so we are wanting to add a PTZ camera to one of our mountain top nodes here in Utah and I am wondering if anyone has a recommendation of a good camera that we can run through the mesh network, and not break the bank. I would say the highest we want to spend is $200 but would love to spend less. Does anyone have a model number of one that works well. Higher MP would be great as it would be nice to actually make out items in the valley a few miles away.
KD7VEA
KD7VEA
PS: I would go for optical zoom over a couple MP if you have a choice. More optical zoom you have the better focused in you will be on an image. 2x zoom = double the MP for that spot. Of course if you can get both that's even better :)
http://www.tim-yvonne.com/ham/mesh/tower-cam/
And this as the pan-tilt-zoom one: http://amzn.to/2dj2Mh0 which is $329. That's the POE+ version, so you'll need a $35 injector or you can use the power supply that comes with it...I think that version is $299.
How did you find the IP address of the camera? Thanks!
Bob W8ERD
The only problem I have found is that you can change the brightness etc using the http connection. But that then does not carry over to the RTSP stream.
But changing the FPS etc DOES carry over nicely.
Bob W8ERD
The reason is much less load on the mesh network, since the acknowledgements should be less.
We are working with Ubiquiti cameras because they do RTSP natively and they are an American company and you can actually talk to their engineers,
as opposed to all the Chinese cameras. But having said that I must say that we have yet to get them working right.
They disconnect after a minute or so. We continue to discuss this with them and work on the problem.
(They are not PTZ; this is just for general info.)
Bob W8ERD
If you stick to using VLC, Blue Iris, ispy, or another piece of software that will do rtsp you'll be better off than most.
http://www.lightinthebox.com/gt-view-2-0mp-1920-1080p-20x-zoom-4-7-94mm-...
After 3 months of struggle, I have given up on the 3 G2 Ubiquiti cameras I bought, and sent them back to Amazon.
The Ubiquiti engineers have been extremely helpful and worked with me all the way, but nobody here has been able to make them work correctly. They even sent me a G3 camera to try out. No change.
When used with RTSP, they disconnect after about a minute. This is true for a variety of video viewer software, running on several different PCs and windows operating systems.
And they do not do RTSP correctly, according to Wireshark. They cause a variety of packets to be sent back and forth, whereas they should only send UDP packets from the camera, and cause no acks.
We have tried EVERYTHING. I really wanted to use American cameras, as opposed to all the Chinese cameras.
KG9DW recommended a camera from Jooan. I bought it and it is working perfectly, despite the Chinglish software
and manual. Wireshark says it is working exactly correctly. It never disconnects. Works with all video viewing software.
I discovered Anycam software ($8) which is also wonderful. Simple and easy to use, unlike VLC which is
overly complicated for this purpose.
Bob W8ERD
73, MB
I've seen RTSP mentioned a lot (and not just here), and discovered the PTZ camera I have had for 1.5 years is already set up for this; the MFGR even lists the URL:
"rtsp://..........."
But I never got it to work that way. Like all others here would do, I dug into Google searches and found many suggestions, like...
'if you use "x" browser, you need "xxx" installed'
or
'so & so browser... need to have "xxx.abc" ran before launching the browser.
or
'RTSP won't work unless the browsers HTML5 is configured to....'
I gave up ! All I can say is that if RTSP is supposed to be a "driver-less" format - allowing video streams to be displayed effortlessly using just your browser... then it's still years away from being reasonably implemented.
I just ordered another PTZ camera from China, a newer model than the one I have been using; it too has RTSP compatibility. But I don't have any faith in that part working; will just probably end up going the "driver" route.
If you're trying to use rtsp in a browser, you likely will get frustrated. But try it on VLC or another software program.
While we are on plugins, please don't be adding these to your production workstations without doing some security checking first! For instance, there is a reason why quicktime isn't a supported plugin for Windows machines.
VLC works fine, but is overly complicated. I now recommend Anycam. Costs $8, negligible compared to the cameras. It is simple to use and works perfectly.
It can show multiple cameras at once in a "Hollywood Squares: format, and label each video.
Bob W8ERD
I agree with 'RTSP vs Browsers' being a mess and basically does not work inside a browser. However browsers are our eyes into the network and thus where the links are seen. I was using 'Torch', based on Chrome but recently gave up because (1) I could not change the call of my external media player (was Daum Potplayer but wanted to use VLC) and (2) I couldn't figure how I got it to call that external program even after extensive internet searches. Goodbye Chrome/Torch....at least for now.
