Ring snapshot on ding?

[Operations8]

I would like to make a HASS automation that does this:

Take a snapshot when someone pushes the button (ding entity)
Save picture locally.
Send myself the screenshot via Telegram (i know how to do this)

I am not use which entitiy and how to do make the ring take a snapshot on button pushed.

[tsightler]

It's not possible to take a snapshot on-demand with ring-mqtt. ring-mqtt supports snapshot on-motion, which should provide an updated snapshot before the ding (Ring subscription required for battery/low-power doorbells) and you can just grab the current image from the snapshot camera after a doorbell press.

[tsightler]

There could always be cases where ring-mqtt was unable to get a snapshot for whatever reason, this should not be common however, except for battery/low-power cameras with no subscription, which will basically never work.

I'm a keep-it-simple kind of person when it comes to automations. I basically just trigger automations on snapshot updates (i.e. any time the snapshot timestamp changed), with a condition of type = "ding" and call it a day. Whether that meets your needs or not I can't really say, but I'm just not a fan of complex automations.

[jellyneck84]

Good idea... if anyone needs the code, this works like a charm:

alias: On Ding Haustur send Telegram notification
description: ""
trigger:

• platform: state
  entity_id:
  • camera.haustur_snapshot
    attribute: timestamp
    condition:
• condition: state
  entity_id: camera.haustur_snapshot
  attribute: type
  state: ding
  action:
• service: camera.snapshot
  data:
  filename: /config/www/kamerafoto/haustuer_snapshot.jpg
  target:
  entity_id: camera.haustur_snapshot
• service: telegram_bot.send_photo
  data:
  authentication: digest
  file: /config/www/kamerafoto/haustuer_snapshot.jpg
  caption: Jemand ist an der Haustür
  parse_mode: markdown
  target: 123455666 (your chat ID)
  mode: single

[drharis]

Appreciate this is an old thread. I managed to install and get this working well. Regarding the screenshot capture on ding. I never got this to work. The snapshot I am getting is old ones. I also want to ask instead of using the take snapshot service. Can we not call the snapshot image link on ring-mqtt as shown below? I am guessing the the timestamp changes that means that snapshot has already been taken by the camera and available on the snapshot link, rather than asking the snapshot camera to take another snapshot? (hope it makes sense)
alias: Snapshot on Ringing the bell
description: ""
trigger:

• platform: state
  entity_id:
  • camera.gate_bell_snapshot
    attribute: timestamp
    condition:
• condition: state
  entity_id: camera.gate_bell_snapshot
  attribute: type
  state: ding
  enabled: true
  service: notify.mobile_app_honor
  data:
  message: There's someone at the Gate
  data:
  image: >-
  https://xxxxxhomeassistant.co.uk{{
  states.camera.gate_bell_snapshot.attributes.entity_picture }}
  mode: single

Is it this better? Having said I do not have luck in either way to get an updated snapshot on ding

[jellyneck84]

Hello @drharis . When you don't have a subscription, the camera is not creating a snapshot on ding anymore (as it's not necessary for sending the push message in ring app). Creating a snapshot on demand is not working either.

What i use:
Activate the camera live stream in the integration:

Then, add a generic camera to HomeAssistant

Now you can use something like this to record a 2 seconds video and send it via telegram.

alias: "[ring] Send video to telegram on ding"
description: ""
trigger:

• platform: state
  entity_id:
  • binary_sensor.haustur_ding
    to: "on"
    condition: []
    action:
• service: camera.record
  data:
  filename: /config/www/kamerafoto/haustuer_video.mp4
  duration: 2
  target:
  entity_id: camera.homeassistant
• service: telegram_bot.send_video
  data:
  authentication: digest
  target:
  - 65xxxxxx9
  - 67xxxxxx7
  file: /config/www/kamerafoto/haustuer_video.mp4
  parse_mode: markdownv2
  caption: Jemand ist an der Haustür
  mode: single

