Trying to get security cam to display in window on my pc

Hi,

I'm trying to get a security cam to display in a window on my pc (currently, my iPad mini is doing the job as a temporary measure).

However, I don't even know which section of the forum to put my question.

Can someone suggest the appropriate section please?

Some background may help:

Camera is an external, mains powered Tapo camera. TP-Link suggest using RTSP (- haven't a clue what that is) and doing some "stuff" so that you can use RTSP or ONVIF (again, not a clue), and setting up an account using iSpy.

I have found the iSpy website (link here) and it talks about iSpy or Agent DVR (no idea which I need, nor which is best).

I DO have the Static IP reserved for the camera (in the format 192.160.xxx.yyy) but after this, I get stuck.

I also read that you can use VLC to view the video feed but this starts talking about Video Mill.

I followed the steps on this webpage (link) and under the section VLC Streaming Setup, I got as far as step 5 when things started not to match - so, in essence, I'm struggling to understand anything and I'm floundering like swimming in quicksand.

It mentioned "First read the Streaming Cameras Essentials page for the basics." and clicking on that link (here) which took me to even more incomprehensible gobbledygook (I know some small nuggets of stuff - eg 'Mux' means multiplex, and a 'Codec' is a coder/decoder piece of software and that MP4 is a video compression format - but then my knowledge slams into the buffers and everything else might as well be written in Klingon for all the sense it make to me !)

As a first priority however, this question needs putting in the correct section of the forum.

Rather than simply moving it, if someone would be kind enough to PM me as to where it should go, I'll start the formal process of asking for help there.

Thanks for reading this far. I'm a very, very puzzled lad!

Art

Hi FF

Yep - read that. That's what pointed me in the direction of the iSpy software (and then Agent DVR).

However, I read the words but it makes as much sense to me as if it were written in Klingon - hence my plea.

I know it can be done, I just don't have the knowledge to do it straight off the bat, or even when reading the guides it seems!

Art

(btw, I didn't put it in here - someone (a Mod?) moved it)

I've not done anything with remote cameras but found this that might help?

(4) tapo camera view on windows pc free camlytics software, Easily connect and view Tapo camera on PC - YouTube

Fabler2 said:

I've not done anything with remote cameras but found this that might help?

(4) tapo camera view on windows pc free camlytics software, Easily connect and view Tapo camera on PC - YouTube

Thanks for that Fabler, it looks like it could be useful [bloomin' awful thump-thump soundtrack though imho]

I'll see if I can follow the video, see what happens and report back later (maybe a couple of days as we have a big Harry-Potter themed birthday party tomorrow for a 6 year-old)!

Art

(currently, my iPad mini is doing the job as a temporary measure).

How is the iPad connecting to the camera?
Personally, I'm not a big fan of having to stream my camera video to a web site on the Internet, to view them. Which I suspect iSpy etc are.
I have several camera setups here that I can view from any device that has a browser. All I do is point the browser to that cameras LAN ip address. They are only viewable from devices on my LAN. Just my personal preference. I figure somebody is going to ask so, my Cameras are Raspberry Pi Single Board Computers running Motion Eye OS. You need to know how said camera is meant to be used / viewed.

@Fabler2

Thank you, that worked first time like a dream.

This is what technology should be like - no issues - and to quote Apple "It just works".

Many thanks.

Now to play with the settings. For some reason, the output was automatically set to 640 x 480 resolution and therefore quite 'blocky'. All sorted now.

Only downside is that apart from continuous recording, any other recoding facility is $9 per month (or £85 per year). A shame as this software worked straight out of the box.

Art

alphanumeric said:

(currently, my iPad mini is doing the job as a temporary measure).

How is the iPad connecting to the camera?
Personally, I'm not a big fan of having to stream my camera video to a web site on the Internet, to view them. Which I suspect iSpy etc are.
I have several camera setups here that I can view from any device that has a browser. All I do is point the browser to that cameras LAN ip address. They are only viewable from devices on my LAN. Just my personal preference. I figure somebody is going to ask so, my Cameras are Raspberry Pi Single Board Computers running Motion Eye OS. You need to know how said camera is meant to be used / viewed.

Hi Alpha

To answer your question, the iPad Mini is viewing the camera output through the Tapo App

Bit in red: How does this work? I have typed in the Tapo Camera's IP (192.168.x.zzz) but I get an error message "192.168.x.zzz refused to connect." I also tried with the port number thus: "192.168.x.zzz:2020" and "http://192.168.x.zzz:2020/onvif/device_service" but still no joy!

@F22 Simpilot

Thanks for explaining the acronym. Hadn't yet got around to Googling RTSP (birthday party and resulting fallout). We had a lady bring four owls to fly in the garden (sadly the Snowy Owl had been "naughty" and wasn't there)!

Thankfully, I haven't downloaded the iSpy software, thanks for the warning.

Art