There are a number of ip cameras that can be viewed on the Mesh lately. Many of them require some sort of Windows plug-in to view the picture. Unfortunately, this is not possible for someone running Linux.
Is there a way for Linux users to view these cameras?
Which ip cameras can be viewed natively from Linux? I know the Ubiquiti cameras work through flash. Any others?
73, Mark, N2MH
Do you know about Wine? I am using Xelatec PTT dispatcher on top of Wine with Linux Mint without any issue.
Maybe you need to install Wine first, then your apps or Firefox for X86 then your Firefox plugin.
73, André VE2DTL
I have a couple DLink DCS-942L IP cameras that while their web interface requires flash/plugin, there's a direct http link to either jpg stills or streamed video which both firefox and VLC will work with under ubuntu. You still use the http interface for configuration but then just use a different link for video/stills.
Mark K5LXP
Albuquerque, NM
The input into vlc looks somthing like this.
rtsp://admin:password@192.168.3.66:554/live0.264
all the IP cameras Ive worked with let you set different encoding modes on up to 4 channels on the nice ones. rtsp ch 1 would be a h.264 1040x720, rtsp ch 2 h.264 640x480, and rtsp ch 3 jpeg 640x480.
rtsp://admin:password@192.168.3.66:554/live0.264
rtsp://admin:password@192.168.3.66:554/live1.264
and so on....
N2MH what are the camera (by module name) your trying to access? It best to talk with the owner. but then again the Video department at my Job just bought a $2000 Sony PTZ SDI camera with RTSP, they had no clue how to use RTSP, they came to me compiling about how the activeX web page had a lag of 4-5 sec. That was not the case once i figured out the multicast / unicast on the thing.
I just picked up a HOSAFE 1MB1W HD IP cam off amazon. I would go with the full HD cam.
I have 4-5 of the Hosafe 1MB1W cameras.
TIP: DO NOT PERFORM ANY FIRMWARE UPDATES ON THEM FROM THE CMS 2.0 software. Hosafe support said it's broken. It bricked one of my cameras, which Hosafe had to replace.
We've been using several of the Hosafe 1MB1W cameras for a while now, the first one for nearly 2 years, for weather spotting. Two of them are at 150 feet, one at 50 feet, one at 40 feet. We also have a couple more for quick setup nodes for emergencies, special events, etc. Interestingly, the last 2 we bought, which were marked with the same model number (1MB1W) had some noticeable differences. The RJ45 connector was separate from the power plug and was round, unlike that previous bulky square plug. Once powered up I noticed that they apparently changed the CCD sensor. Still a good picture, just a little different color balance, especially in lower light levels. I was disappointed to see some of the features of the previous models removed, but the only one that affected us was the primary stream was now fixed at 1280x720. We have been down-scaling to 720x480 to conserve bandwidth. Not a big problem though, since the secondary stream can be set to 720x480. We use Blue Iris so we just changed the “live0” to “live1” in the video stream and all was well. But the one fly in the ointment seems to be my inability to stream the new cameras with VLC. The old ones stream fine. Any ideas? We also have direct GUI access advertised on the nodes in case the Blue Iris server is unavailable, but some of our folks are “non-IE” users (Chrome, Linux, etc), so it would be nice to see all the cameras work with VLC.
On a side note, elsewhere in the forum there is discussion about the Sunba PTZ cameras. I'm encouraged by the cost, features, and reviews I've seen so I decided to take the plunge and order one. I'll post to that area of the forum after I receive the camera and have had some time to evaluate it.
Are there any other options? Here's my requirements:
1. Outdoor capable
2. IP Wired
3. Viewable via rtsp and from Chrome natively
4. 1MP quality or better
I searched on the web for hours last night and the prices and reviews are all over the place.
I use VLC on my Mac access them perfectly.
The provided software is pretty Linux-hostile. Where and how do you tweak the parameters for slower frame rates and lower resolutions?
Thanks.
