How to Add a Camera in Shinobi

Login to the Dashboard

If you don't know how to do this or haven't done it yet we recommend you read this article before proceeding.

• Logging in for the First Time

Through these documents you will find the terms " Camera " and " Monitor ". Camera will refer to the physical hardware. Monitor will refer to the process(es) in Shinobi that manages the camera.

Add with ONVIF Scanner

1. Open the Main Menu on the left
2. Click ONVIF Scanner
3. Input the Username and Password for the camera you want to add
4. Begin the Scan
5. Devices will begin to populate in the listing
   • From here you can select one to import and edit before saving it to the database.
   • Or add all found in the list. This ignores any cameras already added by the scanner.

If you don't find any devices you should first try setting a range for the IP Address.

For example if your Shinobi server has the IP 192.168.1.22 then put the following for the IP Address field

192.168.1.1-192.168.1.254

Now it will specifically target this subnet. Begin the Scan again.

Still not finding the camera? Be sure the ONVIF is enabled in the camera . If you are still not able to find it and are sure the camera is online with other viewers, like VLC, streaming from it then you can try adding it manually.

Adding a Camera Manually

This becomes slightly more complicated if you don't already have the Stream URL. We have highlighted some tips here.  If you already have it you can skip this section.

• Article :  Finding the Stream URL
• External : iSpyConnect's Stream URL Database

Now that you have the Stream URL

Depending on the Stream it will provide you will need to follow different instruction sets. We recommend that you set your camera to stream H.264 for the highest level of compatibility with Shinobi.

Authentication

Be sure to put the Username and Password in the Stream URL like this example below.

rtsp://username:password@camera_ip_address:554/camera_rtsp_path

H.264 Streams

1. In your Monitor Settings scroll down to the Connection section and set the  Full URL Path with your Stream URL .
2. Press Save.

Now it should be Streaming in Watch-Only mode. Open the Live Grid to see it streaming.

H.265 Streams

• Adding a Camera is the same as an H.264 camera.

As of writing this article most devices don't have support for H.265 streaming. You will need to use the mobile app or the desktop app to stream H.265 on devices that cannot play the streams and recorded video. To be clear, the server will still record and stream the data; just the client devices viewing Shinobi may not have HEVC/H.265 support. The native applications circumvent this problem with software.

MJPEG Camera

MJPEG Streams are the old way of streaming. It is heavy and unoptimized. If you have the option of using H.264 please use it. It will significantly lower your Shinobi server's resource usage.

• Learn to add an MJPEG Camera here

USB or Local Camera

• Learn to add Cameras directly attached to the Shinobi server here

ShinobiHub

Here you can find community offered configurations . If you can't find one for your camera but have managed to get it configured we respectfully request that you post it for the community.

Monitor Logs

If you are having issues adding a camera or maintaining its stability you can check the Monitor Logs.

• Where are Shinobi Logs?

Stream Latency

Is your Live Stream a few seconds behind? In short, this is by design with the default Stream Type; HLS. You can reduce the latency by switch it to MJPEG, however this will cost more hardware resources.

• Learn more about Stream Latency  here

PTZ Controls

If you added the camera through the ONVIF Scanner and the camera does have PTZ, it should automatically be configured and ready to use.

• Learn more about setting up PTZ Controls here