Ip Camera with FTP upload capability

[irishpeloton]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a particular type of camera, but I'm not sure if it exists with the functionality that I need.

What I am trying to achieve is to record footage at a venue and automatically upload that footage to a remote server via FTP. I don't need to be able to view live streaming at all. I would just like all the footage of the day to auto-upload at, for example, midnight.

But I would like to achieve this without an NVR or a PC on site. Does anyone know if there is a camera that can do this without any extra hardware (apart from a working internet connection)?

Most importantly, I also need to be able to FTP the footage to a private remote server rather than any proprietary cloud service. I have found cameras that can do what I need, but they only FTP the footage to the camera company's own cloud storage service.

It would also need to be one of the vandal proof dome cameras.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[happycat]

Hi irishpeloton,

Not an expert here but I think you should add some more detail:

do you intend to transfer only recordings containing motion or all of them?

Depending on the camera resolution and compression, if you intend to transfer everything that could require a very fast connection, especially at high resolutions.

At which resolution do you intend to set your camera and which compression format? Which camera/cameras did you consider? (that interests me BTW)

Dsl speed for instance is good at download but has a very bad upload rate.

I see there are firmware gurus on this forum, maybe there is some firmware mod capable to save to an ftp of your choice.

 

[irishpeloton]

Happycat,

Thanks for getting back to me.

The intention is to transfer all recordings but for a specific time range. So, for example, I'd like to upload everything recorded from 7pm - 10pm, every night.

I'm not too worried about the Internet issue. I have a deal with the local broadband provider whereby I have ample upload speeds between midnight and 7am. So my plan is to upload the three hours of footage at midnight.

I've considered the following two cameras:
Hikvision DS-2CD2542FWD-I (W)(S)
Amcrest IP3M-956/IPM-751 3MP/1.3MP WiFi Dome Camera

Currently, I'm leaning toward the Hikvision one. It records MP4s which is what I need and it has audio, which I also need. The documentation says it is capable of FTP uploads to a configurable location. I'm not sure why I'm skeptical, but I've just yet to come across anyone who has used this feature successfully. Presumably the recordings are stored locally on an SD card before upload?

The Amcrest records in .DAV format which will be awkward for me and also does not have audio. However they do provide tutorial videos which make it obvious that the FTP functionality is what I'm looking for.

Any further advice would be great.

Thanks,

 

[happycat]

Hi again,

I'm also skeptical about IP cameras ftp capabilities in general, some I tried could upload pics only, some uploaded video with very low frame rate and some uploaded strange encoded files no player could play.

I think SD card would be used by camera as buffer when uploading but I don't think you could set a timer for ftp transfers, unless you put your camera offline using a schedule task in your router (how many routers can do that?

Also, if you plan to do continuous recording that for shure will shorten the SD lifetime.

Where did you read the Hickvision saves mp4 files? I'm also interested but couldn't find any reference to that on their website.

Maybe someone who owns this camera could say how well this works.

 

[happycat]

Also, you may not take for granted that when getting online your camera will upload all the stored recorded data: it may or it may not, it depends on how its firmware works.