ViewCam — Ben Software Forum

Decoder Overload

carltfulp — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 19:46:29 +0000

What's the best approach to manage this error message?

Warning: a significant number of video frames could not be decoded due to decoder overload - this can result in jerky/uneven video in live displays and/or captured footage - try reducing camera frame rates.

I have 21 cameras (Reolink and Amcrest) managed by SecuritySpy on a 2024 Apple M4 Mac Studio with 36 GB of memory and 32 GPUs.

I'm using the Reolink and Amcrest profiles when defining the cameras. I can't manually plug in a frame rate with an assumption that using predefined profiles precludes typing in the frame rate field.

I've tried using the software (SW) decoding option via the Camera Info windows to no avail.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

Bandwidth usage in Viewcam

pgh — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 06:53:33 +0000

When the main window (or a group window) is closed, is it possible to disable the unnecessary streams ?

Or maybe have an option to stop the stream when a cam is not displayed ?

Thanks !

Missing controls over camera feeds

Dolph22 — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 15:02:16 +0000

All of a sudden in ViewCam, I'm missing the controls (volume, recording) on the camera window (which normally appear in the upper right corner). Only change I can think of is that I upgraded to MacOS Tahoe. Any thoughts?

Add non-local cameras or SecuritySpy servers

keness — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:09:15 +0000

Is it possible to add SecuritySpy servers in the same way in ViewCam as the iOS app such that it will use a local connection if it is found and if not use the viewcam.me connection?

I just discovered I can use the iOS app for Mac-based viewing while I am traveling, but ON the Mac, I prefer the ViewCam interface.

In ViewCam I have cameras that feed three separate SecuritySpy systems all added. They are separated into groups in ViewCam. But this is a local-only configuration as it connects to the cameras directly.

But if I could add all three SecuritySpy servers the same way the iOS app does it, it would work local or remote. (Ideally I'd like to have all cameras available at once in the All Cameras view, rather than have to switch from one to another like the iOS app. But if that is resource intensive, having each SecuritySpy server treated like a Group would work well too.)

Thanks!

Viewcam on iOS

pborrett — Sat, 18 May 2024 10:06:38 +0000

After being a SecuritySpy user for a number of years for my external cameras, I've just come across ViewCam and realised it can show me live feeds for the various internal Eufy cameras I have around the place.

The app works perfectly on my Mac and easily integrates with my Spy cameras. The only thing that would make it perfect would be if it could also run on my iPhone and/or iPad.

Is this something that would just fit my use case, or could it be a wider benefit to others, too?

"Come to the front"

cmh716 — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 15:03:33 +0000

I use SecuritySpy on my primary desktop, but I'm considering migrating it to a dedicated server. On my primary desktop, I am thinking that I can use ViewCam. Would the motion detection occur on the SecuritySpy instance and be sent to ViewCam, or do they operate mostly independently? In addition, I rely on the "Come to the front and open this camera's video window" feature. This is not available on ViewCam, is it? Maybe I can instead have SecuritySpy remotely trigger ViewCam to bring the window with motion to the front? I looked in AppleScript dictionary, and it seems that Viewcam doesn't have any AppleScript support?

RTSPS for Google Nest Cameras

xev — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 03:38:28 +0000

I had a setup reading my google nest cameras and putting them into Security using the rtsp-simple-server to read it from google and rebroadcast to SecuritySpy, but something seems to have stopped working. It may be google, or rtsp-simple-server, but I can't tell. I was hoping to use view cam to look at the server, but I'm not sure how to access it. I have a program to get the google-nest stream, and to extend the tokens so it stays live, but the access for it is something like below, and I can't figure out how to plug this into view cam or security spy to look at them directly. Is there a way to access this camera stream using one of the programs, given the URL below?

