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Can a Raspberry Pi run android software

dogman
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Jeremy Harris Advanced Member

Jeremy Harris

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Should do the job OK, same GPU, looks like it will run pretty much anything that runs on Android, all the right ports, etc.  I'm curious as to whether, in addition to being just a way of viewing network CCTV cameras on a TV, one of these boxes could also form the basis of a CCTV DVR, with motion detection.  Attaching a big USB HDD looks easy, and the pretty crude android app that came with the cameras allows motion detection and recording, so in theory one small TV box could do the lot, perhaps.

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PeterW Advanced Member

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I'm wondering if the App interrogates the cameras directly or has to interface to the Hikvision NVR first ..?

 

I know the one I use actually "views" the cloud storage provider so is not streaming the video internally, it's doing so via the web. 

 

 

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Jeremy Harris Advanced Member

Jeremy Harris

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15 minutes ago, PeterW said:

I'm wondering if the App interrogates the cameras directly or has to interface to the Hikvision NVR first ..?

 

I know the one I use actually "views" the cloud storage provider so is not streaming the video internally, it's doing so via the web. 

 

 

 

 

The crude app that came with my cameras will talk directly to the cameras in P2P mode, without them being connected to the LAN or WAN/internet, so it must just accept the stream and check it to the GPU for display. 

 

 

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dogman Regular Member

dogman

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The ivms software talks to the dvr, I also have a reolink camera connected to the dvr. When using my laptop and connecting directly to the reolink camera using their software there is a 10-15 sec lag.

However and i don't know why, the Hikvision software does not have this delay whilst viewing the reolink camera. This suggests the Hikvision dvr and software deals with the video traffic better

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Jeremy Harris Advanced Member

Jeremy Harris

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Right, I've been playing around with the cheap Android box that @Declan52 linked to earlier, a MXQ Pro 4K.  The box works fine, is pretty easy to set up, but as Declan says, the remote is pretty brutal and useless for setting things up, although it's fine for just accessing the main TV menu stuff.  Plugging in a USB mouse makes the box a lot more user friendly.  The graphics capability is good, which isn't surprising as the box supports 4K, and the box comes with the ability to natively sideload apps, so no need to register with Google or whoever.  For some reason I struggled to get the box to sideload apps from USB, but it does recognise and allow stuff to be stored on a USB HDD.  Sideloading apps from the SD card works fine, though, not really sure why that should be different to a USB stick, but it's not a problem.

 

I sideloaded the CCTV app that came with my cameras, and it works fine, with one problem.  For some reason the app forces the screen to a correctly oriented portrait "slot" in the centre of the screen, which was a bit of a nuisance.  After loading Rotation Locker (locking the screen in Android Settings didn't work) and then setting Rotation Locker to force landscape mode worked OK.  I think this may just be a problem with the pretty dire app that came with my cameras, though.

 

Once I had the app loaded and working OK, I could either connect the box via WiFi to a single camera working in P2P AP mode, or I could connect via cameras connected to the LAN, either via Wifi or the Ethernet connection.  P2P mode was a pain, as it messes up the real time clock, so the date and time starts off as the beginning of January 1970 every time the unit is turned on (again, something that may well be down to the pretty dire app for my cameras).  Other than that the box displays camera video in 1080P just fine, with no more lag than I get when connecting directly.  Image quality is good, and all the camera controls seem to work OK.

 

One thing I need to work on is a way to automatically launch the viewing app on power on.  I'm not familiar enough with Android to see how to do this yet, but I'm guessing there has to be a way.  It's no real hassle to just start the app manually, though, and it keep running OK for days on end.

 

I have a feeling that the Hikvision app may well be a lot better written than the clunky thing that came with my cheap cameras, so some of the above issues may not apply.  I did load and have a go at using IVMS, but it won't pull off a camera stream without registration, and to get that I would have needed a Hikvision camera/account, AFAICS.

 

If anyone knows how to create some sort of autostart script for Android I'd be interested.  I'm sure it can be done, as that must be how the launcher app in the box is started at power on, I just don't know enough to be able to do it.

Edited by JSHarris
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Declan52 Advanced Member

Declan52

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They are very easy to use to install apps that are frowned upon. The likes of Kodi , showbox and the various apps that use IPTV all run perfectly on them. 

I just Google the app that I am looking and search for its APK and install it from its own download manager. They aren't very good for browsing though. 

I use a Bluetooth keyboard when I need to type anything, using a mouse to type with wears thin very quickly. Only ever used the remote to turn it off when it crashes and the mouse won't work.

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PeterW Advanced Member

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5 hours ago, JSHarris said:

Thanks @Declan52, I shall give it a go.  So far I'm pretty impressed with this little box, especially for the price.  How they make it for around £30 I don't know, especially as it comes complete with an HDMI cable, UK power supply and remote control.

 

Can you see if there is any way to make it record to the USB drive @JSHarris or is it read only ..? Just wondering if it would make a good base for an NVR. 

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Declan52 Advanced Member

Declan52

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Mine can record to a USB drive. I have used it to download films etc on to and there is a hack with Kodi that allows you to use a SD card or usb drive as a way of expanding the amount of ram available to you.

How well it would do recording from different locations on a network not sure as they aren't very good at running a couple of applications at the same time. 

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Jeremy Harris Advanced Member

Jeremy Harris

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1 hour ago, dogman said:

@JSHarris re using hikvision software for your cameras. There are dozens of standalone android apps that work with any cameras. Some are nearly identical to the Hikvision software as Hikvision make a lot of other cameras like Swann. Have a look in play store.. Another place to look is https://forum.use-ip.co.uk 

 

 

Thanks for that, anything would be better than the pretty naff app that the cameras came with.

 

53 minutes ago, PeterW said:

 

Can you see if there is any way to make it record to the USB drive @JSHarris or is it read only ..? Just wondering if it would make a good base for an NVR. 

 

 

That's the next thing on the agenda, see if I can turn this box into a CCTV  NVR.  I'll report back on how I get on.

Edited by JSHarris
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