This application works with almost any IP/network camera and adds artificial intelligence designed to identify security related pictures. More specifically, it uses DeepStack as an AI to intelligently identify objects in still (.jpg) pictures. It allows the user to monitor as many cameras as desired. It allows the user to visually create multiple areas that are of security interest, including the types of objects that are of interest in each area.
Version 3.0.1 and beyond (4.0) is a significant update to previous versions. The most dramatic difference is that it fully supports any known camera that supports ONVIF or HTTP. On Guard can now obtain and analyze pictures from (1) the camera itself without disk storage (2) messages sent by a camera using FTP, and taking advantage of motion sensing capabilities of the camera (3) Blue Iris or other applications that write motion related still images to disk.
On Guard 4.0.0 features
It is provided free of charge.
ONVIF and HTTP based cameras are fully supported. This should include almost any camera not locked into a manufacturer proprietary system.
It is fully compatible with, but not reliant on Blue Iris.
There is support for multiple cameras.
Support for cameras with different resolution and cameras from different manufacturers.
You can design areas of interest (zones) to identify or ignore activity in an area, including overlapping areas.
You can design your areas to be in almost any shape desired (a 64x64 grid on the pictures).
You can choose to base security notifications based on the size of identified objects (how big and how close they are to the camera).
Supports facial recognition.
Optionally manage the start/stop/reset of the DeepStack AI.
Notify any application that can take an action as a result of an HTTP message/request.
Supports IFTTT activation of lights and other smart devices.
Supports MQTT.
Supports email notification of clients with attached pictures. This also includes the ability to send MMS/SMS messages to phones that support it.
Supports Pan/Tilt/Zoom, and move to preset for cameras that support these features.
Tracks pictures with identified items of interest in a database so that you can move only through those pictures if desired.
Provides a timeline scroll bar. You can now use a track bar to scroll to pictures at any desired date/time.
Cleanup old/uninteresting pictures for one or all cameras.
Detailed documentation/instructions are included.
Can display snapshot pictures/video as an aid in defining areas of interest and camera positioning.
Features Not Supported
Does NOT store video to disk. However, it can trigger another application to start recording.
Does NOT playback videos.
While you can play live video (motion .jpg) directly from a camera, this capability is limited (and not smooth).
Does not support many doorbell cameras, and cameras locked into a proprietary camera ecosystem.
Version 4.0 Change List
On Guard no longer uses SQL Server. Instead, it uses Sqlite. This simplifies setup, and it eliminates the potential for any interference with existing SQL Server installations. Because this is a major change it warrants a change to the next On Guard version (4.0.0). On Guard 4 will no longer see motion identified in previous versions.
The menu system has been reorganized.
You can now set the log level to multiple values. This should help reduce the log spew as well as allow the user to focus on errors and problems.
You can now go to a specific picture date/time. In addition, you can use that date time as a fixed point if you want to see the same time period on multiple cameras.
Test pictures can be sent to individual cameras, rather than all cameras.
The cleanup of old pictures has been modified to speed it up.
Bug fixes and a lot of internal code changes.