Skip to content

Set specific camera to "View Only"

Is it possible to choose a specific camera to be passive/View Only?

I currently have 9 cameras, and an 8-license. I don't need or want the 9th camera to be recorded, and I thought (?) I had all continuous and motion capture options turned off for that camera, but when I enable it, one of my "real" cameras turn into "View Only" and the 9th one sits there, with the ABILITY to record, but not actually recording anything since I have all forms of recording turned off in preferences.

Looking at the Camera Info window, the 9th camera is alphabetically in the middle of the pack. And it is always the alphabetically bottom camera which "drops" to View Only.

Have I missed an obvious way to specify the camera that I want to be passive, and leave the other 8 with their recording options in place, or do I need to name them "creatively" to force the one I want to only view to be at the bottom of the list alphabetically?

I've got to be missing something... haha

Thanks!

Comments

  • The first 8 cameras in order will be covered by the license, and any additional ones beyond this will be in view-only mode. So what you will need to do is open the Preferences window, go to the Cameras section, and in the list on the left, drag this camera down to the end of the list.

  • Hmm, I'd love to recommend an actual selectable option to designate a camera as View Only. Perhaps in the "Advanced" options window.

    My cameras are all named and organized in a logical way, and dragging them out of order to force certain one(s) to be 'View Only' creates quite an unfortunate mess of the organization.

  • Thanks for the feedback. Rearranging the order is currently the only way to achieve this, but I understand what you are saying and we'll see what we can do for a future update.

  • edited February 2022

    Hello! I was wondering if there had been any further thought along the lines of implementing an easier / more elegant way of designating a camera as "View Only" compared to physically rearranging the camera list so that it is at the bottom? Perhaps a setting tucked away in the Advanced camera settings?

    To maintain compatibility with existing configurations, it could do both. The "View Only" option could be OFF by default, and if you exceed the licensed number of cameras, and the option isn't checked for any cameras, the ones at the bottom of the list become View Only, same behavior as current. If the option IS checked on one or more cameras, that could override using the bottom-up method, provided the number of View Only cameras bring the number of full function cameras down to within the license limits.

    I can maybe imagine situations where this could occasionally be handy even if you HAVEN'T exceeded the licensed number of cameras, for temporarily making a camera View Only while leaving all its settings intact otherwise.

    Thanks!

  • Thanks for the suggestion, I like your idea and I think this could be a good method of achieving this. I'll see if we can add this in the next update.

  • That's great, thanks!

  • Hi! I was wondering if there'd been any further thought into implementing this or something like it? Thanks!

  • Yes, this has now been added. Make sure that you are using the latest version of SecuritySpy, and you will find an option for this under Preferences > Cameras > Device > Advanced Device Options.

  • Works flawlessly! Thanks!

  • I just noticed that cameras marked "View Only" don't show up in the iPhone or iPad app. Is that expected? I knew there'd be no recordings for them, or any other kind of processing, but I figured they'd be there to... view. haha

  • That's expected I'm afraid. "View" means viewing in macOS SecuritySpy only; these cameras aren't available to stream via SecuritySpy's web interface, hence they aren't visible either in a web browser or our iOS app.

  • edited July 2022

    Oops, just noticed this. I thought "view only" meant I could view the cameras but not control, record, etc. I didn't realize I could only view on a hidden away server. Need to rethink my plans. Maybe one of the other apps would be a less expensive solution for most of my cameras that don't need full functionality.

    Does screen capture count as a camera license?

  • The basic plan: have the minimum license number corresponding to the number of cameras 🤓

  • Hi @Vinoh - the Screen Control feature via the web interface is still available even in an unlicensed instance of SecuritySpy, perhaps this will help you?

    @Yvan - yes this is generally what we try to encourage, while allowing some leeway 🙂

Sign In or Register to comment.