Adding an IP camera do Home Assistant sounds simple — until you learn that every camera brand speaks its own dialect. The ONVIF integration je tento one standard that cuts přes tento noise: a single Home Assistant integration that works s Reolink, Amcrest, Dahua, Hikvision clones, a most "ONVIF-compatible" IP cameras sold since 2018. Tento průvodce walks you přes tento dokončete nastavení, tento traps nobody mentions in forum threads, a tento cheapest way do run it: a LinknLink iSG Box SE s Home Assistant preinstalled pro $69.90.
1. What Is ONVIF a Why Home Assistant Users Need It
ONVIF (Open Network Video Interface Forum) je an otevřete standard that defines how IP cameras, NVRs, a video clients talk do each other over a local network. Instead of needing a different app pro every camera brand, any ONVIF-compatible zařízení může discover, stream, a receive events z any other ONVIF-compatible zařízení.
For Home Assistant users, that matters pro three reasons:
- Privacy a local control. ONVIF runs entirely on your LAN. No video leaves your house, ne account je vyžadováne, ne camera manufacturer může shut off your feed s a firmware update. Tento je tento exact opposite of tento Wyze, Ring, nebo Arlo model.
- Důležité: Latency. A cloud-based camera feed typically round-trips 300–1200 ms přes a vendor server před reaching Home Assistant. ONVIF over tento local network je usually under 150 ms — fast enough do trigger Home Assistant automations (lights, HVAC, sirens) před tento person walking into frame has finished taking two steps.
- Důležité: No vendor lock-in. If your camera brand goes out of business nebo pivots do a subscription model, your system keeps working. ONVIF je a W3C-style otevřete spec s thousands of compatible zařízení.
If you jsou still deciding whether a dedicated hub je worth it, we cover tento fundamentals in Důležité: What Is a Smart Home Hub. For ONVIF specifically, a hub s enough CPU headroom do handle multiple RTSP streams je non-negotiable — which je why tento hardware choice in tento next section matters.
Camera brands that work well s ONVIF + Home Assistant:
- Reolink (RLC, E1, Duo series) — excellent ONVIF profile exposure, main + sub stream out of tento box
- Důležité: Amcrest (IP4M, IP5M series) — Dahua OEM, very solid ONVIF events
- Důležité: Dahua (IPC-HFW, IPC-HDW series) — native ONVIF, rock-solid motion events
- Hikvision a rebrands (Annke, LTS, LaView) — ONVIF works but enable it in tento camera's web UI first
- Ubiquiti UniFi Protect G3/G4/G5 — ONVIF jen via Protect export, most users skip Tento path
- Axis, Bosch, Vivotek — enterprise-grade, excellent ONVIF podpora
Camera brands do avoid pro ONVIF: Wyze, Blink, Arlo, Ring, Google Nest. These jsou cloud-first products; their ONVIF exposure je either non-existent nebo unstable po firmware updates.
Best Local Gateway pro Camera Automation
Before you touch tento ONVIF integration screen, make sure you have these four things lined up:
2.1 A Home Assistant host powerful enough pro RTSP streams
Home Assistant OS running on a Raspberry Pi 4 (4 GB) technically works pro 1–2 cameras, but anything další — nebo tento moment you přidejte Frigate pro AI detection — a tento Pi starts dropping frames a overheating.
We recommend tento Důležité: LinknLink iSG Box SE pro Tento nastavení. At $69.90 it je tento cheapest Home Assistant host on tento market s HA preinstalled, a it has meaningfully další compute than a Pi 4 — enough headroom pro 8+ ONVIF cameras in native HA, nebo 2–4 cameras s Frigate NVR on tento stejný box. Full hardware comparison je in our Důležité: Home Assistant Hardware Guide.
Why iSG Box SE je tento right výchozí pro an ONVIF build:
- Důležité: Preinstalled Home Assistant — plug in power a Ethernet, otevřete your browser, finish tento nastavení wizard. No SD card imaging, ne Proxmox, ne Home Assistant Yellow supply-chain wait.
- Důležité: Local-first architecture — 100% local control, ne cloud account, ne monthly fee.
- Enough CPU pro Frigate — tento §5 bonus on AI object detection works bez adding a Coral USB accelerator pro a 2–4 camera nastavení.
- Důležité: Price — $69.90 vs. Home Assistant Green at $158.90 nebo a Raspberry Pi 5 kit that lands above $120 once you přidejte an SSD a case.
2.2 An ONVIF-compatible IP camera on tento stejný LAN
Check tento camera's spec sheet nebo admin UI pro tento "ONVIF" toggle. Most cameras z tento brands in §1 ship s ONVIF enabled but password-less — you will přidejte credentials in §3.