(And as an aside - if anyone buys this camera, sets it all up but the camera refuses to show power, the provided wall wart power supply gets REALLY hot and upon investigation is providing no voltage out, it might be handy to know that the wall wart from an old Netgear switch has the same connector, polarity and voltage and works very nicely as a replacement :-/ )
ORv
I'm looking for something I can deploy across the mesh and then be able to have multiple locations access the cameras without pre-configured software.
The most important thing that has caused me to write the review is because while going through my network firewall logs today (I am a Network Engineer), I discovered that this device is constantly communicating with many IP addresses on the Internet using high ports (not HTTP, HTTPS or NTP) without permission. When looking up the IPs, they are not registered in the USA (Turkey and China mostly). I consider this a huge security risk, that none of my other IP cameras have. If you own this camera, and know how to check your outgoing logs I would do so. I have unplugged mine and will be taking it down to be replaced with a camera from a more trustworthy manufacturer.
You might want to check this out. Also note the irony in the name ...ho...safe...
I think I'll try to start building a firewall list that blocks common access that is undesirable on the mesh for a variety of reasons including compliance to part 97, performance, security, etc. Things like, Windows updates, OneDrive sync, dropbox sync, ipCams reaching out, and more. Often, we are unaware our computers are automatically generating traffic and want a way to turn it all off, but we still want it to work when connecting our computers directly to the internet.
Joe AE6XE
I have ordered the following for total cost of $210 (ipcam) + $23 (memory card). Does anyone already have one of these? I found this to be in theory, the best trade-off between features I wanted and cost that I could find so far. Thanks to Trevor, K7FPV, for the reference.
http://www.sumpple.com/ftp/S610-user-manual.pdf
I wish it had POE, but an ~$5 splitter will work.
Joe AE6XE
I would like to put it on a MESH node, go i-net and have images available at multiple cell phones for event officials.
Vance, kc8rgo
5) Lens Cover. This plastic lens cover does not move like some other cameras--this is good because it doesn't grind on the table and scratch at power on. However, it is not high quality. I am finding that there is some image distortion at level view--at highest view angle. The lens is like a pipe straight down for ~1", then begins to curve for the dome. Above the dome, it has some distortion. If this camera is mounted with sufficient elevation, this would not be noticed.
Interestingly the P2P MAY be the ONVIF component.
I had forgotten I had learned about ONVIF until you posted this camera and it mentioned it in the description. I only have theory knowledge and would welcome some feedback as to how real the theory is.
ONVIF is a universal protocol for security camera devices. I found a couple apps for iPhone in the App Store that speak direct to the camera.
Looking at the protocol it supports a backchannel (not sure if this camera
does though) that can be used as part to send the audio data back to the camera (the talk button)
ONVIF actually be the key to solving the universal device support problem if it's implemented as well as the theory says.
Any testing you could do on that would be interesting.
I am a bit concerned, that anyone with the UID of one of these cameras, can connect to it in their app with the default password, which can't be changed. The UID is clear text in the packets the camera sends out... I quote what support told me :), "Don't worry about that, no one will know your UID and password. Don't worry about that. :)".
Joe AE6XE
May not be viable because of that but to hear ONVIF works may be useful as a starting point to find other vendors (again never worked with it but recalled seeing it as Linux control would be nice)
Out of curiosity wonder if the settings can be changed by the onvif protocol (being a cheap camera it may not be implemented) I've ran across devices in the past where the gui tells you "haha no" and the backend protocol that direct software uses says "ok done"
but I might be making this too technicial for this thread.
Thabk you for the feedback Joe
1) Support: very responsive and eager to resolve issues. Give then a 9 out of 10.
2) Audio issues: After upgrading firmware, the vendor stopped supporting audio via VLC client, saying customers weren't looking to do this (lame...). Audio now only exists in the IE browser or the Andriod/iPhone apps.
3) SDcard: I found there were 2 slots to plug in SDcards. The original instructions I bumped into, spelled out to put the card in the hardest to reach slot--thanks Murphy! Disregard the original instructions above, only take off the dome with 4 screws and look for a slot immediately available on the moving lens mother board.
4) ONVIF: I upgraded to the ONVIF compatible firmware and tested. I was able to access the camera and test out basic functionality with an ONVIF client, although not yet pan-tilt capability. The advanced features are only available in IE (sound, motion detect, access to SDcard saved video, etc.). I assume some of these features are beyond the ONVIF specifications?
