If the camera works in VLC then it should work in SecuritySpy. Please try this:
- In the Video Device Settings window in SecuritySpy, create a new network device. - Set the device type to "Foscam FI9802W, FI9821W". - Enter the camera's IP address but leave the Port boxes empty. - Enter the camera's username and password. - Select "H.264 RTSP" from the Format menu.
That works for me (at least with the demo version 3.1.2) but I had to uninstall Perian and put 88 in port boxes for that. Ben, I think I deserve a license
I just installed a FI9821W V2, as well. I upgraded to the latest firmware (Sys: 1.4.1.8, App: 1.11.1.18_A) immediately. It is on my hard wired Ethernet network. I initially tested this while running SecuritySpy 3.1.3.
My post is primarily to report that I have a problem where the Pan/Tilt arrows no longer work in SecuritySpy 3.2 (although it seems the center home button does still work). Downgrading to 3.1.3 fixes the issue. Going back to 3.2 recreates the issue.
It doesn't look like there is anything in the release notes that indicates this functionality would have changed, so I might be mistaken, but I tried to be thorough and troubleshoot the issue.
Any thoughts on this?
---
I thought I'd share my whole saga, in case it helps shed light on this camera / SecuritySpy, in general or specifically with this P/T issue.
I used the default FI8921W V2 camera settings and got the H.264 stream to show in SecuritySpy 3.1.3, but every 20 seconds or so, the image went blank in SecuritySpy (green screen), and the reported frame rate went from the typical 30fps up to 100fps, down to 5 fps and then eventually stabilized back to 30fps.
I lowered the camera's frame rate (in the camera's web interface settings) and played with the video settings (more on this later) until I found something that appeared to be more stable, but I was still getting dropouts.
On a side note, I also tried enabling and using the MJPEG stream (there is a post on the Foscam forum which describes how to enable this and then I just used the SecuritySpy FI9821W driver with settings: JPEG Stream, Port: 88), but found that it was only low resolution (VGA, not 720p), which is not acceptable for my situation (I have a VGA camera that I was replacing due to the need for higher resolution)
During all of this, I had been reconfiguring other cameras on the system, which could have added some confusion.
I then tried upgrading to SecuritySpy 3.2. I also tried using the ONVIF configuration for the FI9821W, which seemed to pick up the stream ok. I thought it was all good, but found the Pan/Tilt controls for the FI8921W no longer worked. I then slowly worked back all of my changes, including trying the FI8921W SecuritySpy driver, factory reset of the camera and eventually erasing the SecuritySpy preferences files. No luck.
Reverting to SecuritySpy 3.1.3 and the re-erasing the preferences files seemed to fix the Pan/Tilt issue with the FI9821W.
These are the SecuritySpy 3.1.3 settings I am now using for the camera:
Device type: Foscam FI9802W, FI9821W Address: DHCP assigned, but a static entry in my router's lease table HTTP Port/RTSP Port: blank (note: had to set this to 88 to get the JPEG HTTP format to work) Encryption: not checked Username/Password: set appropriately Format: H.264 RTSP
And these are the FI9821W video settings I ended up with that seem to be stable with SecuritySpy (I put the same settings in all of the streams, 0-3):
Note that the default settings that came with the camera were 30 fps. I am, however, ok with a lower frame rate so that was the first thing I tried sacrificing to get a stable stream.
I haven't run this for more than an hour or so (and haven't tried it during the daylight), so can't say the the interruptions in the video stream are cured. If I see them come back, I'll try a proper static IP address. If that doesn't help, I'll follow-up here with another post.
One more thing, sorry - has anyone had any luck using the P/T presets in SecuritySpy with the FI9821W V2? They work in the camera's web interface, but not in SecuritySpy.
The presets look like they are handled differently in the FI9821W V2's web interface than they were in the FI8910W's web interface, so perhaps this is the source of the problem?
I understand that this camera is no longer officially supported, but if there's some guidance on what I can do to get this working, I'd be happy to put in the effort.
