. Does anyone have experience with software for use with Amcrest cameras. I am able to view the rtsp video with vlc and Fedora 29 but that does not provide control for the other functions such as pan and tilt.
We can control them with an iPhone or iPad but I would like to do it from my Linux desktop.
Bob
On 1/14/19 12:41 PM, Bob Goodwin wrote:
. Does anyone have experience with software for use with Amcrest cameras. I am able to view the rtsp video with vlc and Fedora 29 but that does not provide control for the other functions such as pan and tilt.
We can control them with an iPhone or iPad but I would like to do it from my Linux desktop.
I've got similar devices (the Foscam 9831W versions). I use ZoneMinder (ZM) and I can get them to pan and tilt using ZM.
I haven't tried to do it outside ZM, but ZM uses Perl scripts to do the control ops. My guess is you could borg those scripts to do what you wish. ZoneMinder is available from the repos. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, AllDigital ricks@alldigital.com - - AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 226437340 Yahoo: origrps2 - - - - "Do you suffer from long-term memory loss?" "I don't remember" - - -- Chumbawumba, "Amnesia" (TubThumping) - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
On 01/14/19 17:33, Rick Stevens wrote:
. Does anyone have experience with software for use with Amcrest cameras. I am able to view the rtsp video with vlc and Fedora 29 but that does not provide control for the other functions such as pan and tilt.
We can control them with an iPhone or iPad but I would like to do it from my Linux desktop.
I've got similar devices (the Foscam 9831W versions). I use ZoneMinder (ZM) and I can get them to pan and tilt using ZM.
I haven't tried to do it outside ZM, but ZM uses Perl scripts to do the control ops. My guess is you could borg those scripts to do what you wish. ZoneMinder is available from the repos.
. I will try zoneminder. I have some Foscams [not PTZ] too but I have never been able to view them with VLC. They seem primarily interested in selling their server service and their support was hard to deal with. I had to find an Apple app, as a result have to keep an iPad running on my desk just for them. Not the ideal solution.
Thanks,
Bob
On 1/14/19 3:16 PM, Bob Goodwin wrote:
On 01/14/19 17:33, Rick Stevens wrote:
. Does anyone have experience with software for use with Amcrest cameras. I am able to view the rtsp video with vlc and Fedora 29 but that does not provide control for the other functions such as pan and tilt.
We can control them with an iPhone or iPad but I would like to do it from my Linux desktop.
I've got similar devices (the Foscam 9831W versions). I use ZoneMinder (ZM) and I can get them to pan and tilt using ZM.
I haven't tried to do it outside ZM, but ZM uses Perl scripts to do the control ops. My guess is you could borg those scripts to do what you wish. ZoneMinder is available from the repos.
. I will try zoneminder. I have some Foscams [not PTZ] too but I have never been able to view them with VLC. They seem primarily interested in selling their server service and their support was hard to deal with. I had to find an Apple app, as a result have to keep an iPad running on my desk just for them. Not the ideal solution.
For the 9831Ws, I used ffmpeg, not VLC. The access string was:
rtsp://user:password@ip-address:554/videoMain
The control interface (pan/tilt) was:
usr=username&pwd=password ip-address:88
Good luck. The Foscam/Amcrest site offers no help other than their apps from what I can see. It's rather annoying that there's no API documents for these things.
Well, digging around, I DID find an API document:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/amcrest-files/Amcrest+HTTP+API+3.2017.pdf
Don't know if it's applicable to what you want to do, but... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, AllDigital ricks@alldigital.com - - AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 226437340 Yahoo: origrps2 - - - - Warning: You are logged into reality as the root user... - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
On 01/14/2019 05:33 PM, Rick Stevens wrote:
On 1/14/19 12:41 PM, Bob Goodwin wrote:
. Does anyone have experience with software for use with Amcrest cameras. I am able to view the rtsp video with vlc and Fedora 29 but that does not provide control for the other functions such as pan and tilt.
We can control them with an iPhone or iPad but I would like to do it from my Linux desktop.
I've got similar devices (the Foscam 9831W versions). I use ZoneMinder (ZM) and I can get them to pan and tilt using ZM.
I haven't tried to do it outside ZM, but ZM uses Perl scripts to do the control ops. My guess is you could borg those scripts to do what you wish. ZoneMinder is available from the repos.
- Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, AllDigital ricks@alldigital.com -
- AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 226437340 Yahoo: origrps2 -
-- "Do you suffer from long-term memory loss?" "I don't remember" -
-- Chumbawumba, "Amnesia" (TubThumping) -
Does anyone watching have any experience with a Pyle camera? I haven't tried ZoneMinder--didn't know about it, but it's in my repos. Using PCLinuxOS.
--doug, WA2SAY
On 1/14/19 4:26 PM, Doug wrote:
On 01/14/2019 05:33 PM, Rick Stevens wrote:
On 1/14/19 12:41 PM, Bob Goodwin wrote:
. Does anyone have experience with software for use with Amcrest cameras. I am able to view the rtsp video with vlc and Fedora 29 but that does not provide control for the other functions such as pan and tilt.
