Adding a New Camera to the Spot Dashboard

This article will guide you through how to add a camera to your Spot AI Dashboard using auto-discovery and auto-activation.  These steps will require a Spot IVR having already been added to the current location.  If that still needs to be done please follow this article. If you have cameras connected to a 3rd party NVR that you need to add, check out this article.

Step 1: Click on the Configure tab located at the top of the page.

Step 2: Go to Locations in the left-side menu, find the location of interest, and click Edit.

Step 3: Go to Cameras and the Spot AI dashboard will automatically search for your cameras and you'll see a listing of all available cameras to choose from. 

Step 4: Spot Genius will attempt to automatically authenticate all discovered cameras. 

1. If the cameras are automatically authenticated, all you will need to do is click the Auto-Activate button on the camera listing. The appliance will immediately start ingesting video and you're done!
2. If Spot Genius is unable to auto-authenticate the camera, it will be listed with "Enter Credentials", in which case, all you need to do is click on the listing and enter the credentials for the camera. Once authenticated, Spot Genius will use the same credentials to authenticate all cameras of the same Vendor.
3. If the camera has "Manually Activate Stream", Spot Genius was able to authenticate the camera but doesn't have a working RTSP path. An RTSP path just needs to be added in order to activate the camera. 

For the best viewing experience, choose the streaming option which has a resolution closest to:

For Appliances starting with sn5a and up, and enterprise Appliances (snae, snea, snae2):

• Video Encoding: H.265 
• Video resolution: Up to 5MP  (2560x1920 [4:3] or 2880x1620 [16:9])
• FPS: 15
• Rate Control/Bitrate Type: VBR (Variable)
• Bitrate: 2048 Kbps 
• I-Frame Rate: 15 (should match FPS, may not be an available setting)

For Appliances starting with sn4e and up:

• Video Encoding: H.265 
• Video resolution: Up to 2MP  (1920x1080)
• FPS: 15
• Rate Control/Bitrate Type: VBR (Variable)
• Bitrate: 2048 Kbps 
• I-Frame Rate: 15 (should match FPS, may not be an available setting)

This is the optimal resolution for low latency and seamless web viewing.  

Troubleshooting cameras not showing in the list:

If you do not find your camera in the list of devices, here are some troubleshooting steps:

• IP address search: Go to your existing NVR and go to any individual camera stream and check for details. Find the IP address of the camera, and use "Add a Device" [check image below] to manually add the camera
• Adding Camera Subnet search: Ensure that the appliance is connected to the same network as the cameras. Often times internet access and camera network might be separate and you will have to use the second ethernet cord provided to ensure the Spot appliance is connected to both the internet and the camera network. For a more detailed article on setting this up - Setting up Dual Network Interfaces
• More detailed troubleshooting for camera discovery can be found here: Troubleshooting Camera Setup Discovery Issues

Troubleshooting cameras not authenticating or activating:

• Username and password:  This will be your camera's username and password. If you don't remember, please look at your camera brand and model number and google the camera's default username and password. If the default doesn't work, google the instruction to factory reset your particular camera name and model. 
• Test Path: This is the link to provide the RTSP path for your camera brand and model. If you're not sure what it is, Google "RTSP path" for the camera brand and model. Please note: you just need to input what comes after the IP address and Port in the path URL i.e. for the example RTSP path:
  • RTSP URL: rtsp://username:password@192.168.1.5:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1
  • You only need to enter: /cam/realmonitor?channel=1
    • Spot AI cameras use the following RTSP path:
      • Main Stream: /01
      • Sub Stream: /02
• More detailed troubleshooting for camera authentication and activation issues can be found here: Troubleshooting Camera Authentication and Activation Issues

Changing the password of an already activated camera:
If you need to change the password of a camera, please see the Camera Password Guide.  Once changed, access the camera on the Spot Dashboard (either through Maintain or Configure > Edit), click on the Connection and update the password entry there, then click Authenticate. If it's correct you will see "Valid Connection" show up in green text.

We hope this article was useful to you, please leave us a comment or feedback as it will help us improve our customer support center.