Squiffy

I upgraded from my really old cameras to a few Zosi 2MP cameras last year. Cheap and cheerful, I wasn't expecting much. but they've been excellent for my needs so far.

Switched on my CCTV monitor this morning and, lo and behold, the camera is now visible. I'd changed absolutely nothing in all this time, so it's baffling.

Reading elsewhere, it mentions that Tapo themselves have to enable RTSP on the camera (an automated process), which sounds odd, but would appear to be the only logical explanation.

Just to clarify, there's an enable RTSP option in the Tapo app, which I'd enabled ages ago. But then it seems you have to wait for Tapo to actually make it effective, in this case, a matter of months... 🙄

Wasn't sure whether to post to security cameras or this section, but this seems to be more appropriate.

I can connect to my Tapo C210 camera via RTSP with VLC on Windows, but have had no luck adding it to my DVR.
When clicking on the "test" button, it responds with "invalid username/password" or "offline", but the IP address is correct, the port is open, and both username and password are correct...
Not sure what I'm doing wrong, so hopefully someone here can enlighten me.

Only recently bought it, the firmware version no. is ridiculously long - 1.3.8.56598B230207.D0D.U1(8A41N), launch date was 7th July 2023.

I'd turned off the DVR's "App Live Self-adaption" previously, as mentioned before. Only setting that on the DVR resulted in the annoying " "Subcode stream adaptation is not turned on" message when viewing on the app, which has now gone since changing the app settings as you recommended.

Many thanks Tom, problem resolved. Note that, on the app, the setting is "Resolution Adaptation", rather than "self adaptation", should anyone else be looking for that option.

An old thread, but the same question. The app defaults to the lowest resolution (352x288) every time, on all cameras (just 4 in use), which is ridiculously low. I can of course change the resolution setting, but it's not 'sticky'.

There's no issue with bandwidth here (connection is WiFi into my router) and my phone is pretty fast. The only way to stop this is to disable the DVR's "App Live Self adaption" which then gives the resolution I want, except it pops up a message on the app "Subcode stream adaptation is not turned on" every single time I view the stream (and change the camera channel).

FYI: Two cameras are 1920x1080, the other two are 704x576, stream settings are all default (auto) settings, i.e. VBR, quality higher, bit rates are 1024kbps and 512kbps

DVR is a Viper 5MPL-8BB

Any help/advice on this will be appreciated.

My elderly DVR suddenly rebooted by itself yesterday, upon (automatic) rebooting it does the usual system checks and passes them. The background video display is distorted (as if it's running at an incorrect sync rate), but the overlay graphics are fine. It then pops up "sys err 01-014" a few times before rebooting (and then doing the same again).
 

Can anyone shed light on this error code?

Replying to my own question, NTFS is fine. Turns out the problem was actually a low +12v voltage rail to the HDD itself, hence the drive problems, not a problem with the drive after all.

Up until recently the DVR's been fine, but it has recently been getting HDD errors with subsequent reboots.

Have tried replacing the hard drive with an old but known good drive and experiencing "drive error" during initialising.

Do these DVRs require the HD to be formatted in FAT32? I can't remember if the replacement is FAT32 or NTFS.

Note that the DVR doesn't appear to have any formatting capabilities.

Yes, it is. Obviously this shouldn't take much work to figure out using a multimeter, but the Samsung camera 6-pin connector looks to me like one of those hard to find connectors, tailor made for use with their own controller range.

Thanks Sean, is full documentation supplied with it?

Reading a few more posts here, I've seen mention that Pelco-D can control basic Samsung camera PTZ functions, can anyone confirm this?

I could of course experiment, but the actual pin-outs are unknown to me for both the camera and the DVR which doesn't help matters

Thanks Tom, the problem is the difference in protocol, unless I've misunderstood your meaning? Access to the connections themselves is no problem, although the pin-out on the main 6-pin connector isn't obvious (to me at least). Come to think of it I'm not even sure of the RS485 pin-out of the ACV787 either

@ ljarrald - you was bidding for that same camera? I was surprised to win the auction, as I'm usually outbid in the past few seconds, so now I know who to blame in the future

Thanks Sean, I assume the DIP switches are to select various protocols? Anyone bought from that firm before? I'm always wary of buying anything outside the UK and especially from China...

As for using the camera with a pan/tilt head, that would be ideal, wish I could find one going cheap

I've just bought a used Samsung SDZ330, a fixed camera offering just optical zoom/focus. I was assuming I'd be able to use this with my AVTech AVC787 DVR, but now I'm pretty sure it's only controllable using Samsung's protocol (the AVTech model only supports Pelco-D and their own protocol). I'll appreciate confirmation of this, or any suggestions on work arounds.

For PTZ, the SDZ330 uses a 6-pin connector, 3 of which are used, but which pin is which isn't apparent in the manual, which would make any experimentation even more puzzling.

As an alternative, the zoom/focus can be controlled using an external voltage, would this be a better route for interfacing to the AVC787 and what would be required?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe OFCOM have only made parts of that spectrum available to other parties, it's still in use by the military, law enforcement and amateur radio operators. Not sure about point-to-point links as used by broadcasters, although I recollect a general migration to higher frequencies being made a few years back.

Yes, I'm familiar with microwave feeds, as a radio amateur I transmit/receive video on 1.3 and 2.4GHz (analogue only at the moment) and have experience with digital (and indeed digital encryption systems) as used on satellite.

Flat plate beamwidths aren't actually that narrow compared to a dish, but obviously receiving it (and analysing it) would probably be a waste of time. I would add though that sometimes encryption isn't always enabled in feeds which you'd think would be secure...

Thanks. It's annoying that there's no identifying lettering on it anywhere. Elsewhere locally there are fixed ANPR cameras with the same plate antennae. I'm assuming this is all linked to a police CCTV monitoring room, so would be via a secure system.

Recently installed locally to me by the local council (located Canvey Island, UK). There are no markings anywhere to be seen.

http://img97.imageshack.us/i/charfleetscctv.jpg/

I assume the flat plate antenna is operating on around 3.4 or 5.8GHz, presumably a digital and encrypted system.

And yes, it should be rotated clockwise, I've already done that, but imageshack seems to ignore the flag for some reason.

Cheapest method is to rummage through your old photos andfind an old, blank, exposed negative, it works very well.

I'm glad to report I've found an application at last:

http://hit-mob.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18

It works on many camera/DVR models, the AVTech AV7xx range being supported for image only (so no control available, although you can make a preset for viewing camera individually if you wish).

The application is available in a free or paid version.

Hi,

thanks, I did try it, but it just kept trying to connect and not succeeding.

It's a dynamic IP address, so I use an HTTP redirector, I assume your application allows URLs and is not just expecting an IP address?

Note that pressing "back" to stop the attempts wouldn't work either, it just kept trying.

I have emailed AVTech about such an application, am awaiting a reply.

Thanks, tried both and unfortunately neither would work, not even connecting to the server properly (or at least not responding with any kind of error message).

I've an AVTech AVC787, so the existing Java applet works for my existing old Sony W800 phone, but I'm looking to upgrade to the HTC Desire (Android).

I've searched around and I don't think there's a solution yet, but perhaps someone can enlighten me.

One way of doing it would be to display the luminance spectrum in real time, just tweak for the highest frequency content which would equate to the sharpest image. This could also be converted so that, the sharper the focus, the higher an audio oscillator sounds.

Basildon, Essex, UK. When revisiting the area, I noticed that their heights had been reduced - either that or there was some peculiar optical illusion the first time!