[drharis]

hi @jellyneck84 Thanks for your response. All I was looking for is a notification with snapshot of the person who rang the bell (like the ring rich notification). I did not know that the snapshot are not taken on ding if you do not have a sing subscription. I do not have one. I thought if you select snapshot on ding on the ring-mqtt integration, it would take one. It is a bummer that the manual snapshot is not working either. Thanks for your suggestion but as explained I am not interested in a video clip, just the snapshot on the notification. I also make use of the actionable notification to open the gate if I can see who is there etc, which is much quicker than opening another app to open the gate. This is my full automation.

alias: "Gate ring notification "
description: ""
trigger:

• platform: state
  entity_id:
  • binary_sensor.gate_bell_ding_mqtt
    to: "on"
    condition: []
    action:
• delay:
  hours: 0
  minutes: 0
  seconds: 2
  milliseconds: 0
• service: notify.mobile_app_honor
  data:
  message: There's someone at the Gate
  data:
  clickAction: app://com.ringapp
  image: >-
  https://xxxxxhomeassistant.co.uk{{
  states.camera.gate_bell_snapshot.attributes.entity_picture }}
  actions:
  - action: OPEN_GATE
  title: Open Gate
  - action: URI
  title: Open Reolink
  uri: app://com.mcu.reolink
  sticky: true
  ttl: 0
  priority: high
• service: browser_mod.popup
  data:
  dismissable: true
  autoclose: false
  title: Gate Camera
  size: fullscreen
  timeout: 60000
  deviceID:
  - Fire Tablet Browser
  content:
  camera_view: live
  type: picture-glance
  entities: []
  camera_image: camera.gate_stream_ring_mqtt
  enabled: true
• wait_for_trigger:
  • platform: event
    event_type: mobile_app_notification_action
    event_data:
    action: OPEN_GATE
    timeout:
    hours: 0
    minutes: 1
    seconds: 0
    milliseconds: 0
    continue_on_timeout: false
• type: turn_on
  device_id: 734b829756bdfd079a3d4814e855e08e
  entity_id: f45d9c7357035cfa661cf61f1158b6db
  domain: switch
  mode: single

I am getting the snapshot, but it is old. It is probably because, as you mentioned, snapshot are not being captured on ding

[Operations8]

Just FYI, in v5.6.0 I've provided the ability to get snapshots on Ding for doorbells so perhaps this might help here.

Thanks for the headsup and of course for all your hard work, could you show me how to change my current automation which uses a camera when ding is detected into taking a snapshot? I am not sure how to use the entity "button.voordeur_take_snapshot" in the action part of my automation.

Current automation:

alias: Screenshot - Voordeur (RING DONG)
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - binary_sensor.voordeur_ding_2
    to: "on"
condition: []
action:
  - repeat:
      until:
        - condition: or
          conditions:
            - type: is_no_motion
              condition: device
              device_id: 32496862d964d150da13963ddc0d5b77
              entity_id: bb8870e05d36e60c94a3c462a9a0c2a3
              domain: binary_sensor
            - condition: template
              value_template: "{{ repeat.index > 3 }}"
      sequence:
        - delay:
            hours: 0
            minutes: 0
            seconds: 1
            milliseconds: 0
        - service: camera.snapshot
          data:
            filename: >-
              /media/snapshots/voordeur/voordeur_{{
              now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S") }}.jpg
          target:
            device_id: 450715b3ac1f0bbe24951a652a02f7fb
        - service: notify.telegram_bericht_nick
          data:
            message: Bezoeker voordeur
            title: Iemand aan de deur
            data:
              photo:
                - file: >-
                    /media/snapshots/voordeur/voordeur_{{
                    now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S") }}.jpg
                  capture: Snapshoot
mode: single

[Operations8]

Yes but when i do that, like this:

alias: Ring2
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - binary_sensor.voordeur_ding_2
    to: "on"
condition: []
action:
  - repeat:
      until:
        - condition: or
          conditions:
            - type: is_no_motion
              condition: device
              device_id: 32496862d964d150da13963ddc0d5b77
              entity_id: bb8870e05d36e60c94a3c462a9a0c2a3
              domain: binary_sensor
            - condition: template
              value_template: "{{ repeat.index > 3 }}"
      sequence:
        - delay:
            hours: 0
            minutes: 0
            seconds: 1
            milliseconds: 0
        - service: camera.snapshot
          data:
            filename: >-
              /media/snapshots/ring/voordeur_{{ now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S")
              }}.jpg
          target:
            entity_id: camera.voordeur
        - service: notify.telegram_bericht_nick
          data:
            message: Bezoeker voordeur
            title: Iemand aan de deur
            data:
              photo:
                - file: >-
                    /media/snapshots/ring/voordeur_{{
                    now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S") }}.jpg
                  capture: Snapshoot
mode: single

The snapshot is black white and not current. (Camera.voordeur is from the normal Ring integration)

[tsightler]

But is that the snapshot camera? I wouldn't think so as I would expect the entity ID to be "camera.voordeur_snapshot". That looks more like a live stream camera. If you select the device, you should see the snapshot camera underneath sensors. Is the image there in black and white?

[Operations8]

Yes also B/W.

See:

https://ibb.co/VqTvgFg

[tsightler]

That device is not being provided by ring-mqtt, that device in your screenshot is from the native Home Assistant Ring integration.

[drharis]

Appreciate this is an old thread. I managed to install and get this working well. Regarding the screenshot capture on ding. I never got this to work. The snapshot I am getting is old ones. I also want to ask that instead of using the take snapshot service, Can we not call the snapshot image link on ring-mqtt as shown below? I am guessing the the timestamp changes that means that snapshot has already been taken by the camera and is available on the snapshot link, rather than asking the snapshot camera to take another snapshot? (hope it makes sense)

alias: Snapshot on Ringing the bell
description: ""
trigger:

platform: state
entity_id:
camera.gate_bell_snapshot
attribute: timestamp
condition:
condition: state
entity_id: camera.gate_bell_snapshot
attribute: type
state: ding
enabled: true
service: notify.mobile_app_honor
data:
message: There's someone at the Gate
data:
image: >-
https://xxxxxhomeassistant.co.uk{{/
states.camera.gate_bell_snapshot.attributes.entity_picture }}
mode: single
Is it this better? Having said I do not have luck in either way to get an updated snapshot on ding

[jellyneck84]

Take a 0.5 seconds video clip.... has same effect i think. I'm using this as a notification instead of the snapshot Am Mi., 24. Apr. 2024 um 14:04 Uhr schrieb drharis ***@***.***

…

: hi @jellyneck84 <https://github.com/jellyneck84> Thanks for your response. All I was looking for is a notification with snapshot of the person who rang the bell (like the ring rich notification). I did not know that the snapshot are not taken on ding if you do not have a sing subscription. I do not have one. I thought if you select snapshot on ding on the ring-mqtt integration, it would take one. It is a bummer that the manual snapshot is not working either. Thanks for your suggestion but as explained I am not interested in a video clip, just the snapshot on the notification. I also make use of the actionable notification to open the gate if I can see who is there etc, which is much quicker than opening another app to open the gate. This is my full automation. alias: "Gate ring notification " description: "" trigger: - platform: state entity_id: - binary_sensor.gate_bell_ding_mqtt to: "on" condition: [] action: - delay: hours: 0 minutes: 0 seconds: 2 milliseconds: 0 - service: notify.mobile_app_honor data: message: There's someone at the Gate data: clickAction: app://com.ringapp image: >- https://xxxxxhomeassistant.co.uk{{ states.camera.gate_bell_snapshot.attributes.entity_picture }} actions: - action: OPEN_GATE title: Open Gate - action: URI title: Open Reolink uri: app://com.mcu.reolink sticky: true ttl: 0 priority: high - service: browser_mod.popup data: dismissable: true autoclose: false title: Gate Camera size: fullscreen timeout: 60000 deviceID: - Fire Tablet Browser content: camera_view: live type: picture-glance entities: [] camera_image: camera.gate_stream_ring_mqtt enabled: true - wait_for_trigger: - platform: event event_type: mobile_app_notification_action event_data: action: OPEN_GATE timeout: hours: 0 minutes: 1 seconds: 0 milliseconds: 0 continue_on_timeout: false - type: turn_on device_id: 734b829756bdfd079a3d4814e855e08e entity_id: f45d9c7357035cfa661cf61f1158b6db domain: switch mode: single I am getting the snapshot, but it is old. It is probably because, as you mentioned, snapshot are not being captured on ding — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#708 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AQOAZJ7WHRZBCL3PY33XLDDY66NUXAVCNFSM6AAAAAA3QRHDRSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43SRDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHM4TEMJSGUYDK> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[drharis]

Thanks. I do not use telegram. If I understand correctly, we cannot view videos on android notifications? I could be wrong. By the way, can we not take a snapshot from the generic camera instead of recording a video clip?

[jellyneck84]

Not sure if this possible, haven't tried. Am Mi., 24. Apr. 2024 um 14:13 Uhr schrieb drharis ***@***.***

…

: Thanks. I do not use telegram. If I understand correctly, we cannot view videos on android notifications? I could be wrong. By the way, can we not take a snapshot from the generic camera instead of recording a video clip? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#708 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AQOAZJ5BTVSTZIQN3EKOY5LY66OXZAVCNFSM6AAAAAA3QRHDRSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43SRDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHM4TEMJSGU4TS> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[jellyneck84]

did a quick test... seems to work. Am Mi., 24. Apr. 2024 um 14:21 Uhr schrieb Daniel J. < ***@***.***>:

…

Not sure if this possible, haven't tried. Am Mi., 24. Apr. 2024 um 14:13 Uhr schrieb drharis < ***@***.***>: > Thanks. I do not use telegram. If I understand correctly, we cannot view > videos on android notifications? I could be wrong. By the way, can we not > take a snapshot from the generic camera instead of recording a video clip? > > — > Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub > <#708 (reply in thread)>, > or unsubscribe > <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AQOAZJ5BTVSTZIQN3EKOY5LY66OXZAVCNFSM6AAAAAA3QRHDRSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43SRDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHM4TEMJSGU4TS> > . > You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: > ***@***.***> >

[tsightler]

It won't be instant, or, if it is, it will be an old snapshot. As stated in the FAQ, low-power Ring cameras/doorbells cannot take snapshots while they are recording, which they do any time a motion is detected, thus, by the time you receive a motion detection event, it's too late to attempt to take a snapshot via a automation because the camera is recording and won't be able to do it.

There are only three ways to resolve this:

1. Have a Ring subscription -- with a Ring subscription, the camera takes a snapshots just before starting to record and sends this as part of the notification (Rich notifications)

2. Start a live stream and record a clip/capture a snapshot -- This will always be delayed since the process can't even start until the notification is received, and it takes time to setup the WebRTC connection and receive the first keyframe from the stream. Some people find this OK and ring-mqtt in the 4.x versions did this automatically, however it wasn't perfect and users constantly complained about it not working perfectly because they failed to understanding the limitations of their cheap devices so I stopped supporting it.

3. Throw away/sell you Ring low-powered device and buy a high-powered Ring camera (the Wired Plus/Pro/Elite models or any other mains/PoE powered model) or perhaps another brand entirely.

[jellyneck84]

@tsightler is right, just tested it. It's not the live view....
but option 2 is working great for me and the delay is slightly minimal.

[jellyneck84]

fyi: i use the videoclip... not sure how to capture a snapshot out of the stream

[jellyneck84]

but still thinking about why camera.record is working and getting the live video, but camera.snapshot is not. Should camera.snapshot not take the current stream and create a snapshot from it?

[tsightler]

That's mostly a Home Assistant question, but I don't think that calling camera.snapshot will actually trigger the stream, I believe it will simply take a snapshot of whatever the current active image is on the generic camera at that moment, which is usually a previous snapshot. As the generic camera doesn't support a snapshot function (i.e. actually calling a snapshot on the device), I'm pretty sure that is all that is possible. However, I don't really know, those are HA specific functions, not something to do with ring-mqtt, and I don't care much about HA.

Even if it did trigger the stream, it would likely do this using the stream backend, which would have other negative side effects like keeping the stream alive for at least 5 minutes, which would cause battery drain and also the loss of any additional notifications during that time because Ring cameras won't send notifications of additional events while in live view.

The method you are using is the most reliable method possible without a subscription, but it wasn't reliable enough to keep people from complaining which is why I no longer support it natively in ring-mqtt. FFmoeg can easily capture just a single image from the stream and stop, but I can't control when that image is taken (the first keyframe) and of course it was the people trying to get by without a Ring subscription that complained the most. As allowing users to bypass Ring subscriptions is not a goal of this project, I removed that feature.

[drharis]

It won't be instant, or, if it is, it will be an old snapshot. As stated in the FAQ, low-power Ring cameras/doorbells cannot take snapshots while they are recording, which they do any time a motion is detected, thus, by the time you receive a motion detection event, it's too late to attempt to take a snapshot via a automation because the camera is recording and won't be able to do it.

There are only three ways to resolve this:

1. Have a Ring subscription -- with a Ring subscription, the camera takes a snapshots just before starting to record and sends this as part of the notification (Rich notifications)
2. Start a live stream and record a clip/capture a snapshot -- This will always be delayed since the process can't even start until the notification is received, and it takes time to setup the WebRTC connection and receive the first keyframe from the stream. Some people find this OK and ring-mqtt in the 4.x versions did this automatically, however it wasn't perfect and users constantly complained about it not working perfectly because they failed to understanding the limitations of their cheap devices so I stopped supporting it.
3. Throw away/sell you Ring low-powered device and buy a high-powered Ring camera (the Wired Plus/Pro/Elite models or any other mains/PoE powered model) or perhaps another brand entirely.

Thank you for your response.

I do have a wired ring bell on my gate. Yes, I agree there are other brands which dont have these limitations and I do have a reolink camera at my front door which is recording to NVR and integrated to Frigate. The reason for sticking to ring on my gate is that it is the only camera supported by Samsung Family Hub (refrigerator). So someone rings the bell it automatically opens stream on the fridge screen. Or I would have thrown ring away. I only stumbled up on this integration couple of days ago only! I completely ignore motion on this as it is by the road and pavement and there is continues movement of vehicles and people. I only needs and snapshot on ding.

Could you please shed some light on the 2 ways of capturing the snapshot - ie, using the snapshot URL created by the ring-mqtt and using the service, camera.snapshot. My understanding is using the URL will be quicker, wouldnt it? like the example below:
service: notify.mobile_app_honor
data:
message: There's someone at the Gate
data:
image: >-
https://xxxxxhomeassistant.co.uk{{/
states.camera.gate_bell_snapshot.attributes.entity_picture }}

[tsightler]

I didn't say "wired", I specifically listed the plus/pro/elite variants, those are the only doorbells that are truly line powered. The cheap "Doorbell Wired" is actually just the same low-power hardware and have all of the same limitations as battery cameras.

It doesn't matter whether you ignore motions or not, even if someone presses the button for a ding this starts a recording on the camera so it's too late to take a snapshot because the camera will not do it since the recording is already started.

Without a subscription, your only option is to use a live stream and extract a snapshot from the stream.

[drharis]

I didn't say "wired", I specifically listed the plus/pro/elite variants, those are the only doorbells that are truly line powered. The cheap "Doorbell Wired" is actually just the same low-power hardware and have all of the same limitations as battery cameras.

