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TVEngineer77

Streaming IP Cameras live for people to see

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I'm looking at installing IP MP cameras and an NVR. I know that since everything is streamed over IP, I assume I can connect to a single camera via a web browser provided I have the right IP address and port forwarding setup, thus bypassing any NVR software frontend...

 

My question is if I were to do this and make the link to a camera available for people in my community to see it whenever they want, would it affect the performance of the streaming signal to the NVR? I could imagine several people COULD be watching that camera at any time.

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If the viewers are connecting directly to the camera, then yes, it could theoretically affect the stream to the NVR... however, the internet pipe is probably so small (maybe half a megabit if you're on DSL) that it wouldn't have the bandwidth to put enough "strain" on the LAN to be a problem.

 

What would probably be preferable would be to use a remote streaming service, and send the camera's stream to that; then the remote server handles all the demand instead of your broadband connection. Or, if you don't need "live" views, many IP cameras have the ability to send video clips or images via ftp - you could build a page on your webserver (which presumably has sufficient bandwidth to handle the demand) that simply displays an image with a set name, and then have the camera upload a new image of that name on a set schedule - once every 30 or 60 seconds, for example.

 

Edit: another advantage to this method is that you can also send the output of several cameras to the web or streaming server...

Edited by Guest

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This will not work with the Mini you can only have so many connections and it counts against your total bandwidth. Do you want the people to be able to see recorded footage?

 

"I assume I can connect to a single camera via a web browser provided I have the right IP address and port forwarding setup, thus bypassing any NVR software frontend"

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This will not work with the Mini you can only have so many connections and it counts against your total bandwidth. Do you want the people to be able to see recorded footage?

 

"I assume I can connect to a single camera via a web browser provided I have the right IP address and port forwarding setup, thus bypassing any NVR software frontend"

 

Not with Arecont cameras

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This will not work with the Mini you can only have so many connections and it counts against your total bandwidth. Do you want the people to be able to see recorded footage?

 

"I assume I can connect to a single camera via a web browser provided I have the right IP address and port forwarding setup, thus bypassing any NVR software frontend"

 

Not with Arecont cameras

 

Yeah, well, I don't like Areconts anyway (you may have heard )

 

To the OP: they're a bit pricier, but I recommend IQEye - they'll handle everything mentioned above. Newer versions even have a "cameo" function that lets you pre-define different views and crops.

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This will not work with the Mini you can only have so many connections and it counts against your total bandwidth. Do you want the people to be able to see recorded footage?

 

"I assume I can connect to a single camera via a web browser provided I have the right IP address and port forwarding setup, thus bypassing any NVR software frontend"

 

Not with Arecont cameras

 

Am I missing point ?

If he wants to connect direct to Arecont camera why not ?

I would never recommend this anyway for reasons stated by others

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the idea is to allow people to see a streamed view of a camera, separate of the live view from the NVR. That way they would not be able to change any settings or see any recorded video since they wouldn't be using NVR or camera remote view software, just a standard web browser.

 

The #1 question I'm asked now that we have cameras monitoring the entrance/exit of our community is "Can we see that online somewhere?" - I've been telling people NO until I can make sure it can be done and most importantly it won't affect what is being recorded by the NVR.

 

I should add that the NVR and camera IP network are located at each gate area and are always connected to via remote. There is no local PC on the network. For an internet connection I have Verizon FiOS 20/5 service.

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Will I would used Exacq and the web interface. You could setup a user and password that limits the access only to the cameras you what and the can only see live video. There is no way for the person or people to change any settings in the NVR or cameras

 

"Yeah, well, I don't like Areconts anyway (you may have heard Wink )

 

To the OP: they're a bit pricier, but I recommend IQEye - they'll handle everything mentioned above. Newer versions even have a "cameo" function that lets you pre-define different views and crops."

 

Well

 

Sure you could go the IQeye route and open up extra ports and let the hackers go to town on your cameras and network. Also what happens if you want see multi cameras? You don't want to give everyone 10 different ip:8080 address to remember plus password words. If it's not easy people will not use it.

 

The easiest and safest way is to keep your cameras behind your NVR and allow people access the NVR software....... Exacqvision's web interface would be a great solution for this project.

Edited by Guest

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This will not work with the Mini you can only have so many connections and it counts against your total bandwidth. Do you want the people to be able to see recorded footage?

 

"I assume I can connect to a single camera via a web browser provided I have the right IP address and port forwarding setup, thus bypassing any NVR software frontend"

 

Not with Arecont cameras

 

Am I missing point ?

If he wants to connect direct to Arecont camera why not ?

I would never recommend this anyway for reasons stated by others

 

Arecont cameras are security cameras not web cameras..... You can only pull one stream from the cameras and you will never get full frame rates connecting to the web interface on Arecont cameras.

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Arecont cameras are security cameras not web cameras..... You can only pull one stream from the cameras and you will never get full frame rates connecting to the web interface on Arecont cameras.

