Home IP cameras allow us to keep an eye on our home from possible intruders, but we can also keep an eye on our pets when we are not at home. Most home cameras allow us to activate a privacy mode to digitally turn them off when we are inside the house, so that they do not record ourselves when we are in it. On many occasions, users wonder if it is possible to view all the IP cameras in the house at the same time, and the answer is: it depends on the brand of the cameras and how we manage them.
Cloud cameras and apps
Most domestic IP cameras have a Cloud service through which we view the cameras. Today we do not need to make complicated configurations, know the public IP of our Internet connection, register a dynamic DNS service or open any port to the outside. Thanks to the Cloud support that all manufacturers such as D-Link, EZVIZ, Xiaomi and many others have, we simply have to use the application for Android or iOS smartphones to install, manage and view the cameras.
When the manufacturer’s Cloud or cloud is used, the camera will send all the video streaming directly to the camera manufacturer, and we will connect to said Cloud with the app to start a reverse connection with the camera and view it in real time. In this case, where we use the manufacturer’s official app, we may or may not have the possibility of viewing several cameras simultaneously. We have verified that manufacturers such as D-Link do allow viewing of two cameras, as long as they fit on the screen. your smartphone:
If we scroll through the application, the real-time video playback will automatically stop, and we will have to press play again to see them in real time. It is something that we must take into account. Although D-Link allows smaller cameras to be squared, it doesn’t allow playback this way because the image size is too small, so pressing will take you directly to the camera’s display menu, but individually.
In the case of manufacturers like EZVIZ, they allow us to put up to 4 cameras simultaneously in the main menu, and we can see all of them simultaneously whenever we want. We must bear in mind that EZVIZ allows us to view its cameras through the manufacturer’s own Cloud, in a simple way without the need to open ports or perform any complicated configuration on the router.
In the following image you can see a total of four cameras simultaneously:
To find out which other manufacturers support the simultaneous display of several IP cameras, we will have to look for information on their official applications, although the most normal thing is to display only one to enlarge the image on our smartphone.
NVR and connection via RTSP
Any NVR through software like the ones we have on NAS servers, or through hardware like the ones the main manufacturers have, allow us to view multiple cameras simultaneously in the view menu without any problem. These types of devices are aimed at a more professional audience, so it is completely normal that we can view several cameras simultaneously. All NVRs use the ONVIF standard for camera viewing and management, the most basic cameras may not have ONVIF but they do have the RTSP protocol in order to have as much compatibility as possible.
The vast majority of home cameras from D-Link and EZVIZ have the RTSP protocol, so we can centrally display them on an NVR by software or hardware, regardless of the brand or model of the NVR, because the communication protocol is a standard. Another possibility if we want to see the cameras simultaneously through our PC is to use the popular VLC software, we can open a network connection through the RTSP protocol and view all the content in real time. If we open a total of four VLC sessions or whatever, we can see as many cameras as VLC sessions we have.
As you can see, depending on the platform used, whether the camera supports ONVIF or RTSP and whether or not we have an NVR, we can view several cameras simultaneously, ideal for having our home perfectly controlled.