So, if I get a pro version, would I be able to get a snapshot on ding? (without subscription)

It doesn't matter whether you ignore motions or not, even if someone presses the button for a ding this starts a recording on the camera so it's too late to take a snapshot because the camera will not do it since the recording is already started.

The recording starts with ding even without a subscription?

Without a subscription, your only option is to use a live stream and extract a snapshot from the stream.

This is good to know. Thank you

[tsightler]

I can't really answer these questions as I don't know anything about the recent state of the HA native integration as I've only looked at it long ago, but nothing recently. As far as I know, it still uses polling to get ding events, so I'd guess ring-mqtt would have to be faster since it uses push notifications like the Ring app, but reliability, no idea. I have near 100% reliability for my 8 Ring devices, but that's just a sampling of one person. However, I don't really get complaints about such issues with 10,000+ users so I'm guessing it can't be too bad because experience says that people sure like to complain about free stuff when it doesn't work.

Personally, if you are worried about reliability, I would highly recommend a device that doesn't depend on a few guys reverse engineering everything and somehow keeping it working. Ring can, and does, make changes at any time, they could make it effectively impossible for reverse engineering if they wanted to, and that can happen any day if they see people are using projects like this to bypass subscriptions. My opinion is, if you don't like subscriptions, don't purchase Ring products. If you like Ring products, then a subscription is the best way to be sure they don't completely cut off projects like this. See MyQ for examples of what happens when a company sees a project like this as a threat to their revenue.

As far as your automations, I have no opinion, it's more a Home Assistant question than a ring-mqtt question. Most likely the difference is negligible. I personally just set the snapshot mode to the mode I want (motion/ding), trigger on motion/ding and then wait for the updated snapshot image with a reasonable timeout (I use 2 seconds, it's usually less than 1 second), then send the snapshot with camera.snapshot method. This is usually similar in time to the Ring app.

[tsightler]

OK, one correction, I see that someone did finally pick up maintenance of python-ring-doorbell and add push support, so it looks like both use the same method now, that's great and would indicate that both the native plugin and ring-mqtt should have similar performance regarding notifications.

[drharis]

Thank you very much @tsightler for taking time to write a detailed reply.

With respect to ring, I don't like them and I mentioned the only reason for using just one device above. I have several cameras and doorbell from other manufacturers. I also don't like the idea of paying a subscription for storing the image and footage. :) So, trying to do without it if I can. I have been using this bell at the gate for years just as a video doorbell without subscription and it works well with the ring app which meets my needs. When I came across this integration I thought I could make use of it, especially as an actionable notification with snapshot so, I can decide to open the gate or not or to talk to them or not after viewing the image, from the notification itself without having to open another app. Like many others tech and home automation is a hobby for me and my profession is entirely different from tech, clue in my user name :)

It is interesting that you mentioned MyQ as I am a victim of that :). I have now found ways around it. Anyway, great work and it is great to know people still spend their time to help the community. Thank you!

[tsightler]

I fully understand trying to get the most from your existing device, I was just saying that, if your concerned about reliability, and are going to spend money on a new, significantly more expensive device, you might not be too happy if, in 6 months, Ring goes all MyQ on us! If your concern is more about having the videos stored in the cloud in general, I do understand that.

I'm generally anti-subscription, and probably wouldn't have Ring cameras of their own, but for me it started with Ring Alarm, this project was even originally called ring-alarm-mqtt, and only supported alarms, camera support was added later due to continuing requests.

Ring Alarm with monitoring is $100/year for those of us grandfathered in (I'm sure they'll eventually figure out how to get these early adopters on a more expensive plan). That's less than half of the cheapest professional alarm monitoring I've ever had in my life and it actually saves more that on my home insurance, while also including support for camera recordings, extended warranty (they've replaced 2 of my devices so far, probably a 3rd soon due to a camera lens issue) so it's easily a value for me with 8 devices + alarm.

[drharis]

Thats a bargain for monitored alarm system :). Hope it remains like that for you.

Do you happen to know the intent link to open ring live view directly without having to open the app and then open live view?