One app to view differnet brand cameras

I have four Foscam stand-alone cameras in my house and just got my first Hikvision cam. the Hikvision has a better image and seems to be better build quality but I have a problem with it. I like the "Hik-connect" app and Hikvision's "IVMS-44500" app for the Hikvision cam but I can't get the Foscams to work in those apps. I am able to get all cameras installed in Cam Viewer Pro but I do like the GUI in the Hikvision apps.
 
First question - Is there a way to get a camera other than a Hikvision to work in IVMS-4500 or Hik-connect?
 
I also have a problem with Cam Viewer Pro app. I have a very weak cell signal at my house. This makes it necessary to have two entries in CVP for each camera, one with the local LAN IP address and one with the WAN gateway address and forwarded port. CVP has no fail-over function so I treat each cam as if it was two different cameras, one local and one remote
 
Second question - Is there an app that can overcome this problem and access Hikvision cameras and a variety of other cams automatically switching from LAN to WAN as needed?
 
Mike.

I use Blue Iris to record and view all my cameras both on LAN & WAN. Server software required though.

I second Blue Iris.

I should have specified that I'm looking for an Iphone app. I've tialed Blue Iris and love it but I don't have a computer running 7x24 here and as I remember, BI is not available for the Iphone.
 
Mike.

mikefamig said:

I should have specified that I'm looking for an Iphone app. I've tialed Blue Iris and love it but I don't have a computer running 7x24 here and as I remember, BI is not available for the Iphone.
 
Mike.

Click to expand...

 
It should be, my wife has it. It's $10, though.
 
The lack of the 24x7 computer, or at least a NAS, is another bigger issue though.

IVB said:

It should be, my wife has it. It's $10, though.
 
The lack of the 24x7 computer, or at least a NAS, is another bigger issue though.

Click to expand...

The BI Iphone app is to only access Blue Iris software running on a PC. It doesn't access cameras directly. Maybe it's time to run a Windows machine of some sort all day and night. Maybe one of those little baby boxes.
 
Mike.

Generic surveillance camera apps like Cam Viewer allow you to choose from many different camera manufacturers and then set up the streaming protocol for you. Hikvision is not configurable and seems to only work with Hikvision cams.
 
The Hikvision cam does work in CamViewerPro but I still have that issue of having to set up each cam twice and I'm looking for a neater solution. The biggest drawback to setting up each camera twice is that CVP does not allow you to export and import config files so you have to set up 5 cameras twice each making ten setups and then do it on three or four devices in the house. I also need an app that can share config files.
 
Ekeypad shares configs and can view some cameras but it is limited.
 
Mike.

CORRECTION

I was mistaken about Cam Viewer Pro, it does allow you to export and import camera settings.

mikefamig said:

The BI Iphone app is to only access Blue Iris software running on a PC. It doesn't access cameras directly. Maybe it's time to run a Windows machine of some sort all day and night. Maybe one of those little baby boxes.
 
Mike.

Click to expand...

 
oh true. Reducing the # of machines running is why I implemented the free VMWare stack at my house. Now I have 4 VMs: 1)CQC/etc, 2)Plex, 3)PlayOn/BlueIris, 4)user machine (so you can RDP in from my $180 pos windows box and go fullscreen thin-client style). 
 
EDIT: All that runs on a single physical host btw. Will be recording a vlog on that shortly.

mikefamig said:

The BI Iphone app is to only access Blue Iris software running on a PC. It doesn't access cameras directly. Maybe it's time to run a Windows machine of some sort all day and night. Maybe one of those little baby boxes.
 
Mike.

Click to expand...

 
IVB
Does it connect quicly and stay connected assuming a decent signal?

Yep, and actually faster than my trendnet app.
 
PTZ is wicked slow, but that's a hardware issue, the trendnet viewer is just as painful.
 
One thing I keep meaning to do but haven't is to try and pull up historical footage on the app, not just the live view. But every time I remember i'm physically near my laptop so I just RDP/LogMeIn into the VM. That way I can keep using my phone for other stuff.  Wife only uses the app, but she only does live view.

I have AZ Screen Recorder, if you want it would be trivial to grab a 60 second capture of me starting up the app, connecting, clicking around. 

IVB said:

I have AZ Screen Recorder, if you want it would be trivial to grab a 60 second capture of me starting up the app, connecting, clicking around. 

Click to expand...

That would be nice if you don't mind.

On client site with pitiful 4G, then work dinner. Will publish it tonight after 9ish. It'll be over the WAN so you'll get a worst case scenario.

Cool thanks! I'm looking for WAF.

mikefamig said:

I have four Foscam stand-alone cameras in my house and just got my first Hikvision cam.

Click to expand...

 
I have a mixture of Hikvision and Dahua cameras (PTZ) as well as a cheap $40 SV3C (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G1U4MVA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1).  The Hikvision/Dahua cameras seem to be reliable -- I've used them for about 3 years outdoors without any issues.  The SV3C has been used for about half a year without any issues so far except that the image quality is noticeably worth than that of Dahua's and Hik's.
 
I tried to use BlueIris as a recorder, but I had issues with the small dedicated PC running at about 90% CPU and losing frames.  Then, I stumbled over Xprotect Essential (https://www.milestonesys.com/solutions/platform/video-management-software/xprotect-essential/) that has a free version for up to 8 cameras.  Xprotect running on the same box records video streams from the same cameras and uses about 10-15% CPU only.  Another advantage is that there's an iPhone app that connects to the Xprotect software which streams optimized (for a lower badwidth WAN) data to your mobile device.  The mobile app can do the Live as well as Playback modes. My only minor regret is that there's no Xprotect Linux version.
 
Xprotect has drivers for both Hikvision and Dahua.  The SV3C is accommodated through ONVIF.  Not sure about Foscam.
 
Interestingly, IVMS recognizes both the Hiks (natch) and the SV3C, but not the Dahua. 
 
If you want, you can access cameras simultaneously from IVMS directly and via Xprotect, but I noticed that Xprotect playback/live is much better in using bandwidth which is important for remote access.
 
Remotely, I connect through VPN, so there's no difference whether I access the cameras remotely or locally.
 
P.S. Forgot to mention that the mobile app is free.