A camera’s live view can be shown on any dashboard with the Video player card. The card plays the camera’s own live link, which Hermetry keeps in two attributes of the camera device. Every check of the Watch tab applies on a dashboard too: the viewer must be allowed to watch live video and to read the camera’s device.
The live link attributes
When live view is on, Hermetry writes two server attributes on the camera’s device:
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
liveUrl | The camera’s live link, /api/iot-camera/<camera id>/live.m3u8 (the default stream) |
liveUrlHigh | The same link with ?q=high, only while the camera has a second playable H.264 stream |
They are removed when live view is turned off, when the camera’s streams change so that no stream plays, or when the camera is removed. The link is a same-origin address: it carries no camera address, password or token. Each time a player opens it, Hermetry checks the viewer’s session and permissions and only then hands over a short-lived stream link.
Do not copy the link outside Hermetry: it works only for a signed-in person with access.
Add a camera card
- Open the dashboard in edit mode and add a Video player card (see Content cards).
- Bind the Video address slot to the camera device’s
liveUrlattribute. To show one camera of a set (for example the cameras of a site), use One attribute of the device at a position of a set and pickliveUrl. - Optional: bind Higher quality address to
liveUrlHighthe same way. The player then offers the higher quality. - Set the player options below and save the board.
| Setting | Recommended for cameras |
|---|---|
| Start playing on its own | Off. Every running camera costs a camera minute a minute. |
| Ask ‘still watching?’ every | 5 minutes (the default). Without an answer the stream stops. All video cards of a board share one question. |
| Stop the stream when the card is out of view | On (the default). A card scrolled out of view or in a hidden tab stops loading. |
| Start muted | Cameras carry no audio; the setting has no effect on them. |
A card whose camera has no live view (the attribute is missing) shows the player’s own empty text, not an error.
Several cameras on one page
A board has no card that repeats for each device of a set. To show several cameras, add one video card per camera position: bind card 1 to position 1 of the set, card 2 to position 2, and so on. Add a value card with the number of cameras in the set if more cameras may exist than cards.
Each card runs its camera only while it plays, so a page of four cameras costs four camera minutes a minute while all four play.
The remote sites camera page
The Remote sites ready solution has a Camera page, opened from the Cameras tile of a site page. It shows the cameras placed in that site:
- Cameras are the devices placed in the site’s asset whose profile uses a camera transport (RTSP or the supported camera protocol).
- The page is a fixed grid of 4 video cards (2 × 2); card n shows the n-th camera of the site. A count card says when the site has more than four: “Cameras at this site (the first 4 are shown)”.
- The cards do not start on their own, ask every 5 minutes whether you are still watching, and stop when out of view.
- A slot with no camera, or a camera without live view, stays empty.
To show a camera there, add it, place it in the site’s asset (see Placing devices) and turn live view on. The page finds cameras by their profiles. A camera profile created after the solution was installed is not picked up by itself: the page’s hidden cameras parameter must be updated to include it. See Start from a ready solution.
Wall screens
Camera cards work in full screen and on wall screens, but the “still watching?” question still applies unless you switch it Off on the card. A wall screen with the question off runs its cameras, and uses camera minutes, all the time. See Wall screens and full screen.
Troubleshooting
| The card shows | Fix |
|---|---|
| The player’s empty text | Live view is off, or the card is bound to the wrong attribute or position. |
| A still picture “Camera minutes used up” | The month’s camera minutes are used up. |
| “Live view is temporarily unavailable” | Hermetry could not read your plan; the picture comes back by itself. |
| An error about permissions | The viewer may not watch live video or may not read this camera’s device. |