How to figure out what stream my security camera uses?

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woodchuck

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How to figure out what stream my security camera uses?

#1

Post by woodchuck » Mon Apr 15, 2013 9:59 pm

I'd love to add the stream of my home security cameras(Swann) to my media center. I know that it had been possible to add videos that were streams, like NASA to media center in the past. The problem: My camera system does not advertise a direct way to access the stream from the camera. You have to use their ActiveX control to see the video. I know other cameras, like Panasonic, had an RTSP stream you could access that it used behind the scenes. Is there a way to "sniff" what address my camera -> activeX control is using? I'm trying to use wireshark, but can't seem to find anything pointing at a URL on the camera system. Admittedly, I'm a newb to packet sniffing.

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#2

Post by foxwood » Tue Apr 16, 2013 1:50 am


barnabas1969

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#3

Post by barnabas1969 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:28 pm

/Referring to a spam post that was removed:

I love it when a new user comes along and resurrects a dead thread with his first post.

RyC

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#4

Post by RyC » Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:40 pm

Well it's a spam bot! They're not intelligent :P

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STC

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#5

Post by STC » Thu Dec 05, 2013 4:16 pm

Spammer removed thank you.

It was most probably a real person as the bots can't create an account without passing the humanoid test.
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#6

Post by blueiedgod » Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:15 pm

hrm, interesting idea. Is there a way to add a channel into WMC that would feed off Foscam?

We are using 2 of them as baby monitors, and usually just have a tablet or laptop running their app to keep an eye on the toddler and the baby.

But, if I could add them as a channel in wMC, and possibly access it on the TV connected to the HTPC, or the extender, it would eliminate the need to run tablets or laptops...

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#7

Post by IownFIVEechos » Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:21 pm

blueiedgod wrote:hrm, interesting idea. Is there a way to add a channel into WMC that would feed off Foscam?

We are using 2 of them as baby monitors, and usually just have a tablet or laptop running their app to keep an eye on the toddler and the baby.

But, if I could add them as a channel in WMC, and possibly access it on the TV connected to the HTPC, or the extender, it would eliminate the need to run tablets or laptops...

I do the same thing. I spent soo much unnecessary money on getting the ultimate baby cam's! When Ceton had the android dream out there I envisioned using the foscam app that I run on android and it was going to make life so easy.

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#8

Post by barnabas1969 » Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:24 pm

See info at link below:

http://digitalmediaphile.com/index.php/ ... ia-center/

EDIT: Oh, sorry... the link above explains how to create a simple webpage, and a way to launch that page from within Media Center. This would not work on the extenders. If you actually want to create a "channel" that you can tune to using a tuner, then you are looking for a signal injector. I'm not sure if they are available for IP cams, but they probably are.

Basically, a signal injector would be connected to your household coax cabling. It would take input from your camera(s) and/or security system, modulate it, and inject it as a channel on your household coax. You would need a signal injector with selectable output channels, and probably a notch filter installed at the point where your coax enters the house to prevent the signal from being transmitted to your neighbors.

I've looked at these before, and if memory serves... they're not cheap.

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woodchuck

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#9

Post by woodchuck » Fri Dec 06, 2013 2:22 am

For baby cams, I found success:

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... =32&t=6235

But my Swann security system is basically a POS. It works, and records, but the stream is some hacked RTSP mess. I haven't found a way to do the same thing with it.

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#10

Post by nullmindset » Fri Dec 06, 2013 4:07 pm

I tried connecting directly to some of my IPCameras using the URL and setting up an "extra" as described here:
http://thedigitallifestyle.com/w/index. ... ia-centre/

The problem that I've found is that for some reason the "ApplicationUrl" in the MCL file won't accept multiple parameters. It looks like it won't accept anything after an ampersand (&) and makes it very difficult to pass along a username and password. I could obviously disable authentication and get it to work, or omit a password for a user, but that's not really an option for me.

Anyone know of a workaround for this?

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#11

Post by blueiedgod » Fri Dec 06, 2013 5:16 pm

barnabas1969 wrote:See info at link below:

http://digitalmediaphile.com/index.php/ ... ia-center/

EDIT: Oh, sorry... the link above explains how to create a simple webpage, and a way to launch that page from within Media Center. This would not work on the extenders. If you actually want to create a "channel" that you can tune to using a tuner, then you are looking for a signal injector. I'm not sure if they are available for IP cams, but they probably are.

Basically, a signal injector would be connected to your household coax cabling. It would take input from your camera(s) and/or security system, modulate it, and inject it as a channel on your household coax. You would need a signal injector with selectable output channels, and probably a notch filter installed at the point where your coax enters the house to prevent the signal from being transmitted to your neighbors.

