Network cameras information for developers

This page is an effort to document firmware and protocol information used to access and control Network Cameras. It's intended for people developing third party applications that interact with network cameras.

For now, it's a just a bunch of personal notes, but in the future it may grow to be a big network camera knowledgebase. Feel free to contribute, you can register here or just drop a comment (anonymously) at the end of this page.

Contents

Manufacturers

Axis

Axis cameras are the best ones in both quality and features. They run on Linux using Axis own ETRAX processor and they use CCD sensors, which is why they beat other cameras in quality (most Network cameras use CMOS sensors). Developer access is another highly valuable thing with Axis cameras. However, all this good features comes at a price: they're the most expensive consumer network cameras.

There's no point in documenting the communication protocol for Axis cameras since they already have its official HTTP API documentation. Though I'll list here a couple of URLs examples for completness:

URLs

For more information see the Axis HTTP API documentation.

Trendnet

See TrendnetCameras

Intellinet

Intellinet has two types of cameras. Avoid its SOHO model: it's cheap but mostly useless. You don't even have an URL fetch a JPG image.

On the other hand, its professional model (Model 550710) its quite good. It runs on ucLinux, and it has a quick and dirty HTTP API documentation.

You can even set the general purpose input/output connectors and change the camera configuration using URLs, which makes it an ideal choice for developers.

URLs

Here is a list of URLs for direct image/video access using Intellinet Professional cameras

For more information see the Intellinet HTTP API documentation.

Genius

These seems to have the same firmware used for Trendnet cameras. So, see TrendnetCameras.

Selection guide

Image sensors

Comments

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• Hi, this will probably wrap badly, but should still be readable. These are commands for the Trendnet TV-IP400 PTZ camera. I used wget to send the POST data. Your Trendnet page is broken or missing, so you may already have some of this.

REM -q=no command output, -O -=Don't save post return to file

REM - Move left 10 degrees REM wget.exe -q -O - --post-data "PanSingleMoveDegree=10&TiltSingleMoveDegree=10&PanTiltSingleMove=3" http://CAMERAIP/PANTILTCONTROL.CGI

REM - Move right 10 degrees REM wget.exe -q -O - --post-data "PanSingleMoveDegree=10&TiltSingleMoveDegree=10&PanTiltSingleMove=5" http://CAMERAIP/PANTILTCONTROL.CGI

REM - Move up 10 degrees REM wget.exe -q -O - --post-data "PanSingleMoveDegree=10&TiltSingleMoveDegree=10&PanTiltSingleMove=1" http://CAMERAIP/PANTILTCONTROL.CGI

REM - Move down 10 degrees REM wget.exe -q -O - --post-data "PanSingleMoveDegree=10&TiltSingleMoveDegree=10&PanTiltSingleMove=7" http://CAMERAIP/PANTILTCONTROL.CGI

REM - Move to preset # wget.exe -q -O - --post-data "PanTiltPresetPositionMove=2" http://CAMERAIP/PANTILTCONTROL.CGI -- CashSale - 10 Sep 2006 - 20:13