Hi Jordan, thanks for the detailed information, it's useful to find out from customers what works and what doesn't with these cameras.
As you say, the FI9821W (V1 or V2) is not officially supported by SecuritySpy due to reliability problems. We have found that the camera goes offline regularly requiring restarts, and also that it sometimes sends bad RTSP data that cannot be decoded. Having said that we do have some customers using them with various degrees of success.
Unfortunately, between V1 and V2, Foscam changed the command set for controlling PTZ. Fortunately, they also added ONVIF support (and so did we). Unfortunately, the PTZ commands that SecuritySpy sends are still rejected by the camera. Fortunately, we have found and fixed the problem.
So the next version of SecuritySpy (3.2.1, which will be released shortly), will support video, audio, and PTZ from this camera using the ONVIF profile - even though we will still not officially support the camera due to the above-mentioned problems, until Foscam brings out a firmware update that addresses them (hopefully they will at some point).
Jeff - I think that's probably a good idea if you can return them. Some users have had success, some haven't, and I have seen the reliability problems first hand.
I'm running the latest Indigo and SecuritySpy on a brand new installation of OS-X 10.9
I had problems with the cameras staying connected, then upgraded them to .19 version of the firmware. I'm running them on HTTP and not ONVIF and so far no problems.
Foscam's firmware download page only shows a .18 version of the firmware for the FI9821W V2 - where are you getting the .19 version from? It's great to hear you are having success with it, hopefully the firmware is getting more reliable.
To find alternative cameras, have a look at our searchable camera list.
For an alternative camera with similar specs to the FI9821W, that we have tested and confirmed to work well with SecuritySpy, have a look at the TRENDnet TV-IP672WI or the Zavio P5116.
I installed SecuritySpy 3.2.1. Leaving alone the profile (i.e. continuing to use the Foscam 8921W profile), P/T was working again (as it was in SS 3.1.3), so that seems fixed from 3.2.
I migrated the profile to ONVIF (using the Foscam default port of 888) and it seems to work as well as SS 3.1.3, with the added benefit that I can now set P/T presets. However, I cannot change presets (i.e. I have defined a preset in SecuritySpy, but need to move it slight... reprogramming the preset doesn't seem to work). As a work-around, I can log into the camera directly, delete the preset (i.e. "ss6", which I assume is the 6th preset set by SecuritySpy) and then recreate it.
I also had some issues where while I was setting presets, I lost connectivity to camera through SecuritySpy (i.e. the PT controls no longer worked). Restarting SecuritySpy seemed to immediately resolve the issue. I can't consistently recreate the problem, so I can't tell you what is causing it. I also had to try the speed setting at the bottom of the SecuritySpy PTZ window a couple of times to get it to take, but again, I can't recreate this issue/share what was happening. Now that my presets are set, I'm happy with the system.
Thank you for the quick update and resolution of this issue.
Jordan - there's a problem with the Foscam implementation of presets via ONVIF. According to the ONVIF specs, if the client (i.e. SecuritySpy) attempts to set a preset that already exists, the preset should be overwritten with the new location. However, as you have discovered, the camera refuses to overwrite existing presets, requiring them to first be deleted. To do this from SecuritySpy, hold the alt+cmd keys and press a preset button - this will tell the camera to delete the particular preset, so that it can be set again. This functionality is hidden in this way in SecuritySpy because it isn't required for any other camera we have come across.
Re the green screen issue, we have seen this also. This happens when incomplete video frames are delivered to SecuritySpy, so that when they are decompressed the result is a green screen. The most likely cause is network bandwidth, so the solution is to connect the camera via wired ethernet rather than wirelessly, and/or reduce the frame rate and bit rate settings in the camera.
Ok Ben, I am at my wits end with foscam. The outdoor cameras that I have had for 3 years are finally giving out and I really want to replace them with the HD cameras (NOT the fi9821w). What do you recommend for the best reliability/stability with SecuritySpy? +-$200? I am not apposed to using an outdoor enclosure as I am already using one for my FI9821W (In 640x480 mode). Thanks for everything.
