Remote Control of the Other Person’s Camera for Video Call

By:  Frank Engelman   |  Posted: May 27, 2022   |  Updated: April 18, 2023

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The Problem to be Solved

Making Zoom Even Easier

Making Zoom Even Easier

Now that “Zooming” is a verb, knowing how to make video calls via Zoom is becoming an important life skill. The truth is Zoom is extremely easy to use, which is why it became so popular during COVID. But some people still have difficulties with some aspects.

Solution Details

 

 

Don’t you wish you could adjust their camera so they don’t move out of the field of view during Zoom calls? Well, you can.

 

The Problem

Grandpa is very happy that he no longer must he hold an iPad during a video call or sit at the kitchen table looking at a small 10” Echo Show screen. He really enjoys the big screen experience on his Amazon Fire TV with the camera the kids installed for him.

However, while the kids appear large on his Fire TV screen, he looks very small on their screens because his camera is 8 feet away from where he is sitting on the couch.

 

Caption- grandpa looks too small

 

The Solution

I got him a remotely controllable camera that can pan and tilt.

Although he has a remote control for his Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera, the controls are too complex for him

 

Caption- PTZ remote

 

 

 

Here is a Video Showing Remote Camera Control

 

 

 

Getting it Working

When the kids next visit grandpa, they train a YoLink Smart IR Remote (an IR Blaster) from the camera remote using their YoLink account and mount the Smart IR remote pointing at the camera on the TV.

This connects to the Internet over a YoLink Hub

 

Caption- Smart IR Remote (IR Blaster) pointed at the PTZ camera

 

The kids then map the Smart IR remote buttons to IFTTT buttons and add those buttons through a widget on their smartphone.

Since they can control the camera , they can always see grandpa up close even if he doesn’t always sit in the exact same location

 

 

Caption- Seeing grandpa up close

 

 

 

Setup Instructions

 

Training the YoLink Smart IR Remote

 

Caption- YoLink mobile app

 

  • Install the YoLink mobile a kid’s smartphone
    • Search IOS apple store/Google Play Store or use the link in the kit list
  • Set up the YoLink Hub per the vendor’s instructions
  • Add the YoLink Smart IR Remote per the vendor’s instructions
  • Add the PTZ camera controls using the YoLink app
    • Tap on the Smart IR Remote icon
    • Tap “+”
    • Tap “TV Set”
    • Tap the “checkmark”
    • Rename it to “Camera”
    • Tap “Confirm”

 

Caption- Camera remote

 

Note: Don’t worry about the names of these controls as we will rename them later when adding the buttons in the IFTTT app

IR Remote IFTTT button

  • OK -> zoom home
  • Volume + -> zoom in
  • Volume – -> zoom out
  • Up/down/left/right -> zoom Up/down/left/right
  • Channel ^ -> zoom 1 (preset 1)
  • Channel v -> zoom 2 (preset 2)

 

 

  • Tap each of these buttons to build a remote

 

Caption- learn

 

 

  • Tap button
  • Tap “Learn”

 

Caption- Training PTZ remote

 

 

  • Point the PTZ remote at the Smart IR Remote and push the corresponding button

 

  • When you have trained all the buttons, Tap the “checkmark”

 

 

 

Now it’s time to make these buttons available on the Internet through the IFTTT app

 

  • Install the IFTTT app on the kid’s smartphone (search the IOS App Store or Google Play Store (or use the links in the kit list below)

 

 

Caption- IFTTT mobile app

 

 

  • Open the IFTTT app

o Tap “Open”

o Tap “Continue”

 

Caption- IFTTT login

 

 

  • Log into the IFTTT app

o Tap “Continue with Email”

o Login with the kids email

o You can use a different password than your email password

o Tap “Create”

 

Caption- IF action

  • Tap “Add”

 

Caption- button widget

  • Search for ‘button”
  • Tap “Button widget”
  • Tap “Button Press”

 

 


Caption- THEN action

 

  • Tap “Add”

 

Caption- YoLink action

  • Search for “yolink”
  • Tap “YoLink”

 

Caption- IR remote

  • Tap “Control IR Remote”
  • Tap “Connect”

 

Caption- confirmed

  • Tap “Confirmed”
  • Tap “Login YoSmart”
  • Login with the YoLink account and password you previously created

 

Caption- Continue

  • Tap “Smart IR Remote”
  • Tap the “Please select”

 

Caption- select action

This where you will choose one button at a time to assign

(Repeat the steps to add each button)

 

  • Choose one and Tap “Continue”
  • Tap “Continue” again

 

Caption- rename button

 

Note: This is where you get to rename the button to what it will appear in your smartphone widget

For example, “Camera -> NavigationOK” becomes “zoom home”

  • Tap “Finish”

 

Caption- add button

NOTE: If you are on an Android phone you can add the Android widgets to your phone here, one at a time

 

 

Caption- add widget

 

o Tap “Add”

 

Caption- Android widget layout

 

  • Complete by adding each of the icons to the home screen

o Rearrange the icons in a logical order

 

IOS users should follow the instructions below after training all the IFTTT buttons

 

  • Add the IFTTT widget

o Setup for IOS

§ Click Home button or swipe up to get iPhone Home screen

§ Swipe to the leftmost screen

 

Caption- IOS edit

 

§ Tap “Edit”

 

Caption- IOS customize

 

§ Tap “Customize”

· You may have to scroll up to see this button”

 

Caption- IOS IFTTT

 

§ Tap the “+” icon to the left of the word “IFTTT”

§ Tap “Done”

 

You can now tap any of these buttons to remotely control your loved one’s camera

These are the same buttons you setup when configuring the IFTTT account at your loved one’s home.

 

 

Caption- IOS widget layout

 

Use the buttons “(“ and “)” to view all the choices

 

 

You can now tap any of these buttons to remotely control your loved one’s camera

These are the same buttons you setup when configuring the IFTTT account at your loved one’s home.

 

 

 

Tips & Tricks

  • If you add, delete, or edit any buttons assigned to your loved one’s camera, you will need to log out and back in on the IFTTT app on your phone to get the update buttons.

o Logout by tapping your name in the upper right of the IFTTT app

 

 

Kit List*

 

 

 

*Disclosure: The research and opinions in this article are those of the author, and may or may not reflect the official views of Tech-enhanced Life.

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