rtsps://stream-us1-foxtrot.dropcam.com:443/sdm_live_stream/CiUA2vuxr_Y83eqC9B8mlOYwNfONs0mlre6kgutz8LmjSLMayWNEEnEAEGF6Shiw60XscryVXy5SvAGwC3NGHPG8uJ5aTqAvnOxPAsWdyJ1-BQ5JAS9Y3P5Tcl2s4Bck_OFje99PcQ-fR3xEfamKetxXcPW4QoGl3BKb0n084DlUjykpERrHG1Q38MlR3evr2tpFTVO7XYz_nw?auth=g.0.eyJraWQiOiIyMzhiNTUxZmMyM2EyM2Y4M2E2ZTE3MmJjZTg0YmU3ZjgxMzAzMmM4IiwiYWxnIjoiUlMyNTYifQ.eyJpc3MiOiJuZXN0LXNlY3VyaXR594eSIsInN1YiI6Im5lc3RfaWQ6bmVzdC1waG9lbml4LXByb2Q6MTQxNDQwMSIsInBvbCIoLXNjb3BlLUFQSV9TRE1fU0VSVklDRS1jbGllbnQtMTA2NTg1OTY0NjQyNC1scG9mbWVkZDRqNm5lYzVwbW1tZ2dzM2R2MjNzcWN0OS5hcHBzLmdvb2dsZXVzZXJjb250ZW50LmNvbSIsImV4cCI6MTY5MTM3ODYzOX0.T6Ed8UdYXM7im606LQdNTsFHQsZSdi7UNqUxQn_v6ltRfqe5e621bs_vrJv3TVBhedX7C2BQmALEfKoJn56OdmwnLws1_rAwkeh6TvDk-zWPUvr4lOeGHutUOEZfKewO5__Xhv0vTHRF54nP9cYunFi3tBdypy_ULoANowlAHtZtTOAKeO_t_vf4j8q6FV7w9pAACqKK54yIvRPKor5I3cZngT-0l54yIKJEz95HrbucUZxiNcPdZuBGhTQ6uVT3OYx111C3Ny0pMaqyrq0Ekrc0oa7mO5QEsLtbGS4GXfMx8vvVcQxSrkzg0y-RE1_-0-gFMHO-nvz-Q

Start up Viewcam in Full Screen Mode

abid — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 02:24:10 +0000

Hi,

I am wanting to create an AppleScript to open up Viewcam in Full Screen mode.

Please can someone let me know the AppleScript for this so I can create it in Automator?

Thank you

Multiple Instances, One Computer

keness — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 02:17:53 +0000

I'm thinking no, but is there any way to run THREE instances of ViewCam (happy to buy three licenses) on a single computer? Even if I rename each app, would they keep their own independent settings?

I have multiple servers across three properties. Currently, all cameras are running on a single server, but I am about to (finally!) split them up to their own separate servers. I already have three separate SS licenses, an 8-cam, a 4-cam and a 4-cam.

I run ViewCam fullscreen on my main computer with the cameras in a 3x3 grid, and use Spaces in Finder to just CTRL-RIGHT ARROW over to the fullscreen view.

I'd LOVE to just have three Spaces with separate instances of VC running, so I could run them in three separate Spaces and just arrow over to the first, arrow again to the second, and again to the third, and then just arrow back-back-back to my main desktop.

If that makes any sense...?

I've attached an image of my Spaces desktop. My main desktop is the center one, and ViewCam is the first to the right. I'd love to just have 3 of them, one connected to each server. (The Screen Sharing space at the far right is unrelated, just the interface screen of one of my printers.)

Three separate Screen Sharing sessions to the respective servers is an option, and could work the same way, but it is blurry and laggy compared to running ViewCam on the computer you're sitting at.

Thanks!

Copy Image / Save to Photos

keness — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 20:42:30 +0000

Hello!

I think this is a simple, request...? In ViewCam, with a single camera open, I can Control-Click the view and the options are:

Save Image...

Configure Settings...

Open Device Web Interface...

-----

Zoom In

Zoom Out

I would love it if "Copy Image" was an option.

Often I find myself wanting to send a quick image by text or email or something, but I don't necessarily want to go to the trouble of creating that image file in my system, if I don't need to maintain a local copy, to then just attach to the text thread or email, and then delete.

Additionally, a Save to Photos would also be great, though I think that would need the user to confirm and approve access to the Photo Library. But that'd be handy, too, because that's where I keep my photos anyway, if I DO want to keep a local copy. So saving the file still results in the next step of then importing it into Photos.

Unless I'm missing something, which is entirely possible, one or both of these options could save a number of steps when you just want to send a quick stream image to someone.

Thanks!

Keyboard shortcut to save images

silaz — Thu, 11 May 2023 11:39:04 +0000

Hi,

would it be possible to get a keyboard shortcut for saving images?

Also it would be fine to get the possibility to change the zoom speed seperate from the pan/tilt speed.

Best regards

Silas

ViewCam support for FaceTime, Continuity Camera, and USB cameras?

mikeschinkel — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 20:50:10 +0000

I discovered SecuritySpy which has a monitoring capability which is almost exactly what I need, but it is overly complicated.

Then I found ViewCam and thought "This is PERFECT" until I realized it did not support FaceTime, Continuity Camera, and USB cameras like SecuritySpy does.

Is there any reason why ViewCam can't support FaceTime, Continuity Camera, and USB cameras like the Anker C200?

Viewcam instant replay

paulosborne — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 15:06:57 +0000

Hi - I am a long term SS user but wish to run Viewcam specifically with instant replay. I am running the trial, have an IP camera on screen and all seems fine. I have enabled Instant replay with 10 seconds buffer. I right click the camera feed and "Start Instant Replay" - the camera screen then freezes and I don't see a yellow progress bar to allow me to review the replay media. Cmd+scroll is also inactive. If I save the replay as a buffer movie I can then play it correctly in Quicktime, longer than the 10 seconds.