5) Timeout issue: During the last event and subsequent testing there is a timeout when watching the video via RTSP, chrome, (and probably firefox). The video disconnects after ~5 mins or so and you have to login to regain access. Support wanted to remote desktop to my computer to see this. I gave them a good rating for the support effort, but I saw this on 2 unique cameras and they should readily be able to produce in the lab. Their primary customer's access seems to be via iPad or Andriod apps and it appears they are not giving focus to supporting direct browser access.
6) IR mode: Many ipCams have an IR mode on/off buttons in the UI. I have to go into setup as admin to change this option. I would have preferred a manual option to turn on/off the IR to view at night, to concern solar energy and not have an IR red beacon light visible all the time.
In summary, when I compare this ~$200 camera to the $500+ ipcams (starting to see many of these 'Megapixel' ipcams being used). The feature set is on par and the performance and video quality of the camera is comparable, the $300+ additional cost is going towards a jump from 4x optical zoom to 20x or greater optical zoom. (Well, the higher cost intuitively should also be getting higher end movable parts--longer life, faster PTZ speed.)
All the ipCam options that I've seen seem to be deficient in a good browser UI experience. I'd speculate that all these R&D teams have been spending their time building ONVIF support and now the direct browser access is outdated and not working well with current versions of IE, chrome, and firefox. So we, the end user, have challenges due to security, depth of features working across different browsers, etc. Time will heal this, just wondering how long. But look for more ONVIF clients to come on the scene supporting a fuller set of features to address all these issues in the future.
Joe AE6XE
HOWEVER - when the resolution is set to one of the lower settings and with a slow frame rate (we had set 5 fps) the video stream freezes after 2-3 minutes of viewing. The video stream doesn't stop - it's still sending ~300kbps - but the video is no longer updated.
I'll do some more testing, but would be interested in feedback from the group.
Thanks.
By setting the frame rate to 10 fps, VLC is mostly stable - we've had a couple of lockups in multiple hours of testing streaming at that rate.
I received this from a local mesher. It may be useful to some:
Meshers,
It has been puzzling that low frame rate video did not work in vlc media
player. I changed some vlc preferences and was able to get adequate
performance.
I am running vlc media player 2.2.2 in Ubuntu 16.02. The preferences
will like look different in other OSs.
Right click in the vlc window and select Tools/Preferences
At the bottom select Show settings "All"
On the "Advanced settings" page
Check "Only show current"
Uncheck "Use a plugins cache"
Uncheck "Video/Drop Late Frames"
Uncheck "Video/Skip frames"
Click Save
I did not determine if the tool had to be restarted but I suggest it.
When these settings are vlc media player would properly display my low
res 5 FPS stream. I do not know why the settings make a difference but a
2013 dated posting pointed me toward cache issues in vlc with low frame
rate video.
Dave KM6FQ
---------------------------
Note - these parameters don't seem to appear in version 3.x of VLC, but it seems to work almost as well as a tuned version 2.2
PTZ will be the likely issue.
Of course it costs 50 bucks, but it's worth it and they are constantly sending out upgrades.
thanks for forwarding this, I have seen some of these fields on various IP cams... didn't know exactly what to enable/disable.
Appreciate any help,
Ron K7OPA
Ron, Don, KE6BXT, has 3 of these cameras on our mesh in SoCal. There are various models, but the 1st has been live over 2 years and much higher cost. The good news is the cost is down to $300. The latest model we just put up on Elsinore PK overlooking Temecula in SoCal (still finishing cabling and testing on Sat):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/361406276594?_trksid=p2055359.m570.l5999&_trkparms=gh1g%3DI361406276594.N36.S1.R1.TR1
This ipCam has:
1) 22x zoom optical and additional digital zoom to 36x
2) ONVIF -- I tested this and works great has all PTZ controls, config ability.
3) RTSP -- streaming for the typcial video player (VLC app on a cell phone on the mesh will display this, but no PTZ)
4) needs IE with activeX controls to see video and have PTZ controls if using a brower
I've posted other videos in the forum from these 22x ipCams and still amazed at their ability.