We can control them with an iPhone or iPad but I would like to do it from my Linux desktop.
I've got similar devices (the Foscam 9831W versions). I use ZoneMinder (ZM) and I can get them to pan and tilt using ZM.
I haven't tried to do it outside ZM, but ZM uses Perl scripts to do the control ops. My guess is you could borg those scripts to do what you wish. ZoneMinder is available from the repos.
Does anyone watching have any experience with a Pyle camera? I haven't tried ZoneMinder--didn't know about it, but it's in my repos. Using PCLinuxOS.
I've never heard of that camera, but many of them work in a similar manner. Looking at it, the RTSP stuff (video streaming) looks pretty standard. You didn't say what specific version of their cameras you have, but the generic stuff I can find is that you should be able to view the video by firing up VLC and using the URL:
http://ip-address/videostream.cgi?user=USERNAME&pwd=PASSWORD
(replacing USERNAME and PASSWORD as needed). If so, then you can sure use ZM to access it. The big question is the PTZ stuff and I really can't speak to it.
ZM is fairly flexible, but looking at its database neither Pyle nor any of the PIPCam stuff appear to be in it (at least in the version I have). It's possible their stuff is a Panasonic or D-Link clone. I dunno. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, AllDigital ricks@alldigital.com - - AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 226437340 Yahoo: origrps2 - - - - Treat each day as if it's your last...a lot of crying and whining - - usually gets you what you want! -- Sam Sledge - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
On 01/14/19 17:33, Rick Stevens wrote:
ZoneMinder is available from the repos.
. Ok, I dnf installed zoneminder this morning, that part is easy enough, but apparently it does not create a working zoneminder program. That led to a Fedora instruction that I've been going through for an hour now ... I went back and entered zoneminder in Dragora and that wants to update Firefox and Thunderbird too. I don't want the latest of either of those, is that really required to run zoneminder?
And then it appears to want an mysql database per the instruction I read ...
It's beginning to look like zoneminder would require another computer dedicated to it if I am to use it?
Have I gone off on the wrong path and gotten confused?
On 1/14/19 3:42 PM, Rick Stevens wrote:
Good luck. The Foscam/Amcrest site offers no help other than their apps from what I can see. It's rather annoying that there's no API documents for these things.
Most of the cameras now support a standard interface called ONVIF. Although, if you just want to adjust the camera PTZ, there's usually a web interface for that. You will probably need to view the video stream using something else though as most of the cameras I've tried require a browser plugin that doesn't work on Linux to view the video.
On 1/15/19 7:52 AM, Bob Goodwin wrote:
On 01/14/19 17:33, Rick Stevens wrote:
ZoneMinder is available from the repos.
. Ok, I dnf installed zoneminder this morning, that part is easy enough, but apparently it does not create a working zoneminder program. That led to a Fedora instruction that I've been going through for an hour now ... I went back and entered zoneminder in Dragora and that wants to update Firefox and Thunderbird too. I don't want the latest of either of those, is that really required to run zoneminder?
And then it appears to want an mysql database per the instruction I read ...
It's beginning to look like zoneminder would require another computer dedicated to it if I am to use it?
Have I gone off on the wrong path and gotten confused?
No, ZM is a complete system and yes, it needs a MySql (MariaDB) database. It does NOT need an updated Thunderbird or Firefox. ZM runs under a web server to provide a web GUI to control it, but any browser that supports Javascript will work. I expect Dragora wants to update those two are simply because Dragora's database says you're running old versions (Dragora uses Packagekit's databases and caches--not DNF's). In other words, those updates have nothing to do with ZM.
Setting up ZM isn't that difficult, but if you're not familiar with MySQL or Apache or nginx (you choose which web server you're going to use for ZM to run in), then yeah, it can be confusing.
The detailed instructions will be in the
/usr/share/doc/zoneminder-common/README.[nginx|httpd]
file after installing the zoneminder-common RPM. Note that the reason I suggested ZM wasn't necessarily for you to run it, but that you might be able to borg some of the Perl scripts it uses to talk to the PTZ part of the camera. There may be simpler tools out there to do that. I don't know.
I use ZM and it works well for what I need. There are issues with SELinux and ZM recommends disabling it. I have a boatload of home-brewed TEs so I can run SELinux and get around those issues, but I can't promise the TEs are generic (or safe) enough to publish (I'm no SELinux expert). My machine is behind two different hardware firewalls, so it's relatively insulated from the Internet and I've had no issues, but others may not be in the same boat. I have no desire to open other peoples' machines to attacks because I have a loose TE that wasn't vetted adequately. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, AllDigital ricks@alldigital.com - - AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 226437340 Yahoo: origrps2 - - - - grasshopotomus: A creature that can leap to tremendous heights... - - ...once. - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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Bob Goodwin -
Doug -
Rick Stevens -
Samuel Sieb