Foscam FI9805w
Hi, I'm testing SecuritySpy and I have a problem with my cameras FI9805w.
Every 15-20 minutes, due to a green screen that lasts a few frames, it enables the motion detect. I tested the network and it is ok. I lowered the frame rate but the problem remains. Tried other software without any errors. May depend on what? I've also updated the firmware of the cameras and in SecuritySpy set as manual and how foscam 9802. The needed results does not change.
LOG:
10.22.2013 1115 -54: Error communicating with the network device "Network camera 4" 3.1.2,551122,801 Data from network device not as expected
10.22.2013 1115 -59: Error communicating with the network device "Network camera 4" 3.1.2,80210,999
Every 15-20 minutes, due to a green screen that lasts a few frames, it enables the motion detect. I tested the network and it is ok. I lowered the frame rate but the problem remains. Tried other software without any errors. May depend on what? I've also updated the firmware of the cameras and in SecuritySpy set as manual and how foscam 9802. The needed results does not change.
LOG:
10.22.2013 1115 -54: Error communicating with the network device "Network camera 4" 3.1.2,551122,801 Data from network device not as expected
10.22.2013 1115 -59: Error communicating with the network device "Network camera 4" 3.1.2,80210,999
Comments
The FI9805W isn't yet on our compatible camera list because we haven't fully tested it. However there is no reason why it shouldn't work in SecuritySpy.
A green screen indicates that something went wrong with the H.264 video decompression. This could point to a network problem (if the network is too slow, data may get lost), or it could point to a camera problem (the camera itself producing bad data). I would normally suggest checking the network and updating the camera's firmware but it sounds like you've already done these things.
As for the two errors you mention, the first one relates to some bad data in the H.264 stream, and the second relates to a bad RTSP reply from the camera.
The camera specs mention that they work in MJPEG mode - this may be more reliable so it's something to test. Try the "Foscam JEPG" profile in SecuritySpy. Does this work?
Device Type: Manual configuration
Address: xxx.xxx.x.xxx
HTTP port: xx
Username: [username]
Password: [password]
Format: HTTP (video only)
Request:
/cgi-bin/CGIProxy.fcgi?cmd=snapPicture2&usr=[USERNAME]&pwd=[PASSWORD]
Hope dr.Ben will have real support soon!
Otherwise, the existing FI9821W profile in SecuritySpy may work for the FI9805E camera. We don't officially support the FI9821W because there are still some problems with it (going offline after a day or so and requiring a restart), however the profile is still there in the software and does work to pull in the video stream. Can someone please try this and confirm?
fabietto - would you be able to put your camera online temporarily for us to test? Please email us if this is possible, we can give you instructions. Thanks.
I also have a FI9821W camera installed..... can you give us more info on this restart problem... it has been working for me... but I found today that it had gone from Active to Passive and I had to restart SS then to get it to go back to Active state.... Until I restarted SS I could not get it to go back to active.
We've had many users report that after a day or two their FI9821W cameras stop responding and the only solution is to restart the camera. This is the only reason why the camera is not currently on our list and therefore not officially supported. Have you experienced this?
Using 3.1.3. If you only have the foscams running, security spy freezes every 2.5 days ( 10.9 )
Any insight is appreciated. Not a network issue as there are multiple other cameras all working fine. Missed my return window with Amazon by a day... Now I really want to get this camera working.
I've also tried this with a FI9821W V2 but with not as good results. I'm going to try it again later this week with a new Airport Express that supports the 5ghz band and see if moving the camera over to that and bypassing its wifi radios will improve it as well.... if not then I will dump the 9821W and buy a better camera that has pan and tilt.
This type of solution absolutely negates any cost savings of the Foscam line.. but if you have them and can't return them then its one way to make them useable. I got the older 802.11 B/G/N style Airport Express on eBay for less than $50 and it was new in the box...
From doodah's information above, it seems there may be a problem with the camera's WiFi connection that is causing slow data rates, which therefore results in the green image. So there appear to be three solutions:
- Use a WiFi bridge device to bypass the camera's WiFi hardware, as described by doodah above
- Connect the camera by wired ethernet, not WiFi
- Significantly lower the data rate and frame rate in the camera.