 

Hmm, if I remember correct Arecont can do up to 8 concurrent streams

I mean H.264 models

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Arecont cameras are security cameras not web cameras..... You can only pull one stream from the cameras and you will never get full frame rates connecting to the web interface on Arecont cameras.

 

Hmm, if I remember correct Arecont can do up to 8 concurrent streams

I mean H.264 models

 

Your thinking about the ROI in the AV100 software that is the only way to pull multi streams

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Sure you could go the IQeye route and open up extra ports and let the hackers go to town on your cameras and network. Also what happens if you want see multi cameras? You don't want to give everyone 10 different ip:8080 address to remember plus password words. If it's not easy people will not use it.

 

The easiest and safest way is to keep your cameras behind your NVR and allow people access the NVR software....... Exacqvision's web interface would be a great solution for this project.

 

Actually, the SAFEST way is not to open up your network to outsiders at all - cameras pushing their streams out to an external webserver eliminates the need to open ANY outside ports or give ANYONE else, ANY kind of direct access to your NVR or cameras.

 

The IQ511 I have here on my desk will push time-lapse stills to an ftp server at minimum 1s intervals, effectively the equivalent of 1fps. Such a method would give coherent "video" to the webserver with relatively minimal bandwidth requirements - all the load would be on the remote webserver. Sign up with GoDaddy or a hosting site like that, a little HTML code to display the images, and away you go.

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Arecont cameras are security cameras not web cameras..... You can only pull one stream from the cameras and you will never get full frame rates connecting to the web interface on Arecont cameras.

 

Hmm, if I remember correct Arecont can do up to 8 concurrent streams

I mean H.264 models

 

Your thinking about the ROI in the AV100 software that is the only way to pull multi streams

 

Hmm, let me look at Pdf's

I dont have h.264 cam in stock now

and I don't remember web GUI

will check later i guess

 

by the way Mike

Arecont have prototype supporting ONVIF and/or PSIA

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Sure you could go the IQeye route and open up extra ports and let the hackers go to town on your cameras and network. Also what happens if you want see multi cameras? You don't want to give everyone 10 different ip:8080 address to remember plus password words. If it's not easy people will not use it.

 

The easiest and safest way is to keep your cameras behind your NVR and allow people access the NVR software....... Exacqvision's web interface would be a great solution for this project.

 

Actually, the SAFEST way is not to open up your network to outsiders at all - cameras pushing their streams out to an external webserver eliminates the need to open ANY outside ports or give ANYONE else, ANY kind of direct access to your NVR or cameras.

 

The IQ511 I have here on my desk will push time-lapse stills to an ftp server at minimum 1s intervals, effectively the equivalent of 1fps. Such a method would give coherent "video" to the webserver with relatively minimal bandwidth requirements - all the load would be on the remote webserver. Sign up with GoDaddy or a hosting site like that, a little HTML code to display the images, and away you go.

 

Still much easier using the NVR software.... and no monthly fees

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Arecont cameras are security cameras not web cameras..... You can only pull one stream from the cameras and you will never get full frame rates connecting to the web interface on Arecont cameras.

 

Hmm, if I remember correct Arecont can do up to 8 concurrent streams

I mean H.264 models

 

Your thinking about the ROI in the AV100 software that is the only way to pull multi streams

 

Hmm, let me look at Pdf's

I dont have h.264 cam in stock now

and I don't remember web GUI

will check later i guess

 

by the way Mike

Arecont have prototype supporting ONVIF and/or PSIA

 

 

"Multi-Streaming

• Up to 8 concurrent non-identical streams with different

frame rates, bit rates, resolutions and picture quality"

 

At training they told us this only works with the AV100 and only have one connection with that cameras at a time.

 

But you can do it but your frame rates drop drastically ( they didn't design that cameras for this)...... They talked about adding it to the SDK for 3rd part software. But using Exacq I will not need it anyway and if I need web camera features I would use Mobotix.

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Actually, the SAFEST way is not to open up your network to outsiders at all "AGREE 100 % - cameras pushing their streams out to an external webserver eliminates the need to open ANY outside ports or give ANYONE else, ANY kind of direct access to your NVR or cameras.

 

The IQ511 I have here on my desk will push time-lapse stills to an ftp server at minimum 1s intervals, effectively the equivalent of 1fps.

 

but camera pushing out images by ftp

can be found and be subject for attacks

right ?

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Many products do not provide the web interface and stated frame rate when multiple people or devices are connected. This is because the cameras are built to a price and the processor is not powerful enough.

 

In many cases, there is a server between the camera, the NVR and the viewing client that manages this.

 

A better solution would be a proxy server to the web client so only 1 stream is being accessed directly from the camera.

I have don this for several live event I sponsored like the Human Zoo and City to Bay Fun Run

The human zoo was a 30 day project with live video and audio. The fun run is a once per year event over 3 hours, streamed live with down loadable recordings.

 

The product I used for these was IndigoVision due to its significantly lower bandwidth.

Contact me though the following site for more info http://nortronics.com.au

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