Connecting a camera or a folder to Noviscan

Who this is for: the person who administers Noviscan and wants to give it footage to watch. Assumes: Noviscan is installed and you are signed in with an administrator account. Applies from version: 0.1.3

This page takes you from an empty screen to a source that feeds Noviscan with footage. It covers cameras from the catalogue and the other source types (local folder, SFTP, FTP, generic RTSP stream).

Before you start

Three conditions are checked by the software itself. It will tell you if one is missing — but you may as well know beforehand:

• You are an administrator. The Add a source button does not appear for other accounts, and the server refuses the addition even if the request reaches it another way.
• Your licence has not reached its source limit. Beyond it, the addition is refused when you save, not while you type.
• Internet access is enabled if your camera goes through an online service (Ezviz, Google Nest). Without it, those types stay greyed out in the list, with the note "Some source types are greyed out: they need Internet access, which is currently disabled." Purely local sources — folder, SFTP, FTP, RTSP — do not need it.

Also gather what depends on your hardware: the camera's local IP address, its credentials, and the stream path specific to the model. The catalogue guide names them one by one when your model is listed.

Adding a camera from the catalogue

This is the shortest path, and the only one that spares you hunting for your model's stream path.

1. In the sidebar, click Sources — the page that opens is titled Sources and maintenance. Then Add a source.
2. The catalogue opens on Choose a camera. Type your brand, model or provider into the search field.
3. Each tile carries a status: Supported, Local stream or Not integrable. A Not integrable tile shows why and cannot be selected.
4. Pick your model. The form opens pre-filled with what the catalogue knows about the model: source type, port and stream path.
5. If your model has a Setup guide, it sits collapsed at the top of the form. Open it: it gives Before you start, Steps and If something goes wrong for that exact model, along with the date its sources were checked.
6. Fill in what the catalogue cannot guess — your camera's IP address, its username and its password.

Not every catalogue model has a guide. When it is missing, the form is still pre-filled: it is the model's default values that save you the most time, not the guide.

Adding another type of source

At the bottom of the catalogue, Other source type opens the same form with no pre-filling. Then choose the Source type:

What a "Device Access project" is, for Nest cameras only. Google does not open its cameras to third-party software unless you authorise it by name: you must create a project at Google that designates you as the owner of the cameras, then declare Noviscan in it. This is done once, at Google, on its Device Access console; you come out of it with the values the form will ask for, and none of them can be guessed:

Form field	Where it comes from
Device Access project ID	the Device Access console, when the project is created
OAuth client ID	the OAuth credentials declared for that project
OAuth client secret	shown once only when the client is created — write it down
Pub/Sub subscription	the event subscription created for that project
OAuth redirect URI	already filled in; change it only if Google requires it

Without that project this source cannot be added: start there. If one of these fields is missing, Noviscan tells you when you authorise rather than when you save.

For an IP camera (RTSP), two fields are required: the IP address / host and the stream path, which depends on the model. The RTSP port defaults to 554. You never type the full URL: Noviscan assembles it from these fields.

Leave the transport on TCP (reliable, recommended) until something forces you to change it.

Two fields that deserve a sentence

• Alert if no media after (hours) — leave it empty if unsure. The age of the latest media is read on the source's card, Sources screen: click the card to expand it (reserved to administrator accounts and above). You will pick this threshold later, from real numbers rather than a guess.
• Passwords and keys — they are encrypted at rest on this machine if encryption is enabled (Settings → Advanced). Otherwise they are stored in cleartext in the local configuration. The form reminds you under each field concerned.

If Noviscan asks you to confirm the host

For an SFTP or FTP source, Noviscan checks whether the host you typed sits outside your local network. If it does, a warning appears and the I confirm I want to reach this remote server box must be ticked before you can save. This is not a formality: it exists so that nobody sends your data to a server they never meant to reach.

Some addresses are refused whatever you do — the machine's own address, hosting providers' internal service addresses. The refusal comes from the server, not from the form.

Test, then save

Test the connection queries the source with what you have just typed, without saving anything. On success, Noviscan shows "Connection successful." The button stays disabled while a required field is empty.

Then Add the source. Noviscan scans it right away and takes it into account with no restart.

⚠️ A source that has been added produces nothing yet. One gesture is left, and it is on another screen: Dashboard → ▶ Start. While monitoring is stopped the source is saved, reachable, and silent — that is the most frequent cause of "nothing happens" after a successful add.

How you know it worked: no message is shown. The form closes and the source appears in the list. If its type can be paired, its card carries the Not authenticated badge from that moment on — that is where what remains to be done can be read. If it needs an authorisation, its card opens by itself on Source authentication — and there a message does come: "Authentication successful — the source will now work without further validation."

For a Freebox — camera recordings source there is no test button when adding: the button reads Add and authenticate, and the Freebox will ask you to confirm on its own screen.

How you know it succeeded, on the Noviscan side: the green banner "Authentication successful — the source will now work without further validation." appears, and the only remaining button becomes Close. Then, in the source form, "Authenticated — authorisation token saved." replaces the authentication button.

⚠️ Two distinct badges on the card, and they do not say the same thing. Connection OK reports the last network test and only appears after a Test; Authenticated / Not authenticated reports the saved authorisation. A source can be reachable — hence green at the dot — and return nothing for want of an authorisation.

Cameras that require an authorisation

For an Ezviz or Google Nest camera, saving is not enough: the provider must recognise you. The source card then opens by itself on Source authentication, and Noviscan asks you the questions the provider passes on — a code received by email, a confirmation in the manufacturer's app.

Answer, then Submit. Once authentication succeeds, it is not asked again: the source will work without further validation.

If something goes wrong

• The Add a source button does not appear. Your account is not an administrator.
• The camera type you want is greyed out. It needs Internet access, which is currently disabled. The Enable Internet access link takes you to the setting.
• The addition is refused although everything is filled in. Your licence's source limit may have been reached.
• The test fails on an IP camera. Check the stream path first: it differs from one model to the next, and it is the most common mistake. The catalogue guide gives the exact path when your model is listed.
• Everything looks fine, but no footage arrives. Look at the dashboard: if it reads Monitoring stopped, click ▶ Start. Monitoring does not start by itself — and restarting Noviscan changes nothing.

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Applies to Noviscan 0.1.3. The labels quoted are those of the application in this version; if they differ on your machine, your version is not this one.