Domoticz

Hi,
I just wanted to share a little project I have running now for a few days on my cheap Lenovo A7-10F tablet that allows me to have IP webcam so that I can see in domoticz what is happening in my appartment, and also turns screen on the tablet when it sees motion.
ImperiHome cannot use my front camera on the cheapo Lenovo tab, so I decided to do it myself. You can use "Motion detection" as suggested by Imperihome folks, but then you cannot use the front camera as IP Webcam. Even if imperihome could use the camera on its own, you then cannot use it as IP webcam at the same time.

In short, it is to just to install IP Webcam PRO and add a profile in tasker that will open home page of ImperiHome (via the imperihome API f.eks.) when webcam sees the motion. Imperihome can still go to faded "black screen" after some time of inactivity, thus making the screen blank (as it does when it can use the camera).
I would recommend trying IP webcam lite first, as some people have problems with the server crashing after a few hours. This happened to me but I am using tasker to monitor the webcam server and just start it again if I see that it has failed.
If someone wants more detailed description, I can describe it more as needed, but with some finetuning it is not that difficult (you just need few days of patient testing )

I also have a few other tasker profiles, for exaple restart the device each day (turning off volume before restart, and restore after), I use it for voice commands (using AutoVoice) to check the traffic in other applications while I am getting ready to go out, another profile that after 5mins of inactivity automatically goes back to ImperiHome.

Great to read I'm not the only one combining IPwebcam app on a smartphone with Domoticz! I've been adding multiple phones and tried to make them visible in Domoticz, with limited results I might add. Using a self written html page was the best so far but only works on the LAN, not remote.
Adding scenes-cams is not very user-friendly; no frame resizing nor multiple cams at once possible.
The thing with using a smartphone is, that in order to install the app "IP webcam" (pro or free) you need to sign-in with your google account on Playstore. After install you can not sign-out from Playstore cause it will cause IPwebcam to crash and it only show this error for a fraction of a second. Took me forever to find out. Then I blocked the smartphones IPaddresses in my internet router and that is why I use Domoticz to get around that blockage and still see my cams.
Another reason why IPwebcam crashes randomly is when you assign another location then default to store recordings. Or if you do not use a uSD card to store them onto, the cam becomes very slow in responding even if you set for like 5 gb free for the system. The software is not perfect I need to admit.
Great advantage in my situation is that I have multiple corners covered for hardly any money invested compared to real cams.

You can try to use another theme. There are themes that can show a thumbnail of the camera on your dashboard. Like the Aurora theme https://www.domoticz.com/wiki/Aurora_Theme and Machinon theme https://www.domoticz.com/wiki/Machinon_Theme

Thanks Walter, that's very usable information!!

waltervl wrote: ↑Friday 22 September 2023 16:59 You can try to use another theme. There are themes that can show a thumbnail of the camera on your dashboard. Like the Aurora theme https://www.domoticz.com/wiki/Aurora_Theme and Machinon theme https://www.domoticz.com/wiki/Machinon_Theme

Hi again, I have managed to install the Aurora theme, added a switch which was already on the dashboard to one camera-scene BUT now I have a cam-icon added to that particular switch (see attached screen shot) and switched the theme setting to 'on' for cam previews in dashboard. Unfortunately I do not see any preview. I expected a little image of that cam somewhere, but the only thing I can do is click on that cam-icon in that switch to get a full screen image of the cam. Hardly to be called a preview. And also impossible to move or resize this image, so no more than one at the time possible. Am I doing something wrong?

What I regret to see in all themes of Domoticz so far, is that camera views are fixed in windowsize and must overlay the entire page, and therefore are always limited to one cam but WHY ?
This forces you to stop watching if you need to continue operations on Domoticz, while that camera view is the ultimate tool of verifying in Domoticz how and if switches/sensors etc are functioning properly. If it is to limit processor load or network load, should that not be the decision of the operator/owner?