I've looked at these before, and if memory serves... they're not cheap.
Thanks for the link! I think it will work. Even if it just on the main HTPC, for now.

I was not even thinking of taking an IP stream and converting it into an RF to inject into the tuner. All of our tuners are in the basement, so the only stream HTPC gets is IP stream.

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#12

Post by woodchuck » Fri Dec 06, 2013 5:52 pm

I went with an ASX file and play the camera streams as videos under the video library.

<ASX version = "3.0">
<TITLE>My TItle</TITLE>
<ENTRY>
<TITLE>My Title</TITLE>
<AUTHOR>My Author</AUTHOR>
<COPYRIGHT>My Copyright</COPYRIGHT>
<REF HREF = "IPCAM://Url=192.168.1.10/image/jpeg.cgi&Auth=Yes&Username=<user>&Password=<pass>" />
</ENTRY>
</ASX>

And then use the codec for video cams here:

http://www.umediaserver.net/umediaserver/download.html ... The x86 named IPCamSourceVideo.zip

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#13

Post by barnabas1969 » Fri Dec 06, 2013 5:59 pm

blueiedgod wrote:Thanks for the link! I think it will work. Even if it just on the main HTPC, for now.

I was not even thinking of taking an IP stream and converting it into an RF to inject into the tuner. All of our tuners are in the basement, so the only stream HTPC gets is IP stream.
Glad I could help. The idea with the signal injectors is to inject a channel that is not used by your cable provider. That way, the cameras and your cable TV channels are all mixed on the same coax, and can be simply tuned by any tuner (including your TV's). The problem with this idea is that it's very expensive.

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#14

Post by blueiedgod » Mon Dec 09, 2013 5:23 pm

barnabas1969 wrote:
blueiedgod wrote:Thanks for the link! I think it will work. Even if it just on the main HTPC, for now.

I was not even thinking of taking an IP stream and converting it into an RF to inject into the tuner. All of our tuners are in the basement, so the only stream HTPC gets is IP stream.
Glad I could help. The idea with the signal injectors is to inject a channel that is not used by your cable provider. That way, the cameras and your cable TV channels are all mixed on the same coax, and can be simply tuned by any tuner (including your TV's). The problem with this idea is that it's very expensive.
It looks like analog injectors are actually cheap. Ones that broadcast on ch3 or ch4 are under $50 at most stores. People use them to connect newer equipment to older TV's that don't have digital inputs. However, it is more hassle, since I will have to add NTSC tuners to the system. The positive is that it can be viewed on any extender connected TV. :-)

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#15

Post by barnabas1969 » Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:08 pm

What you are talking about is a modulator that is intended to be used for older TV's that don't have composite video inputs. I actually have a couple of them laying around somewhere. I suppose if your camera has a 75 ohm composite video output, and channel 3/4 is not used in your area, that you might be able to get away with using one of those. I don't think they are intended to be used as a signal injector. Also, I don't know if they will transmit a strong enough signal... because they are designed to be connected directly to the TV with a short piece of coax.

Just be sure to install a notch filter at the point where your cable/antenna coax enters the house. The filter needs to block channel 3, 4, or whatever you use so that you aren't broadcasting to the neighbors (which could interfere with their reception and may violate terms of use with your cable company, and could even be illegal, especially if it's connected to an antenna). The notch filter will also prevent a problem if the cable company starts sending something on that channel in the future.

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#16

Post by blueiedgod » Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:03 pm

barnabas1969 wrote:What you are talking about is a modulator that is intended to be used for older TV's that don't have composite video inputs. I actually have a couple of them laying around somewhere. I suppose if your camera has a 75 ohm composite video output, and channel 3/4 is not used in your area, that you might be able to get away with using one of those. I don't think they are intended to be used as a signal injector. Also, I don't know if they will transmit a strong enough signal... because they are designed to be connected directly to the TV with a short piece of coax.

Just be sure to install a notch filter at the point where your cable/antenna coax enters the house. The filter needs to block channel 3, 4, or whatever you use so that you aren't broadcasting to the neighbors (which could interfere with their reception and may violate terms of use with your cable company, and could even be illegal, especially if it's connected to an antenna). The notch filter will also prevent a problem if the cable company starts sending something on that channel in the future.
$39 Arnova tablet from ToysRUs solved the issue. We just use the cheap tablet as baby monitor... :mrgreen:

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#17

Post by barnabas1969 » Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:37 pm

That will work too. You could even use more than one simultaneously, and velcro them to the wall if you want.

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#18

Post by rtsp_guy » Wed Aug 13, 2014 2:52 pm

Here is another site with a really detailed list of ip-camera manufacturers along with the RTSP URL listings... Seems to have even more companies and camera models then the other sites listed... Hope this helps someone else too.

http://www.securityhive.com/rtsp

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