Fastest method for uploading images / video to a web server when triggers fired

[Adam88]

I don't have access to my home network from the public Internet right now. I don't want to go into the details of that but just want to focus on possible solutions for uploading pictures or videos captured from Blue Iris to a remote server.

What I'm wondering is what is the absolute quickest way to get files or video just recorded up to an online service (of any kind) in order for me to review it via my smartphone.

I'm aware that BI can upload via ftp or to a cloud service. Naturally if it ftp'd to Web server I could get the server to list a folders contents. Using a cloud service I could use that specific services app.

I just wondered if anyone had experience of these kinds of solutions and any tips as to which to use?

 

[Hetticles]

The details you omit may help us find a better solution. You've already jumped to a solution and are trying to implement it.
You have access to the internet, but your network can't be accessed from the internet? Can you elaborate?
Normally a VPN to allow you to use the BlueIris app is the solution, but its not clear if this would or would not work for you.

Edit:
When I have a high priority alert, I have a python script that alerts me. Among other things, it sends an MMS with alert images to Twilio, which then gets sent to my phone from a number I have listed as always ring. Something like this is possible with a little programming, but this may or may not work for you

 

[Adam88]

Hi thanks for the response Hetticles. I don't have a solution per se at all all... The problem which is the root cause of me starting this post is something largely out of my control and I didn't mention exactly what it was because its a complex and largely unresolvable one. In short, my ISP has suddenly implemented CGNAT. I didn't want the thread to become a talking point about CGNAT and also thought it was quite an interesting talking point to discuss the fastest solution for sharing data from BI when a server is in a totally locked down unreachable network with no access possible from outside.

Moving back to possible solutions, I'm personally not against a bit of programming, I can do that. Interesting to hear your approach.

Basically from the BI settings I see that per camera it's easy to set a custom folder to post images. So that could be to a folder I can run any custom code on or maybe it could be a folder that is picked up by a cloud file sharing service.

However videos are more complex. If I wanted to share short video clips it seems that I'm much more limited. Is that a fair assumption or am I missing some setting/feature possible within BI?

 

[Hetticles]

Ah yea, my ISP just suddenly implemented CGNAT as well. I called them up, forked over an additional $5 a month for a static IP and to have the same level of service I've always had, just had to pay more. Wonderful.
Does your ISP provide an IPv6 address? This avoids CGNAT.
There are solutions as ngrok that work around the CGNAT issues. I haven't personally used this, but they have a free tier, looks easy to setup, so not a whole lot to loose there.
What I did for an interim solution was use SSH to poke a hole from my house to a Amazon EC2 server (free tier). I could then go to my Amazon server and it would forward traffic to be server behind CGNAT. This is called a ssh reverse tunnel and it allowed me to use the BI app more or less seamlessly.

The cloud file service sounds like an easy option, someting like Dropbox? You could put your alert images into a Dropbox synced folder, and that would go to your phone.
The problems with videos is BI records in its own format and I am not sure if it is feasible to play back outside BI..

 

[Adam88]

I've been speaking to Ken at BlueIris and he was receptive to comments I made about the fact that exporting images for use in external software / destinations (via the 'post' tab) is very easy but exporting videos way harder. It seems like we may be getting a new option to export MP4 files soon! Fingers crossed. I will confirm here if it's applied.

 

[looney2ns]

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[Adam88]

Just to update you all, the 12th January 2021 edition of Blue Iris has new MP4 instant export features which I believe are the result of the request I made to the developer back in November 2020.

To reference the version history: "You may also choose to automatically export alerts as MP4 videos with a new option on the Trigger tab in camera settings. This may be useful for immediate backup or AI analysis or alert video."

This feature allows for small video clips to be instantly written to a folder on the local BI server, that could be connected to a cloud file platform for remote viewing.