User Manual

Here you will find guides, examples and detailed explanations on how to use camlocus platform.

Quick Start

In this quick start quide we will show a few scenarios how to quickly setup and monitor your cameras.

After the purchase you will receive an email with credentials to login to your server where you can create cameras, users, etc.

Login to the platform and select Cameras -> All, at the top left corner.

  1. Click Add. Type the name of your camera and select your timezone. Click Save.

  2. Now you can Edit your camera. Click Actions -> Edit.

  3. Navigate to Video Configurations and select the following: Video Source: RTMPS Stream, Motion Detection Type: FTPS Video, Transcoding: No, Record Stream: Yes, Playback 14 Days (select as many you need). Click Update.

  4. In this step, you need to start streaming video from your camera to camlocus. The easiest way to do this is using FFMPEG, you can download it here: https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html

    On any platform you can use ffmpeg to start uploading the stream. For example, in windows, create .bat file and put it in startup location as a shortcut:

    C:\Users\MyUser123\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup


    Example filename: stream-123.bat


    Below is the content of the .bat file:

    :loop

    .\ffmpeg.exe -rtsp_transport tcp -i “rtsp://admin:mycampass@192.168.0.65/Streaming/Channels/102” -pix_fmt yuvj420p -x264-params keyint=48:min-keyint=48:scenecut=-1 -ar 44100 -acodec aac -vcodec libx264 -preset veryfast -crf 31 -threads 4 -f flv rtmps://aa.zz.yy.xx/hls/key


    timeout /t 5

    goto loop


    You need to know your camera’s IP address, password, RTSP url. Example above is for hikvision cameras. RTMPS url is generated in camlocus platform for each camera individually, once you create one. Please check blog article here: https://camlocus.com/rtsp-url-examples-of-ip-cameras/ , on how to find rtsp url for your camera.

  5. That’s it. Please go to Camlocus -> Live Stream and you will see your camera’s stream. Also, you can preview recorded video in Playback page.

Motion Detection with Blue Iris

This section will describe how to use blue iris pc software with camlocus. It is very efficient and easy way to use it for motion detection (including AI) and camlocus cloud storage. Along with camlocus you will be able to record and preview your camera’s footage(live and motion).

  1. Download and install Blue Iris. This software can be purchased from Camlocus or Blue Iris directly.

  2. Once you open it, please configure FTPS server. To retrieve FTP credentials please navigate to camlocus dashboard -> cameras -> select your camera (any camera on the same location) -> actions -> details -> video configurations -> FTPS

  3. In Blue Iris please go to Settings -> FTP Servers -> Add -> Please check sample below:
Edit FTP Server

        Then go to Settings -> Storage -> New -> FTP Backup -> Configure:

Configure
FTP Setup

       Check Use FTP and click OK.

  • 4. In Blue Iris click Add New Camera and type in any name. In Short name field type in: ID-XXX , where XXX is ID of your camera in Camlocus. You can find it in Camlocus Dashboard -> Cameras -> ID Column. Then go to Video tab and add your camera.

  • 5. Record tab, check queue new clips for backup. Uncheck combine video. File format parameters: MP4


That’s it ! If there is any motion, video will be recorded and uploaded to camlocus.

Recommended extra step: Enable AI on Blue Iris

AI is very useful to eliminate false alerts and recognise objects. To use it, we recommend to have any Nvidia GPU. Our preferable is RTX A2000.

Please check this article on how to install CodeProject AI in your PC: https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/5358543/FAQ-Blue-Iris-and-CodeProject-AI-Server


Once CodeProject AI is installed, it should be enabled and visible in Settings -> AI:

Blue iris settings
  1. To enable it on camera, go to Camera settings -> Record Tab -> Select Video: When Alerted.

  2. Go to Alert tab and check Confirm the alert with AI. Below are examples:


AI Alert
AI Confirmation
  • 3. On the same Alert tab, click button On Alert… (we will configure blue iris to send alert images and detected objects to camlocus)
Set Action
Configure upload action
  • Filename: &CAM.%Y%m%d_%H%M%S%t.%001

  • That’s it, your camera is now configured to verify motion detection with AI. On camlocus you will see what object was detected as well.

    Also, please check recommended performance settings here:

Blue Iris Settings

Advanced Manual

In this section we will describe in details about additional functionalities.

