Returns a low-resolution or high-resolution thumbnail from a specified camera at or near a specified time.
Defaults to low-resolution thumbnails.
This endpoint allows you to extract a thumbnail image from a camera's history by providing a camera ID and a Unix timestamp.
It is important to understand that this endpoint retrieves images from a cloud-based cache, not directly from the camera. Therefore, the returned image will be the one with the timestamp closest to the one you request, not necessarily an exact match. The response body contains the raw binary data of the JPEG image.
The Get Thumbnail Image endpoint retrieves thumbnails from our cloud backend, not directly from the camera in real-time. The timing of these backend thumbnails depends on camera activity:
- Normal Operation: Cameras transmit a new thumbnail approximately every 60 seconds.
- Motion Detected: If a person or vehicle is detected, up to 6 additional thumbnails may be transmitted within that 60-second window.
- No Motion: If there is absolutely no motion in the scene, the camera may wait up to 5 minutes before transmitting a new thumbnail to conserve resources.
When calling this endpoint, the API response will return the closest available thumbnail. However, due to the asynchronous nature of thumbnail transmission, there may be a variance of up to 5 minutes when no motion is detected.
Upon calling the Get Thumbnail Image API, users will receive the binary data of a JPEG image. Decoding and displaying this binary data can be accomplished using standard image processing tools or libraries.