READING TIME: 4 MINUTES
In this guide, I’m going to show you how to add another camera to Blue Iris. Rather than manually configuring each security camera, Blue Iris has a handy “Copy from another camera” feature, which will copy the existing settings of one camera and apply it to a 2nd one. This is a super easy to way to quickly and easily add all of your cameras.
Really the only things you’ll need to change are the IP address of new cameras, the FPS, and maybe a few other settings (if you have different brands/models.)
If you don’t have Blue Iris 5 and Deepstack installed yet, you can follow my step-by-step Blue Iris installation guide for beginners. For reference, I’m using these two cameras:
- HIGH PERFORMANCE, REAL-TIME, TRUE HD – Experience magnificent full-HD 1080P video at 30fps with enhanced low light capability utilizing the Sony Exmor IMX323 image sensor and Ambarella S2LM chipset. Extra-wide 90° viewing angle as well as remote pan/tilt and digital zoom allow you to cover more ground and keep more of what matters to you safe. Works with Alexa through AmcrestCloud. 360° Pan & 90° Tilt.
- SMARTER SECURITY – Receive motion alert notifications, review footage and engage in two-way communication via your smartphone with the Amcrest View app. Playback and record professionally on a PC using Amcrest Surveillance Pro for Windows and MAC (included) or Blue Iris Professional. Works with Amcrest Cloud remote video storage, MicroSd card, Amcrest NVRs, Synology and QNAP NAS, FTP, Pale Moon and Sea Monkey Browsers, IE, Safari, Firefox 49.0 and Chrome with Amcrest Web View Extension.
- SECURE CLOUD VIDEO BACKUP – The optional Amcrest Cloud remote video storage subscription service allows you automatically store your videos off-site in a third-party location hosted and secured by Amazon AWS. This way if something happens to your local PC/NVR/SDcard/NAS, the footage will be safely recorded in a secure off-site location and accessible to you through a web-based Flash interface for PC (Windows & MAC) (Chrome/Firefox/Safari/Edge) and AmcrestCloud smartphone app.
- STARLIGHT ILLUMINATION & MIC – Stunning low-light 5MP performance with Starlight 1/2.7” image sensor and 5MP resolution (2592x1944). Super-wide 103° viewing angle allows you to cover more ground. Power Over Ethernet (POE camera) for easy installation (POE Injector or Switch Required; Not Included, Sold Separately). Does Not Include a Power Supply. This is a FIXED IP camera and Does Not Pan/Tilt. Built-in mic for one-way audio.
- SMARTER SECURITY & STORAGE OPTIONS – Receive motion alert notifications and review footage via your smartphone with the Amcrest View app. Playback and record professionally on a PC using the Amcrest Surveillance Pro for Windows and MAC (included) or third-party software such as Blue Iris. Works with Amcrest Cloud remote video storage, MicroSD Card (up to 256GB), Amcrest NVRs, Synology and QNAP NAS, FTP, Edge, Chrome, Mozilla Firefox & Safari.
- DAY OR NIGHT, RAIN OR SHINE – Built to weather any storm and the darkest of nights, this 5-Megapixel Turret PoE IP Camera features a heavy-duty weatherproof IP67 housing as well as built-in IR LEDs and a Starlight technology image sensor to achieve industry leading low-light performance and night-vision up to 98 feet. Dual H.265/H.264 compression allows for maximum encryption with the latest technology as well as backwards compatibility with legacy platforms.
This is going to be a short and sweet guide, so let’s get started!
Launch Blue Iris
First, log into your server that has Blue Iris installed. Then launch the Blue Iris Admin desktop application.
Add Another Camera to Blue Iris
Right-click the black space next to an existing camera > Add new camera. At the bottom of the box that pops up, click Add new camera again.
Give it a helpful name and short name. Under Type, choose Copy from Another Camera. Then click OK.
You will then be brought to the new camera configuration screen. Everything should be setup exactly the same as your existing camera – including the IP address. Let’s change that.
Under the Video tab, click Configure next to the Network IP radial.
After clicking Configure, you’ll be brought to a Network IP camera configuration page. Again, this has the same settings as your first camera so we need to change a few things.
In the http:// field, enter the second cameras’ IP address, user, and password. Then click Find/Inspect. Blue Iris does a great job at finding most cameras and auto-filling the correct values.
Click OK once complete to be brought back to the camera config screen.
If your second camera has a different FPS then your first one, you should change it. If you don’t know the FPS of the second camera, log into it via IP address from a web browser. It should tell you what it’s currently set to.
Congratulations! You have now successfully added an additional camera to Blue Iris in about 30 seconds by simply copying the configuration.
View Both Cameras on Blue Iris dashboard
Chances are, you have an existing video stream already displayed on Blue Iris. You’ll need to close that in order to view both livestreams at the same time.
Right click the black area > Close Viewer.
You should now see both cameras in Blue Iris.
Now, it’s time to test it out to ensure the additional cam. Simply walk in front of the other camera. My first camera was set to detect the “person” object, and as you can see – Deepstack has successfully detected me as a person and added it my Alerts.
Adjustments
If you’re 2nd cam is a different resolution, using wifi, or a different model, you might have to tweak a few settings to ensure motion is captured.
I recommend starting with the Trigger tab > Artificial Intelligence. Move the confidence level down in 10% increments to see if it captures motion correctly for Deepstack to analyze.
Wrapping Up
That’s all there is to it! Hopefully this simple guide helps you add all of your cameras to Blue Iris (and hopefully you realize this is an option before you manually add them all!)
My Homelab Equipment
Here is some of the gear I use in my Homelab. I highly recommend each of them.
- Server 2019 w/ Hyper-V
- Case: Fractal Design Node 804
- Graphics Card: NVIDEA Quadro K600
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700
The full list of server components I use can be found on my Equipment List page.
