Trying to get this going...noob problems...

[EagleAye]

I have never worked with a Raspberry Pi before, but used to be heavily into computers, so I am not exactly dense. I started playing with the Polyglot and Nodeservers on a Pi, and have effectively got them up and running with a STEEP learning curve (and I am pretty good at old DOS commands and programming/networking).

I am trying desperately to configure udi-camera-polyglot to see what it is capable of doing. I even bought a newer Amcrest ip4m-1026w (looks like Foscam and Amcrest are now one) to play with.

I have tried every way from Sunday to follow and configure the rather cryptic instructions. I am new to Raspberry Pi, so, yes, some things that are a 'given' may not always be for me.

I tried to force in Python Amcrest (referenced in udi-camera-polyglot instructions) and it appeared to go into the Raspberry Pi, but where I have no clue. When I follow the instructions for PyPI it all goes smooth until I try and 'enable amcrest-cli autocomplete in the system' which gives me a permission denied. Everything else worked, so the upper level permissions are already in force (that took a bit also).

Anyway, in udi-camera-polyglot if I search for Foscam, turn it off, configure Amcrest multiple ways, I get no camera info in the isy.

Anyone want to take a shot at helping out a noob to get this rammed in so I can see what the capabilities are? Just getting frustrated, and I am sure it is something simple.

Thank You.

[simplextech]

What are you hoping to actually do or get from that nodeserver?  I do not use that nodeserver as I run Blue Iris currently (looking at other options).

[Jimbo.Automates]

The camera nodeserver allows you to enable/disable arming, email, and go to presets, ....  I used it heavily before I got Blue Iris, now that I have that, I haven't even had time to complete configuring all my new cams and start using the nodeserver.

Anyway, Foscam and Amcrest are not the same, although they are similar, firmware is very different.  I never got automatic discovery working for Amcrest, so you just have to manually add one as described:

https://github.com/jimboca/udi-camera-poly/blob/master/README.md#amcrest

and

https://github.com/jimboca/udi-camera-poly/blob/master/README.md#manual-camera-entries

Just add the manual entry as described and restart the nodeserver.

 

[EagleAye]

I am having trouble with the initial install of the python/amcrest install on the raspberry pi. I have tried every way from Sunday to get this in, used different command line arguments, and even tried sudo. Here is the install page and instructions  https://python-amcrest.readthedocs.io/  and https://github.com/tchellomello/python-amcrest  and this is what I see in my terminal window while following said instructions

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ pip install amcrest --upgrade
Looking in indexes: https://pypi.org/simple, https://www.piwheels.org/simple
Requirement already up-to-date: amcrest in ./.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages (1.5.4)
Requirement already satisfied, skipping upgrade: requests in /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages (from amcrest) (2.21.0)
Requirement already satisfied, skipping upgrade: argcomplete in ./.local/lib/python2.7/site-packages (from amcrest) (1.10.0)

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ eval "$(register-python-argcomplete amcrest-cli)"

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ echo 'eval "$(register-python-argcomplete amcrest-cli)"' >  /etc/profile.d/amcrest-cli-autocomplete.sh
bash: /etc/profile.d/amcrest-cli-autocomplete.sh: Permission denied

pi@raspberrypi:~ $

I even tried the RPM install but it will not go with anonymous login. I also don't see how to start the program if installed, and when I try and follow the next step 'from amcrest import AmcrestCamera', the terminal (pi) doesn't like it, no matter how I change it.

This 'permission denied' thing has me going in circles for quite some time now. Any advice?

Thanks for any information.

[EagleAye]

All I really wanted to do is test the functionality of a Amcrest camera with this to make a better judgement as to which way I was going to go in upgrading my camera system. I just want to see what the isy can do with it. I didn't expect to beat my head against a wall for days. I gotta be missing something simple!

[Jimbo.Automates]

Why are you trying to install the amcreat python library? No need to beat your head against the wall. Follow the instructions I previously posted on this thread.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL with Tapatalk

[EagleAye]

I did that in the beginning, and had troubles. I thought I was missing something and that led me to the amcrest-python library. I figured it was missing info/drivers, etc. and that is why I was unsuccessful in configuring the amcrest camera in polyglot, I thought it needed to reference something I was missing.

I tried entering the custom configuration parameters in polyglot camera in every conceivable way...with and without brackets, quotes, spaces, etc. I don't know what I expect to see in isy, but right now, it ain't much.

