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With Node-RED you can add text to Hikvision camera. A very useful example would be adding the temperature outside to the camera image.

You will need:

  • Hikvision camera
  • Node-RED

Step 1: Camera configuration

Open IVMS, right-click on a camera and “Remote Configuration”. Click on “Image” then “Video Display”. You will find there a “text overlay” list. Enable the first position, add a random text and drag it on the image to the desired location.

Step 2: Send data from Node-RED

You will need only 2 nodes: a function node and a http request node.

Function node: we will form here the body of the request.

var text = msg.payload;
msg.payload = '<TextOverlayList><TextOverlay><id>1</id>	<enabled>true</enabled><displayText>Temp: ' + text + '°C</displayText></TextOverlay></TextOverlayList>'
return msg;

HTTP request node settings:

  • Method: PUT
  • URL: http://camera-ip/ISAPI/System/Video/inputs/channels/1/overlays/text
  • Use basic authentication: enter user and password for your camera

In the example above the function gets data from a temperature sensor and adds it to the camera. You can change the text between <displayText> and </displayText> to whatever you want.

If it doesn’t work check the comments here to enable basic authentication.