The gold standard. Use the Telegram integration to send snapshots when motion is detected.
Summary
Copy the provided by BotFather. Keep this string of characters safe. Step 2: Get Your Telegram Chat ID
ZoneMinder is a free Linux CCTV software. It supports almost any IP camera (just scan the QR code to get the UID, then convert to RTSP). Zoneminder has a plugin to send push notifications to a Telegram bot.
: If you already have an IP camera (like Hikvision or a generic RTSP-enabled one), you can use a bot script to bridge it to Telegram. Home Assistant
Scanning this QR code with your smartphone opens a direct link to your Telegram bot and automatically sends a /start command containing a unique authentication payload. This binds your specific Telegram Chat ID to the camera system securely. Step 3: Connect the IP Camera Stream
This method is actually safer than cheap cloud apps.
if detect_motion(frame1, frame3): # Save snapshot timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S") img_path = f"alert_timestamp.jpg" cv2.imwrite(img_path, frame3)
The goal is to capture the (Real Time Streaming Protocol) from your IP camera and forward it to a Telegram Bot using a bridge script.
: Create a new file named .env in the same folder. This file will hold your settings. It should look something like this:
