ONVIF-triggered motion not shown in Home Assistant state #199

Daniel15 · 2023-01-03T02:03:13Z

I'm using the motion sensing built-in to my camera (via ONVIF), rather than Blue Iris' motion sensing:

I've configured Blue Iris to publish to MQTT topic BlueIris/&CAM/Status on alerts. In this case, the type is "EXTERNAL". This is what I see in MQTT Explorer:

{
  "type": "EXTERNAL",
  "trigger": "ON"
}

However, the status in Home Assistant always says "clear".

Does this integration not support type=EXTERNAL?

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

kramttocs · 2023-01-27T15:29:51Z

Deleted malicious comments.

billbatista · 2023-06-20T21:42:51Z

This happens to me as well, the integration has one sensor for MOTION and another for EXTERNAL. If you use ONVIF alerts in Blue Iris, the only sensor that will change state is the EXTERNAL one, the name of the entity is "binary_sensor_camera_external" check to see if you have it (in the integration setup you have to select the external sensor for that camera).

I'm not sure why it was done this way but one quick fix/hack is to change the MQTT message for cameras that rely on external ONVIF alerts. Instead of "type": "&TYPE" just hardcode to motion: "type": "MOTION". Like this:

{
  "type": "MOTION",
  "trigger": "ON"
}

The same for the OFF trigger.

tumtumsback · 2024-01-11T08:53:07Z

This happens to me as well, the integration has one sensor for MOTION and another for EXTERNAL. If you use ONVIF alerts in Blue Iris, the only sensor that will change state is the EXTERNAL one, the name of the entity is "binary_sensor_camera_external" check to see if you have it (in the integration setup you have to select the external sensor for that camera).

I'm not sure why it was done this way but one quick fix/hack is to change the MQTT message for cameras that rely on external ONVIF alerts. Instead of "type": "&TYPE" just hardcode to motion: "type": "MOTION". Like this:
{
  "type": "MOTION",
  "trigger": "ON"
}
The same for the OFF trigger.

Thank you very much for this! This did the trick for me with my Reolink PoE doorbell.

Now, I just need to figure out the proper settings/syntax to get BlueIris to announce via MQTT when the doorbell button is pressed. I can see the ONVIF alert for the button press in BI5, I just don’t know how to send that message to my MQTT broker.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Daniel15 · 2024-01-11T09:27:04Z

Now, I just need to figure out the proper settings/syntax to get BlueIris to announce via MQTT when the doorbell button is pressed

@tumtumsback I don't have a smart doorbell, but I do have alerts for when my security cameras detect someone outside, which uses similar ONVIF events. I have Blue Iris configured to send an event via MQTT including a snapshot from the camera. I then listen for in a Node-RED flow. The Node-RED flow then uses Home Assistant to send announcements via a few devices - to our Google Nest speakers plus our phones and TV (the latter two showing a picture from the camera)

I can get the Blue Iris and Node-RED configs to you tomorrow or Friday :)

tumtumsback · 2024-01-11T13:12:37Z

@Daniel15 that could be nice to see -- I appreciate it! I don't use Node-RED currently, but being a Home Assistant enthusiast, I've seen it referenced many times.

I currently am having success sending motion events from BI to HA. And, in HA, I can use those motion events to trigger automations, like announcements to my Google Home Mini cluster.

However, the doorbell press event is going to be huge for me. I cannot rely on motion alone, as I am specifically trying to solve for when there is a package I have to sign for. The idea is, the delivery driver will ring the Reolink PoE doorbell camera, and I can then use that event in HA to fire off a number of notifications so that I can get to the door before they run back to their truck and don't actually give me the opportunity to sign for the package.

So, more important to me than anything, is getting that doorbell press event over to HA.

kramttocs · 2024-01-11T14:04:43Z

You may have your doorbell blocked from the internet but I've been using the Reolink integration to capture the button press for my POE doorbell.

tumtumsback · 2024-01-11T16:02:28Z

@kramttocs, thanks for the response!

It is blocked from the internet, yes. And, the camera itself is on a different subnet than Home Assistant, and is not visible by Home Assistant. However, the camera can talk to Blue Iris, and Blue Iris can talk to Home Assistant, so the hope is that I can simply forward the doorbell press ONVIF events from BI to HA via MQTT.

Daniel15 · 2024-01-11T19:06:43Z

@tumtumsback Here's the config in Blue Iris:

Camera settings -> Alert tab -> click "On alert" button in actions section
Add "Web request or MQTT"

MQTT Topic: BlueIris/&CAM/alert-image-b64
Post/payload: {"id":"&ALERT_DB","object":"&MEMO","camera":"&CAM","name":"&NAME","json":&JSON,"img":"&ALERT_JPEG"}

Blue Iris listens for a bunch of ONVIF events, but your doorbell may send one that it doesn't listen for. For adding another ONVIF event:
Camera settings -> Trigger tab -> ensure "ONVIF/camera events" is checked
Ring your doorbell then immediately click the "Configure" button next to ONVIF / camera events
The "Most recent events" box at the top should show the doorbell event
Ensure one of the entries under "Listen for" matches the event.

This is what my Node-RED workflow looks like:

The function node ("process payload and build image") is probably the most interesting thing. It's JavaScript code:

const {img, ...otherPayloadFields} = msg.payload;
const objectsToFilter = new Set([
    'ball',
    'sports ball',
    'horse',
    'book',
    'suitcase',
]);

let formattedObjectNames = 'Nothing';
const objectsData = (otherPayloadFields.json || [])
    .find(x => x.api === 'objects');
// Would normally use `objectData?.found?.success` but Node-RED doesn't support it
const hasObjects = objectsData && objectsData.found && objectsData.found.success;
if (hasObjects) {
    // Using Array.from(new Set(...)) to dedupe object names
    const objectNames = Array.from(new Set(
        (objectsData.found.predictions || [])
            .sort(x => -x.confidence)
            .map(x => x.label)
            .filter(x => !objectsToFilter.has(x))
    ));
    if (objectNames.length > 0) {
        // Capitalise first letter of first object
        objectNames[0] = objectNames[0][0].toUpperCase() + objectNames[0].substring(1)
       formattedObjectNames = objectNames.join(' and ');
    }
}

const message = formattedObjectNames + ' detected at ' + otherPayloadFields.name;
return {
    image_filename: Date.now() + '-' + otherPayloadFields.id + '.jpg',
    message,
    object_names: formattedObjectNames,
    payload: Buffer.from(img, 'base64'),
    original_payload: otherPayloadFields,
};

Example Android notification from when I was backing out of a driveway:

Here's the full Node-RED flow, excluding the "test" button (which just sends a test payload so I can test it without actually having to trigger my cameras). You can import it using the "import" option:

[
    {
        "id": "f64fc2c05427d1ff",
        "type": "mqtt in",
        "z": "329ba4b7632a95c8",
        "name": "BlueIris/+/alert-image-b64",
        "topic": "BlueIris/+/alert-image-b64",
        "qos": "2",
        "datatype": "json",
        "broker": "e811c8eb637d26a5",
        "nl": false,
        "rap": true,
        "rh": 0,
        "inputs": 0,
        "x": 130,
        "y": 40,
        "wires": [
            [
                "5d5d6c7623201f34"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "5d5d6c7623201f34",
        "type": "function",
        "z": "329ba4b7632a95c8",
        "name": "Process payload and build message",
        "func": "const {img, ...otherPayloadFields} = msg.payload;\nconst objectsToFilter = new Set([\n    'ball',\n    'sports ball',\n    'horse',\n    'book',\n    'suitcase',\n]);\n\nlet formattedObjectNames = 'Nothing';\nconst objectsData = (otherPayloadFields.json || [])\n    .find(x => x.api === 'objects');\n// Would normally use `objectData?.found?.success` but Node-RED doesn't support it\nconst hasObjects = objectsData && objectsData.found && objectsData.found.success;\nif (hasObjects) {\n    // Using Array.from(new Set(...)) to dedupe object names\n    const objectNames = Array.from(new Set(\n        (objectsData.found.predictions || [])\n            .sort(x => -x.confidence)\n            .map(x => x.label)\n            .filter(x => !objectsToFilter.has(x))\n    ));\n    if (objectNames.length > 0) {\n        // Capitalise first letter of first object\n        objectNames[0] = objectNames[0][0].toUpperCase() + objectNames[0].substring(1)\n       formattedObjectNames = objectNames.join(' and ');\n    }\n}\n\nconst message = formattedObjectNames + ' detected at ' + otherPayloadFields.name;\nreturn {\n    image_filename: Date.now() + '-' + otherPayloadFields.id + '.jpg',\n    message,\n    object_names: formattedObjectNames,\n    payload: Buffer.from(img, 'base64'),\n    original_payload: otherPayloadFields,\n};",
        "outputs": 1,
        "timeout": "",
        "noerr": 0,
        "initialize": "",
        "finalize": "",
        "libs": [],
        "x": 430,
        "y": 40,
        "wires": [
            [
                "31138938746cf6fd",
                "53f4a59537f2893e"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "31138938746cf6fd",
        "type": "file",
        "z": "329ba4b7632a95c8",
        "name": "write image file",
        "filename": "\"/media/alerts/\" & image_filename",
        "filenameType": "jsonata",
        "appendNewline": false,
        "createDir": false,
        "overwriteFile": "true",
        "encoding": "none",
        "x": 700,
        "y": 40,
        "wires": [
            [
                "6490fa5f55043f2a",
                "1ca18fe555c917fa"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "6490fa5f55043f2a",
        "type": "api-call-service",
        "z": "329ba4b7632a95c8",
        "name": "Notify phones",
        "server": "b6f128b45d1d76f7",
        "version": 5,
        "debugenabled": false,
        "domain": "notify",
        "service": "all_phones",
        "areaId": [],
        "deviceId": [],
        "entityId": [],
        "data": "{\t   \"message\": message,\t   \"data\": {\t        \"clickAction\": \"http://cameras.vpn.d.sb:81/ui3.htm?maximize=1&tab=alerts&cam=\" & original_payload.camera & \"&rec=\" & original_payload.id,\t        \"image\": \"/media/local/alerts/\" & image_filename,\t        \"actions\": [{\t            \"action\": \"URI\",\t            \"title\": \"Live View\",\t            \"uri\": \"http://cameras.vpn.d.sb:81/ui3.htm?maximize=1&cam=\" & original_payload.camera\t        }, {\t            \"action\": \"URI\",\t            \"title\": \"View Clip\",\t            \"uri\": \"http://cameras.vpn.d.sb:81/ui3.htm?maximize=1&tab=alerts&cam=\" & original_payload.camera & \"&rec=\" & original_payload.id\t        }],\t       \t        \"channel\": \"Camera\",\t        \"ttl\": 0,\t        \"priority\": \"high\",\t        \"importance\": \"high\"\t    }\t}",
        "dataType": "jsonata",
        "mergeContext": "",
        "mustacheAltTags": false,
        "outputProperties": [],
        "queue": "none",
        "x": 900,
        "y": 40,
        "wires": [
            []
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "1ca18fe555c917fa",
        "type": "api-call-service",
        "z": "329ba4b7632a95c8",
        "name": "Notify TV",
        "server": "b6f128b45d1d76f7",
        "version": 3,
        "debugenabled": false,
        "service": "shield",
        "entityId": "",
        "data": "{\t   \"message\": message,\t   \"data\": {\t        \"image\": {\t            \"path\": \"/media/alerts/\" & image_filename\t        }\t    }\t}",
        "dataType": "jsonata",
        "mustacheAltTags": false,
        "outputProperties": [],
        "queue": "none",
        "service_domain": "notify",
        "mergecontext": "",
        "x": 880,
        "y": 100,
        "wires": [
            []
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "53f4a59537f2893e",
        "type": "switch",
        "z": "329ba4b7632a95c8",
        "name": "Is person?",
        "property": "message",
        "propertyType": "msg",
        "rules": [
            {
                "t": "cont",
                "v": "person",
                "vt": "str"
            },
            {
                "t": "cont",
                "v": "Person",
                "vt": "str"
            }
        ],
        "checkall": "false",
        "repair": false,
        "outputs": 2,
        "x": 710,
        "y": 160,
        "wires": [
            [
                "31ec03e4d62909c3"
            ],
            [
                "31ec03e4d62909c3"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "31ec03e4d62909c3",
        "type": "api-call-service",
        "z": "329ba4b7632a95c8",
        "name": "Notify Google Speakers",
        "server": "b6f128b45d1d76f7",
        "version": 3,
        "debugenabled": false,
        "service": "google_assistant_sdk",
        "entityId": "",
        "data": "{\"message\": message}",
        "dataType": "jsonata",
        "mustacheAltTags": false,
        "outputProperties": [],
        "queue": "none",
        "service_domain": "notify",
        "mergecontext": "",
        "x": 930,
        "y": 160,
        "wires": [
            []
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "e811c8eb637d26a5",
        "type": "mqtt-broker",
        "name": "MQTT",
        "broker": "mqtt.int.d.sb",
        "port": "1883",
        "clientid": "",
        "autoConnect": true,
        "usetls": false,
        "protocolVersion": "4",
        "keepalive": "60",
        "cleansession": true,
        "birthTopic": "",
        "birthQos": "0",
        "birthPayload": "",
        "birthMsg": {},
        "closeTopic": "",
        "closeQos": "0",
        "closePayload": "",
        "closeMsg": {},
        "willTopic": "",
        "willQos": "0",
        "willPayload": "",
        "willMsg": {},
        "userProps": "",
        "sessionExpiry": ""
    },
    {
        "id": "b6f128b45d1d76f7",
        "type": "server",
        "name": "Home Assistant",
        "version": 2,
        "addon": false,
        "rejectUnauthorizedCerts": true,
        "ha_boolean": "y|yes|true|on|home|open",
        "connectionDelay": true,
        "cacheJson": true,
        "heartbeat": false,
        "heartbeatInterval": "30"
    }
]

tumtumsback · 2024-01-11T19:32:40Z

Holy cow -- that is amazing -- I seriously need to study that some more, and maybe dive into Node-RED at some point.

