Recently I have been looking at how to control and collect data +from a handful IP cameras using Linux. I both wanted to change their +settings and to make their imagery available via a free software +service under my control. Here is a summary of the tools I found.
+ +First I had to identify the cameras and their protocols. As far as +I could tell, they were using some SOAP looking protocol and their +internal web server seem to only work with Microsoft Internet Explorer +with some proprietary binary plugin, which in these days of course is +a security disaster and also made it impossible for me to use the +camera web interface. Luckily I discovered that the SOAP looking +protocol is actually following the +ONVIF specification, which seem to be supported by a lot of IP +cameras these days.
+ +Once the protocol was identified, I was able to find what appear to +be the most popular way to configure ONVIF cameras, the free software +Windows tool named +ONVIF Device +Manager. Lacking any other options at the time, I tried +unsuccessfully to get it running using Wine, but was missing a dotnet +40 library and I found no way around it to run it on Linux.
+ +The next tool I found to configure the cameras were a non-free Linux Qt +client ONVIF +Device Tool. I did not like its terms of use, so did not spend +much time on it.
+ +To collect the video and make it available in a web interface, I +found the Zoneminder tool in Debian. A recent version was able to +automatically detect and configure ONVIF devices, so I could use it to +set up motion detection in and collection of the camera output. I had +initial problems getting the ONVIF autodetection to work, as both +Firefox and Chromium refused +the inter-tab communication being used by the Zoneminder web +pages, but managed to get konqueror to work. Apparently the "Enhanced +Tracking Protection" in Firefox cause the problem. I ended up +upgrading to the Bookworm edition of Zoneminder in the process to try +to fix the issue, and believe the problem might be solved now.
+ +In the process I came across the nice Linux GUI tool +ONVIF Viewer +allowing me to preview the camera output and validate the login +passwords required. Sadly its author has grown tired of maintaining +the software, so it might not see any future updates. Which is sad, +as the viewer is sightly unstable and the picture tend to lock up. +Note, this lockup might be due to limitations in the cameras and not +the viewer implementation. I suspect the camera is only able to +provide pictures to one client at the time, and the Zoneminder feed +might interfere with the GUI viewer. I have +asked for the tool to be +included in Debian.
+ +Finally, I found what appear to be very nice Linux free software +replacement for the Windows tool, named +libonvif. It +provide a C library to talk to ONVIF devices as well as a command line +and GUI tool using the library. Using the GUI tool I was able to change +the admin passwords and update other settings of the cameras. I have +asked for the package to be +included in Debian.
+ +As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.
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