Set up IP cameras

Set up IP cameras

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Main topics

The steps to install IP cameras

Prerequisites

Which situation applies to you?

Procedure

  1. Install the Ethernet card
  2. Set Ethernet card IP address
  3. Connect IP cameras to the PC
  4. Set camera IP address
  5. Set camera password and select power line frequency
  6. Create camera settings
  7. Create audio settings
  8. Select ONVIF cameras in MediaRecorder 
  9. or
  10. Select devices that do not support ONVIF in MediaRecorder

Notes

Ethernet card setup

Aim

To insert the 1 Gb Ethernet card into your computer and to configure it to work with MediaRecorder.

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Prerequisites

If you bought a complete system from Noldus IT, the card has been installed and set up. You can skip this topic.

Procedure

Carry out the following steps:

  1. Install the Ethernet card
  2. Set Ethernet card IP address

Install the Ethernet card

Aim

To place the Ethernet card into the computer with MediaRecorder.

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Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Turn off your computer and all connected peripherals, such as the monitor and printer. Make sure that the computer is unplugged.
  2. Remove the PC's case according to the instructions provided in the PC's user manual.
  3. Select a free PCIe expansion slot, and remove the corresponding extension cover.
    See PCIe slot properties in Set up analog cameras for details in the slots in a Dell computer.
  4. Unpack the Ethernet card, place it into the slot, and press it carefully into position. If the card does not fit into place easily, remove it and repeat the operation.

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    IMPORTANT  When touching the board, its electronic components can be damaged by static electricity. To avoid any such risk, make sure that you are grounded. You can ground yourself by putting on an earthing wristlet, and attaching its clip to the metal frame of the computer. If an earthing wristlet is not available, you can hold the metal frame with one hand while holding the Ethernet in your other hand. Ensure also that your clothing does not touch any components while handling the card.


  5. Fix the card to the chassis and re-fit the computer's cover.

Set Ethernet card IP address

Aim

To set the IP address of the Ethernet card to the same range as the cameras and the computer.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Open the Control Panel and select Network and Sharing Center.
  2. Click Change adapter settings on the left side of your window.

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  3. Right-click Local Area Connection and click Properties. If your computer has more than one Local Area Connection, choose the one used for the cameras. To check which one this is, remove the cable from this IP port on your computer. The LAN connection that has the status Not connected is the correct one.

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  4. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties.

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  5. Click Use the following IP address and enter the IP address and Subnet mask supplied by your system administrator. Leave the other fields empty. Also select the checkbox Validate settings upon exit. When done, click OK and then Close.

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  6. A Windows Network Diagnostics window appears. Click Close when the validation is finished. Then close all windows.

Connect IP cameras to the PC

Prerequisite

You have followed the entire procedure in Ethernet card setup

Procedure

The procedure applies to a Cisco  SG 100D 8 port Gigabit PoE-switch, which is supported with MediaRecorder.

Using cross-network cables (cat-5e or newer), connect the Ethernet card on the PC to one of the four right ports of the PoE-switch.

  1. Connect the camera to one of the four left ports of the PoE-switch. Do not use any of the four right ports for this purpose, since they do not supply your cameras with power.
  2. Power up the PoE-switch.

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Notes

See Power over Ethernet in Recording devices

Camera setup

Aim

To configure the cameras for use with MediaRecorder.

Prerequisites

Procedure

You must carry out the following steps for each camera:

  1. Set camera IP address
  2. Set camera password and select power line frequency
  3. Create camera settings
  4. Create audio settings

Set camera IP address

Aim

To set the IP address of the camera to the same range as the Ethernet card and the computer.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Insert the MediaRecorder installation USB stick into your computer and copy the file IPUtility.exe from the folder Drivers and Tools\Software\Axis Tools to your computer. Do not copy it to your desktop, the tool will then not work correctly.
  2. Run IPUtility.exe. A window opens in which all the connected devices are listed.
  3. Right-click the device and select Assign IP address.

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  4. Enter the IP address and choose Assign.

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  5. According to the message that appears, disconnect and reconnect the camera and click Assign. Wait until the IP address is set.
  6. Right-click the camera and select Test IP address. When the details were entered correctly a message appears that the camera is accessible.
  7. Repeat steps 3 to 6 for all cameras. Make sure you use different IP addresses for all cameras and computer and other network devices in the network.

Set camera password and select power line frequency

Aim

To give the camera a password, which is compulsory, and to select the power line frequency of your country.

