IP Cameras: Cameras that support Onvif or RTSP will work. There are hundreds of compatible models.
- IP cameras from these popular brands WILL work: Amcrest, Axis, Dahua, Foscam, Hikvision, Reolink (non-Argus), Trivision, Vstarcam (but read the brand-specific notes). Many others will work too!
- IP cameras have a network cable running to them or connect to Wi-Fi – and they support RTSP.
- Cameras that support Onvif will be detected automatically.
- Cameras that only support RTSP will work, but you may have to configure the correct RTSP url for each camera in Camect.
Video Recorders: Cameras plugged into the back of a recorder require either manual configuration or use of a PoE switch.
- Camect cannot auto-detect cameras plugged into the back of a recorder because they’re not connected directly to your network.
- Good video recorders can pass through video from the cameras as RTSP streams. To use your cameras this way, configure the correct RTSP urls in Camect, and note that the video quality will be determined by your video recorder.
- Alternatively, if you have PoE cameras (recognizable by a single network cable running to each camera) connected to a video recorder, you can use a PoE (“power over ethernet”) switch to connect your cameras directly to your home network, so Camect can contact them. Most network video recorders can also work with cameras on a PoE switch, and in this configuration, can be used in alongside Camect if needed.
Cloud Cameras: Wyze cameras work. Arlo works but is not recommended. Other cloud cameras do not.
- Ring, Nest, Blink, Amazon Cloud Cam, Zmodo, Kuna, and Reolink Argus will NOT work with Camect!
- The supported cloud cameras give you a way to try Camect without having to buy new cameras. See the detailed compatibility notes for each brand for more information.
- Cloud camera manufacturers can make changes to your cloud cameras at any time, and can disable a cloud camera integration if they choose to.
- If you are happy with Camect’s features, we recommend that you eventually use regular IP cameras so your video is not sent to the cloud, and so your cameras will record even when your internet is down. You’ll get the same features and equal or better optical quality at a much lower price!
Click on a camera brand for specific advice:
We do not recommend buying Arlo cameras for use with Camect as significant caveats apply to using them (below). However, if you already own Arlo cameras, they will work with Camect at the same quality as Arlo supplies for live viewing on my.arlo.com. (See Arlo’s article about image quality here for more details.)
These significant caveats apply when using Arlo cameras with Camect:
- Camect streams video from the camera continuously, and will quickly drain the battery on any battery-operated model. Batteries may not even last a day for some people.
- Arlo requires the use of 2-factor authentication by default, and requires that you renew the 2FA sign in every two weeks if you use 2FA. You can disable 2FA on your Arlo using the Arlo app, or use email or SMS as your 2FA method. (App-based 2FA is not supported yet.)
- Arlo allows each viewer account to be signed in to view from the web once, and Camect counts as a viewer. If you wish to view your cameras on the web using other apps while also using them with Camect, you’ll be best off creating a separate Arlo account, sharing the cameras with that account, and using that account with Camect.
- Arlo also has a limit of 5 live streams per base station. Bear this in mind if you have several Arlo cameras that share a base station and you’d like to use them all with Camect.
All regular Amcrest IP cameras (i.e. most of their products) work well with Camect. However some “Amcrest SmartHome” cameras will not work.
“Amcrest SmartHome” cameras do not claim RTSP-compatibility in their specs, but users have reported that some work to a limited extent:
- The “Amcrest SmartHome” doorbell (AD110) will work. Use “admin” as the user name, and the password is the device password you set.
- The ASH-21 camera also works, but the camera cannot be moved from the Camect UI. Some users have reported that you must connect this camera to a wired network before it will enable RTSP (which allows it to work with Camect), whereas others have not experienced this issue.
If your cameras are plugged into the back of a video recorder, please also read the video recorder advice near the top of this page.
Almost all Axis IP cameras will work. The exception is the “Axis Companion” line of cameras that do not support RTSP or third party integration.
You may need to disable zipstream on your Axis cameras in order to use them with Camect.
Blink does not work with Camect. Blink only works with the manufacturer’s cloud, and does not provide any way for a third-party to get the video.
We have not tested Cleverloop ourselves, but we’ve been told that Camect works great as a drop-in replacement for Cleverloop, easily finding and setting up both indoor and outdoor Cleverloop cameras.
All Dahua IP cameras should work well with Camect. If your cameras are plugged into the back of a video recorder, please read the video recorder advice above too.
Ezviz cameras may work, and we have tested a few that do. Ezviz does not officially support RTSP (which Camect needs), but many models happen to support RTSP access using credentials printed on the bottom of the camera. Some have reported that you must also turn off the “encrypted video” option using the Ezviz app. Because RTSP is not officially supported by EzViz, be aware that Ezviz may remove the RTSP capability some day.
Some Ezviz cameras only have a “verification code” printed on the sticker. If your camera is detected by Camect, try username “admin” with the verification code as the password.
Most Foscam IP cameras work with Camect automatically without problems. For a few models, you may need to enable Onvif compliance on the camera, and/or to add the camera manually using the RTSP stream url if the video stream does not use ports 80, 88, or 554.
See here and here for articles from Foscam about this, and please reach out if you need help.
Some newer Foscam models require you to use a special character in your password, but appear not to handle all special characters correctly. We recommend that you avoid the characters / @ : ? & # in your Foscam password. If you have a problematic password on a Foscam, you may receive a cryptic “Error -3” message when attempting to connect to the camera from Camect.
All Hikvision IP cameras should work well with Camect.
- If your cameras are plugged into the back of a video recorder, please read the video recorder advice above.
