How to get AI alerts from your existing CCTV cameras

If your cameras or recorder support RTSP or ONVIF, AI software can read their video without touching the cameras or the wiring. Most IP cameras, DVRs and NVRs support one or both. The AI is added in software, and the cameras stay where they are.

• What it is: software that watches the video from cameras you already own and sends an alert when it sees something that matters.
• Works with: cameras and recorders that support RTSP or ONVIF, including Hikvision, Dahua, CP Plus, TVT, Uniview, Axis and Hanwha.
• What you need: a computer at the site, an internet connection, and cameras that give a clear picture of the area you care about.
• What it can alert on: people, vehicles, smoke and fire, a covered camera. Other checks, such as helmets or number plates, are set up for each site.
• What it costs: it depends on the product, and most charge per camera per month. Ours is ₹400 per camera per month plus GST in India, four cameras minimum.
• What it does not do: it does not send guards, call the police or replace your fire alarm.

Two things decide whether AI will work on a camera. Can software reach its video, and is the picture good enough to read?

Reaching the video. Software reads a camera through a standard connection, RTSP or ONVIF, either from the camera itself or from the DVR or NVR it is plugged into. Look for RTSP or ONVIF in the camera or recorder settings, or in its manual. Cameras that only work through their own phone app, and some cloud-only cameras, offer neither, and then software cannot read them.

The picture. AI cannot see what the camera cannot. Check that the camera covers the area you care about, that the lens is clean, and that the night picture is clear enough for you to tell a person from a bush. If you cannot tell, the software will struggle too.

• Open the live view at night and look at each camera you want watched.
• Check the camera is not pointing straight into a light.
• Check the area you care about fills enough of the picture for you to recognise a person.

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These are the routes people actually take. Each one is right for someone. Choose by how much time you have, what you want to be told about, and who will keep it running.

• Your recorder's own smart features. Many recent Hikvision, Dahua and CP Plus recorders and cameras can tell people and vehicles from other movement, which cuts false alarms from leaves, rain and shadows. It costs nothing extra, but it depends on the model, every brand has its own app, and the phone alert is often a line of text without a photo.
• Free open-source software on a computer you set up yourself. Hobbyist programs can run people detection on camera streams. They suit someone who enjoys configuring software and has time to keep it updated. There is usually no support line to call when it stops at 2 a.m.
• AI software on a computer at your site. A program on a Windows PC reads the streams from your recorder, runs the detection on site and sends alerts to your phone. You gain abilities such as smoke and fire detection without changing cameras, for a monthly fee. It needs a computer and an internet connection. This is the route we offer.
• A cloud AI camera platform. Some are built around their own cameras. Others connect the cameras you already own through a small box and send video or clips to their servers. Ask whether it works with your cameras, what leaves the site and what it costs per camera per month.
• A new AI recorder. You keep the cameras and replace the DVR or NVR with one that has AI built in. It can be a clean fix if the recorder is old anyway, but you pay for hardware, and you get only the features that recorder has.

AI on camera video is good at a narrow set of questions. Is there a person in this picture? Is there a vehicle? Does that look like smoke or flame? Has this camera stopped seeing? Those are the alerts worth building around.

It is weaker at anything that needs context. It cannot know that the person at the gate is your cleaner. It can be fooled by steam, dust, headlights and glare. It cannot see in the dark better than the camera can. Treat any promise of perfect accuracy with care. The honest test is your own site.

For more on how this works, see what an AI camera is and video content analysis in plain English.

• A second check helps. Some systems have a larger model look at each alert before it is sent, which cuts false alarms.
• Zones and hours help. Tell the software which areas matter and when, and it ignores the rest.
• A trial on your own cameras is the only test that counts.

An alert only helps if a person sees it in time. The best alerts arrive in an app you already use, with a photo, the name of the camera and the time, so you can tell in a few seconds whether to get up. A text such as 'motion on channel 3' is easy to ignore.

Decide who is told and what they do. Software can tell you. It cannot go to the site. If nobody will act at 2 a.m., an alert at 2 a.m. will not help, and a morning summary may be what you actually need.

• Does it work with my recorder and cameras, and can I try it on them first?
• Where does the detection run, on my site or on your servers?
• What leaves my site, and how long is it kept?
• Do you train your models on my video?
• What happens to false alarms? Is every alert checked before I see it?
• What is the total monthly cost for my number of cameras?
• What happens if the internet drops?

• Day 1: pick the four to eight cameras that matter most, such as the gate, the yard, the stockroom and the cash counter.
• Day 1: mark the areas that matter and set your closed hours.
• Day 2: walk through the marked area after hours and check that the alert reaches the right phone, with a photo.
• Day 4: look at every alert so far. Move zones or hours if too many are noise.
• Day 7: decide. Keep it, change it, or stop.

We are software, not a camera brand. Our software installs on a Windows computer at your site in 60 seconds and works with the recorders and cameras you already have: Hikvision and Prama, Dahua, CP Plus, TVT, Uniview, Axis, Hanwha, and any camera, DVR or NVR that supports RTSP or ONVIF. No new hardware.

• Standard on every site: smoke and fire, people after hours in zones you mark, a covered camera, and a warning when a camera goes offline.
• Our own AI models, trained in-house, watch each camera on site. A second, larger model checks every event before you are alerted.
• The alert is a photo with the camera and the time, on WhatsApp, Telegram or the Foreman app, while it is still happening.
• Set up for your site with our team: helmet and vest checks, number plates at the gate (Indian plates today), forklift near-miss and idle machines.
• Your recordings stay on site, and your recorder keeps recording.
• A free 7-day trial on up to 32 cameras, no card. In India it is ₹400 per camera per month plus GST, four cameras minimum.