Custom Grid Layouts
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
Comments
Yes, I think this would certainly be a good feature for us to add. Thanks for the suggestion, we will definitely consider this for a future update.
And adjustable frames (dividing lines) would be nice along with this. :-)
I second this request. This would be very helpful for mixing wide panoramic and regular feeds in the same window.
Thirded - it's the one thing stopping me from moving from Blue Iris to SecuritySpy. I definitely have some cameras that need to be displayed larger than others.
This really needs to happen, especially with the iOS and AppleTV apps. These apps haven't been updated in ages. At the minimum those apps need to have the option to display black bars instead of cropping the video. There are ultrawide cameras like the Reolink DUO2 that I use that are very limited when viewing because the way SecuritySpy displays video on my iPad and Apple TV.
So what I'd like is:
1) Ability to display black bars instead of cropping the video.
2) More multiplex layout options including one for displaying 3 cameras. One on top and two below. This would allow me to have my panoramic (4608X1728) DUO2 displayed above two other cameras in the same area for complete coverage. I'd also like an option for a 2 camera multiplex setting that has the cameras positions vertically on top of each other, instead of horizontally. So I could have two superwide 180" panoramic shots displayed on top of each other and not be terribly cropped. And other options like
3) The ability to have multiplex respect which group of cameras you want displayed. It makes no sense that this hasn't already been an option.
I know there are obviously differences developing for iOS than Android, but tinyCam does a great job with their screen layouts.
Customizable grids AND ability to drag cameras to arbitrary locations in the grid would be fantastic. I keep multiple camera views on screen 24/7 to enhance situational awareness.
I somewhat work around the present limitation by employing multiple group windows. Each window displays a few cameras in the size and shape screen area desired. It's a bit of a bother and I cannot rearrange the cameras in each window at will, but allows me to keep a mix of landscape, portrait, and various aspect ratio cameras efficiently and geometrically displayed.
Custom grids with variable sizes and cameras draggable into any arbitrary grid position has long been something I wished.
By popular demand, this has now been implemented in the latest beta version of SecuritySpy (currently 5.5.1b16).
This was quite tricky to implement nicely - we have put quite a lot of thought into the best way to add this functionality that is easy to understand and use, and doesn't lead to awkward layouts and gaps. The way this works is as follows:
For any camera in any video window that you want to display larger, right-click on it and you will see "Camera Display Width" and "Camera Display Height" options, which can each be set from 1x to 4x. This allows you to set a particular camera to display up to 4x wider and/or 4x taller than standard size. There is no limit to the number of cameras you can apply this to in each window, or the location of the camera in the window. SecuritySpy will the pick an optimum size for all the images, taking this into account.
By default, SecuritySpy will decide how many rows and columns to use for the overall layout, but this can lead to some unpredictable effects if some cameras are set to sizes above 1x. Therefore, there is also a new option in the contextual menu called "Number Of Columns In This Window", which can be set to a fixed value. When this is set, all cameras will keep their positions in the window, no matter how the window is resized.
If a camera's requested width would take it beyond the right side of the window, or its requested height would take it below the bottom of the window, the width and/or height are reduced so that it fits. So, if the camera is at either edge, you may get a smaller size than you asked for.
As always, the order of cameras can be specified by dragging them up/down in list on the left in the Cameras section of the Preferences window. This order is used for all video windows.
The layout of each window (All Cameras; Group windows) and each screen in full screen mode is independent, e.g. when you resize a camera in the All Cameras window, this only affects the size of this camera in the All Cameras window and no other window.
This method can achieve very flexible and interesting layouts - an example is below.
Please all let us know your feedback!
Love it ! ! Thanks.
Is it coming to Viewcam ?
@pgh - great! Yes, this will come to ViewCam in the next update.
This is great. I'll admit, I found it a bit tricky to start with, but once you get your head around reordering cameras in Preferences to accommodate the layout, it works really well.
I've gone from a monitor filled with 5 camera groups, with my front door / garden / drive camera taking the largest space, to one phat All Windows layout with all 8 cameras. Nice.
Can I now make a request for camera reordering on the iOS and tvOS apps..... 😀
There doesn't seem to be a beta on that page anymore.
@emergent It's now part of the latest version, download released yesterday.
Hi @pgh, this has now been added to ViewCam in the latest update available from the App Store. If you have time, could you also add a quick rating and/or review of ViewCam on the App Store? Thanks :)
Oh wow, this is awesome, thanks @Ben - this is exactly what I was looking for when I created this post. I only just decided to check back today to see if there was any update. Thank you so much for implementing it! I left a 5 star review on the app store as well.
Hi @FirstLegion - great to hear that, and thanks for the app store review!