Axis encoders and multiple views support

November 30, 2012, 3:06 pm

≫ Next: Support RTSP (H.264 or MPEG-4) cameras through VLC

$

0

0

Axis MJPEG video encoders and multiple camera views are supported by the following commands:

• To target camera source 1 of your video encoder you have to enter the following in ContaCam's Network dialog under Host Name:
  http://ENCODER_IP:ENCODER_PORT/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?resolution=320x240&compression=25&camera=1
• To get view 2 you have to enter the following in ContaCam's Network dialog under Host Name:
  http://CAM_IP:CAM_PORT/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=2
• To capture the Axis Digital Autotracking output you have to enter the following in ContaCam's Network dialog under Host Name (note that camera=8 refers to the last view which is the Digital Autotracking):
  http://CAM_IP:CAM_PORT/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=8

---

Support RTSP (H.264 or MPEG-4) cameras through VLC

February 18, 2013, 6:04 am

≫ Next: Why is PTZ control not supported?

≪ Previous: Axis encoders and multiple views support

$

0

0

ContaCam is not supporting RTSP (H264 or MPEG4) directly, but it can be configured to use VLC to convert the RTSP camera feed into a ContaCam compatible multipart MJPEG stream.

1. First download and install the 32 bit version of VLC (DO NOT use the 64 bit version and DO NOT use version 2.2.x, install version 2.1.5 or older)

2. Edit the vlm_conf.txt file accessible through ContaCam's Settings - Browse Config/Log Files menu entry (remember to remove the four leading # comment characters):

...
new camera1 broadcast loop enabled
setup camera1 input rtsp://USERNAME:PASSWORD@IP:PORT/COMMAND
setup camera1 output ... dst=:MJPGPORT/videostream.cgi}
control camera1 play
...

USERNAME: camera username (special characters must be url encoded)

PASSWORD: camera password (special characters must be url encoded)

IP: camera ip address or hostname

PORT: camera port (always provide this also if it's port 80)

COMMAND: ask your camera supplier or get it from here

MJPGPORT: for this example we set it to 8080, note that it's important to use a different port for each additionally configured camera (like 8081, 8082, ...) and remember to let this port through your computer's firewall

3. Save the vlm_conf.txt file, close ContaCam with File - Exit and then restart it 

4. In ContaCam's Capture - Network dialog enter:

Why is PTZ control not supported?

August 25, 2013, 3:44 pm

≫ Next: Multiple Cameras

≪ Previous: Support RTSP (H.264 or MPEG-4) cameras through VLC

$

0

0

PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) ip camera control is not supported because each camera manufacturer is using its own protocol to handle that. It's quite difficult to support and maintain hundreds of protocols and there is also not really a need for that because the aim of ContaCam is unattended surveillance.

Tip: while running ContaCam you can regulate PTZ on your camera's web interface.

Multiple Cameras

April 9, 2010, 4:03 am

≫ Next: Supported Cameras and Capture Devices

≪ Previous: Why is PTZ control not supported?

$

0

0

In case you plan to use more than one camera per computer remember the following:

1. Network cameras (wired or wireless) are the best choice, no known problems using many of them.
2. Some old USB webcams or PCI capture cards must be of different model or have a different chipset otherwise Windows gets in trouble (this is a driver issue and NOT a ContaCam BUG, convince yourself trying them with any other Windows capture program). Newer ones have matured their drivers and work well together.
3. Many cheap 4 input capture devices (like PICO 2000 or EasyCap) have just one chipset so that only one input at the time is truly digitalized. Some applications do "fast" software switching between the inputs giving the illusion of having 4 simultaneous inputs; ContaCam is not supporting such an unreliable approach.
4. Multiple capture cards with Bt848, Bt849, Bt878 or Bt879 chipset used together with the free 32 bit WDM Video Capture Driver or the free 64 bit WDM Video Capture Driver are well supported:

Supported Cameras and Capture Devices

April 9, 2010, 4:27 am

≫ Next: Supported Computers

≪ Previous: Multiple Cameras

$

0

0

ContaCam supports the following devices:

1. Network IP cameras with JPEG or MJPEG compression from 4XEM, 7Links, A-Link, ABS, ABUS, Acromedia, ACTi, Activa, Active, Agasio, AirLink, AirLive, ALinking, Allnet, Apexis, Appro, Arecont Vision, Asante, ASIP, Asoni, Aviosys, Aviptek, AVS, Axis, Aztech, Beward, BiQu, BluePix, BlueStork, Bowya, BSTI, BVUSA, Canon, Celius, Cellvision, Cisco, Clas, CNB, Compro, Conceptronic, ConnectionNC, corega, cowKey, CVLM, D-Link, Defender, Dericam, Digi-Lan, Digicom, Digitus, EasyN, EasySE, Edimax, Elro, Eminent, EMSTONE, Encore, Eneo, ENSIDIO, EyeSight, Eyseo, EZCam, Fitivision, Foscam, GadSpot, Gembird, Genius, GKB, Goscam, Grand, Grandtec, Hama, Hamlet, Hawking, HDL, Heden, Hesavision, HooToo, Hungtek, Hunt, ICam, iCam+, Imogen, INSTAR, Intellinet, INVID, IPUX, JVC, KARE, LevelOne, LinkPro, Linksys, Loftek, LogiLink, LongShine, Lorex, LTS, Lupus, Marmitek, Maygion, Merit, MESSOA, Micronet, Mobotix, MonoPrice, Moxa, NetComm, NetMedia, NeuFusion, Nilox, NorthQ, NuSpectra, Orite, Ovislink, Panasonic, Piczel, Pixord, Planet, Planex, PROCCTV, QNAP, Quimz, Repotec, Rimax, Rosewill, Savitmicro, Security, Sercomm, Sertek, Seteye, Sharx, Sitecom, Skyway Security, Smarthome, SmartIndustry, Solwise, Sony, Sparklan, Speco, Stardot, Storage Options, Surecom, SVAT, Swann, Sweex, TCLINK, TELCA, Telefonica, Tenvis, Topcom, Topica, Toshiba, TP-Link, TrendNet, Trendware, Trust, TSM, Ubiquiti, Veo, Veo/Vidi, VISIONxIP, Vivotek, Vonnic, Vstarcam, Wanscam, Wansview, Well, WowWee, X10, Xenta, XTS, Yawcam, Yoko, Zavio, Zmodo, Zonet, ZyXEL.
2. USB webcams with normal Windows drivers (WDM drivers).
3. DV cameras on the firewire port.
4. PCI, PCIe and USB capture devices with normal Windows drivers (WDM drivers).

ATTENTION

• ContaCam doesn't support MPEG-4 or H.264 only cameras (there is no RTSP implementation in ContaCam).
  Note: those cameras can still be used through VLC.
• No audio support for IP cameras.

 

Supported Computers

April 17, 2010, 5:07 am

≫ Next: Supported Operating Systems

≪ Previous: Supported Cameras and Capture Devices

$

0

0

ContaCam supports any PC running the Windows operating system; for an optimized setup follow these suggestions:

1. For a one camera usage a single or a double core processor is right.
2. For two cameras a double core processor is better.
3. For more than two cameras go for a quad core processor or higher. Good is one core per camera.
4. Use at least 2 GB of RAM and a 2 GHz processor
   (ContaCam works also on old Pentiums with MMX, but for sure only with a low frame-rate and a resolution of around 320 x 240).

Supported Operating Systems

April 17, 2010, 5:18 am

≫ Next: Client poll mode is slow

≪ Previous: Supported Computers

$

0

0

• ContaCam runs on Windows XP SP2 / Windows Server 2003 SP1 or higher.
• ContaCam in Service Mode works well on Windows Vista / Windows Server 2008 or higher (in older operating systems the Internal Web Server gets killed when the first logon user is logged off).

