Camera and Java Admin interface

[rrehart]

Question for the forum: I have a Foscam FI8910W camera that I have added to the ISY via the web interface (see attached). But when I go to the GUI (Java) admin interface I can find no reference whatsoever of the Camera being there. Can it be seen in the GUI? Can actions/programs/alerts be tied to it?

 

I would like to tie it to the garage door relays and have it record on movement, etc... but see no way to do that in either interface.

 

I have the ISY994i Pro and the Network module. I have tried to add it as a network resource, but for some reason that escapes me, I cannot get the ISY to pass login information to the camera when accessing (I get an HTTP 401 (bad auth) error every time.

 

What am I missing here?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

[bmercier]

You are right, camera support is a feature of the web client only. There is no reference to the camera in the admin GUI.

 

As far as network resources are concerned, the only thing that could possibly be done is trigger an event on the camera to start recording based on an event. And that's only if you can find an API specific to your camera to achieve that. I personnally have a Foscam camera (a 9805), and I don't think we could do that. Also, you cannot gather data coming from a network resource, if this is what you are trying to do.

 

If you really want to, You could use the camera motion detector to systematically store images to a server when there is motion, and then use ISY network resources to trigger cleanup scripts on that server to only keep those images within a certain time range relative to that event.

 

Benoit.

[Xathros]

You can use network resources to control the Foscam cams.  I have a number of resources that point the cam in specific directions and another that enables ftp upload on motion detect, another to disable uploading and another to reboot the cam once daily.

 

-Xathros

[rrehart]

Xathros - Can you share some specifics, please?

[Xathros]

Xathros - Can you share some specifics, please?

Sure.  What would you like to know?

 

-Xathros

[rrehart]

Sure.  What would you like to know?

 

-Xathros

Specifically;

1. Example of record on movement detect

2. Example of move camera on trigger (relay open)

3. Example of trigger action (such as lights on) on movement detect

 

Thank you!

[Xathros]

First of all, the camera is only a responder to the ISY's network resources.  Another forum user was trying to get the camera to trigger events in the ISY and was unable due to limitations in the camera's firmware.  I haven't heard that that has changed.  What I am doing with my network resources is manipulating the camera based on other ISY detectable events like motion sensor triggers and various insteon control events happening.

 

For instance, When my house goes into vacant mode, I enable the FTP upload on motion feature of the cameras. if my house is in vacant mode and an outside door opens, all of my PTZ cameras turn toward that area of the house.  If something moves in front of the a camera, the cam's built in motion detection triggers and it uploads images.  When the house comes out of vacant mode, I send another resource to disable the record on motion feature.

 

On several occasions, I have lost communication with some of the cams after they have been operating for an extended period of time.  As a result, I have the ISY reboot each cam once a day.  Haven't had any trouble since.

 

Attached are generic network resources for my Foscam. You can import these and edit in your camera's IP, port, user/pass and ftp server and directory info.

 

-Xathros

FoscamFW8910W_NetRules.zip

[rrehart]

Cool. I'll give it a shot. Thank you again!

[Xathros]

Anytime.  Happy to help.

 

-Xathros

[bmercier]

Wow, I'm impressed. Thanks for sharing!

 

Benoit.

[rrehart]

Update:

First, many thanks again for Xathros sharing his resources.

 

I found a couple of things once I dug in (for anyone else trying to do this):

 

1. What I was missing is that you have to put the camera username ('user=xxxxx') and password ('pwd=xxxxx') in BOTH the URL Path AND as an "Authorization" header in order to get the camera to authorize your command. I was using either or in my failed attempts to get this working.

 

2. For my particular Foscam (FI8910W), I had to append the start and stop recording commands with '&cam_user=xxxxx&cam_pwd=xxxxxxx' in order to log into the camera since the previous "user=xxxxx" and "pwd=xxxxxx" in the string were used for the username and password for the FTP server.

 

Once I had those particulars down it was easy to create a program that has the camera move to a given position & record on an action (in my case when a garage door opens).

[rrehart]

Also posting a copy of the CGI commands for Foscam for anyone's reference here:

IP Camera CGI v1.21.pdf

[Xathros]

I did find that some commands required the auth in both locations while others only required the auth header.  I think it was the position commands that didn't need the extra login details.

 

-Xathros