Prerequisites

See Supported IP cameras in Recording devices

Procedure

IP address

  1. In the IPUtility tool, click the Home Page button. the camera now opens in a browser.

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    Alternatively, type the IP address in the address field of, for example, Internet Explorer.

  2. The first time you open the camera in a browser, you must set a password. If you obtained cameras from Noldus IT, this password is Noldus. The user name root cannot be changed. Do not use the characters @, space, or colon (:) for the password. These characters cannot be used in MediaRecorder.

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  3. As soon as you set the password, you must log in to the camera with the password you just set.

Power line frequency

The first time you log in in the camera, you must select a power line frequency. Look up the correct power line frequency of your country on Internet.

Notes

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Create camera settings

Aim

To configure the camera for optimal recording with MediaRecorder.

Prerequisites

Procedure

Carry out the following steps:

  1. Access camera settings
  2. Create ONVIF User name and Password
  3. Disable replay attack protection
  4. Switch on IR cut filter

Note

The procedure below describes the camera firmware version 7.20.1. For other firmware versions, search for comparable settings.

Access camera settings

  1. Open the camera in a browser by clicking the Home page button in the IPUtility tool or typing the IP address in the address field of an Internet browser. Then enter the password.
  2. Click the Settings button in the bottom-right corner of your window.

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Create ONVIF User name and Password

Aim

To configure the camera so that pan, tilt, zoom, and audio recording is possible.

Procedure

  1. Open the camera settings.
    1. See Access camera settings
  2. Open the System tab and click ONVIF.

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  3. Click Add and enter the same User name and Password as set in Set camera password and select power line frequency. Do not use the characters @, space, or colon (:) for the user name or password. These characters cannot be used in MediaRecorder.
  4. Select Administrator as User Group and click OK.

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Notes

Disable replay attack protection

Aim

To prevent that connection to the camera fails if the time of the MediaRecorder computer differs from the time in the camera.

Background

Replay attack protection is a camera security setting. Relevant for video recording with MediaRecorder is that replay attack protection causes the camera connection to fail if the timestamps of MediaRecorder and the camera are not exactly the same. Replay attack protection is necessary for security cameras, but not for IP cameras in a dedicated network.

Procedure

  1. Open the camera settings.
    See Access camera settings
  2. Open the System tab and click Plain config.
  3. From the list at the bottom, select WebService and click Select Group.
  4. Under WebService UsernameToken:, make sure the checkbox Enable replay attack protection is not selected.   

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Note

If you do not want to disable this option, make sure that the clock times of the computer and camera are exactly the same.

Switch on IR cut filter

Aim

To make sure the cameras does not switch to black and white at low light levels.

Background

The IR cut filter removes infrared light during daylight. With the default camera settings, the IR cut filter is switched off at low light intensities. The camera then records in near-infrared, which gives a black and white camera image. If you do not want this, set the IR cut filter to On instead of Auto, so that it stays on, independent of the light level.

Procedure

  1. Open the camera settings.
    1. See Access camera settings
  2. Open the Image tab.
  3. Check if there is an option IR cut filter. If so, set it to On.

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Note

Not all IP cameras supported with MediaRecorder have an IR cut filter.

Create audio settings

Aim

To optimize the recording volume.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Open the camera settings,
    See Access camera settings
  2. Open the Audio tab.
  3. Adjust the Gain slider and check in the Input section that the green field in the Level field is maximal with normal speech.   image.png

Note

You cannot record the audio of non-ONVIF devices in MediaRecorder. Optionally record audio from a separate microphone that is connected to the microphone input of the computer with MediaRecorder. The Axis cameras supported with MediaRecorder support ONVIF.

Select ONVIF cameras in MediaRecorder

Aim

To select a camera that supports ONVIF Profile S in MediaRecorder.

If your device does not support ONVIF, see Select devices that do not support ONVIF in MediaRecorder instead.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. Open MediaRecorder and choose File > Video Settings or click Video Settings.

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  2. Select the checkbox in front of the video channel and choose RTSP IP Camera (Noldus RTSP Source Filter).

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  3. Click the Advanced Video Settings button.

