Adding a camera

OpticWatch monitors any camera that provides a standard RTSP video stream. You can add a camera by typing its RTSP address, or let OpticWatch find the address over ONVIF. Either way, monitoring works the same. Compatibility with specific camera brands and models is not certified.

Before you start

• Create at least one site. If there is none, Add camera asks you to create one first.
• Have the camera's RTSP address, including its username and password if it needs one. RTSP addresses explains how they are built.
• Make sure the computer running OpticWatch can reach the camera on its network.

Add a camera by its RTSP address

1. Open the form

   Go to Cameras, choose Add camera, and keep Enter an RTSP URL selected.

2. Fill in the fields

   Name

   How the camera appears everywhere in OpticWatch and in alerts, for example “Loading dock, east”.

   Site

   The site the camera belongs to.

   RTSP URL

   The full stream address, for example rtsp://username:[email protected]:554/stream1. It is stored encrypted and never shown again after saving.

   Check interval

   Seconds between automatic checks. The default is 60.

   Probe timeout

   Seconds a check waits for the camera before counting as failed. The default is 10.

   Monitor this camera

   On by default. Turned off, the camera is kept but never checked and cannot open incidents.

3. Save

   Choose Add camera. OpticWatch opens the camera's page and starts checking it straight away.

The camera page

Each camera has its own page, opened from Cameras. It shows:

• Health: Healthy, Offline or Unknown.
• Monitoring: whether the camera is being checked.
• Last check and Last success.
• Stream: the codec, resolution and frame rate found by the last successful check.
• While there is a problem, the current issue or open incident, with the failure reason.
• Recent checks and Incident history.
• For cameras added with ONVIF, the Device details the camera reported, such as manufacturer, model and firmware.

Run a check now

Check now on the camera page runs one check immediately and shows whether it connected, with the stream details or the failure reason. Use it after fixing a camera or an address, instead of waiting for the next scheduled check.

Edit, pause or delete a camera

Edit

Change the name, site, interval or timeout. Leave the RTSP URL empty to keep the stored address and password; type a new one to replace it. Changing the site moves the camera to that site.

Pause monitoring

Stops checking the camera without deleting anything. Resume monitoring starts again. Useful during planned maintenance.

Delete

Permanently removes the camera, its check history and its incident history. Monitoring stops immediately.

How many cameras you can add

Free monitors up to 5 cameras, Pro up to 100 and Integrator up to 500 per installation. A camera you have paused still counts toward the number of cameras you have added, but only monitored cameras use your monitoring allowance. See Paused by the plan limit.