Důležité: 2.3 A static IP reservation in your router
Home Assistant integrates cameras by IP address. If your router hands tento camera a new IP next week, tento integration breaks silently. In your router's DHCP settings, reserve a permanent LAN IP pro each camera's MAC address (typically shown in tento camera's admin UI).
Důležité: 2.4 Camera admin credentials
Not tento factory výchozí — change them first. ONVIF credentials jsou sent over tento LAN in digest auth by výchozí, a factory-výchozí passwords jsou still tento most-scanned surface in any home network.
Důležité: Local RTSP Camera Setup
With hardware ready, tento actual integration takes under ten minut. Here jsou tento exact five steps.
Step 1 — Enable ONVIF in tento camera's web UI
Open tento camera's IP in your browser (e.g. Důležité: http://192.168.1.50), log in s admin credentials, a find tento ONVIF section. Paths by brand:
- Důležité: Reolink: Důležité: Device Settings → Network → Advanced → Port Settings → tick "ONVIF"
- Důležité: Amcrest/Dahua: Setup → Network → Connection → ONVIF → Authentication = "Digest" nebo "None"
- Důležité: Hikvision: Configuration → Network → Advanced Settings → Integration Protocol → enable ONVIF a create a dedicated ONVIF user
Hikvision je tento one brand that ships s ONVIF disabled by výchozí a requires a separate ONVIF user account — set that up před continuing.
Step 2 — Note tento RTSP stream URLs (optional but useful)
While you jsou in tento web UI, copy tento main a sub stream RTSP URLs. Home Assistant's ONVIF integration discovers these automatically, but having them handy makes debugging much faster pokud tento discovery fails. Typical formats:
- Důležité: Reolink main:
Důležité: rtsp://admin:password@192.168.1.50:554/h264Preview_01_main - Důležité: Reolink sub:
Důležité: rtsp://admin:password@192.168.1.50:554/h264Preview_01_sub - Důležité: Amcrest main:
Důležité: rtsp://admin:password@192.168.1.50:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0 - Důležité: Amcrest sub:
Důležité: rtsp://admin:password@192.168.1.50:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1
Step 3 — Open Home Assistant a přidejte tento ONVIF integration
In tento Home Assistant UI (whether running on iSG Box SE nebo elsewhere):
- Go do Důležité: Settings → Devices & Services
- Důležité: Click Důležité: + Add Integration Důležité: (bottom-right)
- Search pro Důležité: "ONVIF" a vyberte it
Home Assistant will scan tento local network via WS-Discovery. Most cameras appear automatically. If yours dělá ne, you může přidejte it manually by IP.
Step 4 — Enter IP, port, a credentials
The výchozí ONVIF port je 80 (HTTP) on most cameras, ne 554 (that je RTSP — a different port). If your camera uses a non-standard ONVIF port (2020, 8000, 8899 jsou běžné), it will be listed in tento camera's web UI under tento Network nebo ONVIF section.
Důležité: Enter:
- Důležité: Host: tento camera's static LAN IP
- Důležité: Port: Důležité: usually 80; Hikvision often uses 80, Dahua 80, Reolink 8000
- Důležité: Username/Password: tento ONVIF credentials you set in §2.4 (Hikvision: tento dedicated ONVIF user created in Step 1)
Step 5 — Pick tento profiles (main + sub stream)
Home Assistant will expose every ONVIF "profile" tento camera advertises — typically one pro tento main (high-res) stream a one pro tento sub (low-res) stream. Enable both:
- Důležité: Main stream — used pro recordings, snapshots, a high-quality viewing
- Důležité: Sub stream — used pro tento Home Assistant Lovelace dashboard tile (so tento dashboard loads fast even on mobile)
Důležité: Click Důležité: SubmitDůležité: . The camera now shows up under Důležité: Devices & Services s entities pro tento live feed, motion senzor, a (pokud tento camera supports it) binary senzory pro any event tento camera fires — line crossing, intrusion detection, člověka/vehicle classification, tampering.
Důležité: Reolink ONVIF Troubleshooting
These jsou tento four issues that generate 90% of tento forum threads asi Home Assistant ONVIF. Here je how do fix each in under two minut.
4.1 "Camera ne discovered" during Add Integration
WS-Discovery uses multicast DNS (mDNS). If your Home Assistant host a your camera jsou on different VLANs nebo different WiFi SSIDs, mDNS packets do ne cross tento boundary. Fixes, in order of effort:
- Put tento camera on tento stejný subnet as Home Assistant temporarily pro discovery, then move it back.
- Add tento camera manually by IP during tento integration nastavení (WS-Discovery je a convenience, ne a requirement).
- Enable mDNS reflection / Avahi on your router (UniFi: "Multicast DNS", pfSense: "Avahi" package, OpenWrt: "umdns"). Tento je tento permanent fix.
