ZoneMinder Forums

Foscam FI8908W IP Camera with PT (no Z) Working in ZM 1.24.2

Just thought this might be useful for anybody using the Foscam IP FI8908W Cameras.

They can be bought on eBay for around £50 and for that money they are a great buy. (Beware of fakes, see here: http://www.gadgetvictims.com/2009/09/ye ... 8908w.html)

A firmware upgrade can be performed to allow Server Push Mode, for FireFox etc.

See here for a instructions and a link to the firmware file:
http://www.gadgetvictims.com/2009/07/fo ... t-two.html

I recommend firmware V11.14.1.42 and Web UI V2.4.8.11

Once that is done you can proceed to add the camera into ZoneMinder with the following settings:

General:
Name: x
Source Type: Remote
Function: Modect (up to you though)
Enabled: Tick
Maximum FPS: Empty (I had some issues with it lagging when I used values here)
Alarm Maximum FPS: Empty
Source
Remote Protocol: HTTP
Remote Method: Simple
Remote Host Name: x.x.x.x (The IP of the camera)
Remote Host Port: 80
Remote Host Path: /videostream.cgi?user=admin&pwd= (assuming you have an admin user on the cam with no password)
Remote Image Colours: 24 bit colour
Capture Width: 320 (You could use 640 x 480, I found 320 to be better)
Capture Height: 240

The other settings are for personal preference only – so I haven’t listed them.

I modified an existing camera control file to create this file which will allow you to pan and tilt the camera from the web interface (working in ZM V1.24.2)

Save the following in the same location as the other .pm files. You can search for “PanasonicIP.pmâ€

Just one more thing that might be useful to somebody.

I had an issue that on the replay of an event the first frame would show then a black screen with

"time to next event = 1 seconds"

would appear and i wouldnt be able to use the buttons.

I found i had set the Image Buffer Size and the Pre Event Image count both to 40. Once i lowered the Pre Event Image Count to 30, it all worked.

Cheers,

DAVE.

I know this is an old topic, but I tried this and it won't move. I get a stream, but cannot move the camera at all.

Hi,

Just wanted to thank the author of this topic, without his help, I will be still trying to setup ZM in my computer!.

Good job!,

Paco

if you would be kind enough to add to the wiki that would be great.

http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.ph ... d_hardware

http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/Foscam

Thanks for the thanks PacoLM! Glad i could help

KingofKya - i have just added this into the Wiki.

Lately ive got ZoneMinder to interface very easily with Windows Media centre on my DMA2100 extenders around the house - guide coming soon on that too!

sorry gazoo, didnt see your reply earleir. Cant really help to much with the PTZ, ive literally writen all i know on the subject. Might be worth checking the logs to see if you get any repeating errors?

Cheers,

DAVE.

It worked, no worries! Thanks for your effort on this

Hi,

I was trying to fnd a way to switch between the sensor modes remotely. I have added the HasPreset option and set the Presets to 3.

Adding this sub to Dave's file for Foscam will do the work:

# Choose video preset
# preset 1 -> 50 Hz mode (0)
# preset 2 -> 60 Hz mode (1)
# preset 3 -> outdoors mode (2)
sub presetGoto
{
my $self = shift;
my $params = shift;
my $preset = $self->getParam( $params, 'preset' );
my $preset = ( $preset - 1 );
Debug( "Goto Preset $preset" );
my $cmd = "camera_control.cgi?param=3&value=$preset&user=admin&pwd=";
$self->sendCmd( $cmd );
}

Now I could change the mode of my camera remotely, even it's outdoors, I found that during the day mode 2 works finem but during the night I switch to mode 0.

Regards,

Paco

Thank you for sharing with us the information and details about the Foscam FI8908W IP Camera with PT Working in ZM 1.24.2. It is primarily used for surveillance in the same manner as analog closed-circuit television. But usually users find it difficult to configure the cam accordingly, now that you have shared the codes I am sure many appreciates the effort. ADT Security

I'm good up until here ...

daveharris wrote:F
Next you need to add the Control Type.

Click on edit and add a new control with these details:

Main:
Name: Foscam FI8908W
Type: Remote
Protocol: FoscamFI8908W (No space in there)
Move:
Can Move: Tick
Can Move Diagonally: Tick
Can Move Continuous: Tick
Pan:
Can Pan: Tick
Tilt:
Can Tilt: Tick
Presets:
Has Presets: Tick
Num Presets: 0
Has Home Presets: Tick

Save all that and you should be up and running.

Have I just missed an easy setting? I cannot find an interface or way to add a 'control' similar to above anywhere.

Hi,

First of all, you need to configure your camera as controllable (in options, check the OPT_CONTROL). Then a new tab will appear in your source configurations (just before the misc tab).

Hope it helps,

Paco

Sorry guys, I didnt get any email notifications to say this thread had been updated, and I've been a bit pre ocupied moving house to chekc it.

Great work Paco on adding the different modes, Ill be adding that in to my setup over the weekend - top notch!

I've finally got round to setting up a blog (http://dave.harris.net), so added this all on there too, mostly for my reference as the memory isnt what it once was! I'm yet to mount the cameras in the new house as been tied up with the automation side of things, but hopefully I'll get a few of them installed this weekend.

Cheers,

DAVE.

Forgive me if I'm being dense here but I've followed the instructions to get my Foscam setup and it doesn't seem to be working. I keep getting the following error in zmcontrol.log every time I click one of the movement buttons.

zmcontrol[4650].ERR [Error check failed:'500 No Host option provided']

Any ideas?

Im not too sure, does it work if you pass in the commands directly from your browser?

"decoder_control.cgi?command=90&user=admin&pwd=";