Adding an Existing 3rd Party NVR to the Spot Dashboard

Spot AI Dashboard

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

Step 2: Go to Locations, find the location of interest and click Edit.

Step 3: Go to Cameras if you're not already there and the Spot AI dashboard will automatically search for your cameras and NVRs.

Step 4: Spot Genius will attempt to auto-authenticate and find how many streams the NVR has, but if that fails, please enter the following:

• Username and password:  This will be your 3rd party NVR's username and password. If you don't remember, please look at your NVR brand and model number and google the NVR's default username and password. 
• Test Path: This is the link to provide the RTSP path for your camera brand and model. Use this link to find the RTSP path of your camera or just 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
  • If the NVR isn't able to be activated with the RTSP path set to "1", sometimes the cameras aren't connected to the first port on the NVR, but rather one of the middle ports. Verify if this is the case by looking at the camera connections on the back of the NVR. If they start at port 8, change the channel in the RTSP path from "1" to "8".

Step 5: Once you have entered the information. Please click Authenticate. If all inputs were valid, you will see a still image populate from the cameras with a few streaming options. 

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

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

• Video Encoding: H.265/H.264 (H.264 is acceptable if H.265 is not an option)
• Video resolution: Up to 5MP (2560x1920 [4:3] or 2880x1620 [16:9])
• FPS: 15
• Rate Control/Bitrate Type: CBR (Constant)
• 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/H.264 ((H.264 is acceptable if H.265 is not an option))
• Video resolution: Up to 2MP (1920x1080)
• FPS: 15
• Rate Control/Bitrate Type: CBR (Constant)
• Bitrate: 2048 Kbps 
• I-Frame Rate: 15 (should match FPS, may not be an available setting)

Step 6: Click Activate on each stream. 

If you are stuck at any step, please reach out to Spot AI Support for assistance.

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.