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Cameras Without an NVR

Besides the cameras of a UniFi Protect NVR, PanoPaper shows cameras that work on their own and speak ONVIF, the common standard for network cameras - many cameras that stream over RTSP do. They appear in the menu bar panel, the desktop keys, Full Screen and All Cameras just like an NVR's cameras.

Finding a camera

PanoPaper looks for IP cameras on your network together with NVRs: at launch, when you open Settings ▸ Cameras, and when you click 'Scan Network' there or 'Scan Again' in the menu bar panel. Cameras it finds are listed on the IP Cameras page and in the menu bar panel, each with 'Sign In…'.

Not listed? Some cameras answer only once ONVIF is turned on in their own app. A camera on another network segment (VLAN) cannot be found: click + in Settings ▸ Cameras - choose 'Add Camera…' if it offers a choice - and enter its IP address or host name. Before anything is set up, the menu bar panel's 'Add…' ▸ 'Add Camera…' takes you there.

Have an RTSP URL for the camera, such as rtsp://192.168.1.90:554/stream1? Paste it into the same field: PanoPaper finds the camera behind it, with all of its streams. A user name and password in the URL fill in the form. A camera without a password, such as a UniFi camera's RTSP stream, needs neither: leave both empty.

Finding cameras by deep scan

Some cameras answer neither the usual scan nor ONVIF - they announce nothing on the network. To find these, open Settings ▸ Cameras and click 'Scan Network' on the IP Cameras page. If the usual scan turns up no new cameras, PanoPaper looks harder - checking the addresses on your local network (up to 1,024) on the usual RTSP ports - and lists what it finds, each with 'Sign In…'. If the tab shows only your NVRs, click +, choose 'Add Camera…' and click 'Don't know the address? Scan network for cameras now': the same deep scan offers what it finds in a menu - choose one to fill in its address.

A deep scan only asks each address whether a camera is there; it does not try any password. Because it briefly contacts every address, PanoPaper never does it on its own - only when you ask - and a network with its own security monitoring may notice it. If nothing is found, the camera may still work by its RTSP URL: open the camera's app or manual, find the URL, and paste it in.

When you add a camera found this way, PanoPaper looks for its video in the places cameras commonly keep it. If the user name or password is wrong, it stops at once and tells you, so the camera's account is never locked by repeated attempts.

Cameras without ONVIF

A camera that has no ONVIF - or a stream from a recorder or another app - works too, by its RTSP URL alone: paste the URL into 'Add a Camera', and PanoPaper shows that stream as a camera of its own, named after its address. It has one quality, the stream you gave; its details show in Settings ▸ Cameras once it has played. A camera without ONVIF does not appear in the ordinary 'Scan Network', but a deep scan can find it.

Encrypted streams

PanoPaper takes encrypted rtsps:// URLs as well as rtsp:// ones - such as the encrypted links UniFi Protect gives out. Video and audio then stay encrypted all the way from the camera to your Mac.

Cameras prove who they are with a security certificate. The first time PanoPaper connects to an encrypted stream, it remembers the camera's certificate, and from then on accepts only that one. If the camera later shows a different certificate, PanoPaper stops showing it and says the certificate has changed, because another device could be posing as the camera. If you reset or replaced the camera, remove it in Settings ▸ Cameras and add it again.

UniFi cameras

For UniFi cameras, add their NVR instead of single RTSP links, on the UniFi NVRs page of Settings ▸ Cameras. PanoPaper then shows all of the NVR's cameras, each in every quality, with Protect's detections, outlines around people and animals, and PTZ control. A camera's RTSP link gives one stream only, without those. Paste one into 'Add a Camera' and PanoPaper tells you it comes from a UniFi NVR: click 'Add NVR…' to add the NVR instead, or 'Add Stream Only'. If PanoPaper already shows that NVR, it says so before adding the stream a second time.

Which account to use

Sign in with the account the camera has for ONVIF or RTSP. It is usually set in the camera maker's app - such as eWeLink, Tapo or Reolink - often under a heading like "ONVIF" or "RTSP". The login of that app or its cloud usually won't work here. PanoPaper keeps the password in your keychain.

If the camera refuses the user name or password, PanoPaper does not try again by itself, so the camera's account is never locked by repeated attempts. Sign in again in Settings ▸ Cameras once you have the right password.

Some cameras need no account at all. When you sign in to one PanoPaper found on your network, the window says so: leave both fields empty. Signing in also tries the camera's video, so if the camera needs a user name or password, you learn it right away - the user name is often “admin”.

What works

• Live video and audio, on the desktop and in Full Screen, and in All Cameras.
• The camera's streams as the High, Medium and Low quality in Settings ▸ Displays - the IP Cameras page lists them.
• Zooming and looking around, and the desktop keys.
• Detections, from a camera that reports people, animals or motion itself (ONVIF events). How quickly depends on the camera: many inexpensive cameras take several seconds. If the camera's own app lets you choose between motion and person detection, choose motion: some cameras report a person only to their own app, and PanoPaper finds the people itself.
• Its status: every few minutes PanoPaper checks that each camera still answers, and one that doesn't shows as Offline in the menu bar panel and in Settings ▸ Cameras. While the IP Cameras page of Settings ▸ Cameras is open, it checks every few seconds.

Moving a PTZ camera works with UniFi Protect cameras.