Dashboard

Main dashboard for cameras management.

Cameras

All – all cameras you created

Shared – cameras which are shared to you by other users

Sort – you can sort cameras how they will be visible in live preview and cameras pages

Add – creating camera with its name and timezone

Share – button will appear once you click tickbox with camera name, it will allow you to share camera with speicific users.

Actions -> Edit:

Basic Configuration

Name, Time Zone and Location (Group) can be set and updated

Video Configurations

Video Source (options for live streaming and 24/7 recording):


RTMPS Stream – stream from your camera via ffmpeg, blueiris or any other 3rd party software


Cloud Device – stream from your local camlocus cloud adapter, which can be installed on your PC, VM, etc. running Linux OS


FTP Image – post jpeg images directly form your camera or blueiris via FTP, you can preview them live and they will be converted to timelapse


FTP Video – only FTP motion video segments will be accepted


Mjpeg Snapshot – directly retrieve mjpeg from camera or software


RTSP – directly connect via RTSP protocol to camera or software


Motion Detection Type (these videos will be displayed in alerts page)


FTP Video – most commonly used with blueiris or other pc software, it will interpret videos uploaded via FTP as motion videos and will be displayed in camlocus Alerts page


Transcoding – server will transcode uploaded videos if selected yes. By default – h264 codec will be used. For premium users AV1 is available as well


Record Stream – 24/7 recording will be activated and you can preview it in Playback page


Playback – select how many days of footage you want to store


Offset Time – value can be positive or negative in seconds to match multiple cameras time if needed


SD/HD – standard definition (usually sub stream), high definition (usually main stream)


RTSP URL – samples can be found here: https://camlocus.com/rtsp-url-examples-of-ip-cameras/


Recording Type – if selected motion detection, you neede to select how motion is detected: ftp image means that camera or software should upload image via ftp once motion is detected. Web Hook is special url, if activated it will begin recording.

Notification Configurations

Notifications: Off / On

Notification Sources:

  • Email
  • Mobile App

Notification Types

  • Motion Detection
  • Offline

Actions -> Camera Details

Here you can preview all information about your camera, including FTP credentials, RTMP generated urls, etc.

Cloud Devices

Virtual Cloud Adapter or as called as Cloud Device is special software which can be installed on local pc, virtual machine, etc. which is running Linux Ubuntu or CentOS/Fedora distribution. Ubuntu is the one we recommend.

To create one, click Add at the top right corner, type in any name and distribution you will be using. Unique key will be generated for you.

Please navigate to installation guide and install adapter accordingly.

Once installed and started you should see it online in Cloud Devices page.


You can then check details of VM, scan the network to detect cameras, etc.:

cameras-listing
cameras-listing

To add camera detected by cloud device, navigate to cameras and edit your camera. In video source, please select Cloud Device (Adapter) option.

You can then select adapter and detected camera’s ip address. RTSP url will be local url to the camera’s stream.

Live Stream

There you can preview all your cameras. Also you can select locations/groups or individual cameras to monitor.

If you click on any camera, you will be redirected to single camera’s page where you can preview it in full screen, change video quality and preview all motion detection videos.

Alerts

This page shows alerts (motion detection and timelapses) from all cameras. You can filter it by location/group or camera.

Playback

In playback page you can preview up to 9 cameras at once. Filters, date selection and timeline is availble as well. Motion bars are visible and clickable in the time bar. If 24/7 record is not enabled, you will be able to preview motion videos only.

Locations

Here you can create groups/locations and assign them to each camera or cameras.

Notifications

Latest events of all cameras.

Profile

Profile details, where you can preview camera’s limit, storage space, calendar format. EU format is 24hours, US format is 12AM/PM.

Administration

Server and Global Management

Managing Cameras with Admin account

Here you can preview all cameras from all users, also edit or remove them.

Users

All users with their cameras and storage usage. Adding users is also possible from this page.

Server Details

If you have connected more than 1 server, list of them will be populated here. Once selected you will see each one details, example below:

server details

E-Mail

Here you can define email server details, it will be used to send emails via selected service.

Below is the sample to use mailgun email service:

email configuration

Translations

Easy to use interface to add new languages and translate them.

Settings

Here you can upload logo, favicon and change Title / Footer for your interface.