ZoneMinder Forums

I am new to ZoneMinder but have not been successful in making a connection to a Foscam FI8918W camera. I have tried a wide variety of options but none seem to work.

I followed the zoneminder installation instructions here: http://zoneminder.readthedocs.io/en/lat ... buntu-14-x (Note: this is a fully patched and up to date Ubuntu 14.04 LTS host)

When I follow the instructions and add a new monitor the "View" screen mentioned in the final step doesn't work (instructions here https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Foscam_FI89 ... figuration). By 'not work' I mean, I click on the camera's name in the main screen (e.g. Rob: ) and I see a blank screen () when i expect to see a live stream of that camera.

If I open a web browser to that camera and type in http://192.168.1.196/videostream.cgi?us ... myPassHere I am able to view the streaming video successfully.

I see a variety of messages in the Log screen... some good, some bad. When i try to export the logs to attach here i either get an internal 500 error (when i try to export all of the logs) or i get empty log files (when i select the 'Current' radio button in the log export screen). Some example log messages that stand out to me are messages saying 'capturing Rob at xx FPS' which indicates it is partially working. However I also see what looks like the service restarting continuously and "Can't connect to remote camera: No route to host" messages (which isn't true, since the ZM and camera are on the same subnet, pingable, routing table on Linux looks good, etc)

My Foscam FI8918W camera has Firmware version 11.37.2.65 and WebUI version 2.4.10.13 (the latest available on Foscam's website)

I would really appreciate some hints here!

One slight update: I noticed that these two sets of instructions differ slightly
https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Ubuntu_Serv ... e_easy_way
http://zoneminder.readthedocs.io/en/lat ... buntu-14-x

Originally I followed the second set, but it looks like the first set is slightly more specific and/or current. agreed?

Yup, I noticed that the last step in the wiki url above (https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Ubuntu_Serv ... e_easy_way) is the most important and is the reason why my live streaming wasn't working:

Click on Options - Paths Change PATH_ZMS to /zm/cgi-bin/nph-zms (Caution: make sure you enter only /zm/cgi-bin/nph-zms with no space at the end or your video will not work!)

All that being said, i'm not sure what else might not be working properly because I followed an incomplete and/or out of date set of instructions. UGH I wasted a lot of time on this one! Can we get this forum post in front of whoever maintains the zoneminder.readthedocs.io website ?

See this for your camera: https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Foscam_FI8918W

If your other cameras work it isn't the Zoneminder configuration.

https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Ubuntu_Serv ... e_easy_way is the preferred install...

I have two of those cameras. Recommend you make sure you have latest firmware, and know that updating the firmware is very fiddley if you havent done it yet. Also, they need to be restarted regularly, I have found....less so it seems with the latest firmware.

Ciao,

I have 2 FI8918W, used wired, kinda rock solid, with latest FW from Foscam, which is actually quite old anyway.

the string I use defines the resolution and the frame rate.

http://ip address:port number/videostream.cgi[?user=&pwd=&resolution=&rate=]

which is translated to ZM language like this to be used for a new monitor


Source Type: Remote
Remote protocol: HTTP
Remote Method: Simple
Remote Host name: Foscam IP
Remote Host Port: 80
Remote Host Path: /videostream.cgi[?user=XXXX&pwd=YYYY&resolution=32&rate=8 ( put your user and password instead of XXXX and YYYY)

which means 640x480, 10 FPS.


Ciao
L