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  4. A list with ONVIF cameras in the network appears. Select the camera.
  5. Enter the ONVIF User name and ONVIF Password for your camera. If you obtained cameras from Noldus IT, the ONVIF user name is root and the ONVIF password is Noldus.
    TIP  To select another camera, click the Discover button to display the list with ONVIF cameras in the network.
    TIP  If you have several cameras with the same ONVIF User name and ONVIF Password choose File > Preferences > IP camera settings. Select Use default IP camera user name and password and enter the credentials. You can now skip step 5 and 6, the camera is detected automatically.
  6. Click Get device properties.
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  7. The Encoding and Quality fields appears with the default video format, frame rate and resolution of the camera.
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  8. Optionally, click Edit and select another frame rate or resolution. Click Update when done.

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    For low frame rate recordings, it is important to lower the H264 Gov length too on the same screen, under Advanced settings. For 5 fps, set the Gov length between 5 and 10, for 1 fps recording between 1 and 2. A lower Gov length will result in larger files but better image.
    TIP  It is also possible to change the frame rate and resolution in the table with selected video devices.
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    You may still need to adjust the Gov length for optimal results.
  9. Optionally, adjust the video quality, for example to decrease the video file size, but we recommend to only do this when problems with video quality or data transfer over the network occur.
    See Adjust advanced video quality options
  10. .Click Close when done.
  11. You may want to reverse the direction the camera moves with Pan and Tilt). To do so, select the checkbox Flip pan axis (horizontal movement) or Flip tilt axis (vertical movement) or both.
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  12. Click OK.
  13. Select the microphone from the Audio device list. To select the microphone from the camera, or a microphone connected to it, select RTSP IP camera (Noldus RTSP Source Filter) from the Audio device list.
  14. Close the Settings window and tap on the microphone. Check the green bar next to the video device to see whether you selected the correct microphone.
  15. Continue with Record video

    Notes

    Adjust advanced video quality options

    Aim

    To change video quality, for example to reduce the video file size.

    Prerequisite

    You experience problems with video quality or data transfer over the network. In all other cases, we recommend not to change the default settings.

    Procedure

    1. Choose File > Video Settings or click Video settings.

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    2. Click the Advanced Video Settings button.

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    3. Click Get device Properties. This enables the Edit button. Click Edit.

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    4. Select Advanced settings.
    5. Adjust the settings and click Update > Close.
    6. See Advanced video quality options for a description of the options.

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    Advanced video quality options

    If an option cannot be edited, your camera does not support other options, or the value is set by the chosen profile.

    Encoding interval

    This value cannot be edited and is set by the profile.

    Bitrate

    To set a limit to the data transfer. The default value 0 means unlimited. If you enter a value, data transfer is limited to this value in Kb per second.

    H264 Gov length

    The interval in which the I-Frames will be coded in the video file. A value of 1 means that every frame is an I-frame. A value of 2 means that every second frame is an I-frame. Decreasing the number increases the video quality, but also the data transfer. For a description of the frame types, see:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_compression_picture_types

    H264 Profile

    The encoding profile from the IP camera. MediaRecorder uses the Baseline profile and this option cannot be edited.

    Quality

    The quality of the encoded video file. Higher number gives higher encoding quality, but also more data transfer over the network.

    Select devices that do not support ONVIF in MediaRecorder

    Aim

    To select a device that does not support ONVIF Profile S in MediaRecorder.

    If your device does support ONVIF, see Select ONVIF cameras in MediaRecorder instead.

    Prerequisites

    Procedure

    1. Open MediaRecorder and choose File > Video settings or click Video settings.

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    2. Select the checkbox in front of the video channel and choose RTSP IP Camera (Noldus RTSP Source Filter).

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    3. Click the Advanced Video Settings button.

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    4. A list with available ONVIF cameras in the network appears.
      IMPORTANT  If your device does not support ONVIF, it will not be on this list. Click Cancel.

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    5. Enter the IP address, User name and Password of the device. If you bought your device from Noldus IT, the User name is root and the Password is Noldus.
      If the default Port 554 is already in use, ask your system administrator for help to select another one.
    6. Click Get device properties.

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    7. The field Connection string appears.

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    8. Look up in the manual of your device where the video files can be accessed via the RTSP communication protocol. Enter the path from the slash after the connection information in the Connection string field. For example,
      /stream.sdp for an Epiphan Pearl Nano screen capture device/.   

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    9. Click OK. Optionally, select another frame rate or resolution. However, make sure you select the same frame rate as is selected in the device itself when you opened the camera in a browser (see the next step).
    10. Optionally, open the camera in a browser to pan, tilt, or zoom.
      See Access camera settings

    IMPORTANT  Close the browser before starting recording with MediaRecorder.

    1. Click OK and continue with Record video