Thanks for the quick and fast response! Would you have any cameras you recommend that would be compatible either as a baby monitor or small camera. Would like to try to stick with the first option. I’m running this off of a rasp pi utilizing chrome browser on a 24 inch touch screen monitor. If I could figure out how to get android to work, I would go that route so I could add my ring etc etc. But can’t figure out how to get that sideloaded into a micro SD card, so Ubuntu is where I’m at right now.
I’ll leave it open to the community for their camera suggestions. Personally, I use an Network Video Recorder (NVR) software called Blue Iris which opens up compatibility with a much wider range of cameras. Here’s a post I wrote about it a while back:
A lot of people are using Wyze cameras nowadays. I think a big thing that draws people to these cameras is their low price point ($25 shipped). While they don’t have a direct stream that works in SharpTools, a lot of people are streaming them through TinyCam as mentioned in the Media and Thermostats - #13 by josh thread (with an Android or Amazon Fire device somewhere in the house).
@josh thanks for your responses. I’m fairly certain I will be switching over to your platform. Even though I’m not sure, I am going to purchase the premium account anyway. The main reason is the response time and thoughtful responses. I appreciate a business who takes care of their subscribers and appreciate them even more when the one they are helping hasn’t even subscribed yet.
I genuinely also like the layouts and ease of use! Thanks again!
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I’ve decided to switch everything over to Sharptools. I like the use ability, community and functions.
Beings I don’t have a way to run tinycam nonstop or blueiris to put a camera on it, are there any recommendations anyone can provide on a camera that will allow me a direct way to get the stream into a media tile? I’m not worried about cost. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
@Bhmhrex, I personally use Blue Iris as well because of its features and broad camera support, so I cannot recommend a specific camera brand or model, but you will be looking for a camera that supports MJPEG (motion jpeg) so it can be added to SharpTools dashboard via Media Tile. The tricky part is most webcam manufacturers don’t list MJPEG in their spec. My Google search found the following page lists some cameras with MJPEG support, and may help you narrow down the options.
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@James thank you! On that url any camera that has Motion Jpeg in the video encoding section should work?
Generally, yes. Once you find a model you like, I would recommend double checking the owner’s manual or even search Amazon reviews for the camera just to confirm that it supports MJPEG.
For example, my Amcrest IP2M841 which I previously used as a baby camera previously supported MJPEG and then dropped support for it in a newer firmware! 
Probably not something that would happen commonly, but doesn’t hurt just to double check.
Out of curiosity, do you have any Android TV devices (eg. NVIDIA SHIELD) or Amazon Fire devices (eg. Fire Tablet or Fire TV)?
@josh I have a very old fire tablet. Not even sure th e model! I don’t have any Android devices other than my cellphone. If it would make it easier, I could potentially scrub my rasp pi and hook a fire TV into my 24 inch touch screen monitor (instead of the rasp pi) . Would I be able to run tinycam and sharptools through the fire TV?
Currently I have a rasp pi hooked into the monitor, running Ubuntu and have Actiontiles loaded on that through chrome.
I think you would be able to. I’ve used TinyCam on one of my Fire TVs before, but didn’t try it for serving up the streams to my dashboard.
That being said, the TinyCam developer specifically recommends the NVIDIA SHIELD TV as a ‘server’ for TinyCam. I have a few of them and they are amazing devices, so it doesn’t surprise me.
Edit: @Jeff_Fourman switched over to an NVIDIA SHIELD for streaming his cameras and said it works really well for him too.
@josh so I could technically hook the Nvidia TV up to my hdmi splitter that goes into my touch screen monitor. Direct connect it to my ethernet switch, load tinycam onto that. It would stay on 24/7 acting as my camera server and run sharptools off my rasp pi?
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Yes, that seems like a reasonable approach.
Excellent. I’ll order the Nvidia TV and wyse camera tonight. Once I get it going I’ll report back how it is all working. You guys rock.
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Do you use a mouse and keyboard with your nvidia shield tv? I bought the Nvidia Shield (was going to get the pro, but they are out) and didn’t know if you knew of compatible Bluetooth devices? Seems like it would make it easier to set everything up! Thanks!
I usually just use my Android Phone which can act like a keyboard with the Android TV app if I want to enter in complex data. I played around with having a physical bluetooth keyboard/mouse connected early on, but I didn’t use it for much. My Logitech Harmony remote is also mapped as a keyboard so I can access special commands like Page Up / Down which act as channel up/down in TV apps.
Yes, that’s the one. In the fourth screenshot (within your screenshot), they’re showing how you can input text/passwords (on the Android TV device) using the keyboard on your phone.
In general, I tend to use my Harmony Remote for the vast majority of my usage, but my devices are primarily used for media consumption day-to-day.
I have some of the NVIDIA SHIELD Game Controllers and use them occasionally to play games. And very very rarely, I’ll bust out the Android TV app on my phone in order to input a complex password while setting up a new app.
Fantastic! Saved me from buying more items, which makes for a happier wife!!
@josh Hoping you or someone may know the answer to this. My 24 inch monitor does not have built in speakers. I’m looking to get some to use with the Nvidia Shield… I bought an Amazon Echo Show 8…is there a way to pair the audio through the echo show 8 with the Nvidia?
I’m not sure, sorry. My initial suspicion was no since the Echo Show generally acts as a standalone smart speaker, but I recall that some of the Echo devices can act like a bluetooth speaker, so maybe… though I would guess the experience would be less than ideal.
What monitor is it? Maybe it also has an audio output. There’s also “HDMI Audio Splitters” that can be used to pull the audio off an HDMI signal for use with standalone speakers.