Difficulties adding ZModo NVR and cameras to recent Blue Iris install

[dooleys23]

Hello ipcamtalk community!

I have tried pursued this all day now and would appreciate any available troubleshooting input.
I generally try not to ask for 'let me google that for you' assistance and have provided detailed information below showing my research.

Problem:
Blue Iris cannot read my Zmodo ZM-SS7009B8-S NVR and it's 4 sPoE cameras.

Details:
Configuring the NVR as a camera in blue iris with RSTP port 9000 presents the 800247d error (Refused; check IP address and port 0).
Configuring the RSTP port as 8000 returns a I/O error code: 0.
This issue occurs regardless of the channel the camera is configured as (channel 0, 1, etc.)
My Zmodo NVR config is currently streaming to the cloud per a zmodo service. I can confirm it's working with its proprietary services/'zmodo' network protocol.


Per the ZModo system information tab on the NVR itself, I can confirm the following:
web port == 00080
video port == 08000
mobile port == 09000

The major tshooting efforts so far:
ISpy auto-config
-My Zmodo NVR model is not listed in either blue iris or ISpy. ISpy is unable to detect any RTSP feeds via port 80, 8000, 9000.
Postman, WireShark captures
-Outputs can be seen below. The NVR responds to my blue iris queries with port unreachables. Possibly because of a bad http path?
Connecting to cameras individually
-Similar results to the NVR efforts mentioned above. I do not get any form of response (or real error code) using port 8000 for RTSP in Blue Iris. 9000 gives me 800247d.
Configuring video path and params
-For both port 8000 and 9000, I've tried configuring the param as {CAMNO} and the video path as /tcp/av0_0


Network overview:
LAN - 10.0.0.0/24 (1 single subnet, full network connectivity between all devices. No firewalls.)
Router - 10.0.0.1
Blue Iris server - 10.0.0.70
ZModo NVR - 10.0.0.178
ZModo Camera's - 10.0.0.44-47 (4 total)

Ideas/thoughts/recommendations?
Seeing as it's 2AM, I am going to retire for the night, but tomorrow I plan to investigate further into the limited Zmodo documentation.
The cloud streaming may be causing the issue here.
I will also investigate into the Receive Buffer, as this solved another Zmodo user's issues (link below)

Zmodo And BI

STEELGTR, I have 3 Zmodo NVR's of 2 different types on BI. In all cases they work great using the media port, which is the last port listed on the info (below), copied & pasted from a Zmodo KB article. Also, at the very bottom are screen shots of the video configs for the 2 that work for me...

ipcamtalk.com

Can anyone provide any troubleshooting ideas? Much appreciated!
A bi greenhorn.

 

[dooleys23]

For anyone interested, I have discovered some disheartening but promising results.

Per this Ben Software forum, Zmodo is allegedly intentionally disabling ONVIF on their systems.

Working with a zmodo camera

I have a zmodo ZP-IBH13-P camera that claims to be ONVIF compliant, but I can't figure out how to get the video get picked up by SecuritySpy.

bensoftware.com

That comment was made back in 2017. My camera system was from approximately 2018.
I will continue investigating. I have requested a compatibility investigation per the Blue Iris manual under Make/Model.
If available, updates will follow.

 

[dooleys23]

Slightly off topic, but I'll keep posting these updates for anyone else who gets into a similar situation as me.

This youtube video shows possible compatibility with Zoneminders:

I have very limited programming knowledge, but believe I can make my with through the c file mentioned in the video.

The video is from a year ago, which is when Ben from Ben forums stated new firmware was being released.
I am going to attempt to verify if this custom C file/service can pull in Zmodo cameras (possibly on 'locked' down firmware).

If it can, it may be possible to add functionality to Blue Iris.
It's worth an afternoons effort.

Updates to follow, if available.

Also, any recommended troubleshooting is still welcome!

 

[looney2ns]

Slightly off topic, but I'll keep posting these updates for anyone else who gets into a similar situation as me.

This youtube video shows possible compatibility with Zoneminders:

I have very limited programming knowledge, but believe I can make my with through the c file mentioned in the video.

The video is from a year ago, which is when Ben from Ben forums stated new firmware was being released.
I am going to attempt to verify if this custom C file/service can pull in Zmodo cameras (possibly on 'locked' down firmware).

If it can, it may be possible to add functionality to Blue Iris.
It's worth an afternoons effort.

Updates to follow, if available.

Also, any recommended troubleshooting is still welcome!

Here is my trouble shooting tip. Take the nvr out in the driveway, and run over it with the car about 6 times then trash it. You'll at least feel better.
Zmodo is a lying, trash company with non-standard trash products. I sure would not be trusting their cloud service, nor anyone else's, but especially from them.
Buy some real cameras and use them with BI.
Stick with Dahua, Hikvision and IPcamtalks own branded cams.
Study here: Wiki
And here: Cliff Notes.

