Low cost IP camera solution

newvisionantenna · Post by **newvisionantenna** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:27 pm

While everyone is focused on getting rtsp and all these other features working, I'm still hard at work on some really low cost solutions.

Today I feel I have reached about 80% of my ultimate goal. Let's take the ASUS 520GU for example, sold on Newegg for less then 30 bucks at times, and with that router let's make it work with Zoneminder. I've already spoke of WiFi Mesh building CCTV systems, that's already working, what I'm focusing on now is the quality of the video and stability.

I'm now able to run atleast two newer UVC compatable web cam's on any ASUS router with usb ports. With mjpg_streamer there is little to no cpu usage, PTZ features, amazing picture quality, 15fps or greater, and the ability to password protect the video feed just like other high end camera's. I've already tested everything in Zoneminder and of course included the mjgpSteamer.pm file in my DVD.

How can you beat $150, if that, the ability to run wireless, mjpg_streamer, dual webcam's, 640x480 and greater, and make money off our hotspot system?

or you could get this for over $2000, your choice

http://www.wlanmall.com/axis-daynight-n ... p-994.html

newvisionantenna · Post by **newvisionantenna** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:18 pm

I now have a side by side comparison.

http://67.210.200.98/zm/index.php

login with admin/admin

Depends on how many people are trying to mess with it, I have both a $150 solution with PTZ or over a $2000 PTZ solution. You decide which you would rather pay

kingofkya · Post by **kingofkya** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:43 pm

now we need some one to sell hardware combs openwrt router + cams

why is the one cam black on demo

newvisionantenna · Post by **newvisionantenna** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:12 am

I've been testing all kinds of VPN setups. I'll take a look at it, it's probably unplugged or something changed. Now that I think about it my NSLU2 is plugged in for testing and not the ASUS.

I can easily sell the hardware and camera's. I just don't have an "offical" type store front. I thought about ebay or fixing up my Magento Store front to sell some stuff. We'll see where it all goes.

Blazer · Post by **Blazer** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:48 pm

newvisionantenna wrote:I now have a side by side comparison.

I have both a $150 solution with PTZ or over a $2000 PTZ solution. You decide which you would rather pay

Which PTZ camera are you using? Looks like OrbitAF? I have one of those and have not yet attempted to get PTZ working, is it difficult?

For a real security system most people will go with the more expensive camera as it has superior optics/zoom etc. But your setup works really well for casual/home user.

newvisionantenna · Post by **newvisionantenna** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:15 am

That's exactly what I'm targeting, especially since it seems like now is not a good time over there to spend $2000 on security equipment. The demo I put up with the WL500G Deluxe was pretty hard to beat and yes it was using the Orbit AF with Pan and Tilt. The control module is now included in the base 1.24.1 source code thanks to a forum user by the name of Dedmeet and one of the guys helping me with my project. It's very easy to get it working and is designed to use mjpg_streamer running on a remote application. I would think it works the same if your running mjpg_streamer locally on the same server.

Just to clarify, I initially thought the 520gu had a similar chipset to the WL500G Deluxe as far as wireless goes. I finally got one in and find out the wireless is not working using 8.09 Kamikaze at the moment. I also got a WL500W in and the same goes for it. I will have to wait till updated drivers are availabe for the 520gu but the WL500W contains a standard mini pci card and it can be changed for either a working broadcom or atheros card. That starts to add up so if you want to experiment with what I'm working on grab a WL500G Deluxe from either Ebay or let me contact a German reseller I know.

Just a final note, I've been working on a lot behind the scenes over the last week or so. Several people are now helping me with testing and the Wireless Mesh CCTV system is now to the point where it's all automated. It was all along but now no matter how the network gets arranged, Lan camera's or usb camera's can be feed into the server running Zoneminder and never change order, IP, or anything else for that matter. I've been staying out of the Zoneminder forums lately because it appears the guys over at the other forum are more interested in this approach I'm taking. I'll be back in here with a new updated and stripped down dvd that will have Zoneminder working and hopefully a full on demo of all our stuff working.

rdmelin · Post by **rdmelin** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:03 pm

The demo I put up with the WL500G Deluxe was pretty hard to beat and yes it was using the Orbit AF with Pan and Tilt.

Yes the demo is very good, especially for the price range.
I've included a Control preset for the Orbit in ZMLarch.
Are you making the firmware for the WL500G Deluxe available for download?
Or maybe you could post a howto wiki entry so others could duplicate your setup.

newvisionantenna · Post by **newvisionantenna** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:08 pm

The problem with the Deluxe is it's hard to get in the States. It's only a matter of time before I get this working on newer routers, say the WL500W for example. If anyone in here happens to have the WL500g Deluxe and want's it setup like mine I'll provide all info. Since my work is at a stand still on running USB webcam's on all types of routers I'm focused back on the Wireless mesh building aspect.

If you have a WL500g Deluxe the following should allow you to run it in wireless cleint mode and host multiple mjpg_streamer compatable camera's. Once you get the needed packages you can ssh into it and either create a script for camera detection and make it start mjpg_streamer automatically or run the normal mjpg_streamer commands at the command prompt and push it to the background.

