FI8918W preset monitoring/surveillance

[sullyabbycam]

Is there a way to have the camera cycle through presets for monitoring purposes, or is the pan/tilt surveillance all we get?

[1994MGoBlue]

I haven't found a setting to do what you desire, however, I am looking into writing a little script that could accomplish roughly the same thing. My intention was to do something like "Go to Preset 0, capture a static image, Go to Preset 1, capture a static image" and use those images on a website.

Obviously this isn't as user-friendly and you would need a machine to run this script on a periodic basis to pan the camera around.

You can construct URL's that will cause the webcam to move to a specific preset location. Assuming your webcam was at 192.168.0.100, everything below would be prefixed with: http://192.168.0.100/

here are the URL commands for the PRESET function

http://your.webcam.address/decoder_control.cgi?command=30 = Set preset 0
decoder_control.cgi?command=31 = Go preset 0

decoder_control.cgi?command=32 = Set preset 1
decoder_control.cgi?command=33 = Go preset 1

decoder_control.cgi?command=34 = Set preset 2
decoder_control.cgi?command=35 = Go preset 2

decoder_control.cgi?command=36 = Set preset 3
decoder_control.cgi?command=37 = Go preset 3

the list goes until preset 16

So in theory you could move the camera from Preset 1 to 2 to 3 with the following commands:
http://192.168.0.100/decoder_control.cgi?command=31
<wait some amount of time>
http://192.168.0.100/decoder_control.cgi?command=33
<wait some amount of time>
http://192.168.0.100/decoder_control.cgi?command=35

[1994MGoBlue]

This is probably more gory than you wanted to get into, but here's what I've started writing for myself. In my case, I have a NAS device (D-Link DNS-321 or DNS-323) that happens to run Linux and is easily hacked/rooted. It's running all of the time and provides a decent, low-power consumption automation server.

The shell script below will take 4 snapshots (still images) of 4 different preset locations. Use Internet Explorer (not Chrome or Firefox) to setup to presets. I created an account called "operator" with password "operator" and it has the permission of (duh) operator. In this example, the webcam is setup to use port 55555 since most ISPs frown upon use of port 80.

I'd like to do more with these snapshots, maybe retain 24 hours of them and somehow inject a time/date stamp at the top of the image.

Code: Select all

#!/ffp/bin/sh

#1. Go to preset 0 (command=31), output to stdout
wget -O - http://mywebcam.dyndns.org:55555/decoder_control.cgi?command=31\&user=operator\&pwd=operator
# Sleep 10 seconds to give the webcam a chance to move.
sleep 10
#2. Save a snapshot as preset0.jpg
wget -O /tmp/preset0.jpg http://mywebcam.dyndns.org:55555/snapshot.cgi?user=operator\&pwd=operator
#

#3. Go to preset 1 (command=33), output to stdout
wget -O - http://mywebcam.dyndns.org:55555/decoder_control.cgi?command=33\&user=operator\&pwd=operator
#
sleep 10
#4. Save a snapshot as preset1.jpg
wget -O /tmp/preset1.jpg http://mywebcam.dyndns.org:55555/snapshot.cgi?user=operator\&pwd=operator
#

#5. Go to preset 2 (command=35), output to stdout
wget -O - http://mywebcam.dyndns.org:55555/decoder_control.cgi?command=35\&user=operator\&pwd=operator
#
sleep 10
#6. Save a snapshot as preset2.jpg
wget -O /tmp/preset2.jpg http://mywebcam.dyndns.org:55555/snapshot.cgi?user=operator\&pwd=operator
#

#7. Go to preset 3 (command=37), output to stdout
wget -O - http://mywebcam.dyndns.org:55555/decoder_control.cgi?command=37\&user=operator\&pwd=operator
#
sleep 10
#8. Save a snapshot as preset3.jpg
wget -O /tmp/preset3.jpg http://mywebcam.dyndns.org:55555/snapshot.cgi?user=operator\&pwd=operator

# And finally send it back to preset 0
wget -O - http://mywebcam.dyndns.org:55555/decoder_control.cgi?command=31\&user=operator\&pwd=operator

[Kalikte]

Hi 1994MGoBlue, have you been able to setup your Foscam FI8918W to record directly to your DNS-323? It would be great to be able to record from the Foscam FI8908W using the "Alarm Service Settings" directly to the D-Link DNS-323 NAS.

[1994MGoBlue]

I haven't actually tried that setup using the motion alarm. The issue is my NAS device is in one location and the webcam will be at another location, a few hundred miles away. I will have the web interface open so I can do some of the scripting I mentioned in this thread, but it would be difficult for my particular setup to use.

I do believe you can set the Motion Alarm to trigger an FTP file upload? If so, I know the DNS-323 has an FTP server (not the most secure protocol, it would be best if you only have to traverse your home LAN, not the internet to deliver the file). So, you should be able to configure FTP on your DNS-323, create a userid/password for the webcam, then setup the webcam to FTP to your NAS... (Untested, but seems reasonable).

[newninja]

i need some help here!!
Im trying to enable a command line where I can enable / disable the alarm function from the camera.
Is it possible? I have a Foscam FI8918W.

for example:
http://username@password.ipaddress/alarm_enable_sen7 (this enables alarm with sensitivity #7.