6.6 KiB
layout, title, description, date, sidebar, comments, sharing, footer, ha_release
| layout | title | description | date | sidebar | comments | sharing | footer | ha_release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| page | Camera | Instructions on how to integrate cameras within Home Assistant. | 2015-11-09 08:36 | true | false | true | true | 0.7 |
The camera component allows you to use IP cameras with Home Assistant. With a little additional work you could use USB cameras as well.
{% linkable_title Services %}
Once loaded, the camera platform will expose services that can be called to perform various actions.
Available services: turn_on, turn_off, enable_motion_detection, disable_motion_detection, snapshot, and play_stream.
{% linkable_title Service turn_on %}
Turn on camera. Not all camera models support this service, please consult individual camera page.
| Service data attribute | Optional | Description |
|---|---|---|
entity_id |
yes | Name(s) of entities to turn on, e.g., camera.living_room_camera. |
{% linkable_title Service turn_off %}
Turn off camera. Not all camera models support this service, please consult individual camera page.
| Service data attribute | Optional | Description |
|---|---|---|
entity_id |
yes | Name(s) of entities to turn off, e.g., camera.living_room_camera. |
{% linkable_title Service enable_motion_detection %}
Enable the motion detection in a camera.
| Service data attribute | Optional | Description |
|---|---|---|
entity_id |
yes | Name(s) of entities to enable motion detection, e.g., camera.living_room_camera. |
{% linkable_title Service disable_motion_detection %}
Disable the motion detection in a camera.
| Service data attribute | Optional | Description |
|---|---|---|
entity_id |
yes | Name(s) of entities to disable motion detection, e.g., camera.living_room_camera. |
{% linkable_title Service snapshot %}
Take a snapshot from a camera.
| Service data attribute | Optional | Description |
|---|---|---|
entity_id |
no | Name(s) of entities to create a snapshot from, e.g., camera.living_room_camera. |
filename |
no | Template of a file name. Variable is entity_id, e.g., {% raw %}/tmp/snapshot_{{ entity_id }}{% endraw %}. |
The path part of filename must be an entry in the whitelist_external_dirs in your homeassistant: section of your configuration.yaml file.
For example, the following action in an automation would take a snapshot from "yourcamera" and save it to /tmp with a timestamped filename.
{% raw %}
action:
service: camera.snapshot
data:
entity_id: camera.yourcamera
filename: '/tmp/yourcamera_{{ now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S") }}.jpg'
{% endraw %}
{% linkable_title Service record %}
Make a .mp4 recording from a camera stream. Requires stream component to be set up.
Both duration and lookback options are suggestions, but should be consistent per camera. The actual length of the recording may vary. It is suggested that you tweak these settings to fit your needs.
| Service data attribute | Optional | Description |
|---|---|---|
entity_id |
no | Name(s) of entities to create a snapshot from, e.g., camera.living_room_camera. |
filename |
no | Template of a file name. Variable is entity_id, e.g., {% raw %}/tmp/{{ entity_id }}.mp4{% endraw %}. |
duration |
yes | Target recording length (in seconds). Default: 30 |
lookback |
yes | Target lookback period (in seconds) to include in addition to duration. Only available if there is currently an active HLS stream. Default: 0 |
The path part of filename must be an entry in the whitelist_external_dirs in your homeassistant: section of your configuration.yaml file.
For example, the following action in an automation would take a recording from "yourcamera" and save it to /tmp with a timestamped filename.
{% raw %}
action:
service: camera.record
data:
entity_id: camera.yourcamera
filename: '/tmp/{{ entity_id }}_{{ now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S") }}.mp4'
{% endraw %}
{% linkable_title Service play_stream %}
Play a live stream from a camera to selected media player(s). Requires stream component to be set up.
| Service data attribute | Optional | Description |
|---|---|---|
entity_id |
no | Name of entity to fetch stream from, e.g., camera.living_room_camera. |
media_player |
no | Name of media player to play stream on, e.g., media_player.living_room_tv. |
format |
yes | Stream format supported by stream component and selected media_player. Default: hls |
For example, the following action in an automation would send an hls live stream to your chromecast.
action:
service: camera.play_stream
data:
entity_id: camera.yourcamera
media_player: media_player.chromecast
{% linkable_title Test if it works %}
A simple way to test if you have set up your camera platform correctly, is to use 
Services from the Developer Tools. Choose your service from the dropdown menu Service, enter something like the sample below into the Service Data field, and hit CALL SERVICE.
{
"entity_id": "camera.living_room_camera"
}
{% linkable_title Preload Stream %}
If your camera supports it, and the stream component is setup, You will notice a "Preload Stream" option in the top right of the dialog when clicking to view the camera stream. This option will keep the stream alive, and preload the feed on Home Assistant startup. This will result in reduced latency when opening the stream in the frontend, as well as when using the play_stream service or Google Assistant integration. It does, however, utilize more resources on your machine, so it is recommended to check CPU usage if you plan to use this feature.
Example showing the Preload Stream option in the camera dialog.