 

[TonyR]

@dooleys23 ,
What happens if:

 

[mat200]

For anyone interested, I have discovered some disheartening but promising results.

Per this Ben Software forum, Zmodo is allegedly intentionally disabling ONVIF on their systems.

Working with a zmodo camera

I have a zmodo ZP-IBH13-P camera that claims to be ONVIF compliant, but I can't figure out how to get the video get picked up by SecuritySpy.

bensoftware.com

That comment was made back in 2017. My camera system was from approximately 2018.
I will continue investigating. I have requested a compatibility investigation per the Blue Iris manual under Make/Model.
If available, updates will follow.

Thanks @dooleys23

From reports on other forums where Zmodo's updates to customer owned NVR kits which modified a on-premise NVR kit into a cloud dependent kit - it is clear you can not trust Zmodo / funlux / meshare when they are hijacking the product you own and forcing you into their cloud service. ( basically the zmodo firmware update force the kit to no longer be owned by the customer / user / purchaser - but reverted into a leased piece of equipment. imho that is stealing from those who bought on-premise kits.. )

If you can afford to, I concur with looney2ns....


"
Ben February 2017

This is a warning to users of Zmodo cameras:

The latest firmware release from Zmodo intentionally disables standard protocols such as ONVIF and RTSP, which prevents them working with third-party software such as SecuritySpy. They claim that they are doing this for the purposes of "fixing security issues", however a less charitable (but in my opinion more plausible) interpretation is that this is a tactic to force customers to use their own apps and recorders.

I would advise anyone with a Zmodo camera to avoid installing any further firmware updates, and to make sure the camera is not set to update itself automatically."

 

[TonyR]

@dooleys23 ,
If my above suggestion post #5 doesn't bear fruit, then perhaps this will.

I had forgotten until this morning that I had set up a 4 channel Zmodo with Blue Iris 4 for a client back in May of 2015.The package is Zmodo ZP-KE1H04-S-1TB. It had the sPOE ("Simplified" POE, Zmodo called it) cameras that had used only 4 conductors in the cables and the POE did NOT conform to 802.3af. They were Zmodo ZP-IBH15-S1.



Each cam had a static IP in the same subnet as the NVR and I had logged into each cam's webGUI with no user and no password and assigned those IP's and made them static....I can't recall much more about that aspect. I may have logged into them via the NVR, I can't recall (suffering from Old Timer's disease). I do recall the NVR had a webGUI.

I configured 4 cams in BI4 as shown below, each cam with a unique IP so I did not stream from the NVR but from each cam. Note the camera number dropdown remains at "1" for ALL cams and the RTSP port changed to 10554. Also the blanks for user and password is no mistake.



The POS setup has run for 4-1/2 years now, one cam went out 2 years ago. Matter of fact, below is a screenshot (I just logged into his server and got this 12/31/19 @ 0722 Central).
Owner has not cleaned spider webs in at least 2 years, last time he did he knocked cam 1 (upper left) out of alignment.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[dooleys23]

To anyone looking for the TL;DR end to this thread -

It is likely possible to get a ZModo system up and running with blue iris IF you are willing to work on the highest technical level of networking, kernel design, and software architecture. While possible, I would not recommend trying to incorporate a ZModo (or other similar off-brand camera system) into blue iris. You/your home/ your business are worth more than this system and should consider upgrading to a system mentioned by looney2ns as seen below.

Looney2ns, TonyR, and mat200 -

I’d like to genuinely thank you all for your input! I take great pride in trying to research and understand documentation before asking any types of redundant questions, therefore respecting my own learning opportunities and other people's time. I genuinely hope I did not waste any of your time.

This setup came into my parent’s home a few years ago before I truly began caring about personal privacy. I suppose that comes with age! The NVR and cameras have been operating on the same VLAN/LAN as all devices since it was installed. Quite eerie, a true rookie mistake.

Further, after reviewing this ZModo protocol, I believe the network hardware and all devices on it are being unnecessarily hammered. This is because the ZModo cameras do not directly talk to the NVR’s but rather in broadcast UDP form. A Wireshark capture shows no point to point communication of any kind between the NVR and camera. The only traffic I can capture (through a Switchport directly at the source!) is 255.255.255.255 broadcast traffic. I’m interpreting this as an intentional smurf attack lol. Zmodo and I might have different ideas on that, however. God only knows what’s in this encrypted traffic from my NVR to what I assume are ZModo servers at WAN 239.x.x.x.

I care enough about the family that I will be making this investment in the coming months as either an early Easter present or late Christmas present. I do not wish to rush the process though so that I can make a proper installation.