Every 5-10 seconds, on these cameras, I get a frame or two of green. Obviously, this makes motion detection impossible without a flood of recordings/emails. I do not see the same green frames in Live Cams Pro which I use on my iOS devices to view the cameras, nor do I see them when viewing via the Foscam web servers/plugins directly. I've also been evaluating Sighthound, which does motion/human detection and seems to work fine (though that software does not have all the features/flexibility I want from SecuritySpy).
I have tried bringing down the frame rate and key frame values on the camera setting to 15, rather than 30, but I still see just as many green screens. I don't doubt that the camera may be sending bad data in the RTSP stream, but I'm puzzled why I don't see it with other software. Is there anything that can be done when you receive a bad packet like that (ignore it, or don't try to blit it)? Something that would allow the motion detection to still work reliably? These cameras have great promise - high resolution and IR mode at a pretty low cost, compared to other makes (like Axis). The motion detection on my Axis indoor dome camera is flawless and is the reason I'm still stuck on trying to get it to work with my Foscam cameras too.
Any thoughts Ben? Or have others found any solutions to this issue?
We do not ever see a Green (or black) screen using an iOS app named LiveCams, even over WAN, so I don't think it's a WIFI issue, unless the LiveCams app is discarding bad packets and/or the green screen when it occurs.
We seem to have better results with SecuritySpy when using the manual HTTP only method as SASHA mentions above.
Any other ideas or suggestions ?
Peter
Foscam has released new firmware for the FI9805W, v2.14.1.5 the update includes an update for ONVIF.
I loaded it into my camera and the improvements are remarkable. ONVIF is now working very well, I get 30fps, near realtime stream, very few if any dropped packets or green screen. I'm running a 512 bitrate and 30fps over wifi
Here's a Link to Their Firmware page For All Models
When I observe the cameras via a browser with Foscam's plugin, I don't see jerky motion or loss either, as you have observed, doodah. It looks pretty darn good for 20 FPS. I only see the loss of frames with 3rd Party Software.
Here is a Screen Recording from Browser with Foscam Plugin
To answer your question, I am using an ASUS RT-N66U as an access point exclusively for my wireless cameras. There is no wireless contention or signal overlap in the area as I verified with the (Amazing) Wifi-Explorer App. As a test on my MacBook Pro, I get 140Mbit true transfer rate on the LAN so I know the router is capable.
I also spoke to the developer of the iOS App "LiveCams" and the developer remarked that they have observed the 9805W sending corrupt packets at times. That makes me suspect the WIFI that's built into the is sub-par or they are not opening up their stream to 3rd Party developers.
I agree about moving on to something more robust. I'm going to make the switch immediately and I'll keep a 9805W alive on the network as a comparison. I still think there is simple solution. The camera seems capable of error free video stream.
Peter
Good info. I think we may have a disconnect. You are using the Asus router as your Wifi router for an exclusive camera wifi network. I set that up as well using an Apple Airport Extreme router. When I am referencing an AP (using Apple Airport Express ), it has been configured not to create a WiFi network but to join the WiFi network setup by my Airport Extreme router. At each camera then I plugged in a separate AP and had it join the Wifi network. The camera was then connected directly to the AP with an ethernet cable. This let me bypass the Foscam wifi. When I did this I had great success. I took that all back apart as I wanted to see what the new firmware did and if anything got better. I think it did get better, but not good enough. I'm trying to get the VLC app to work on mine so I can test with that but am having problems getting that to work. Not sure what the problem is. It comes up and asks for the username and password but then I get an error and I have not been successful in finding VLC log file yet....
I did understand your configuration; I should have been more clear on that. In my setup, I was pointing out that the WIFI network itself is not a contributing factor. It's a very clean installation. Your setup would support the notion that Foscam's WIFI implementation is a contributing factor. Perhaps the encryption is an issue. If I may, what type of encryption are you using on the Aiport(s) ? I am using WPA2.
I did get feedback for another developer who stated that Foscam uses a proprietary protocol for their own use. It was stated that the stream that is made available for "open protocols" and third parties is not the same stream that they use themselves. Maybe Ben knows more about this.
I had the same password login issue with VLC until I rebooted the camera. Could be I was already logged in using RTSP from SecuritySpy. I just don't remember.
Peter
I also put in the ip address for the device... not using a bonjour name resolution or anything.