I diverge slightly... On this particular tower mount, there is a ~200' cat5 run up the tower. The ipCam has a 12v 4A power supply. I installed a $20 48v -> 12v convert in an electrical box at the tower. My tests showed that on a 100' toughcable it worked fine. But on a 200' toughcable it would not initialize with full range of motion--too much loss of power at 12v to get enough juice for the ipCam to fully initialize--fast power movement. Also, this is a safety mechanism so you don't accidently put 24v directly to the ipCam and smoke it (which I'm shell shocked having done this before :) )
However, this creates another problem of trying not to put 48v to a Uniquiti and smoking it. In the heat of battle, we cut the cat5 at the door entrance to install the surge protectors and forgot to add the tape identifying which cable was to the ipCam. Now shell shocked on smoking a Rocket M3 plugging it into 48v... at least that's what we expect to find tomorrow when we return to diagnose. What's the saying, If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning. That's the story I'm sticking with :) .
I hope the confession will help others to avoid our lessons learned!
Joe AE6XE
Hi, Joe - last year you mentioned a cam on Elsinore. Did you have a brand? That auction is ended, of course. I'm looking for something I can use w/o ActiveX security holes, pref with Linux vs Windose. I like PoE, of course.
Any updates, guys?
73, Charlie KØTAN
Mesh: 928 3001
FWIW, I have a camera that I set to motion JPEG. Dlink DCS-1100. Which looks to not require java or other 3rd party drivers or whatnot (worked even when java was not working on my PC). Which I'd think would run on Linux. It's on my AREDN node as a service. Shows a stunning sight of the road I live on... I do have another Dlink camera, which does require java or activeX, a DCS-930L. So be careful if you surf ebay for a DCS-1100 as many hits will give cameras that need java or activeX (I'm probably bad at writing decent searches)...
Ron K7OPA
The SV3C camera model is SV-B12XVPOE-1080PS-A.
Currently, I can get to the camera via the AREDN mesh, but viewer needs a USERID and PW to get to the image.
My attempts to use links similar to a VLC rtsp such as "rtsp://aredn:Password12@KM4DC-IPCAM.local.mesh/stream1" for the Nano M2 don't seem to work.
My current Advertised Service on the M2 just gets to the camera login page.
Is there a wat to get directly to the image?
Thanks,
Don, KM4DC
Hi Don.
I have an older SV3C as well as a newer one and sure enough the new one requires the user/password.
I just played with VLC and got the following format to work for the new camerea and hopefully this will help you:
rtsp://10.x.x.x9:554/11/stream0?username=guest&password=guest
In this example, the account is "guest" and the password is also "guest". Of course instead of the ip you should also be able to use the device name as known on the mesh network.
By the way, I much prefer using a server such as Blue Iris ($) or the free MotionEye which also runs nicely on a Raspberry Pi. With either of these, users can easily use any browser and not have to mess with VLC. (RE: https://www.arednmesh.org/content/streaming-camera-video-mesh )
73 - Mike ab4yy
Thanks Mike,
I can get to my camera using a web browser on my pc using a link similar to the one you provided which embeds the userid and pw.
i.e., "rtsp://aredn:Password12@KM4DC-IPCAM.local.mesh/stream1"
I can't figure out how to put the link info into the AREDN Setup for the M2 Advertised Service where I need the Name, Link, URL, Port and path.
Basically, I can't get the rtsp format to work in the AREDN Setup for the Nano M2.
I can, as shown in the screen capture, get to the IPCAM login screen.
My hope is to somehow provide the login info and get directly to the video stream.
I would like to avoid running a RPi or Windows server to do this.
Updates on my IP camera.
Thanks to Mark, ab4yy, for convincing me I really needed a RasPi server with MotionEyeOS.
I also found this great video on how to create a Raspbian image with MotionEyeOS on a RasPi3.
There is another video on how to add cameras.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5ifTks4w4U.
So, Northern Virginia AREDN users can now view/stream my camera without having to log in.
Camera has a clear view to the North-East from Reston, VA
Don, KM4DC