TonyR and mat200-

I played with all reasonable channel configs with BOTH the NVR and IP cameras(0-10) along with possible paths, params, and RTSP ports. I was unable to make a connection. Great idea though! It gave me the idea of looking into web crawlers to determine possible paths! I can confirm the Kernel is running a 2018 released update.

I certainly do not trust this type of business practice. This experience and the time wasted trying to get it configured with BI was not ideal. It does have a wonderful silver lining, though! I will be looking out for these new attributes in products I buy going forward - especially intimate technology such as a security surveillance system!

 

[TonyR]

Turns out @looney2ns had the best suggestion: place it in the driveway and run over it a few times!

 

[SouthernYankee]

----------------------------
You have learned a very good lesson the hard way.

Read, Study Plan before spending money.... Plan Plan Plan.
Go slow.

There is a lot of info below and will take some time to process its all, some of the info may not apply.
---------------------------

My standard welcome to the forum message.

Please read the IP Cam Talk Cliff Notes and other items in the IP Cam Talk Wiki. The wiki is in the blue bar at the top of the page.

Read How to Secure Your Network (Don't Get Hacked!) in the wiki also.

Quick start
1) If you do not have a wired monitored alarm system, get that first
2) Use Dahua starlight cameras or Hikvision darkfighter cameras if you need good low light cameras.
3) use a VPN to access home network (openVPN)
4) Do not use wifi cameras.
5) Do not use cloud storage
6) Do Not use uPNP, P2P, QR, do not open ports,
7) More megapixel is not necessarily better.
8) Avoid chinese hacked cameras (most ebay, amazon, aliexpress cameras(not all, but most))
9) Do not use reolink, ring, nest, Arlo cameras (they are junk), no cloud cameras
10) If possible use a turret camera , bullet collect spiders, dome collect dirt and reflect light (IR)
11) Use only solid copper, AWG 23 or 24 ethernet wire. , no CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)
12) use a test mount to verify the camera mount location. My test rig: rev.2
13) (Looney2ns)If you want to be able to ID faces, don't mount cams higher than 8ft. You want to know who did it, not just what happened.
14) Use a router that has openVPN built in (Most ASUS, Some NetGear....)
15) camera placement use the calculator... IPVM Camera Calculator V3
16) POE list PoE Switch Suggestion List


Cameras to look at
IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED Review IPC-T5442TM-AS-LED (Full Color, Starlight+)
IPC-T5442TM-AS Review-OEM 4mp AI Cam IPC-T5442TM-AS Starlight+ - 4MP starlight+
IPC-HDW2231R-ZS Review-Dahua IPC-HDW2231RP-ZS Starlight Camera-Varifocal
IPC-HDW2231T-ZS-S2 Review-OEM IPC-T2231T-ZS 2mp Varifocal Starlight Camera
IPC-HDW5231R-ZE Review-Dahua Starlight IPC-HDW5231R-ZE 800 meter capable ePOE
IPC-HFW4239T-ASE IPC-HFW4239T-ASE
IPCT-HDW5431RE-I Review - IP Cam Talk 4 MP IR Fixed Turret Network Camera
DS-2CD2325FWD-I
IPC-T2347G-LU Review of the Hikvision OEM model IPC-T2347G-LU 'ColorVu' IP CCTV camera. (DS-2CD2347G1-LU)
N22AL12 New Dahua N22AL12 Budget Cam w/Starlight -- low cost entry

Other dahua 4MP starlight Dahua 4MP Starlight Lineup

My preferred indoor cameras
DS-2CD2442FWD-IW
IPC-K35A Review-Dahua IPC-K35A 3mp Cube Camera

If interested in Blue Iris and other setup items see the following post

Newbie Starter Guide to IP Cam System – VPN setup – Computer Hardware – Blue Iris – Dahua Cameras

This is an intermediate / newbie guide for people just starting out looking for a surveillance setup. I know this setup might not be for everyone and there are many options. You can find a lot of this information in the Wiki: IP Cam Talk Wiki | IP Cam Talk A great place to start in the Wiki...

ipcamtalk.com

Camera Sensor size info Sensor Sizes Generally bigger is better

Before asking a question search the forum first...
The best way to search the forum is to use Google Advance search

Google Advanced Search

set site or domain to ipcamtalk.com

Read,study,plan before spending money ..... plan plan plan
Test do not guess

 

[mat200]

..

I’d like to genuinely thank you all for your input! I take great pride in trying to research and understand documentation before asking any types of redundant questions, therefore respecting my own learning opportunities and other people's time. I genuinely hope I did not waste any of your time.
...A Wireshark capture shows no point to point communication of any kind between the NVR and camera....

Hi @dooleys23

Thanks, feel free to share any techniques / tech info you use for trouble shooting which others may find useful.