- Some brands that relabel Hikvision cameras (e.g. LTS) modify the firmware and their cameras won’t be automatically detected as Hikvision. These cameras will work if you manually add them using the appropriate RTSP url.
Kuna cameras do not work with Camect. Kuna only works with the manufacturer’s cloud, and does not provide any way for a third-party to get the video.
Most Laview IP cameras support Onvif and RTSP and those that do will work with Camect. Please check the product specifications to ensure that Onvif or RTSP are mentioned.
If your cameras are plugged into the back of a video recorder, please also read the video recorder advice above.
Logitech Circle cameras only work with the manufacturer’s cloud, and will not work with Camect. Some other Logitech IP cameras do support RTSP, and should work with Camect, but will require manual configuration of the correct RTSP url for the camera in Camect.
Lorex IP cameras are usually relabelled Hikvision or Dahua units, and should work. If your cameras are plugged into the back of a video recorder, please read the video recorder advice above too.
Meraki cameras are supported. Your hub must be on the same network as your Meraki cameras in order to be able to contact the cameras.
[Feb 2024 update: Nest cameras no longer work with Camect. Google has made changes that prevent new Camect connections to Nest cameras. Cameras that are already signed in will continue to work until the authentication expires.]
Some Q-See models will work. Unfortunately, Q-See specs often do not mention whether or not a product supports RTSP, but customers have reported that at some Q-See products do support it. Models that support RTSP will work with Camect, and you will have to manually configure the correct RTSP url in Camect to get the stream from your camera.
Reolink IP cameras (i.e. most Reolink cameras) will work with Camect. However, Reolink Argus cameras will not work, as those are designed to be used only with Reolink’s cloud. A few other models will also not work as they don’t support RTSP: B800, B400, D400, E1.
Reolink DUO and other AI cameras may be difficult to set up. They work to some extent but are not completely reliable as they still have firmware bugs. To start, you will have to manually enable RTSP on port 554. (See Reolink support page for that here.) Next (as of January 2022) you’ll need to contact Reolink support and ask for their updated firmware that fixes bugs in their RTSP support. This firmware has not been released publicly yet, and greatly improves stability but does not make the camera connection completely reliable. If necessary, you may need to test the RTSP url directly in VLC (see here) to see how well the video stream works, and then add the camera manually to Camect using the RTSP url.
Ring cameras will not work with Camect. Ring only works with the manufacturer’s cloud. We would love to do a cloud integration with them, but got no response when we reached out to them. We will add Ring support if it ever becomes feasible to do so.
Samsung cameras that support RTSP (e.g. some of the Smartcam models) will work. Wisenet cameras from Samsung support Onvif, and as such should be detected automatically, but we have not tested them.
Samsung Smartcams that we tested worked well in our tests. However, we have also encountered one user with Smartcams that crashed after less than an hour of continuously streaming video from them.
If your Smartcams have not previously been used for continuous streaming or recording, please test them to ensure they work properly. One way to test them is to use the VLC app (available on all platforms) to stream video from them for a few hours.
Simplisafe cameras will not work with Camect. Simplisafe does not provide a way for a third party product to get the video stream from their cameras.
Swann cameras are usually relabelled Hikvision or Dahua units, and should work with Camect. If your cameras are plugged into the back of a video recorder, please read the video recorder advice above too.
Some recent consumer-oriented Swann models, such as the SWWHD-OUTCAM and the SWWHD-INTCAM do not officially support RTSP, but do in fact offer RTSP support on a nonstandard port (8282). Cameras running RTSP on a nonstandard port will need to be added to Camect manually, using a stream url like rtsp://admin:12345@IP:8282/12
Ubiquiti cameras will work if you have a model that supports RTSP, and you configure it to enable RTSP. You will also have to enter the corresponding RTSP url into Camect to get each camera working.Preview Changes (opens in a new window)
Univew IP cameras work via Onvif and RTSP.
Please note that the h.265 implementation on some Uniview cameras does not work well. Configure Uniview cameras to use h.264 for the best results.
Vivint cameras will not work with Camect. Vivint does not provide a way for a third party to get the video stream from their cameras.
Many Wyze cam models work, as long as your hub can connect directly to them, i.e. Your hub must be on the same network as your cameras. Camect cannot access Wyze cams that are connected to a remote network.
Wyze Cams v1, v2, v3, Pan, v3 Pro, Pan v3 and the Wyze doorbell work, using the stock firmware, or using the optional RTSP firmware from Wyze.
Wyze Cam outdoor and the new Wyze Cam OG do not work with Camect.
PLEASE NOTE:
- “Pan” model cameras cannot be moved from the Camect UI, as Wyze does not provide a way for a third party to do this.
- We do not currently plan to support Wyze Cam Outdoor because Wyze has said that the warranty is void if you power it continuously. Camect is a continuously-recording system, and would likely drain the battery of the camera within a few hours — so, in the absence of continuous power, this camera will not be very useful with Camect even if it were possible to connect it.
- Some people experience performance problems on their Wyze cams when trying to use 3 or more Wyze cam v2 cameras with any continuously-streaming system like Camect. Many others are able to use large numbers of cameras without problems. This problem also appears to be more likely on networks using WiFi mesh routers, has been reported on the Wyze forums several times by people using systems other than Camect, and is not a Camect issue. It also appears to be more common when using the RTSP firmware than when using the stock firmware.
Yi cameras do not work with Camect at present.
Most Zmodo cameras will not work with Camect. Older Zmodo cameras used to support RTSP and those should work with Camect, but in newer models, Zmodo has made their cameras usable only with their own cloud.