Can anyone suggest a camera brand that works well with blynk?
There is no best brand, make or model. But there have been many recommendations already mentioned around this forum… a simple search for keywords like cam, camera, video, etc. might help 
The bigger issue will be determining the correct way to layout the URL, particularly for secured video streams… and that is also entirely dependent on the camera or streaming service.
Your best bet is research, trial and error…
Anything that has a raw video ouput via URL
I have searched. My results were a mix of people who were unsuccessful with their particular brand and people who were trying to implement before the official support was out. I did find a good post that said the widget doesn’t have any codecs built into it and that the stream needs to be supported natively by the device, but it was unclear if this pertained to the latest version of Blynk.
What I was hoping for was some responses that said “I use this camera [link] and it works great on the iOS app”
There are those already, perhaps not specific on the iOS part as the video widget for it is relatively new, but they are there and you might get more over time.
I have successfully used older Foscam cameras and Android with various IP Camera Apps… and again, it is not so much the camera as determining the best URL format… they all seem to have their own way of doing it 
As @Jamin said… anything with some form of raw streaming video output will probably work… and besides the App is always getting refined, so even stuff that didn’t might now or in the future.
Trial and Error 
My eye twitches uncontrollably every time I see that comment 
Did you see this in your searching? Just find a camera that has at least one, if not multiple, of the listed supported formats.
Thanks @Gunner, I knew I’d posted something about testing the video camera I plan to use at our holiday home in Spain - thanks for saving me having to search my old posts!
The camera isn’t set-up yet, and I’m in the UK at the moment, so I cant show you a screenshot of it working in the IOS app, but I’ve tested it extensively and it works perfectly.
This is the camera I’m using:
It’s a bit pricey, but I’m really impressed with the build quality, picture quality, the firmware and the Reolink app. I’d certainly buy another one.
Pete.
Do you have any cameras at the moment, even USB cameras?
If you look for H264 compression and Onvif compatible you have a pretty good chance of it working with Blynk.
The Reolink is currently available on AliExpress for less than $70 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Reolink-Outdoor-Security-Camera-PoE-HD-4-0-Megapixels-CCTV-Video-and-Audio-IPCam-w-SD/32789038379.html
@PeteKnight I notice the camera has it’s own app and client software etc. It’s not locked down to the manufacturers server then i.e. you can access it remotely with port forwarding?
You can access the camera directly via a browser if you’re on the same network and remotely using port forwarding and dynamic DNS if you don’t have a static IP.
The standard browser view gives you some camera controls embedded within the HTML page (using iframes I guess, but I’ve not checked). This particular model has built-in memory (referred to as an SD card in the sales blurb, it I’m not sure it is actually a removable card), so you can rewind through saved footage via the browser if you wish.
I didn’t want these controls in my video widget and I’m not sure they would have been useable anyway, so this site shows you how to access the video stream without the controls:
I linked to the eBay page because it gives a better overview of the camera than the seller I found on AliExpress, but there are certainly cheaper places to buy than eBay.
Pete.
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The suppliers site has more details https://reolink.com/product/rlc-410s/
@PeteKnight for completeness which url are you using?
Good question!
Initially, for the widget I used:
rtsp://username:password@192.168.1.xxx/h264Preview_01_main
“username”, “password” & “192.168.1.xxx” obviously need to be replaced, and “01” needs to be updated if you’re not using video stream 1
This obviously only works if you’re connected to the local network.
At the time, my thoughts were to use the video stream for a kind of door entryphone, as the camera will be located in a place where you can see who has just rung the bell on the gate, and the viewing device would always be connected to the local network.
I did do a quick test by manually putting my external (dynamic) IP address in the URL and forwarding port 554 (the default for RTSP on the Reolink cameras) to the camera’s IP and that worked, but I didn’t investigate further. I cant see any reason why it wouldn’t work with a DDNS service to give worldwide access to the video steam through the widget, if that’s what you need.
Pete.
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I stopped checking this thread due to the holday, but I’m back.
I am in a bit of a unique situation because I have 8 cat5e drops in my house good camera locations that I put in when the house was built. I have been using analog cameras with baluns (basically just a BNC to Ethernet adapter) for each camera. I have been toying with the idea of replacing all of my cameras with IP cameras that use PoE so I can have easier access to the video stream.
I decided instead to keep my cameras and replace my current NVR with a “hybrid” NVR. I bought this one from amazon (I went with the 16 channel in case I want to add some IP cams later). I’m happy to report that it works perfectly with the blynk app. I have a menu set up to select a camera and it changes the rtsp url for the camera vpin.
Here’s the RTSP format for those cameras:
rtsp://YOUR_EXTERNAL_IP:554/user=YOUR_USERNAME&password=YOUR_PASSWORD&channel=5&stream=0.sdp?real_stream--rtp-caching=100
Channel refers to the camera# on your DVR, stream refers to the high quality stream 0, or lower quality stream 1.
Precisely which cameras?
It doesn’t matter, any analog camera plugged into that DVR will output to that RTSP stream.
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What make and model are your cameras?
Lots of different ones (I’ve had cameras on my house for 10+ years now).
Some are made by zmodo, some are made by zosi, some are amcrest.
Similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/ZOSI-1000TVL-Security-IR-LEDs-Waterproof/dp/B00RWO0DZ4
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Good solution! 