Chapter 10 — Cameras

AidaIDE includes a small suite of IP-camera tools — discovery, single-camera viewing, and grid wall views. Useful for lab/workshop monitoring, simple security setups, and dev/test against ONVIF cameras.

Menu layout

The camera tools live under Network → Cameras:

• Camera Manager — list, configure, and connect to known cameras.
• Scan for Cameras — ONVIF/RTSP discovery sweep of your LAN.
• Camera Grid Viewer — a customisable wall of feeds (3 × 3 or N × M).
• Camera Feed Grid — quick grid of all known cameras at once.

Camera Manager

Open from Network → Cameras → Camera Manager.

Three regions, same shape as Fleet Manager:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Toolbar: Add | Scan | Connect All | Save           │
├──────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Groups   │ Camera table                            │
│  All     │   Name      IP           Type   Status  │
│  ├ Lab   │   front-door 10.0.0.31   ONVIF  ●live   │
│  └ Shop  │   shop-cam2 10.0.0.32    RTSP   ○off    │
│          ├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│          │ Detail panel — preview + settings        │
└──────────┴─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Adding a camera

1. Click Add.
2. Fill:
   - Name — friendly label.
   - IP / host — camera's address.
   - Type — ONVIF, RTSP, HTTP MJPEG, USB.
   - Stream URL — auto-filled for ONVIF, manual for the rest (e.g. rtsp://user:pass@10.0.0.31:554/stream1).
   - Username / password — credentials saved in the vault.
3. Save. AidaIDE pings the camera and a thumbnail appears in the detail panel if it can connect.

Detail panel

Per-camera config: stream URL, resolution, framerate, snapshot interval. Snapshot now grabs a still. Live preview opens the feed in a separate detail subtab.

Scanning for cameras

Open from Network → Cameras → Scan for Cameras.

Probes the LAN for cameras using two methods:

1. ONVIF WS-Discovery — broadcasts a WS-Discovery probe; ONVIF cameras reply with their endpoint.
2. RTSP banner grab — connects to TCP 554 on each host in the scope and checks for an RTSP banner.

Results table shows each discovered camera. Tick the ones you want and Add to Manager — pre-fills the Add Camera dialog.

Some cameras require authentication before they will respond. If a candidate appears with no name/model, you may need to provide credentials and re-probe.

Feed Grid vs Grid Viewer

Two similar but distinct tabs:

• Camera Feed Grid — auto-populated wall of every camera in Camera Manager. Best for a quick "are they all alive?" glance.
• Camera Grid Viewer — manually arranged wall. You pick which cameras go where, set the grid size (2×2, 3×3, 4×3, custom), and AidaIDE remembers the layout.

Both tabs:

• Click any cell to expand to full-screen.
• Right-click → Snapshot to grab a still.
• Right-click → Open in Browser to view the raw stream URL.

Workflows

"I just installed an ONVIF camera and need to add it"

1. Scan for Cameras. Wait for results.
2. Find your camera in the list. Tick it.
3. Add to Manager. Fill in credentials.
4. The detail panel preview confirms the feed works.

"I want a grid of 6 cameras on a second monitor"

1. Add all 6 to Camera Manager.
2. Camera Grid Viewer → set grid to 3×2.
3. Drag camera names into the cells.
4. Save Layout.
5. Drag the tab out of the main window onto your second monitor. AidaIDE remembers the placement.

"RTSP feed will not connect"

• Test the URL with VLC (Media → Open Network Stream → rtsp://...). If VLC fails, the camera is the problem.
• Some cameras serve substreams at separate paths — try stream1, stream2, Streaming/Channels/101, cam/realmonitor.
• Authentication: most RTSP cameras require credentials. Embed them in the URL or use the Camera Manager username/password fields.

Performance

Camera tabs run a decoder thread per visible feed. Eight or more concurrent 1080p H.264 feeds will use noticeable CPU. To lower load:

• Settings → Network → Cameras → Default Substream = low. Most cameras have a sub-stream at lower resolution; AidaIDE will prefer it.
• Reduce framerate per camera in its detail panel.
• Use Camera Manager for monitoring (decodes only the focused camera) rather than the grids when CPU matters.

Terms & Setup

ONVIF

Open Network Video Interface Forum — the SOAP-based standard for IP cameras. Lets you discover, configure, and stream from any compliant camera with one client. AidaIDE supports ONVIF Profile S (live streaming) and Profile T (advanced video).

RTSP

Real-Time Streaming Protocol. The transport most IP cameras actually use to deliver video, often discovered via ONVIF.

Substream

Many cameras encode two simultaneous video streams — a high-quality main stream and a lower-resolution sub-stream. Use the sub-stream for grid views to save CPU.

"I do not have a camera"

• USB webcams work — pick Type = USB in Add Camera. The dropdown lists available USB video devices.
• Smartphone IP-camera apps (DroidCam, IP Webcam on Android, iCam on iOS) expose RTSP/HTTP MJPEG streams. Point AidaIDE at the URL the app gives you.
• For testing without hardware, FFmpeg can act as an RTSP server: ffmpeg -re -i file.mp4 -c copy -f rtsp rtsp://localhost:8554/test then connect AidaIDE to rtsp://localhost:8554/test.

Recording

The current camera tabs are live-only. There is no built-in recorder. For continuous recording, point a separate NVR (Frigate, ZoneMinder, Shinobi) at your cameras and use AidaIDE for ad-hoc viewing.

"The camera grid is laggy or stuttering"

• Confirm the network path — wifi cameras at the edge of range will drop frames.
• Switch to substream feeds.
• Reduce framerate (most cameras default to 25-30 fps; 10 fps is fine for monitoring).
• Close the tab when you are not actively looking at it; the decoder thread suspends.