I am trying to add Amcrest cameras using a custom edge driver but I don’t see any way to add a camera group. I believe it is supposed to be in the same menu as creating a lighting group but camera group is not listed. How do I add it? Samsung support says it is not available. I corrected them and said is “no longer” available since it used to be available. Any suggestions?
Still available for me in latest Android app, I’m in the U.S. in case you aren’t.
Edit: You may need to have more than one camera successfully added to SmartThings for that option to be visible. Todd has a virtual camera for that reason if I remember correctly.
I saw post 207 for the ‘Virtual Camera V1’ but I am not seeing it in the TAustin Driver Tests listing. I didn’t have any cameras that supported Smartthings previously because of the Amcrest firmware problem. I have the Amcrest cameras added but can’t get them into a Camera Group so I can check the video.
I am missing the Camera group even after adding the Virtual and real cameras (8 total)
I am open to any suggestions.
Use my vEdge driver to create a virtual video camera. Then you should be able to create a group.
Thanks @TAustin I think I have created a virtual camera using you Edge driver. Below are the driver details for the virtual camera:
I stopped Smartthings and cleared cache but still can’t create a camera group only shows a lighting group:
Any thoughts or ideas?
Thanks
Well maybe your support people were right - that they did remove camera groups from your app. As someone pointed out earlier, perhaps this is being done on a selective country basis.
@nayelyz - Do you know what is happening with the ability to create camera groups? It appears that it may be being removed in certain countries?
Sorry, I don’t have information about that, did the ST Customer Support team tell them something related?
Ok, I cannot see the complete info but I know it was escalated, so, let’s see what they say.
@TAustin and @nayelyz FYI I am in the US. I contacted Smartthings support last night for assistance since i was not able to see the “Create Camera Group” option.
I was told someone should contact me back in 24 hours.
If anyone has a suggestion I would be more than happy to provide Amcrest feedback on the Onvif setup for my eight IP2M-841B cameras and TAustin’s Edge driver. Right now I can say they get added to Smartthings and I can see them with a status “Responding” but I can’t see if video is available from them. It also found my Home Zone Security doorbell but I can’t get credentials to add it to Smartthings. I am still working on that one.
Thanks for the help
SmartThings has said they don’t officially support cameras/video with the new Edge drivers. So anything anything video-related that we can get to work with my ONVIF driver is a bonus. We’ve been able to have streaming video working through the camera group feature. I’m in the US too and on iOS, and I still see the ability to add camera groups in my app.
Regardless of if the streaming is working through the SmartThings app, it will always be better, and probably have more utility, through the manufacturer’s app.
Beyond the streaming video, the driver’s usefulness is really for the motion detection.
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FWIW I’m in the UK and can still create new, and access/edit pre-existing, camera groups in the new app.
I’m on Android 11, v2 hub and using tapo series cameras, all latest versions.
Uk here as well, still available.
It may be that ST will only move on camera integration when matter becomes mainstream, up to now there appears to have been much reluctance from Smartthings to integrate cameras even though cameras are very much part of a smart home
Video streaming puts a load on their servers, since right now it is not done locally. This flies in the face of what they are trying to do with pushing all this home automation workload OFF their own servers. So from that perspective, I understand it.
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Off there own servers Tod or off Microsoft servers ! I recal a Smartthings post many many moons ago explaining the reason they wanted to loose groovy was because Microsoft bought the platform and Samsung didnt want Smartthings reliant on Microsoft
Either way i hear what you are saying
@TAustin and @nayelyz I finally got a case number from support after waiting a week for an update and deciding to call support. I was told the case was sent back from development because they needed the following:
- why I wanted to created a camera group
- screenshot showing “Create Camera Group” ever existed (good thing adfurgerson posted a picture)
- screenshot showing it does not exist (I have that from my app)
- the make and model of the camera (not sure why this would be important since it doesn’t look like camera groups are manufacturer specific)
- screenshot showing the hub firmware version, because the version number I provided was not accepted (it matched the version provided exactly)
- screenshot showing the app version, because the version number I provided was not accepted (it matched the version provided exactly)
- support access to the data for a week (could have provided when the case was open to save time)
I used to work in level 2 support and would have expected all that to be gathered during the first call, not a week later for a case that was going to engineering for assistance. I also would have expected an update after 24-48 hours as I was told versus me having to call Smartthings support to get an update on a case that is still in the information gathering phase.
I’ll wait and see if any new information surfaces on why the “Create Camera Group” is not available in the Smartthings app for the hub.
If you have any suggestions, I am all ears. Thanks
I empathize with your frustration. Certainly doesn’t sound like a level 2 support or they ever even talked to development. Sounds more like a level 1 screening team.
Are you supposed to believe that development doesn’t know whether or not camera groups were/are a thing??! 
I also do not have the option to create a camera group. I have 12 cameras, and all have been discovered.
I think that it can be a problem with the hub.
I own the V2 hub.
I have a V2 in the Uk, camera groups as shown above available