Month: March 2018

  • IP Camera Apeman ID72 – Softwares, Firmware, …

    I just bought a cheap IP PTZ camera 1080p: an Apeman ID72. The user guide is enough to quick start. But I couldn’t find how to change the DNS settings, access the web interface, etc… I finally found a website with enough info to figure out the URL of the Web UI.

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    I bought this camera as it supports ONVIF and I was intending to manage it from Synology’s Surveillance station. I did succeed but it was not obvious.

    1. ONVIF port is 10080
    2. Video format is H.264
    3. Audio format is G711.
    4. Resolution is set to 1920×1280
    5. Frame rate is 15
    6. Transport protocol is TCP

    I am using an ethernet connection between the camera and my Synology. The video is smooth and PTZ is responding fast.

    The Apeman ID72 is part of the “T,C Series” (it’s a C). It’s not from the “PnP T,C Series”.

    • Official Website: http://www.apemans.com (ID72)
    • EyeCloud Softwares: http://www.eyecloud.so (for Android devices, iPhone and Windows + IPCam Finder for Mac and Windows)
    • Online CD, Video and other software: http://cd.ipcam.so
      • Central Management Client (For PC): Central Management Client is a Windows software used to manage multiple IP cameras. It is characterized with multi-camera monitoring, PTZ control, record, alarm and access authority management function, as well as easy operation and strong capability.
      • Smart upgrade tool: Using this tool, you can just press a button to automatically upgrade IP-Camera’s firmware to the latest one. It can be used to update both the Http Web UI and the Firmware of the camera.
      • IP Camera Wizard: Use this tool to setup the Camera and configure its network environment.
        • At step 3, the wizard shows the http port configured to access the admin UI of the camera via a web browser (a.k.a.: Web UI).
          • Once connected via the browser, you have access to all the settings. This is for me the most convenient to do any advanced configurations.
        • Reconfigure that port, the submask and the gateway
        • Check the DDNS
        • Define Port Forwarding

    Using the IP Camera Finder from http://www.eyecloud.so, you will see the Http URL to be used to access the admin page in a browser (including the admin port if any). Notice that for some reason, the IP camera disappears and reappears very 3 seconds in that IP Camera Finder… So it’s nearly impossible to configure it there (it should be doable). I could only change settings via the Web UI or via the IP Camera Wizard.

    I did also use successfully the Central Management Client (“IP Camera Super Client”) from http://cd.ipcam.so to find my camera and note its IP and admin port.

    Notice that, via the Web UI, I tried to set 80 as the http port used to access that UI. Unfortunately, although this was rebooting the camera as expected, another port always appeared to be assigned after the reboot… I was only able to successfully change the http port via the IP Camera Wizard, via the “Advance Mode” and only when defining a “Static IP address” (it didn’t work when choosing “Dynamic IP address”). NB.: the http port is neither the ONVIF port, nor the RTSP port. The ONVIF port is 10080. The RTSP port can be changed via the Web UI.

    Each time I change a setting via the Web UI, the camera reboot and reset the http port I have configured 🙁

    I was not able to configure (or even find where to configure) the DDNS. I found the DDNS password in the tab “Other” of the IP Camera Wizard (in “Advance Mode”). But each time I enter the DDNS step of the “IP Camera Wizard” (in mode “Wizard”), I get an error message:

    Obtaining DDNS options from the camera…
    Failure: DDNS has not chosen then IPCam type, please click the “Settings” button to change the settings.

    I also get an error when entering the setp “Port Forwarding”:

    Error: unknown error

    please contact the IP camera supplier.

    I was also unable to disable the access to the camera via the Cloud. I am indeed not interested in that feature.

    To do a Factory Reset, you must use the Web UI (I didn’t find this option in the IP Camera Finder or IP Camera Wizard). Notice that I played with so many settings that I had to do a Reset Factory before being able to connect the camera with Synology Surveillance Station…

    As far as I am concerned, I have triggered the firmware update via eyeCloud on my Android Mobile (it’s done without manual intervention) as I didn’t find where to download the files. It succeeded without any problem. The versions are now:

    • Firmware: 48.53.203.110
    • Web UI: EN203.26.1.20

    Although the quality of the video is good, from a configuration perspective, I really prefer my Foscam cameras! Otherwise, it does not make a lot of noise when moving (compared to my Foscam) . The camera rotation speed can be adjusted and will be used by EyeCloud but not impact by Synology Surveillance Station.

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  • Home Made Cable Management

    It used to be a mess on my desk due to the amount of usb cables that I am using. I have now built my own solution to keep the cables well organized.

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    The solution is based on the principle of pulley wheels. It’s ugly, quite expensive, but quite efficient. I did use:

    I can now access my cables easily when I need them. And they park automatically when I release them…

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