Many people buy and install IP cameras in their homes to video monitor everything that happens at home. These types of devices are also usually installed in small businesses and even in offices, with the aim of having video tests of everything that happens. On many occasions we have several IP cameras connected to the same network, and we have the possibility of viewing them all simultaneously, using different programs. Today we are going to teach you everything about IP Camera Viewer, a totally free software to control our IP cameras locally, and view them in a fairly advanced control panel.

Main features
Most important of IP Camera Viewer software is that it is a totally free program, and will allow us to view and even control any IP camera and also the webcams ( webcam ), therefore, We can centralize in this program absolutely everything related to video surveillance, whether they are connected by USB to our PC or through an IP address on the local network. This program supports more than 2000 different models of IP cameras, in addition to supporting all the webcams that we connect by USB to our computer.

Visualization and configuration
This software allows us control and visualize up to 4 cameras simultaneously, in order to have the display of all of them in a general control panel. We can « mix » both the IP cameras and the webcams that we have installed, in addition, we can see the cameras on multiple monitors without any problem. This program uses the ONVIF protocol, therefore we can visualize and control (ONVIF) the cameras.

When we configure a camera with the ONVIF protocol, we have the possibility of move it horizontally and vertically if it is roboticized Pan / Tilt, In addition, we could also do digital zoom with those cameras. In the event that our IP camera does not admit zoom, we can do it through the IP Camera Viewer software, however, This is only recommended if the IP camera has Full HD resolution or higher, otherwise the image will pixelate and look really bad.

Other characteristics of this software is that we can take snapshots ( photos ) of everything the camera is recording, in addition, we can also record in MP4 format and with H.264 codec all the images that the camera sends us.

In order to greatly facilitate configuration, when adding a new camera, we have the possibility of automatic search of all IP cameras from the local network, and automatically the software will be in charge of detecting the ONVIF configuration that we have, we will only have to enter the username and password to authenticate ourselves correctly in the IP camera.

WebCam Monitor and Security Monitor Pro, two payment options
IP Camera Viewer is a very complete program that is totally free, However, the developers behind this program have launched two payment programs that expand the features and possibilities of this software. Although for the vast majority of users the free version is sufficient, we have the possibility of buying the professional paid version to have more options. Although IP Camera Viewer is a very complete application and will meet, without too many problems, the needs of most users, depending on the environment where we run the application or what we want to do with our cameras, it may be a little limited.

Depending on what we need, we have two possibilities in terms of payment version:

WebCam Monitor: This payment program is specifically aimed at turning our webcam or webcam into a video surveillance system. Does not support IP cameras.
Security Monitor Pro: is the most complete payment program, has all the options of IP Camera Viewer and WebCam Monitor. If you want to have the maximum versatility possible, this is the software you should buy.

The main characteristics of the Security Monitor Pro program is that we will have support for IP cameras and webcam, we can have up to 32 cameras and / or webcam in the program to view them all simultaneously. The rest of the free version options are also included here, but we can schedule monitoring to automatically start and stop recording, We can also manage disk space, monitor and record from multiple cameras at once, individually configure each IP camera that we have on the local network and we have the possibility of performing personalized actions:

Movement detection and the possibility of adjusting sensitivity.
Mask certain areas of the camera to exclude it from motion detection.
Motion detection alarms and email alerts.
Run a program or script when it detects movement.
We also have very important improvements related to recording, and that is that we will be able to record in local and network units, both from IP cameras and from webcam, in addition, We can also perform continuous recording, record only audio, take JPG photos, adjust the quality and resolution of the photos, and even record from several cameras at once.

If you want to know the rest of the features of this payment software, we recommend you access the official website to know all the details.

Installation and commissioning
The installation of this software is very simple, the first thing we must do is get on the official website of the IP software Camera Viewer, Once here, we must click on the « Download » button. A very important aspect is that the latest version supports both the Windows 11 operating system as well as Windows 10 and above, therefore, if you have the latest version of Microsoft's operating system, you will be able to use it without any problem.

Once we download the executable, we proceed to double click and we will get the software installation wizard. Once we read everything this program is capable of, we click on «I agree» to continue with the installation wizard. In the following menu we will have to enter the destination installation path, and click on «Install» to proceed with the installation.

Once installed, we will have it ready to start configuring the IP cameras we have, and also the webcam we have connected by USB to our computer.

When starting the program, the first thing we will find is a large black screen because we do not have any camera configured, remember that this software supports both IP cameras and webcams. The first thing we should do is click on «Add a new camera» to proceed with the configuration of the IP cameras and / or webcams that we want to add.

In the camera configuration menu, we will have two clearly different sections: one is specific for IP cameras, which are connected via WiFi or cable to the local network, and the other is specific to webcams or webcams.

Configuration of an IP camera
This program allows us to automatically find IP cameras that support the ONVIF standard and that are connected in the same network segment as the computer. If we are on the same local network as IP cameras, we will get a complete list of which cameras we have available, and it will tell us that it uses ONVIF. Of course, the vast majority of cameras need a corresponding username and password to access them and be able to view and manage them, otherwise we will not be able to do so.

If we decide to put the IP address, port and authentication manually, it is mandatory to select the brand and model of the camera, however, The camera we are using may not be listed. In this case we can choose the most similar camera, with the aim of having no problems.

If we use automatic camera discovery via ONVIF, it will automatically recognize both the brand and the model, even if it is not part of the list of compatible models. ONVIF is a standard, and all cameras that support it can be configured with this free program without problems.

Once we have seen how to add an IP camera, we will see how to add a webcam or webcam.

Configuration of a webcam or webcam
Adding a webcam to centralized display is really easy, as we simply have to select «Web camera» and will automatically detect the webcam model that we have installed on our computer. Logically, we have to install the corresponding drivers on our PC so that the webcam works, once done, we can use it with any program like Teams, Skype and many others, also including IP Camera Viewer.

In this menu we can configure the rotation of the camera, and also if we want to intelligently adjust the camera in the window. Of course, we can configure the microphone level of the webcam, to listen to it higher lower, depending on the scenario where we are.

If we click on « OK », we will automatically add this camera to the main display of the program. Depending on the arrangement of the cameras ( single chamber, two chambers, three cameras or four cameras ) because we will be able to visualize in real time the rest of the cameras that we have registered without any problem. For example, if we only have one camera, in the central part we can click on « Add camera » to add a new one.

As you have seen, this video surveillance camera visualization and monitoring program is very interesting and will allow us to control everything.

Conclusions
This program IP Camera Viewer It is a very interesting software to visualize and control different IP cameras through the ONVIF protocol. We miss that it is not compatible with the RTSP protocol, in order not to have to assume full control of the IP camera, because in some IP Cloud cameras like D-Link cameras, when we configure ONVIF it automatically disconnects from the mydlink cloud, we do not have the possibility of having both options, so we must take it into account.

As for available display and configuration options they are quite interesting as it allows us to register up to 4 cameras simultaneously. However, the paid version of this same program will allow us many more configuration options available, in addition, we can configure the continuous recording of the image.