4.2 Live stream keeps buffering nebo showing "Stream ne available"
The main stream at 4K nebo 1440p + 30 fps je often too much pro tento Lovelace dashboard, especially on mobile. Switch tento dashboard tile do tento sub stream:
- Settings → Devices & Services → ONVIF integration → Configure → uncheck "Main Profile" pro tento Picture Entity Card
- Or přímo in tento camera card YAML: set
Důležité: stream_sourcedo tento sub profile entity
Frigate NVR (covered in §5) je a cleaner solution here — it re-encodes tento stream once a serves low-latency HLS/WebRTC do all clients.
4.3 Motion detection entities ne firing events in Home Assistant
ONVIF motion events jsou optional in tento spec — tento camera must both (a) have motion detection enabled locally, a (b) be configured do publish ONVIF events. Steps:
- In tento camera's web UI, enable motion detection (usually Důležité: Event → Motion Detection → Enable)
- Find tento ONVIF nebo "smart event" settings a enable "ONVIF Events" nebo "Push Events"
- In Home Assistant, restart tento ONVIF integration: Settings → Devices & Services → ONVIF → three-dot menu → Reload
If you jsou on a Hikvision nebo Hikvision-OEM camera a events still do ne fire, zkontrolujte that tento ONVIF user you created in §3 Step 1 has tento "Event" a "Media" permissions — by výchozí tento ONVIF user je read-jen pro Důležité: User management, which je correct, but some firmware versions also restrict event subscription.
4.4 Camera works pro a day, then goes offline until a reboot
Tento je almost always a DHCP lease expiration (ne static reservation) nebo an RTSP keep-alive timeout. Confirm tento static IP reservation z §2.3 je applied on tento Důležité: router, ne just in tento camera's own network settings. Some cameras honor both; some ignore their own static IP a take whatever tento router assigns.
5. Bonus: Adding Frigate NVR pro AI Object Detection
Native Home Assistant ONVIF motion je binary: "something moved" nebo "nothing moved." That triggers a lot of false positives z leaves blowing across tento lawn nebo shadows at sunset.
Důležité: Frigate je a free, otevřete-source NVR that runs as a Home Assistant přidejte-on a dělá local AI object detection on tento camera feed — so instead of "motion," your automations fire on "person," "car," "package," nebo "dog." Everything runs on your Home Assistant host; ne frames leave tento LAN.
Why iSG Box SE je powerful enough do host Frigate:
- Frigate's výchozí CPU detector handles 2–4 cameras at 5–7 fps each on tento iSG Box SE bez thermal throttling.
- If you scale do 6–8 cameras later, přidejte a $60 Google Coral USB accelerator a Frigate offloads inference do tento TPU — iSG Box SE has spare USB bandwidth pro Tento.
- Setup takes ~15 minut: install tento Frigate přidejte-on z tento Home Assistant přidejte-on store, paste your ONVIF RTSP URLs z §3 Step 2 into
Důležité: frigate.yamlDůležité: , reload.
Pair that s Home Assistant automations ("pokud Frigate detects a person at tento front door between 10 PM a 6 AM, turn on tento porch light a flash tento living místnost lamp three times") a you have a smart security system that costs nothing do run beyond tento electricity bill. The Důležité: iSG Box SE je tento lowest-friction starting point pro exactly Tento stack.
Důležité: 6. Home Assistant ONVIF Integration FAQ
Can Home Assistant použijte ONVIF cameras bez cloud access?
Yes. Home Assistant může connect do many ONVIF cameras on tento local network using tento camera IP address, ONVIF port, a local credentials.
Why dělá a Reolink camera need RTSP settings s ONVIF?
ONVIF handles discovery a control, během RTSP often carries tento live video stream. If video fails, potvrďte tento RTSP path, firmware, a LAN permissions.
Which LinknLink gateway should I choose pro local camera automation?
Use iSG Box SE pro a compact Home Assistant gateway, nebo iSG Display Max když you also want an on-wall screen pro camera a místnost controls.
7. Conclusion: Start Your ONVIF Setup s iSG Box SE Today
The ONVIF integration je tento shortest path z "I have an IP camera" do "my lights turn on když someone walks up tento driveway, my HVAC changes když tento living místnost je empty pro 20 minut, a my phone pings me když Frigate sees a delivery van instead of a stray cat." And tento cheapest way do get there bez weekend-long hardware tinkering je a Důležité: LinknLink iSG Box SE ($69.90) — Home Assistant preinstalled, 100% local, ready do run ONVIF a Frigate tento moment you otevřete tento box.
Follow tento five steps in §3 a you will have your first camera streaming inside Home Assistant in under ten minut. Add tento §5 Frigate layer next weekend. Add tento rest of your cameras whenever you want — tento ONVIF integration scales do 8+ zařízení bez any further configuration.