Spec me a CCTV System

I've got a cheapy wifi CCTV camera up outside which I can access via an app and also I'm accessing it on a PC over RTSP using Onvif.

Any idea how to make Onvif access the camera using an external IP address/domain name instead of the internal network LAN IP assigned by my router?

I'm on Zen and I have a static IP address.
 
LeeUK said:
I've got a cheapy wifi CCTV camera up outside which I can access via an app and also I'm accessing it on a PC over RTSP using Onvif.

Any idea how to make Onvif access the camera using an external IP address/domain name instead of the internal network LAN IP assigned by my router?

I'm on Zen and I have a static IP address.
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You’re much better off hosting a VPN on your internal network on a NAS/Pi/router etc, connect to the VPN and then access the camera as if you were local.
 
ChrisD. said:
You’re much better off hosting a VPN on your internal network on a NAS/Pi/router etc, connect to the VPN and then access the camera as if you were local.
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Or use home assistant and configure a reverse proxy and get access to everything in a safe way.

Edit: but tbh lee all you need to do is forward your camera port number and you can then access via staticip:port. It just punches a hole into the security and then if your cam software is ever compromised you could be 'hacked'.
 
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Fair. RP is good, can't argue there but nothing is safer than a proper VPN. Depends how much you value a live view of your drive I guess. :cry:

I jest, you don't really want to be port forwarding in, as that thing you port forward for which isn't considered secure enough to lock it down properly, could be used as a vector for a more sophisticated attack.
 
dLockers said:
Edit: but tbh lee all you need to do is forward your camera port number and you can then access via staticip:port. It just punches a hole into the security and then if your cam software is ever compromised you could be 'hacked'.
Click to expand...

Well I did try that out of interest beforehand and it didn't work anyway :o

Setting up a VPN might be the idea then.
 
I created a new thread a week or so back not realising this one was here, and thought I'd throw my 2p into this mix here.

I installed a hikvision system 7 years back, and it worked fine. The software was clunky, but it seemed to be doing its thing. Where it all went wrong was two years back I went to get some footage and found I'd lost all the passwords for the NVR. So I reset it.
Big mistake, that reset of the NVR worked fine, but then it didnt reset the cameras and they stopped liking each other. So for 2 years, I've had a NVR not recording, and access to the live cameras only.

Our local area has had a rise in problems since one particular neighbour moved in - blatant drug deals in the street, noise and arguments that escalate, police called on a regular basis [and then they come knocking for footage, "yeah, sorry, none of it works!"], vehicle breakins and suspicious activity - so I've looked to tackle the camera problem again.

The reset process for hikvision and hilook cameras isnt easy, but it can work.
Two of the cameras when dismantled had a reset button in them - press and hold the button for 30 seconds with a power-off, power-on. these can then be detected easily and reactivated.

If you don't have a button [two didnt], then you need to use the SADP tool from hikvision, and have them on your local network - If you've got an NVR, and your cameras are hooked upto that and not your home network - get a PoE switch and hang them off that instead. Dont reboot your machine running SADP, or think "maybe I'll use the SADP tool on my phone instead of that laptop that was doing it..." as it seems each load of SADP creates a unique ref or something that doesnt work with another load.

Once you have them on your local network and can see them as devices in SADP, don't close the SADP tool, don't power cycle cameras, and complete the password reset process with your UK distributor [or in my case with Hikvision UK support] within business hours.
You send them an XML or a QR code and some kind of proof of ownership, they send you back a XML. Sometimes it works first time, sometimes.. you need to redo it over.

There were a few times over the last week where I was looking at just buying Ring cameras and binning off the Hikvision due to the complexity of the processes and the software, but I got to this and am happy now;


My next job is to reinstate the NVR, but I will be leaving the cameras on the local network this time.

And then next weekend I'd like to do something about the nightime view of the driveway cam which often looks as bad as this;


So I'm going to get an IR floodlight and try that out.
 
Armageus said:
I'm not sure that's an illumination issue - looks more like a cobweb or misting on the camera
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Oh I've since opened it, cleaned it, and changed the silica gel pack inside for a dry one - that was a particularly poor image I had when I went looking recently.
But its not great at night until something triggers the motion sensor on a spotlight - in which case it looks great. But I'd like a more nightime friendly solution.
 
@skyripper your image sort of reminds me of my night time. My neighbour also has that kind of night time recording but like a divvy he has his cameras inside the house behind his window :p

The problem I'm having with my cameras are spiders! and spider webs. Does anyone have a solution because night time recording is a bloody mess :( Day time is excellent and when the spider webs are gone the footage is great too, I just can't seem to keep them away. I don't know if I have anything recorded at home to compare day/night but I'll have a look when I get home.

I purchased a cheap set of ANNKE cameras a year or two ago (Maybe longer) and they've been fantastic. It's a E200 1080p 4 camera setup and only cost around £115'ish with a cheeky discount at the time. I know there are way better cameras and systems out there but I'm confident it does exactly what's needed in our little end of the street ;) Minus the spider problem.
 
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skyripper said:
Oh I've since opened it, cleaned it, and changed the silica gel pack inside for a dry one - that was a particularly poor image I had when I went looking recently.
But its not great at night until something triggers the motion sensor on a spotlight - in which case it looks great. But I'd like a more nightime friendly solution.
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Assuming that's a dome then it will always going to be a pain outside. Even with a separate IR light it only takes some dirty rain to cause some loss of quality, but it will avoid the IR glare.

Although the cameras IR light could be too small, the sensor size in the camera in relation to the resolution has a big effect on night time quality (hence why high res but small sensor size cameras are often moaned about). The other thing to check if the shutter speed at night which needs to be slower than during the day at the cost of adding some slight blur on fast motion. I use a script to change settings relative to sun elevation as my cameras could only do time window per month based changes.
 
It is a dome, but it is under an eave so slightly protected from the rain. But if its the wrong camera for the job, thats something I may need to consider.
I guess I could swap it for the garage one which is a bullet, and see how that goes, the wiring for it thru two layers of brick gonna be a pain in the proverbial though.

I'll play with the shutterspeed and see how it looks tonight assuming I don't get stuck into a nice bottle of wine.

Thanks guys for all your input.
 
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