A machine that stops at two in the morning costs you the rest of the shift if nobody notices. Most machines already tell you when something is wrong, with a beacon, a buzzer or simply by going quiet, but only if someone is standing next to them.

Agent DVR watches and listens for you. A camera sees whether the machine is moving and whether a warning light is on. A microphone hears a siren or a buzzer, or silence where there should be noise. You get an alert on your phone, and an AI assistant such as Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini can go back through the recordings and tell you what happened and when.

Do not rely on it alone. This is monitoring, not a safety system. It can miss things or be offline when it matters. It does not replace machine guards, interlocks, fire or gas alarms, or the alarms built into the equipment.

Alerts on your phone, wherever you are

An iSpyConnect subscription from $7.95 a month sends alerts to your phone as push notifications and puts live and recorded video from every camera in the iOS and Android apps and in any web browser, with no port forwarding to set up. There is no per-camera fee. A subscription also covers business use, which a workshop or factory needs. For your own machines at home, Agent DVR is free on your own network, so you can set it up and try it first.

Plans from $7.95/month Try it free at home first

It hears the alarm

Agent DVR's audio recognition listens to any microphone or camera audio stream and names what it hears, from a list of more than 500 sounds. Choose the ones that mean trouble and it raises an alert or triggers a rule the moment one is recognized. Sounds worth listening for around machinery include:

an alarm a siren a buzzer a beep a smoke alarm a fire alarm a hiss a squeal a clatter a rattle engine knocking a bang

It notices when things stop

A rule does not have to wait for something to happen. Ask to be told when a camera has seen no movement, or a microphone has heard nothing, for as long as you choose, and limit it to working hours if you like. Use it on anything that should keep running:

a conveyor that has stopped a pump that has gone quiet a fan that is not turning a 3D print that has stalled

What it looks like

What happened on the packing line overnight?

Seven recordings and two rule notifications on the packing line camera between 22:00 and 06:00. Looking at the frames and at what the microphone recognized:

  • 23:40 - an operator topped up the hopper.
  • 02:14 - no movement for ten minutes on the conveyor. In the frames a carton is jammed at the sealer.
  • 02:15 - a buzzer recognized on the microphone, and the red light on the cabinet is on.
  • 03:02 - someone cleared the jam and the line started again.

So the line was down for about an hour. Want the 02:14 clip?

Things to ask

  • Did the line run all night?
  • Is the red light on the compressor on right now?
  • What alarms did the microphones recognize this week, and when?
  • Show me the CNC machine across the night shift.
  • Which of the workshop cameras are offline?

Rules to set up by asking

  • Check the control cabinet every 10 minutes and tell me if the red light is on.
  • Tell me if you hear an alarm or a buzzer in the workshop.
  • During the day shift, tell me if the conveyor camera sees no movement for ten minutes.
  • Email me if the workshop camera goes offline this week.

Rules run on your own server with no assistant connected. They need Agent DVR 8.0.7 or later, and questions about what is in the picture need an AI provider set up in Server Settings - AI Settings. More rule examples

Why build it this way

The machine already tells you

Beacons, buzzers and stack lights are made to be noticed by someone nearby. A camera and a microphone pass the message on when nobody is there.

Silence and stillness count too

Not every failure makes a noise. A rule for no movement or no sound catches the conveyor that stopped and the pump that never started.

Ordinary cameras, as many as you need

Any IP, ONVIF or RTSP camera works and there is no per-camera fee, so you can cover every machine and not only the one that matters most.

Recorded on your own computer

Video is kept on your own disk, and recording and detection carry on if the internet connection drops. Go back to the minute it stopped and see why.

What you need

1

A camera

Almost any IP, ONVIF, RTSP or USB camera works, including a spare webcam. You do not need a special bird, pet or doorbell camera. Look yours up in the camera database.

2

Agent DVR on a computer

Install it on Windows, macOS, Linux, Docker or a Raspberry Pi. It records to your own disk and is free for private use on your own network. Download.

3

An AI assistant

Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini CLI or any other MCP client and start asking. Free on your own network. From your phone or the cloud it is part of an iSpyConnect subscription from $7.95 a month. How it works.

Set it up

1

Add a camera and a microphone

Point the camera at the part that moves and put the microphone near the machine. See Adding Cameras and Adding Microphones.

2

Choose the sounds

Turn on audio recognition on the microphone and add the alarm, buzzer or siren to its Listen For list.

3

Ask for the rules

Connect an AI assistant and describe each one: an alarm heard, the red light on, or no movement for ten minutes during the shift.

Good to know: Test it on your own machines. Audio recognition names sounds it has learned from everyday recordings, so a loud workshop can set it off or drown out the sound you care about, and an AI model can misread a picture. A rule for no movement or no sound cannot tell a stopped machine from a camera or microphone that is offline, and says nothing then: add a rule that tells you when a camera goes offline. To use a sound in a rule, add it to the microphone's Listen For list first. Each rule that looks at the picture is capped by default at 30 AI calls an hour so it cannot run up your AI bill. Audio recognition needs an Agent DVR license or a subscription, and business use needs a subscription or a commercial license.

Frequently asked questions

Can a camera tell me when a machine stops?

Yes. Ask for it in a sentence, such as "during the day shift, tell me if the conveyor camera sees no movement for ten minutes", and it becomes a rule. You are told once when the machine has been still for that long, and again the next time it stops. Point the camera at the part that moves, and keep people walking past out of the picture.

Can it react to a siren, a buzzer or an alarm?

Yes. Audio recognition can recognize an alarm, a siren, a buzzer, a beep, a smoke alarm and a fire alarm, among more than 500 sounds, and raise an alert or trigger a rule when it hears one. Turn it on for a microphone or a camera's audio stream and choose the sounds to listen for. See Audio Recognition in the user guide.

Can it see a red warning light?

Ask "is the red light on the control cabinet on?" and the assistant takes a live snapshot and looks. A rule can check the picture every few minutes and tell you when the answer is yes. It works best when the light is clearly in view and the camera is not looking into glare.

Can it tell me when a machine goes quiet?

Yes. Ask to be told when a microphone has heard nothing for as long as you choose. It suits machines that make a steady noise while they run, such as pumps, fans and compressors.

What does it cost?

Alerts on your phone, the mobile apps and access away from the site are part of an iSpyConnect subscription from $7.95 a month: one flat price, however many cameras you have. A subscription also covers business use and audio recognition. Agent DVR is free for private use on your own network, so you can try it on your own machines first. The AI provider you use may have its own costs.

Download Agent DVR Plans from $7.95/month

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