g., /tmp/{{ entity_id }}.mp4.
duration yes Target recording length (in seconds). Default: 30
lookback yes Target lookback period (in seconds) to include in addition to duration. Only available if there is currently an active HLS stream. Default: 0

The path part of filename must be an entry in the whitelist_external_dirs in your openpeerpower: section of your configuration.yaml file.

For example, the following action in an automation would take a recording from “yourcamera” and save it to /tmp with a timestamped filename.

action:
  service: camera.record
  data:
    entity_id: camera.yourcamera
    filename: '/tmp/{{ entity_id }}_{{ now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S") }}.mp4'

Service snapshot

Take a snapshot from a camera.

Service data attribute Optional Description
entity_id no Name(s) of entities to create a snapshot from, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.
filename no Template of a file name. Variable is entity_id, e.g., /tmp/snapshot_{{ entity_id }}.

The path part of filename must be an entry in the whitelist_external_dirs in your openpeerpower: section of your configuration.yaml file.

For example, the following action in an automation would take a snapshot from “yourcamera” and save it to /tmp with a timestamped filename.

action:
  service: camera.snapshot
  data:
    entity_id: camera.yourcamera
    filename: '/tmp/yourcamera_{{ now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S") }}.jpg'

Service turn_off

Turn off camera. Not all camera models support this service, please consult individual camera page.

Service data attribute Optional Description
entity_id yes Name(s) of entities to turn off, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.

Service turn_on

Turn on camera. Not all camera models support this service, please consult individual camera page.

Service data attribute Optional Description
entity_id yes Name(s) of entities to turn on, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.

Test if it works

A simple way to test if you have set up your camera platform correctly, is to use service developer tool icon Services from the Developer Tools. Choose your service from the dropdown menu Service, enter something like the sample below into the Service Data field, and hit CALL SERVICE.

entity_id: camera.living_room_camera