I know a lot of people would like to see the output from their security camera as part of their satellite TV guide. Unfortunately, it’s not possible with most systems, but there are some workarounds. It’s not that there’s a real technical reason, but there are several reasons why this isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Luckily, there are some options out there that can help at least a little bit.
First of all you can’t add anything to your guide.
That’s the first hurdle, and probably the most important. There is no way to hack into your DIRECTV guide to add any sort of content at all. This is done on purpose, since most people “just want to watch TV” and adding that capability might make it too complex for mom and pop to understand.
Commercial installs are able to do something like this several different ways. The most common is a system that uses a separate computer for guide data and lays that over a system where all your video is distributed. The thing is, this is much more expensive than your average homeowner is going to want to pay for.
Second of all, DIRECTV doesn’t use the same sort of modulation system that your TV does.
You’ve probably already figured out that you can’t just connect the DIRECTV cable to your TV and scan for channels and have it work. Even if you have a DIRECTV-ready TV you need a special scheme to hook things up. It’s not like old-school cable TV where it was easy. In fact, even cable TV isn’t like that anymore.
You could set up a headend system in your house to allow your top channels to be visible using a cable-TV-like system which connects directly to the TV. At that point you could also insert your security feed. Unfortunately you would lose the guide, or you would have to buy something special to replace it. And, you’d be paying thousands of dollars, so there’s that.
Finally, if you want HD from your security camera in this scenario, it’s going to cost you.
While a device to let you put standard definition content on a regular cable channel is dirt cheap, doing the same thing with an HD channel usually costs you about $1,000 per channel. No, I am not kidding there and I did not misplace a decimal point. Content providers like Disney and Time Warner are so worried that you’ll steal content that they put all sorts of licensing costs and encryption technologies into high definition. This makes it ridiculously expensive to modulate an HD signal and it means most people won’t ever do it (even though it’s one of the most common requests we have at Solid Signal.)
So, bottom line this seems to be an impossible request. So what can you do? There are two options I would consider.
The best option: an app for your smart TV or streaming device
There are a lot of security cameras, including some you can find at solidsignal.com, that will let you use an app on your smart TV or streaming device. Even more have apps for your phone. This is a much better option than anything I’ve listed above. It also beats the old way of doing things, which was to run a video feed from your security system and adapt it for the antenna input on your TV.
There’s another option that could work for you depending on your system, as well. If you are using a DIRECTV Genie system or DISH Hopper system, you can get a Gemini (for DIRECTV) or Hopper Plus/Joey 4 (for DISH.) These devices are based off Android TV. If your security system supports Google Home, then you can not only get the app for your TV through the Google Play store, you may be able to get on-screen notifications while you’re watching TV.
Of course, every system is different and the best thing to do is research what you’ve got, and what you want to get.