Thanks for the tip. I was able to get the ONVIF Event in question. Blue Iris gave me this for the doorbell press:

Correct me if I am wrong, but, I think the important part there is:

<wsnt:Topic Dialect="http://www.onvif.org/ver10/tev/topicExpression/ConcreteSet">tns1:RuleEngine/MyRuleDetector/Visitor</wsnt:Topic>

I am curious though - how can I send that to my MQTT broker and reference that in Home Assistant? It would be nice if I could utilize the existing BlueIris HACS integration, but ...

Daniel15 · 2024-01-11T21:54:11Z

Correct me if I am wrong, but, I think the important part there is:

That's the one. Looks like Blue Iris already listens for this event by default:

so the default ONVIF config should be fine.

how can I send that to my MQTT broker

The Blue Iris alert event does that for you. Once you've configured Blue Iris as per my comment above, you should be able to see MQTT events when you ring the doorbell. Use the MQTT Explorer or MQTTX apps to check :)

reference that in Home Assistant?

You can create an automation that listens for an MQTT message:

If you used the topic I mentioned above (BlueIris/&CAM/alert-image-b64), you can set the topic to either a particular camera (e.g. BlueIris/FrontDoor/alert-image-b64), or use a + (BlueIris/+/alert-image-b64) to run the automation for all cameras. + in MQTT topics is a wildcard that matches anything in that part of the topic.

Node-RED is more powerful though :)

It would be nice if I could utilize the existing BlueIris HACS integration, but ...

I didn't actually end up using the integration for anything. To show cameras on a dashboard, I just use the Blue Iris web UI in an iframe. You can add ?maximize=1 to a Blue Iris URL (e.g. http://10.1.1.7:81/ui3.htm?maximize=1) to hide most of the UI and just show the cameras. There's ways to build URLs to only show one camera, but I don't have any notes for that in front of me right now, so I can't remember how.

tumtumsback · 2024-01-14T13:38:14Z

@Daniel15 just wanted to say thanks a bunch. You were super helpful.

I am sure 'YMMV' for different people, but I was getting unreliable ONVIF events from BlueIris for the doorbell press event (visitor). The main reason for getting this doorbell was simply for these doorbell press events and I needed a rock solid reliable, yet local (no cloud), way to get notified when the doorbell is pressed.

I stumbled upon this post, and ended up setting it up this way: https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/onvif-2-mqtt.69906/

I eneded up doing exactly what Grisu2 did, and it's working like a charm. No BlueIris involved at all. Just Camera --> cam2mqtt --> Home Assistant.

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

ONVIF-triggered motion not shown in Home Assistant state #199

ONVIF-triggered motion not shown in Home Assistant state #199

Daniel15 commented Jan 3, 2023

kramttocs commented Jan 27, 2023

billbatista commented Jun 20, 2023

tumtumsback commented Jan 11, 2024

Daniel15 commented Jan 11, 2024 •

edited

Loading

tumtumsback commented Jan 11, 2024 •

edited

Loading

kramttocs commented Jan 11, 2024

tumtumsback commented Jan 11, 2024

Daniel15 commented Jan 11, 2024

tumtumsback commented Jan 11, 2024 •

edited

Loading

Daniel15 commented Jan 11, 2024 •

edited

Loading

tumtumsback commented Jan 14, 2024

ONVIF-triggered motion not shown in Home Assistant state #199

ONVIF-triggered motion not shown in Home Assistant state #199

Comments

Daniel15 commented Jan 3, 2023

kramttocs commented Jan 27, 2023

billbatista commented Jun 20, 2023

tumtumsback commented Jan 11, 2024

Daniel15 commented Jan 11, 2024 • edited Loading

tumtumsback commented Jan 11, 2024 • edited Loading

kramttocs commented Jan 11, 2024

tumtumsback commented Jan 11, 2024

Daniel15 commented Jan 11, 2024

tumtumsback commented Jan 11, 2024 • edited Loading

Daniel15 commented Jan 11, 2024 • edited Loading

tumtumsback commented Jan 14, 2024

Daniel15 commented Jan 11, 2024 •

edited

Loading

tumtumsback commented Jan 11, 2024 •

edited

Loading

tumtumsback commented Jan 11, 2024 •

edited

Loading

Daniel15 commented Jan 11, 2024 •

edited

Loading