← Documentation

Cameras at Another Location

PanoPaper can show the cameras of an NVR at another location - another building, a vacation home, a boat - as long as your Mac can reach the NVR directly. PanoPaper never goes through Ubiquiti's cloud, so the remote access you use on unifi.ui.com or in the UniFi Protect app does not help here. A VPN does.

Connecting through a VPN

  1. Connect your Mac to the other location's network with a VPN - for example UniFi's Site Magic or Teleport, WireGuard or Tailscale.
  2. In Settings ▸ Cameras, click + - choose 'Add UniFi NVR…' if it offers a choice - and enter the NVR's IP address. PanoPaper finds NVRs by itself only on your Mac's own network; Troubleshooting says where to find the address.
  3. Sign in with a local account on that NVR, just as at home - see Which account to use.

While the VPN is off, the NVR cannot be reached. PanoPaper keeps trying on its own and shows its cameras again once the VPN is back.

Ports

Your Mac connects to the NVR, never the other way round, so nothing needs to be opened on your Mac. It needs to reach the NVR on two TCP ports:

PanoPaper does not use RTSP for an NVR's cameras.

Forwarding these two ports from the internet to the NVR would work too, but it puts the NVR's sign-in on the open internet, where anyone can try passwords. Use a VPN instead: it lets in only your own devices.

Bandwidth

What counts is the upload speed at the NVR's location. At High quality a camera can use around 39 Mbit/s, at Medium around 5 Mbit/s - it depends on the camera. Over a remote connection, choose Medium or Low in Settings ▸ Displays ▸ Quality, or Automatic for All Cameras - see Stream quality.

A single camera by its RTSP link

You can also add a single camera by its RTSP link from UniFi Protect: rtsps:// links use port 7441, rtsp:// links port 7447. Such a camera has one stream, without Protect's detections and PTZ control, so adding the NVR is the better choice - see UniFi cameras.