My custom configuration parameters are listed as  Key-cam_05  Value-type: Amcrest, host: 192.168.1.xx, port: 80  proper password and user listed.  The only other thing to note is advanced configuration shortPoll-5 and longPoll-60.

If I don't need the amcrest-python library, that narrows down things a bit, but still searching for resolution.

[Jimbo.Automates]

you are missing the curly braces, and the quotes, from the doc:

Create a param with the name 'cam_xx' with a value: { "type:" "Amcrest", "host": "192.168.1.86" } 

 

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL with Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jimbo.Automates]

If it still doesn't work send me a log package

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL with Tapatalk

[EagleAye]

Tried that, but trying again. I left curly braces, took them out, left quotes, took them out, and even played with spaces between.  Here is what I have currently submitted  { "type": "Amcrest", "host": "192.168.1.xx", "port": "80" }  Should the quotation marks be gone also? I thought so, and tried it that way too. Which log package would you like? isy or polyglot?

[Jimbo.Automates]

The quotes look correct, is the param name "cam_xxx"? And did you also set the user and password parameters?

In the Polyglot UI under the Camera NodeServer -> Log there is "Download Log Package", PM that to me.  Or review the log for any errors or messages that may say what the problem is?

 

[Jimbo.Automates]

I just verified on my dev server that it works, just copy/pasted the cam_example value and changed the host, and see in the log it tries to connect, but my Amcrest is currently not connected so that's as far as it gets, but should work.

 

2019-10-08 19:28:51,007 [NodeServer] [INFO ] Amcrest:NewCamera:init: connecting to myhost

[EagleAye]

i have tried adding parameter name of cam_05, 'cam_05', cam_xx, cam_xxx per your response above and currently have it named cam005. When I uninstalled, it came right out of isy. When I re-installed, showed up right away in isy, but still NO cameras. All I see is Camera Controller with cameras marker indicating 0. I have tried query, discover, turn Foscam on, query, discover, etc. Nothing I seem to do will add a camera. I have checked spaces, quotes, bent brackets, dunno what I am missing. Perhaps the log will show something, but I don't see it.

And Thanks again...it is appreciated!

[EagleAye]

btw...user and password parameters are correct if they don't need quotes or brackets or bent brackets or some weird space!

 

[Jimbo.Automates]

So cam005 won't work, add as cam_005 and restart the nodeserver and send a new log package, I'll try to review tomorrow.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL with Tapatalk

[EagleAye]

Son of a *itch...something happened, and now I see the camera! I dunno if it was a fresh install, but SOMETHING worked!

Now I can see what parameters isy receives from the camera.  Thank You, Thank You!

[Jimbo.Automates]

Good to hear!

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL with Tapatalk

[glsmith777]

So, I am certain I have missed something very basic.  All my cameras show up (very cool).

But as I am trying to tie programs to camera motion - I see no motion being triggered.

As I read your documentation (very good by the way), I read -

• These cameras do not allow configuring a push notification when motion is sensed so you must enable motion polling which will poll the camera every short poll interval to check for motion.

OK - how do I enable motion polling?

thank you!

 

[asbril]

On 9/19/2019 at 8:20 PM, Jimbo said:

Foscam and Amcrest are not the same

I actually believe that Foscam and Amcrest are not eachother's friend.  They may have worked together in the past and then the Foscam.us url was kept by Amcrest, which is very confusing when you are looking for Foscam cameras and/or software.

I have several Foscam cameras for which I use the Foscam software and I have always wondered what either BlueIris or the Poliglot nodeserver would add for me.

[landolfi]

I'm hoping somebody is still monitoring this.

I have 2 Insteon cameras, 1 HD and 1 SD, and I no longer have an Insteon hub. They both have Foscam model numbers. What I am trying to do is get a zwave motion sensor to trigger the cameras to take a snapshot when they detect motion. Is the Camera Control the appropriate thing to use for that use case or should I be using network resources instead?

I can get the SD camera to work with the Camera Control Node server just fine. But the HD is another story.

I have the following parameters set up for the Camera Control node server for the HD camera: Username, password, and a cam_01 key with values: { "type": "Foscam HD2", "host": "192.168.x.xx", "port": "200" }. When the SD cam is working with the Node server, it does without any cam_xx key.

Assuming the Camera Control is the right way to go: According to the Camera Control doc, I can only specify one login, so it appears from that the logins for both cameras should be the same. Is that correct? Do I need separate cam_xx parameters for each one (I assume yes)?