BlueIris on your TV!

M

Matthew Hudnall

n3wb
Jan 30, 2018
15
22
Alright, BlueIris is the greatest security cam software that I have ever used, BUT there has been a big hole in their ecosystem for a while: the big screen! Some users have used the app TinyCam, HDMI cables from tablets, or other mechanisms, but I love my BI app and I wanted to use it on my FireTV. Turns out, it's not that hard to do! Basically you download the Android platform toolsand upload the BlueIris APK to your FireTV. If you have an Android device then it is even easier. I am a iPhone guy though so I posted a video that steps you though sideloading the BI APK onto a FireTV from Windows:



It works great so far! Please make sure you buy the app on your iPhone or Android device to appropriately support BlueIris!
 
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What type of latency in seconds do you see with this setup? My be worth it if you don't have a smart TV, but if you have smart TV (browser available), UI2/UI3 is the way to go.
 
Thanks for sharing this! Does it only work with a fire tv or can you do it with other smart Tv's like Roku or Samsung?

I currently use my Tv's web browser bookmarked and pointing to UI3. That Tv's IP address doesn't require a login to connect to BI so it goes straight in. I
 
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This method will only work for devices that run Android and allow for sideloaded unsecured apps. Rokus run a flavor of Linux which isn't compatible with Android. Depending on the Samsung TV, it may or may not be running Android. Some older Samsung TVs run Android, so they may work (see this article to try). Samsung though now (for the past 3 years) runs Tizen as the OS, which likely will not work with the BI app. From what I have found, Sony, Sharp, and Philips are the main ones that run Android directly. LG, Samsung, Panasonic, and Vizio all run different non-Android OS. Here is a decent article about them all. The cheapo Android TV sticks/boxes that are on Amazon and eBay should work with BI as well, but honestly you are better off with a $39 FireTV stick.
 
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Hey Matthew,

Thanks for posting this! It's good to know there are options like this...as of right now, I'm doing what Dasstrum is doing, simply pointing my TV's browser to UI3 and it comes right up (no password required). I get decent framerate and nice picture quality.
 
The official android app will certainly be more efficient than UI3. You've got to have a pretty fast device to handle H.264 in UI3 without issues, and my smart tv is anything but fast.
 
Hey bp....

Yes, but on a FAST TV it works like a charm! Just wanted you to know :wave:

It's now the home-page on all the TV's in my house and makes it easy to keep my eyes on what's happening around the property
 
I am loving UI3 as well. I just found the URL parameters (like ui3.htm?maximize=1) and that really helps out. One of the best use cases though for the Android app over UI3 though is when you are not at home. Since the app resolves the external IP using the BI server, you don't have to have your own dynamic DNS setup. I use that at my office or when I am traveling on my FireTV.
 
Now if only we could get something working on the Roku. All my TVs have 1 which is used for SlingTV and Plex. I ditched cable long ago. I can't justify putting a FireTV on all of them to gain BI viewing.
 
Hey Dasstrum...nice video and fun to see your setup. I've got UI3 on all my TV's now and love having the ability to view the cameras in all the major rooms in the house. Question....given that you can see both the rapsberry pi and the TV running at the same time, do you notice any latency on the TV's?
 
Matthew Hudnall said:
This method will only work for devices that run Android and allow for sideloaded unsecured apps. Rokus run a flavor of Linux which isn't compatible with Android. Depending on the Samsung TV, it may or may not be running Android. Some older Samsung TVs run Android, so they may work (see this article to try). Samsung though now (for the past 3 years) runs Tizen as the OS, which likely will not work with the BI app. From what I have found, Sony, Sharp, and Philips are the main ones that run Android directly. LG, Samsung, Panasonic, and Vizio all run different non-Android OS. Here is a decent article about them all. The cheapo Android TV sticks/boxes that are on Amazon and eBay should work with BI as well, but honestly you are better off with a $39 FireTV stick.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this tip, Matthew! Since you specifically mention a FireTV stick, I assume they have a sufficient processor to work with the side loaded app? I have one on the Master bedroom TV, and would like to be able to check cameras there.

I also recently acquired an Nvidia Shield that will be on a different TV, and would think this would work no problem on that device?

Thanks again!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
bp2008 said:
The official android app will certainly be more efficient than UI3. You've got to have a pretty fast device to handle H.264 in UI3 without issues, and my smart tv is anything but fast.
Click to expand...

For older smart tv’s, Do we just try and see if UI3 works OK, or do you know what the minimum requirements would be?

My newest TV is about 3-4 years old.

Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
If you have a android phone and are installing a APK file just use a app called apps2fire , this will only work for firetv and android but it’s easier then the method posted above.
 
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Also if your using a Logitech harmony with your firetv you can setup a button on the remote to start BI.
 
Camit said:
How did you set this on your PI ??
Click to expand...

Edit the "autostart" file:
/home/pi/.config//lxsession/LXDE-pi

Add the following lines:

@screensaver -no-splash
@point-rpi
@chromium-browser --kiosk --disable-session-crash-bubble http://XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:81/ui2.htm

<<<Replace xxx with your local BI server IP address>>>

Make sure you have ui2/3 installed correctly
 
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giomania said:
For older smart tv’s, Do we just try and see if UI3 works OK, or do you know what the minimum requirements would be?
Click to expand...

There are no formal minimum requirements. Pretty much any semi-modern browser will run UI3 as long as the machine it is running on has enough memory to not crash. Even on really slow devices you can just switch the UI into jpeg mode and performance will scale to match the hardware it is on.
 
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