Client poll mode is slow

November 30, 2012, 3:06 pm

≫ Next: Axis encoders and multiple views support

≪ Previous: Supported Operating Systems

$

0

0

To have ContaCam's client poll mode work properly in camera's web interface set http authentication to:
encrypted + unencrypted
or
unencrypted only

Attention: some cameras state they support both encrypted + unencrypted http authentication, but in reality only digest (which is encrypted) is transmitted in the WWW-Authenticate header. For those cameras unencrypted only has to be configured.

 

---

Axis encoders and multiple views support

November 30, 2012, 2:06 pm

≫ Next: Why is PTZ control not supported?

≪ Previous: Client poll mode is slow

$

0

0

Axis video encoders and multiple camera views are supported by the following commands:

• To target camera source 1 of your video encoder you have to enter the following in ContaCam's Network dialog as Camera URL:
  rtsp://ENCODER_IP:ENCODER_PORT/axis-media/media.amp?camera=1
  or
  http://ENCODER_IP:ENCODER_PORT/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=1
• To get view 2 you have to enter the following in ContaCam's Network dialog as Camera URL:
  rtsp://CAM_IP:CAM_PORT/axis-media/media.amp?camera=2
  or
  http://CAM_IP:CAM_PORT/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=2
• To capture the Axis Digital Autotracking output you have to enter the following in ContaCam's Network dialog as Camera URL (note that camera=8 refers to the last view which is the Digital Autotracking):
  rtsp://CAM_IP:CAM_PORT/axis-media/media.amp?camera=8
  or
  http://CAM_IP:CAM_PORT/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=8

Why is PTZ control not supported?

August 25, 2013, 1:44 pm

≫ Next: Multiple Cameras

≪ Previous: Axis encoders and multiple views support

$

0

0

PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) ip camera control is not supported because each camera manufacturer is using its own protocol to handle that. It's quite difficult to support and maintain hundreds of protocols and there is also not really a need for that because the aim of ContaCam is unattended surveillance.

Tip: while running ContaCam you can regulate PTZ on your camera's web interface.

Multiple Cameras

April 9, 2010, 2:03 am

≫ Next: Supported Cameras and Capture Devices

≪ Previous: Why is PTZ control not supported?

$

0

0

In case you plan to use more than one camera per computer remember the following:

1. Network cameras (wired or wireless) are the best choice, no known problems using many of them.
2. Some old USB webcams or PCI capture cards must be of different model or have a different chipset otherwise Windows gets in trouble (this is a driver issue and NOT a ContaCam BUG, convince yourself trying them with any other Windows capture program). Newer ones have matured their drivers and work well together.
3. Many cheap 4 input capture devices (like PICO 2000 or EasyCap) have just one chipset so that only one input at the time is truly digitalized. Some applications do "fast" software switching between the inputs giving the illusion of having 4 simultaneous inputs; ContaCam is not supporting such an unreliable approach.
4. Multiple capture cards with Bt848, Bt849, Bt878 or Bt879 chipset used together with the free 32 bit WDM Video Capture Driver or the free 64 bit WDM Video Capture Driver are well supported:

Supported Cameras and Capture Devices

April 9, 2010, 2:27 am

≫ Next: Supported Computers

≪ Previous: Multiple Cameras

$

0

0

ContaCam supports the following devices:

1. Network IP cameras from 4XEM, 7Links, A-Link, ABS, ABUS, Acromedia, ACTi, Activa, Active, Agasio, AirLink, AirLive, ALinking, Allnet, Amcrest, Apexis, Appro, Arecont Vision, Asante, ASIP, Asoni, Aviosys, Aviptek, AVS, Axis, Aztech, Beward, BiQu, BluePix, BlueStork, Bosch, Bowya, BSTI, BVUSA, Canon, Celius, Cellvision, Cisco, Clas, CNB, Compro, Conceptronic, ConnectionNC, corega, cowKey, CVLM, D-Link, Dahua, Defender, Dericam, Digi-Lan, Digicom, Digitus, EasyN, EasySE, Edimax, Elro, Eminent, EMSTONE, Encore, Eneo, ENSIDIO, EyeSight, Eyseo, EZCam, Fitivision, Foscam, GadSpot, Gembird, Genius, GKB, Goscam, Grand, Grandtec, Hama, Hamlet, Hawking, HDL, Heden, Hesavision, Hikvision, HooToo, Hungtek, Hunt, ICam, iCam+, Imogen, INSTAR, Intellinet, INVID, IPUX, JVC, KARE, LevelOne, LinkPro, Linksys, Loftek, LogiLink, Logitech, LongShine, Lorex, LTS, Lupus, Marmitek, Maygion, Merit, MESSOA, Micronet, Mobotix, MonoPrice, Moxa, NetComm, NetMedia, NeuFusion, Nilox, NorthQ, NuSpectra, Orite, Ovislink, Panasonic, Piczel, Pixord, Planet, Planex, PROCCTV, QNAP, Quimz, Repotec, Rimax, Rosewill, Samsung, Savitmicro, Security, Sercomm, Sertek, Seteye, Sharx, Sitecom, Skyway Security, Smarthome, SmartIndustry, Solwise, Sony, Sparklan, Speco, Sricam, Stardot, Storage Options, Surecom, SVAT, Swann, Sweex, TCLINK, TELCA, Telefonica, Tenvis, Topcom, Topica, Toshiba, TP-Link, TrendNet, Trendware, Trust, TSM, Ubiquiti, Veo, Veo/Vidi, VISIONxIP, Vivotek, Vonnic, Vstarcam, Wanscam, Wansview, Well, WowWee, X10, Xenta, Xiaomi, XTS, Yawcam, Y-cam, Yoko, Zavio, Zmodo, Zonet, ZyXEL.
2. USB webcams with normal Windows drivers (WDM drivers).
3. DV cameras on the firewire port.
4. PCI, PCIe and USB capture devices with normal Windows drivers (WDM drivers). 

Supported Computers

April 17, 2010, 3:07 am

≫ Next: Supported Operating Systems

≪ Previous: Supported Cameras and Capture Devices

$

0

0

ContaCam supports any PC running the Windows operating system; for an optimized setup follow these suggestions:

1. For a one camera usage a single or a double core processor is right.
2. For two cameras a double core processor is better.
3. For more than two cameras go for a quad core processor or higher. Good is one core per camera.
4. Use at least 2 GB of RAM and a 2 GHz processor
   (ContaCam works also on old Pentiums with MMX, but for sure only with a low frame-rate and a resolution of around 320 x 240).

Supported Operating Systems

April 17, 2010, 3:18 am

≫ Next: Video encoders and multi view cameras

≪ Previous: Supported Computers

$

0

0

• ContaCam runs on Windows XP SP3 / Windows Server 2003 SP2 or higher.
• ContaCam in Service Mode works well on Windows Vista / Windows Server 2008 or higher (in older operating systems the Internal Web Server gets killed when the first logon user is logged off).
• ContaCam works well under Wine on Linux: check this nice guide written by Isaac from Indiana, USA

Video encoders and multi view cameras

November 30, 2012, 2:06 pm

≪ Previous: Supported Operating Systems

$

0

0

Video encoders and multiple view cameras are supported by entering their URL in ContaCam's Camera - Network / IP Camera dialog.

1. Please research the producer internet site to find your product's URL.
2. It's important that each encoder source or camera view has its unique name which must differ from the default name, otherwise it will conflict with subsequent setup sources or views. The name is best chosen when ContaCam's Camera Basic Settings dialog pops-up the first time.

EXAMPLE

For example for Axis encoders or Axis multi view cameras the URLs are:

rtsp://IP:PORT/axis-media/media.amp?camera=N

or

http://IP:PORT/axis-cgi/mjpg/video.cgi?camera=N

N is the camera source number of your video encoder or the camera view type.

Most Axis multi view cameras define a subset of the following view types:

camera=1 is the Overview (default value)
camera=2 is the Panorama
camera=3 is the Double Panorama
camera=4 is the Quad View
camera=5 is the View Area 1
camera=6 is the View Area 2
camera=7 is the View Area 3
camera=8 is the View Area 4 or the Digital Autotracking output

---