How to monitor camera output thru router and lapop?

[boof]

inherited cctv system.
upupbb32-19.03
camera (swann?) nta type with RJ45 wall socket. i can't get at it for ID.
router TP-BF17
toshiba dual core 32bit.

i have connected the camera to the router by cable. it is detectable by arp-scan.
later, a wifi 2nd cam with remote tilt/pan will be used.
nb Xeoma does not install slacko 32bit version. no devx/headers installed.
i do not know how to use peasyport LAN scanner.

how please, and with what pet software, can i monitor the video streams? verbose pls.
i do not know what i'm doing nor progranming.

edit #1
Xeoma did install, works, but no pic. waiting for image from camera.
suspect motion detection in cam not triggered or bad uname/pw
simple so far.
default cam uname/pw if reset by pwr off? if not, how to reset pls?

edit #2
reset is switch on device, out of my reach. will have to wait for tall visitor to do it.

decision:
will setup 32bit laptop with minimal upupbb32 frugal and Xeoma, no screen and wifi. no hdd, just usb. no storage. pfix=RAM, Xeoma in iso startup. will config with monitor then let run as stand alone. monitor as req'd from main pc.

[fernan]

Hello.

Are IP cameras supposed to be viewed from a web browser? I'd turn off the Puppy firewall (bottom right of your desktop) and try to reach the camera typing the camera ip address and port on a web browser and see what happens.

[mikewalsh]

Not a bad idea.

I'm no expert with this CCTV stuff - @rockedge is our resident "expert" with this kinda thing - although I have played around quite a bit with Xeoma this last few years.

I've never bothered with IP cameras/'pukka' CCTV hardware; I just use USB webcams. Of which I have at least 4 or 5 kicking around underfoot, so what better than to set 'em up around the house? Xeoma's 'free' plan permits you to run up to 4 cameras without needing a subscription, and that's more than enough for me. One watches the driveway; one monitors the front door, and No. 3 watches the back garden. All works very nicely.

However; from what I understand, fernan's suggestion actually makes sense. A true IP camera will have its own dedicated URL, I believe.....or it can be assigned a static one (better, because it doesn't change). And if it has a URL, it can be viewed/accessed via a web browser.....

Mike.

[rockedge]

Being involved with the ZoneMinder project of course working with network IP cameras is standard operating procedure.

I have several wired (cabled) to the router and several that connect with WiFi. I usually use the administration interface for the router in a browser to find the local area network IP's of the cameras. In the admin of the router I reserve those ip's so the router will assign the same LAN IP to the same camera each time. The router recognizes each camera's MAC address and can then match the correct camera to each reserved LAN IP. This in effect makes the IP static and each time the system boots and Zoneminder starts the camera configurations will continue to work and ZM knows where the cameras are.

Also PeasyScan and other programs and methods work great to find the camera once they connect with the router intended.

To debug why no camera stream is showing in Xeoma start with finding the camera's LAN IP using whatever method you want too. Then try to communicate with the camera with a web browser. Network cameras have a web interface control panel. Use the LAN IP as the URL. If this works then finding the camera's output stream URL would be of value.

More advanced is use VLC to test the output stream URL. If VLC can stream the camera then Xeoma will be able to.
In VLC it is easy to determine the exact codec and camera output resolution if needed.

I would recommend at least getting the camera's LAN IP then establish communication through a browser, and open up the camera's administration/maintenance web interface.

[mikewalsh]

@rockedge :-

Erik, now I think of it, can I "pick your brains" here for a moment?

Is there a simple way to set things up with a standard USB wired webcam so as to give it a wireless connection to the router? Some kind of transmitter you could sit close to the webcam, that you just plug the webcam into and it then connects direct to the router?

I'm trying to cut down on long runs of cable.....and long runs of USB cable suffer from horrendous signal strength drop. Does such a thing exist.....or is a special wireless camera required in these instances?

Mike.

[rockedge]

@mikewalsh when I started with Zoneminder it was because I was looking for a open source Linux based way to stream a live local usb web camera that looked at an aquarium with trout eggs then fry's in it for something called "Trout in the Classroom" project done by the local chapter of Trout Unlimited in the schools around the area. A good friend of mine was involved in the support for the teachers running 50 gallon tanks with chillers and trout eggs. He thought it would be cool if his own tank could be streamed live over the "Net".........so he asked me what could be done.

I started out streaming a local USB camera connected to a old laptop that ran had run Windows 2000 and I had deleted Windows and replaced it with Lucid 5.2.8. On this I installed the web server and Zoneminder after much trial and error debugging and learning how to compile ZM in Puppy Linux. Using Zoneminder I connected to the local USB webcam, started it and streamed it with the laptop. This laptop had Wifi so connected to the router wireless.

So that set up now made that local USB webcam + laptop = network IP camera.

On another machine also with Zoneminder installed I capture the stream and have it configured as a monitor. Now the USB webcam is performing like a WiFi network camera and joins the other network cameras in the security camera web.

Tahr-6.0.5 worked really well on a spare laptop running usb webcams connected to it and streaming them over the LAN. A better laptop could stream 2 - 3 usb cameras simultaneously.

Xeoma can discover and pickup streams done by Zoneminder.

There is a way to use VLC to stream a local usb camera on a LAN that will also work relatively well.

[rockedge]

I wonder now if something like DroidCam would work on a Android VirtualBox machine..........

maybe routing the local usb cam to the Android VM it would act like a phone's camera and can be streamed by DroidCam.
Which will turn an old mobile smart phone into a webcam.

This is an example ffmpeg command:

Code: Select all

ffmpeg -f v4l2 -i video="Integrated Webcam" -f alsa -i hw:0 -profile:v high -pix_fmt yuvj420p -level:v 4.1 -preset ultrafast -tune zerolatency -vcodec libx264 -r 10 -b:v 512k -s 640x360 -acodec aac -strict -2 -ac 2 -ab 32k -ar 44100 -f mpegts -flush_packets 0 udp://192.168.1.4:5000?pkt_size=1316