Tutorial: Overlaying the Temperature on a Camera

 

Modules in Streamie display custom content formatted in JSON. While streaming a camera, you can manually choose to overlay a module. This can be handy when live streaming to YouTube, for instance, as the overlays are composited into each video frame. Coming in the next version of Streamie, you can also configure a camera to always overlay a particular module.

 

What can we do with this?

 

As a simple example, I wanted the current temperature displayed on my backyard camera. I already have a Cloudflare Worker that relays queries to NOAA's weather.gov and returns JSON with the gist of the weather report.

 

JSON From Worker

 

…which Streamie’s built-in Weather module combines with our default template and produces a little weather display with an appropriate background image based on the forecast.

 

Weather Module

 

We can create our own template based off the default template, stripping out all of the stuff we don’t want, moving the temperature over to a corner, and making it a good bit smaller. As long as we leave the “title = temperature” part of the template JSON alone, the Weather module will feed it the expected value.

 

Download the example JSON file here, which you can see below.

 

JSON Example

 

Let’s create a new Weather module in Streamie and feed it the template URL from above. Navigate in Streamie to Home ==> Modules ==> Options ==> Add Module ==> Weather. Set the name, location and template. Save & Close.

 

Custom Module

 

If you stream this module as-is, it’s not very exciting, but this should give you an idea of what we’re trying to achieve.

 

Module with Temperature

 

Next, I configured my backyard camera to use this overlay by editing the camera, tapping on the “Overlay” option and choosing the new Weather module that we just created. Save & Close.

 

Camera Choose Overlay

 

Finally, tap on the camera to see the result.

 

Camera with Temperature

 

In summary, you just need to host a JSON file at a URL that Streamie can reach. As long as the JSON is Module-compatible, the possibilities are endless.

 

What content would you like to see?

 

Related Topics

 

Modules Tutorial

 

About Streamie

 

Streamie provides a best-in-class user experience on your iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Apple Silicon Mac, with an intuitive user interface that makes it simple to discover, stream, record, monitor and share your HomeKit, Google Nest, Ubiquiti UniFi Protect and ONVIF-compatible IP and RTSP cameras. Streamie keeps you informed with motion event notifications and it works with most cameras using its advanced audio and video codec support. You can watch your cameras from anywhere, record 24/7 to your private NAS, remotely manage multiple locations, device permissions and seamlessly synchronize settings across your devices; configure Hubitat smart home automations, live stream to YouTube and rely on the in-app technical support system when you need help (but you can also reach us by phone). Download Streamie today.