Can you steer me to where i am going wrong? How can I replay the the last 10-15 seconds of the live feed and then resume viewing it live?

Custom Grid Layouts

FirstLegion — Sat, 21 May 2022 00:05:57 +0000

I've tried many different NVR and Cam Surveillance software and this is definitely the best one on Mac. The only thing I wish it had was the ability to create a custom grid layout where some cameras can take up more space than others. Whether that is choosing from preset layouts or creating your own grid layout would be really helpful.

For example, you might want 1 main camera which takes up the majority of the screen with some smaller cameras surrounding it.

I'd even pay for this feature.

I've attached an example of what I mean

Victure cameras

randysparks — Wed, 04 May 2022 16:27:52 +0000

From searching this forum I don't believe anybody's tried using ViewCam with Victure cameras. These are ultra-cheap Chinese cameras, that I think are just rebadged other brands (but I don't know which).

I'm using four PC420 cameras, and two PC730 cameras. All are set to ONVIF with static IPs. All work fine if accessed using VLC.

To cut a long story short, the PC420 cameras works fine in ViewCam with a "Manual Configuration" profile, and "RTSP (video and audio)" set as the format. Nothing else needs completing in the prefs dialog boxes.

I cannot get the PC730 cameras to work. I just see "Connecting..." forever, then sometimes , "No key frames recently". I've tried every configuration I can think of in the ViewCam preferences window.

VLC's info window when playing the streams shows exactly the same for both cameras:

H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (h264) / PCM ALAW (alaw)

.. but with one difference. The troublesome PC730 cameras have 25 frame rate, while the PC420 cameras have 20.

Audio level control for ViewCam

fester — Sat, 16 Apr 2022 17:27:17 +0000

In a future release could we see an audio volume control added for the cameras with Audio Input?

Do have one more question about viewing the ViewCam remotely via internet and the SS app (which works fine for remotely viewing SS cams while its running. Used the import all cameras in the add camera option in ViewCam, but it gives me a DNS error when i try that. Probably "operator malfunction" on my part :-).

ViewCam Disable/Enable Camera

chriscareycode — Sun, 10 Apr 2022 06:53:24 +0000

Can we get Disable/Enable Camera option in the camera config like SecuritySpy has?

I'd like to leave some of the camera configs in there but disable them since I only use them occasionally. At this time I have to erase the config, and recreate it again which is difficult when dealing with a lot of cameras. Thank you!

import problem & ssl setting problem

pgh — Sat, 02 Apr 2022 13:01:02 +0000

Hello,

When importing from a SS server, sometime some cams are not imported. It occurs when importing from 2-3 different servers (50 cams total).

Also, the "use SSL for HTTP connections" is sometime reverted to off when editing the preferences.

Is it possible to adjust the sensibility of the motion détection (it doesn't work well on wide angle cams).

Thanks !

Why use Viewcam

tdenson — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 23:19:27 +0000

Dumb question, but why should I use ViewCam rather than SecuritySpy - is it just down to the cost ?

ViewCam vs Security Spy ?

QFive — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 23:37:24 +0000

Hi Ben, is there a features matrix comparing these? ViewCam is much more capable than I was expecting and I would guess for many people could serve as their NVR?

Viewcam connecting to Securityspy server

pgh — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 12:43:17 +0000

I have bad performance when connecting viewcam to my Sspy server, only 2-3 fps with h264 or jpeg, local network. The server is a Mac mini 2018 with enough ram and a lot free CPU power.

But I have 15fps when importing the pref file of the server in view cam (32 cams / h264)

Also, its not possible anymore to use an unregistered version of Sspy to view cam ? (edit, ok found the answer in another post)

Is it possible to have an "enable" switch for each cam in view cam ?

Release 5.4.1 / ViewCam - Unrecognised request

PhilTaylor — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 10:10:07 +0000

Hi,

I have been running SecuritySpy 5.4 on two servers with 8 cameras without any issues for some time now.

Having been prompted to upgrade to 5.4.1 I did so on the one trial version and was informed that this would no longer enable me to view cameras (fair enough) and suggested purchasing ViewCam, so I did.

I am now getting "Unrecognised request" displayed on ViewCam for one of my Hickvision cameras.

There are 2 other Hickvision cameras working correctly on ViewCam.

I have reverted the trial version of SecuritySpy to 5.4 and all cameras are functioning correctly.

The live instance of SecuritySpy has been updated to 5.4.1 and all cameras are functioning correctly.

Why is ViewCam displaying "Unrecognised request"?

Regards,

Phil Taylor

Instant video replay buffer size

Gus — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 20:56:58 +0000

Hi, I'm wondering what a reasonable setting would be for the replay buffer? Say I have four cameras at 20fps. Can I set the replay buffer to 15 seconds at 15fps without eating up too much RAM or CPU? I'm on a 2019 i9 iMac.