Foscam FI8918W has anybody got it working?

[joshpond]

Thanks Barney,

I can get it through the browser with the videostream. I'll try updating the device template when I get back home in a few days.

Thanks Josh

[purps]

OK, little bit of a lie when I said I never had them working reliably - I also had my Foscams plugged into an external network as well, and they worked fine, BUT I got told off when I asked for help with my VOIP (which I still can't get working, despite having a "normal" network setup again). Have to keep my setup as textbook as possible or I will never get ANYTHING going. So no more external router.

I remember discussing the Foscams on IRC, and the words "ARP" and "stack" and "crappy" were being used. And whilst that might be a true, standard routers do seem to be able to handle them (I'm sure I'm missing something fundamental as to why that is). Maybe it's the same story with your old satellite receiver.

Cheers,
Matt.

[joshpond]

Ok still some trouble;

In the path box I have.

Code Select Expand

/videostream.cgi?
TCP port is 80 which is the default of the camera and I've also checked the settings on the camera which show port 80
password and user are setup as well.
It is set to a static address if that makes a difference?

Copied everything else from the panasonic template except for the scripts in the edit ruby codes section which I got from the wiki page for the FI8908W.
   1. 84 Get video frame

Code Select Expand


conn_.Reconnect()
auth_s="user="+device_.devdata_[114]+"&pwd="+device_.devdata_[115];

fix_path=device_.devdata_[2]+auth_s;
fix_path='/'+fix_path if(fix_path[0]!='/'[0]);

s = "GET "+fix_path+" HTTP/1.0\r\n"
s+= "Accept: */*\r\n"
s+= "\r\n"

conn_.Send(s)
recv=""
while(true)
  buff=conn_.Recv(16384, 5000)
  if(buff.length() == 0)
     break
   end
   recv = recv +  buff
end
if (recv=~ /^HTTP[^\r\n]+200\sOK.+?\r\n\r\n(.+)$/m)
  fileName="/tmp/ip_camera_img"+device_.devid_.to_s
  imageFile=File.new(fileName+".jpg",'w')
  imageFile.print $1
  imageFile.close()
  system("/usr/bin/convert "+fileName+".jpg "+fileName+".png");
  size=File.stat(fileName+".png").size
  imageFile=File.new(fileName+".png",'r')
  img = imageFile.read(size);
  imageFile.close()
  data_set(img)
  format_set('png')
end


Unfortunately still no image. I'm finding whenever I click on the foscam tab in the orbiter the padorbiter keeps reloading or the hybrid freezes on that surveillance screen with no image.

Josh

[tschak909]

Did you check to see if videostream.cgi outputs a single JPEG image? That's what the system requires. Look at the Get Video Frame command in the web admin, under your video camera device (Advanced > Send Command)

hmm.

-Thom

[joshpond]

Thanks for the help so far.

99.99% certain that the videostream outputs a single jpeg. I believe that is how it pushes through to firefox browser and trying to save the videostream picks it up as jpeg. Everything I can find on google indicates that it is a jpeg stream.

Thom, when you mention the advanced, send command to device? Am I trying to send a command to the device to test?
or....
Am I viewing the device template, editing the camera commands, editing #Get Video Frame #84?

Sorry getting lost here. Is there anything in the wiki that goes through this in more detail as I've spent hours trawling through the wiki trying to learn as much as I can about the system.

Thanks Josh

[b4rney]

There is a snapshot.cgi too. You could try that first.

Let us know if it works and I'll update the wiki.
Barney

[joshpond]

Hi Barney,

I'll update the wiki to include this camera if I can get it going.

I've tried
/videostream.cgi?
/video.cgi?
/snapshot.cgi?

Nothing..... Somedays you just feel like dropkicking computers and this was one of them.

Time to take a break.

Josh

[b4rney]

Just a thought ... are you including the full IP address in the path or just '/snapshot.cgi?'.

I think you need the full IP address.
Barney

[purps]

I had to put username and password in there as well...

Code Select Expand

http://192.168.1.XXX/videostream.cgi?user=XXXXX&pwd=XXXXXX

Check port number is 80 also.

Cheers,
Matt.

[joshpond]

Thanks guys,

managed to solve the problem:

Code Select Expand

http://192.168.1.XXX/videostream.cgi?user=XXXXX&pwd=XXXXXX
Would work in the browser,
Had port 80, had password and user in both the device boxes. Had IP address and MAC address in the boxes as well.

The issue was with the path description as (with my poor understanding of Ruby) the get video command would pull the user/password and IP address from the relevant fields.

After hours of playing around with it in a browser and trying all combinations , snapshot/videostream/video it turns out the problem is with the foward slash. Having it there in the path field, the ruby code must have pulled the path as <IP_Address>//snapshot.cgi and that extra backslash was causing the wrong path and hopefully the reason why the device kept restarting and the orbiter to reload.

So the path has to be:

Code Select Expand

snapshot.cgi?
NOT

Code Select Expand

/snapshot.cgi?

I'll run it for a while and see how it all goes and try and make it plug and play too.

Thanks all.

[joshpond]

Had to do a reinstall and tried to make the Foscam device template again.

Using the same things and trying the same things but no video again.........

I assume the easiest would be to wait till the device template I submitted a while ago gets added to the database.

When do device templates that get submitted to sqlcvs get added to the database?

Are there any other solutions?

Thanks Josh

[blackoper]

10 hours left to get the best price i've seen on these cameras $69.95 shipped from 1saleaday.com. Just an fyi for those interested in it

[Jicky]

Had to do a reinstall and tried to make the Foscam device template again.

Using the same things and trying the same things but no video again.........

I assume the easiest would be to wait till the device template I submitted a while ago gets added to the database.

When do device templates that get submitted to sqlcvs get added to the database?

Are there any other solutions?

Thanks Josh

Hi Josh,

Did you have successfully to created and viewed the foscam FI8918W in your orbiter?

Regards,
Jicky

[huh]

Yes- I am typically able to view my camera from my orbiter.  I think motion is still having problems as I am able to go to 192.168.80.1:8000 and see the picture- such as this one of my basement ceiling:  http://imgur.com/rY4Dp

Whenever I click on the camera on an orbiter or Security -> View Cameras I either get a blank screen on the orbiter or "Camera screenshot not available" in the web admin pages yet I can see the image linked on imgur above.

I just followed the directions in the wiki- this page looks different than I remember, but the instructions look very familiar:  http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Foscam_FI8905W

I've tried restarting motion per the wiki instructions, but to no avail:

Code Select Expand


dcerouter_1024916:/home/huh# /etc/init.d/motion restart
* Not starting motion daemon, disabled via /etc/default/motion


[Jicky]

Yes- I am typically able to view my camera from my orbiter.  I think motion is still having problems as I am able to go to 192.168.80.1:8000 and see the picture- such as this one of my basement ceiling:  http://imgur.com/rY4Dp

Whenever I click on the camera on an orbiter or Security -> View Cameras I either get a blank screen on the orbiter or "Camera screenshot not available" in the web admin pages yet I can see the image linked on imgur above.

I just followed the directions in the wiki- this page looks different than I remember, but the instructions look very familiar:  http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Foscam_FI8905W

I've tried restarting motion per the wiki instructions, but to no avail:

Code Select Expand


dcerouter_1024916:/home/huh# /etc/init.d/motion restart
* Not starting motion daemon, disabled via /etc/default/motion


But did you make it can Pan/Tilt in the orbiter? if yes, can you please tell me the instructions?

Thanks in advanced