I ended up going back to Pale Moon (based on Firefox) where it was super easy to see, add or change the call to the external media player. By the way, I switched back to VLC as it seems a bit more reliable than Potplayer). For setting up in the browser, just go to Options and Programs and it is obvious how to change the external program for rtsp.
As a side note, I installed AnyCam and it's GUI is nice and simple. It is quick and easy to set up 'any' camera. It seems to have a lot of smarts behind the GUI. Interesting that in the program directory the install created a VLC directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\AnyCam\VLC). Is AnyCam basically a GUI front-end for VLC?
BTW, I like/prefer iSpy as it is free and also supports motion detection video-clip saving.
- Mike ab4yy
KG9DW & W8ERD, how are you guys getting power to the fixed camera.
Looks like the bullet camera requires 2 amps at 12 volts dc.
I'm concerned about doing POE with that much current.
Thanks !
Don...KI0EO
While the bullet camera says it needs 2 amps, it pulls less than 500mA during the day and closer to 700mA at night (because of the IR illumination).
On the PTZ camera, I'm using the POE+ version and a true $40 POE+ injector. That cable run is closer to 125 feet from the camera location down to the electrical equipment room.
Bob W8ERD
This thread has been a big help.
Don...KI0EO
I'm currently running a mesh node at my residence (bullet M2 with an omni antenna).
Everything here comes down to a Cisco 2950 switch in my shop.
My plan is to mount a camera and bring the cat5 back to the shop.
The camera will connect to a switchport that is on the Bullet VLAN.
For power, my plan is to put a POE splitter at each end.
I'm assuming the splitter will isolate the power from the Cisco switch.
Thoughts ?
Thanks !
Don...KI0EO
The POE splitter I've been using is from ebay. Here's an example. Amazon also has them as do other ebay sellers if you don't want to wait for one to arrive from China. They are very simple. There are also the type that have a CAT5 jack, a CAT5 plug, and then a radial power connector. Those work fine as well.
You're on your way....have fun!
The problem I'm running into is when I click on the link, under mesh status, and the GUI opens it wants me to install a quicktime plug-in.
I can run the camera using the CMS software, iSpy and AnyCam.
Is there a way to allow the camera to use a different plug-in?
Thanks,
Don...KI0EO
I've downloaded the latest CMS software and it seems "faster" than using iSpy and VLC.
Camera is working great on the mesh, just have to figure out how to advertise the link or better yet, make it clickable but I believe that will be a vendor issue.
Don
You want to be sure that you run Ispy or Anycam at your end, connected via RTSP. I am not sure if the mesh link method will do that, but then I don't know
enough about it to say. It may be that you have to start the RTSP viewer manually and enter the camera IP address as given by the mesh link.
Bob W8ERD
That's what I have been doing.
I have all the viewers working, just need to figure out how to advertise the RTSP link on the mesh.
Tried putting it in the host name field and uncheck "link" but it doesn't like it.
Don...KI0EO
Hey Don,
I am having the exact same issue. I just bought the JOOAN camera. The initial setup was tough as the device manager software didn't have any option to switch to DHCP. I had to find a buried submenu in the CMS to make the switch. Eventually, I got it configured and functional so I could add it to my node and view it through the CMS as well as Anycam (by directly entering the AREDN provided IP address).
When I try to advertise the camera however, the web browser just launches the built-in camera webpage which is all in Chinese and only renders with a couple of buttons and non-functional plug-ins (on Chrome). Would love to find a way to advertise this camera in a way that works. Expecting other nodes to know the IP address and use viewing software (like Anycam) seems like a let down. I've been reading through posts like http://www.aredn.org/content/ip-cameras where KJ6DZB shows the format of an RTSP URL but like you...can't figure out any way to get this into the advertised services.
Brian VA3BCO
(Welcome to Chinese-camera-land...)
This could be virtually any program, but depends on the user having the appropriate software installed (which is fine in my opinion considering even if it isn't a link they will still need the software install.)
In Windows this is usually handled seamlessly by the software developers, in *nix OS it sometimes isn't as streamlined (but its gotten much better over the years)
All browsers seem to be different.
I've tried posting the URL in the advertised service and leaving the link unchecked but unfortunately my RTSP URL has underscores in it.
I keep getting a "not allowed" message.
Reading through help file 3.16.1.0 it appears that underscores are not allowed.
The camera does work quite well using the CMS software.
It also works well with VLC but has a slight delay that doesn't appear in CMS.
My next hurdle is to set up a file server.
I'll post a document on the server with instructions on how to view the camera.
For a cheap Chinese camera, the JOOAN performs better than expected, but you do get what you pay for.
Don...KI0EO