1. Flash the 2.6 kernel Broadcom 47xx 8.09 final firmware onto the router.

2. Connect it to the internet and update the opkg database.

3. You will need a variant of the following packages. This is a screen shot saved awhile back. I remember some packages being newer,

bridge - 1.0.6-1 -
busybox - 1.8.2-1 -
dnsmasq - 2.40-1 -
dropbear - 0.50-3 -
e2fsprogs - 1.39-1 -
fdisk - 2.13.0.1-1 -
hostapd - 20071107_03ec0ec5cdb974d51a4a2a566bea4c4568138576-1 -
hostapd-utils - 20071107_03ec0ec5cdb974d51a4a2a566bea4c4568138576-1 -
hotplug2 - 0.9+r102-2 -
iptables - 1.3.8-2 -
kernel - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-diag - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-2 -
kmod-fs-ext3 - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-ipt-nathelper - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-madwifi - 2.6.23.16+r3314-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-ppp - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-pppoe - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-scsi-core - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-scsi-generic - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-switch - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-usb-core - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-usb-ohci - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-usb-storage - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-usb-uhci - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-video-core - 2.6.23.16-brcm47xx-1 -
kmod-video-uvc - 2.6.23.16+r151-brcm47xx-1 -
libblkid - 1.39-1 -
libgcc - 4.1.2-12 -
libjpeg - 6b-1 -
libopenssl - 0.9.8e-3 -
libpthread - 0.9.29-12 -
libuci - 0.3.0-1 -
libuuid - 1.39-1 -
mjpg-streamer - rev56-1 -
mtd - 6 -
ntpclient - 2003_194-6 -
ppp - 2.4.3-9 -
ppp-mod-pppoe - 2.4.3-9 -
swap-utils - 2.13.0.1-1 -
uci - 0.3.0-1 -
uclibc - 0.9.29-12 -
udevtrigger - 106-1 -
vsftpd - 2.0.5-2 -
wireless-tools - 29-2 -
wpa-cli - 0.5.9-1 -
wpa-supplicant - 0.5.9-1 -
zlib - 1.2.3-5 -

rdmelin · Post by **rdmelin** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:35 am

Thanks for that info. Putting one of these together is on my to do list.

The problem with the Deluxe is it's hard to get in the States

Is this the same as the WL-500g Premium or is that a different animal?

Since my work is at a stand still on running USB webcam's on all types of routers I'm focused back on the Wireless mesh building aspect.

What do you like for mesh? Do you use olsr or batman? Just curious as I would like to give this a try as well.

newvisionantenna · Post by **newvisionantenna** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:15 am

I would say if you could get the Premium and not the Version 2 you would be ok. It sees the WL500g Premium "version 1" I guess it's called is very similar to the Deluxe and has the same chipset. It's also possible the Linksys Router with usb ports would work, can't think of the name right now.

I do not use olsr or batman. Those types of setup might work for a security only type mesh but it's way to complicated in the end and uses ad hoc based distrubution. With the "WiFi Gator" approach that Chuck developed it's all automated and to the end user appears as a normal Hotspot and bandwidth is not lost between hops. It only makes sense to me to use the same network distrubution for the Hotspot to also run the Camera network. I know the main question would be how secure that is. The Hotspot traffic is totally seperate from the Camera feeds. All the feeds are going through a secure VPN connection and to the Zoneminder server appear as if it was local.

newvisionantenna · Post by **newvisionantenna** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:57 am

I did try out the same procedure on the newer WL500-W but the wireless is not working. You could open up the router and change out the mini-pci wireless card for something that works, however I'm going to wait and see if they come out with a patch for 8.09 to enable the wireless. If they do, the WL-500W will be the best platform. It has wireless N, 250+ mhz processor, and 32mb ram. You could get all the mjpg_streamer cam's running on it now but it would be more like a Lan base station with camera's attached.

newvisionantenna · Post by **newvisionantenna** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 3:27 pm

Ross,

I'll send you a pm soon but I've got everything going on easy to aquire router's

I'm talking openvpn, uvc/mjpg_streamer, chillispot, virtual ssid's, "open-mesh" network and more.

SyRenity · Post by **SyRenity** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 9:23 pm

Hi.

I checked the demo to compare the quality, but the USB cameras were offline.

Any idea when they will be available again?

Regards.

newvisionantenna · Post by **newvisionantenna** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:07 pm

I'll have one setup tomorrow on my new test router. I'll set it to the same 320x240 so you can see first hand the quality. Keep in mind I don't have a lot of upload here in Germany at the house so the Axis cam's might have an advantage on the framerate.

Let's see someone run cable or usb cords to cover and provide security to an area like this,

http://home.comcast.net/~claudio421/Air ... i/wifi.htm

It's all possible with what we are doing.

newvisionantenna · Post by **newvisionantenna** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:10 pm

Alright, the feed is back online using a modified openwrt build with the ASUS WL-500W router that is rather new router. This is my test subject and I will admit I had to open the router up to change the minipci card inside for an ahteros based card.

I have on order several new routers that cost 59.99 each. These routers will required no changes in cards or anything, only flash from the webgui with my special firmware and it's good to go.

Anyway, so right now this WL-500W can run multiple usb cameras at one time with little to no cpu usage. It can run in Access point mode or Client mode with Virtual SSID interfaces. For example, it's sitting at the corner of my builing in Client mode connected to my home router, it then outputs another SSID and interface that can be encryped as well. This interface can be connected to just like anything else, I'm typing this right now connected to the same router.

Ok, so we've got camera's, virtual interfaces with encryption, WDS/OLSRD/Friefunk capability, OpenVPN, Coova chilli for intergration with WiFi Gator, and the list goes on and on. I even have "motion" running on the router and it can copy files to a memory stick or run a complete security system on the router without even using Zoneminder.

Wow, that was a mouth full. I'll take some pictures of the setup and post if possible or just point another camera at the router to show it has no connection and that the camera's are in fact running from the router.

edit: I did a short motion record from the 2nd camera looking at and around the router clearly showing both camera's are running from the router and that the router is wireless connected to another network.