Can RPi2 be used as an IP cam viewer?

Question

I want to monitor my IP cam on my TV (both set to 1920 x 1080p). Since the IP cam uses ethernet and the TV has HDMI, I'm hoping my RPi2 will be a suitable interface. At this point, I'm unsure of my next step. How do I find the right software, or determine if this is even possible?

EDIT:

Now that I've become a bit more familiar with the Stack Exchange sites' format, etiquette, "best practices" etc., (Meta Stack Exchange was very helpful), I think I should elaborate on this question. I should have stated the constraints I was under, not in comments, but up here in the question (seems painfully obvious now):

The IP cam is currently connected to a security NVR. I've created some VLANS on a managed network switch, making one of the IP cams "shared" (ie it will be available to the the guest VLAN as well as the the security VLAN). This will allow me to send live video to an entrance way monitor (like in convenience stores). For this, I'm using an ordinary TV which has an HDMI input. I have no equipment available to work with, and my budget is low, so a PC with Windows isn't an option. That's why I'm trying to use the RPi2 as originally described in this question.

I've gotten good responses to this question, but wasn't able to make any of them work (there was always something I got stuck on). Pressure to complete my task made me improvise a solution; so I've decided to take the "answer your own question" route in order to update my situation and finalize this question. From my research, I'm inclined to believe I should use proper etiquette and wait before accepting my own answer. Since this post is over six months old, I'll wait at least a couple of weeks.

FINAL EDIT: It's almost three months since my last edit, so I figure it's time to put this post out of its misery. I was considering answering my own question, until I realized that my "Answer" wouldn't really answer my original question! So in order to be consistent with the SE format, I won't accept my own answer, or even post an answer at all because, well I don't have one. I would like, however, to wrap up this post since there has been at least SOME, interest in the question. Ummm, ahh, who am I trying to fool?! This post is the most auspicious thing I've done here at the SE sites! Anyway, just to tie up loose ends: how I finally completed my task (described above), ended up not even using a RPi. I found a 4-channel security NVR on eBay for US$ 28 and just use it as a converter box: it connects to the LAN network switch via its ethernet port, and sends out a video signal to a TV using its HDMI port. Just like I wanted to do in my "Question". Only thing is, it's not a RPi, and so I don't consider that to be an acceptable answer. I have, however made some progress learning to use my RPi. I never dreamed it would be so difficult for me when I started out eleven months ago. I had only ever used a WIN PC before, so I just took a little double click on your basic SETUP icon for granted. I HAD NOOOO IDEA!!!! Wow, what a shock it was to find out how involved loading up some software really is. And I still can't really handle it unless I can use a single APT-GET command and run it off my GUI desktop! But I did learn how to use it to control stuff over the WAN when I use my home PC to connect with a little SOCKET connection on my RPi I managed to string up, along with some bits of Python code I cobbled together. Nothing fancy by any means, BUT IT DOES GET THE JOB DONE! So I'll take any small victory I can get. Besides, now that the pressure is off, I actually find using my RPi... FUN!!!

PS I'm not really sure if it is considered good etiquette to accept an answer that I never even tried to implement but, OH well. If I come across information that says otherwise, I will change my acceptance at that point. The answer which I came the closest to actually succeeding at was the one given by Jon Clean that uses the NENPL solution using OMXPLAYER. The only thing that stopped me was finding out the URL of any one of my IP cams. I tried using Firefox's developer window to inspect pages of my cams, but just couldn't find the proper address. Ooooh so close! But since I'm accepting an answer I haven't accomplished, I have to give it to the motionEyeOS solution given by Andrei. The installation instructions were FAR less intimidating. I'd like to actually try them one of these days!

Answer 1

Actually you can and it's working pretty good. I own an ip camera with a raspi 2 also and i'm using this motioneyeos. https://github.com/ccrisan/motioneyeos/wiki It's pretty good and you can turn your raspi into a cam recorder. You can set it to record videos when it detects motion, you can be warned by mail if motion is detected etc. or you can just view your cam on your tv like you wanted. Check this software, might be what you need.

Answer 2

It is almost guaranteed if you can find the streaming address of the IP camera. You can use Kodi to handle the stream receiving. OpenELEC, LibreELEC and OSMC are three examples of Kodi-centric distributions for Raspberry Pi.

Just keep in mind that the Pi 1 may have trouble decoding anything other than H.264 (plus VC-1 and MPEG-2 if you bought the CODECs) at 1080p, as the above three formats are decoded using the GPU, and the CPU may have trouble keeping up with the task alone.

By the way, Raspberry Pi themselves makes excellent IP cameras too, using its camera module to capture the action. You may even run some OpenCV on it to identify and help capture critical moments of a crime scene.

Answer 3

Most IP Cameras encode video and stream using web service. RaspberryPI constraints are its cpu's ability to receive, decode and display a particular video in real-time. Consider looking up camera encoding specifications to determine video compression (H.264 or MJPEG) and application layer transport protocol (i.e. HTTP and RTSP) and matching that with the Pi's decoding capabilities. Please post solution. I have similar needs also. :)

Answer 4

Depending on the output of the IP cam, if it's streaming it's video over the network anyways; the easiest and most user friendly way of doing this would probably be to set up Kodi. (flash OpenElec or OSMC to your SD card)

Kodi has proven its worth over the years (beeing the old XBMC). It's meant for video play back and supports CEC (so you can move around in the menus with your tv's remote if your TV supports CEC). But there is also a rest API.

The rest API allows for preexisting apps in the appstores of both android and apple (don't know about windows) to offer you TV remote-apps (look for apps like yatsee, kore, ...)

The whole setup of the Pi shouldn't last longer than an hour.

Answer 5

Kodi may not be best use for this application, as it expenses valuable cpu cycles to support a GUI that may not add value. The need for this utility is great for PI. After setting up one camera view, users will want to monitor several cameras at the same time. The question is no longer to determine if it can be done, but how many ip cameras can it support? This write up by NENPL looks promising. He uses a combination of OMXPlayer and scripts to display video from multiple IP cameras on the screen at the same type. See also: PI-powered surveillance camera monitoring display by NENPL, http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/123787-raspberry-pi-powered-surveillance-camera-monitoring-display

Answer 6

I suggest you to use ZoneMinder to monitor your videos. It is really flexible and can be installed on a RPI2. You can manages your cameras, make recordings, motion detection, and you can generate webpage / streams with multiple cameras.

Answer 7

These guys use aslo a Raspberry2 as netcamviewer with her own software.

https://www.netcamviewer.nl/index.php/nl/producten/netcamviewer-monitor

Answer 8

I believe you can if your browser supports it.