NetCat IP camera stream is not showing up

[Litvakas]

Hello everyone,

I am quite new to zoneminder and after a bit of struggle i have managed to successfully install it using these instructions -> https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Ubuntu_Serv ... e_easy_way

I am using Linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS desktop version.

Just to inform you in advance i believe that I am quite new to things like webservices, PHP, apache, Mysql and etc. So if you require any logs for further assistance please give me guidelines on how to retrieve it, thank you

Although it seems that everything went fine on my installation i have encountered some issues when viewing the stream.

I am using NetCat IP camera (link -> http://www.netcatcctv.com/English/Produ ... 64842.html) and followed these instructions when adding -> https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Netcat

After all the configuration my NetCat IP camera shows as added successfully, but it seems that i cannot see the stream itself (despite that camera is working for sure), i am attaching screenshots to be more clear.

Not sure what i might be doing incorrectly

Thank you for answers

[knight-of-ni]

The screenshots you provided do no match what is stated in the Netcat wiki instructions.

[swindle720]

Hi Litvakas, how are you finding the quality of that camera? (im currently researching for new cameras) and I know your having issues setting up, try setting Target colorspace: 32 bit color also make sure the Capture Width is correct, also could you also screenshot the other tabs?

Thanks buddy!

[PacoLM]

Hi,

Have you checked this:
Options | Paths | PATH_ZMS -> /zm/cgi-bin/nph-zms
Also, in order to setup the cam, first try with a lower resolution 640x480, for instance, if supported, so you could check communication and settings are OK, then increase the resolution to the desired one. For instance, if you resolution and buffers are too high, the /run/shm could be fully used and the monitor will not show any image.
Hope it helps,
PacoLM

[knight-of-ni]

Guys, while the response to help the OP is great, I think this is a case of too many, different responses all at once. That's just going to confuse him.

The source path shown in his screenshot is wrong. What the op needs to do first, before anything else, is go back to the Netcat Wiki article and follow all the steps there, including but not limited to, correcting the source path.

[Litvakas]

Thank you all for quick responses, i believe that i have managed to solve my issue. Well sort of to be honest...

Firslty - I have checked again the https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Netcat and installed Onvif device manager on my other WIN7 pc and rewrote and assigned fixed IP to my camera - 192.168.1.14.

After this step i re-added my camera again with the following command line in the source and lowered the video (640x352) dimensions:
rtsp://{ip address}:554/user=admin&password={admin password}&channel=1&stream=0.sdp?

At this point when opening the stream the screen at least went to the size which i have selected (640x352) but it still was white blank and in the top left corner i saw broken image logo.

Secondly i tried what PacoLM has suggested, i went to Options | Paths | PATH_ZMS and saw that my path was /cgi-bin/nph-zms so i have edited it to /zm/cgi-bin/nph-zms

After this step the stream window turned blue, i was able to see changing FPS and the timestamp in the top left corner, but nothing more (adding a screenshot).

Then i have tried rtsp://192.168.1.14:554/user=admin&password={admin password}&channel=1&stream=0.sdp? link on VLC, but VLC dropped an error, so after that i have tried rtsp://192.168.1.14:554/11 which i found on Onvif device manager and for some reason it worked on VLC, than i have changed the source of the camera to the same IP rtsp://192.168.1.14:554/11 and VOILA it worked i was able to see the stream.

But after the final step some questions arised: firstly how can i see the stream if i have not writen the username and password for the camera anywhere. Moreover, some i saw that some times for couple of seconds the camera went into blue screen again, and when it is set to monitor and motion detection on the event it lags and provides green lines, or broken pixel blocks, not sure if this is related with camera, PC or video codecs or something else, any ideas?

Thank you

[knight-of-ni]

This is the url which works with my Netcat camera:

Code: Select all

rtsp://{ip address}:554/user=admin&password={admin password}&channel=1&stream=0.sdp?

Use whichever url works with VLC player. Also, use VLC player to tell you the exact resolution of the stream. You have to get it exactly correct. Otherwise you get a blue screen. Notice in the wiki instructions, the resolution is set to 1920 x 1090. This is not a typo.

The system load shown in your screenshots is too high for just two cameras. That is likely what is causing the intermittant blue screens. What kind of hardware are you running on? Make sure you lower the frame rate in the camera (not in zoneminder). Use the "CMS" software which came with the camera to set the frame rate to 5 fps.

An undocumented "feature" of my Netcat camera is that it completely ignores ONVIF authentication. You can put whatever credentials you want, and the camera streams and does PTZ control just fine. ...recommend you secure this camera behind a firewall and add rules to prevent outside traffic from communicating with camera. Also add a firewall rule to block the camera from reaching out on its own to the outside world.

Finally, after almost a year of operation, the super bright IR LED's failed on the camera. It no longer sees in the dark. Other than that, this camera has worked well for me.

If you still have issues, please post the contents of your zoneminder log. More is better.