Hi Ken, if you don't need PTZ, then the Dahua IPC-HFW2100 is a great choice at around $160. If however you need PTZ, then the price goes up significantly - the Toshiba IK-WB16A is a good choice at around $400.
I just replaced one of my older F18918W with a FI9821W V2 (was wanting something with higher resolution). I was having trouble getting SecuritySpy to work with it until I upgraded to 3.2.1 (was on 2.?.? ) and upgraded the firmware in the camera to 1.4.1.8 (system) and 1.11.1.18 (App). Was working pretty good, but got dropped a little too often. Worked much better when I switch the Device Type to ONVIF.
If I had read this thread before I ordered the camera I would have probably ordered something else, but I'm glad I didn't. It works great now just like the camera it replaced. Actually better. Much higher resolution and records sound. Never had sound before from any of my other Foscams. PTZ controls are much faster too. I'll probably replace my other ones fairly soon.
The new camera has other features I like. This camera sits in a window looking outside. Before I had to get creative and write a script that runs several times a night to turn off the IR lights (nothing but glare when they are on when dark outside and they wouldn't stay off). I also had to adjust brightness and contrast with a script to switch between night and day. This new camera I can turn off the IR lights and they stay off. It's also much better with auto brightness and contrast. No more messing around with scripts.
@34bwood - What settings are you using under ONVIF? Would you please run down your settings window for me? I am wondering if you are having better luck with the V2 model. I have looked at them, but am very hesitant with the luck i have had with the 9821w. Thanks in advance.
I have a FI8921W V2 and I updated the firmware, and I restarted the computer and followed the instructions to add it. In the Video Device settings, should it appear in the dropdown menu for address? It currently does not. I cannot get it to connect to security spy at all.
In the Video Device Settings window in SecuritySpy there is in fact an option for the FI9821W, even though it's not officially supported in SecuritySpy due to the problems reported by many users. So you can use this profile or the ONVIF profile. If you don't have these profiles in the list then you must be using an old version of SecuritySpy, so please download the latest version of SecuritySpy.
I do see it in the device menu. I am specifically talking about the Address menu where you can either select a device on your network by clicking the blue button to the right with the up and down arrows, or you can manually type in an IP address. I have Security Spy 3.2.1, and I have selected the FI9821W. I keep getting an Authentication Error in the camera window.
Hi - if you are getting an authentication error this means that the camera is rejecting the username/password you have entered in the Video Device Settings window, so one of these must be incorrect.
I have spent several hours trying to get this camera to show up in SS. Have read everything in this discussion several times. Stuck at a blue window that says "please uninstall Perian." Have done so and rebooted several times, searched to see if there are some other files that I may have missed.... is there anything that could be causing this besides Perian?
Hi @nealk - there is a particular error code generated due to Perian that triggers this message, which we haven't seen in any other cases, so I think this error message is accurate. There is probably some trace of it left on your Mac somewhere.
- Download and install Perian - Launch System Preferences and click on Perian (swiss army knife) icon - Click the "Remove Perian" button - Go to System Preferences again and right-click (or ctrl-click) on the Perian icon and select the "Remove Perian" option, so it completely disappears from the System Preferences window - Restart your computer
So it looks like this was a bad purchase. Unfortunately I sat on it for months before getting around to setting it up. Image is only viewable in a browser in Safari on a mac, and I am trying to get up the nerve to ask the IT folks at work if they'd let me install the IE plugin (needs admin access.) Would appreciate recommendations for a similarly priced camera with similar features (<$80, 720p, pan/tilt) that's truly mac compatible and is worthy of being 'supported' by Bensoft.
Hi @nealk - glad to hear you resolved the Perian problem. It's not a great camera, but is there a particular reason why you don't think it's suitable, now that you have it working in SecuritySpy?
If you want a better camera you'll have to pay a bit more. The D-Link DCS-5222L is pretty good, also the TRENDnet TV-IP672, which comes in a few variants.
