Camera / Media with username and password embedded in the URL

Looking for a general article about adding camera streams to your SharpTools dashboards? Check out the How do I add video / images to a SharpTools dashboard article.

When setting up a Media Tile in SharpTools to view an IP Camera, sometimes the manufacturer will recommend embedding the username and password in the URL in a format like the following:

http://username:password@camera/some-path.cgi

While this works fine when you access the URL directly in a new tab in your browser, it may not work when embedded into a dashboard (or any other page) as some browsers like Chrome have begun blocking the use of embedded resources which have usernames and passwords embedded in the start of the URL.

You can find more details on the reasons why browsers are starting to block this format this in the following blog post:

https://medium.com/@lmakarov/say-goodbye-to-urls-with-embedded-credentials-b051f6c7b6a3

Workarounds

There are several workarounds to view this type of camera feed in your dashboards.

Use a dedicated NVR software like Blue Iris or TinyCam
Most dedicated NVR software utilities can aggregate camera feeds from various cameras which have different URLs and different requirements for accessing the cameras and can then provide a single interface to view ALL connected cameras. In the case of Blue Iris, you can optionally disable username/password access for other devices which are also in the same LAN only which may be helpful in the case of a dedicated wall mounted tablet.
Check to see if your camera has another method for accessing the feed.
The iSpyConnect Camera Database usually has a variety of different URL formats to try. Sometimes you may have to get creative to mix and match parts of a URL together.

https://www.ispyconnect.com/sources.aspx

For example, some cameras have the option to embed the username and password in the query string. Carefully consider if this option makes sense based on your access patterns and security/privacy goals:
http://camera/some-path.cgi?u=username&p=secret
If you have the option of using another browser, try a different browser.
Chrome is one of the browsers to have recently blocked this, but many other browsers are starting to follow suit. Also note that some browsers like Fully Kiosk Browser usually either use the Chrome rendering engine or Google's webview and may also be subject to this same issue. Browser developers are restricting this feature for privacy and security reasons as noted in the linked blog post above, so carefully consider your options when choosing this approach.
Disable the username and password for the camera only for within your network
Some cameras provide the ability to determine if you are accessing the camera from within your network or from the internet. If you camera has the ability to disable passwords only from within your network or from specific IP addresses, this may be an appropriate option for your setup. Careful consideration should be taken with this option as your security and privacy needs may vary. This situation best applies if your cameras and your network have strong protections to limit access to the cameras and if you are aware of the potential implications of such a change.