Comments
I've tried the URL "rtsp://IPADDRESS:88/videoMain" and "rtsp://IPADDRESS:88/videoSub" on VLC and they worked pretty well.
Thanks for all,
Best Regards
Francisco.
If the camera works in VLC then it should work in SecuritySpy. Please try this:
- In the Video Device Settings window in SecuritySpy, create a new network device.
- Set the device type to "Foscam FI9802W, FI9821W".
- Enter the camera's IP address but leave the Port boxes empty.
- Enter the camera's username and password.
- Select "H.264 RTSP" from the Format menu.
Does that work?
I confirmed again it works on VLC.
Thanks for all,
Best Regards
Francisco.
My post is primarily to report that I have a problem where the Pan/Tilt arrows no longer work in SecuritySpy 3.2 (although it seems the center home button does still work). Downgrading to 3.1.3 fixes the issue. Going back to 3.2 recreates the issue.
It doesn't look like there is anything in the release notes that indicates this functionality would have changed, so I might be mistaken, but I tried to be thorough and troubleshoot the issue.
Any thoughts on this?
---
I thought I'd share my whole saga, in case it helps shed light on this camera / SecuritySpy, in general or specifically with this P/T issue.
I used the default FI8921W V2 camera settings and got the H.264 stream to show in SecuritySpy 3.1.3, but every 20 seconds or so, the image went blank in SecuritySpy (green screen), and the reported frame rate went from the typical 30fps up to 100fps, down to 5 fps and then eventually stabilized back to 30fps.
I lowered the camera's frame rate (in the camera's web interface settings) and played with the video settings (more on this later) until I found something that appeared to be more stable, but I was still getting dropouts.
On a side note, I also tried enabling and using the MJPEG stream (there is a post on the Foscam forum which describes how to enable this and then I just used the SecuritySpy FI9821W driver with settings: JPEG Stream, Port: 88), but found that it was only low resolution (VGA, not 720p), which is not acceptable for my situation (I have a VGA camera that I was replacing due to the need for higher resolution)
During all of this, I had been reconfiguring other cameras on the system, which could have added some confusion.
I then tried upgrading to SecuritySpy 3.2. I also tried using the ONVIF configuration for the FI9821W, which seemed to pick up the stream ok. I thought it was all good, but found the Pan/Tilt controls for the FI8921W no longer worked. I then slowly worked back all of my changes, including trying the FI8921W SecuritySpy driver, factory reset of the camera and eventually erasing the SecuritySpy preferences files. No luck.
Reverting to SecuritySpy 3.1.3 and the re-erasing the preferences files seemed to fix the Pan/Tilt issue with the FI9821W.
These are the SecuritySpy 3.1.3 settings I am now using for the camera:
Device type: Foscam FI9802W, FI9821W
Address: DHCP assigned, but a static entry in my router's lease table
HTTP Port/RTSP Port: blank (note: had to set this to 88 to get the JPEG HTTP format to work)
Encryption: not checked
Username/Password: set appropriately
Format: H.264 RTSP
And these are the FI9821W video settings I ended up with that seem to be stable with SecuritySpy (I put the same settings in all of the streams, 0-3):
Resolution: 720P, Bit Rate: 2M, Frame Rate: 15fps, Key Frame Interval: 10
Note that the default settings that came with the camera were 30 fps. I am, however, ok with a lower frame rate so that was the first thing I tried sacrificing to get a stable stream.
I haven't run this for more than an hour or so (and haven't tried it during the daylight), so can't say the the interruptions in the video stream are cured. If I see them come back, I'll try a proper static IP address. If that doesn't help, I'll follow-up here with another post.
Thank you,
Jordan
The presets look like they are handled differently in the FI9821W V2's web interface than they were in the FI8910W's web interface, so perhaps this is the source of the problem?
I understand that this camera is no longer officially supported, but if there's some guidance on what I can do to get this working, I'd be happy to put in the effort.
Thank you,
Jordan
As you say, the FI9821W (V1 or V2) is not officially supported by SecuritySpy due to reliability problems. We have found that the camera goes offline regularly requiring restarts, and also that it sometimes sends bad RTSP data that cannot be decoded. Having said that we do have some customers using them with various degrees of success.
Unfortunately, between V1 and V2, Foscam changed the command set for controlling PTZ. Fortunately, they also added ONVIF support (and so did we). Unfortunately, the PTZ commands that SecuritySpy sends are still rejected by the camera. Fortunately, we have found and fixed the problem.
So the next version of SecuritySpy (3.2.1, which will be released shortly), will support video, audio, and PTZ from this camera using the ONVIF profile - even though we will still not officially support the camera due to the above-mentioned problems, until Foscam brings out a firmware update that addresses them (hopefully they will at some point).
I am new to your software as of today and I ordered 3 of these FI9821W-V2. Should I return them and order something else?
Regards,
Jeff
I had problems with the cameras staying connected, then upgraded them to .19 version of the firmware. I'm running them on HTTP and not ONVIF and so far no problems.
To find alternative cameras, have a look at our searchable camera list.
For an alternative camera with similar specs to the FI9821W, that we have tested and confirmed to work well with SecuritySpy, have a look at the TRENDnet TV-IP672WI or the Zavio P5116.
I installed SecuritySpy 3.2.1. Leaving alone the profile (i.e. continuing to use the Foscam 8921W profile), P/T was working again (as it was in SS 3.1.3), so that seems fixed from 3.2.
I migrated the profile to ONVIF (using the Foscam default port of 888) and it seems to work as well as SS 3.1.3, with the added benefit that I can now set P/T presets. However, I cannot change presets (i.e. I have defined a preset in SecuritySpy, but need to move it slight... reprogramming the preset doesn't seem to work). As a work-around, I can log into the camera directly, delete the preset (i.e. "ss6", which I assume is the 6th preset set by SecuritySpy) and then recreate it.
I also had some issues where while I was setting presets, I lost connectivity to camera through SecuritySpy (i.e. the PT controls no longer worked). Restarting SecuritySpy seemed to immediately resolve the issue. I can't consistently recreate the problem, so I can't tell you what is causing it. I also had to try the speed setting at the bottom of the SecuritySpy PTZ window a couple of times to get it to take, but again, I can't recreate this issue/share what was happening. Now that my presets are set, I'm happy with the system.
Thank you for the quick update and resolution of this issue.
Jordan
Re the green screen issue, we have seen this also. This happens when incomplete video frames are delivered to SecuritySpy, so that when they are decompressed the result is a green screen. The most likely cause is network bandwidth, so the solution is to connect the camera via wired ethernet rather than wirelessly, and/or reduce the frame rate and bit rate settings in the camera.
-ken
If I had read this thread before I ordered the camera I would have probably ordered something else, but I'm glad I didn't. It works great now just like the camera it replaced. Actually better. Much higher resolution and records sound. Never had sound before from any of my other Foscams. PTZ controls are much faster too. I'll probably replace my other ones fairly soon.
The new camera has other features I like. This camera sits in a window looking outside. Before I had to get creative and write a script that runs several times a night to turn off the IR lights (nothing but glare when they are on when dark outside and they wouldn't stay off). I also had to adjust brightness and contrast with a script to switch between night and day. This new camera I can turn off the IR lights and they stay off. It's also much better with auto brightness and contrast. No more messing around with scripts.
Brian
-ken
- Download and install Perian
- Launch System Preferences and click on Perian (swiss army knife) icon
- Click the "Remove Perian" button
- Go to System Preferences again and right-click (or ctrl-click) on the Perian icon and select the "Remove Perian" option, so it completely disappears from the System Preferences window
- Restart your computer
Does this work?
If you want a better camera you'll have to pay a bit more. The D-Link DCS-5222L is pretty good, also the TRENDnet TV-IP672, which comes in a few variants.