My experience with a "vipcam" A192V2N01

bedouin

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I was looking for an inexpensive IP cam and found this:

http://celare.cl/cctv-720p-1-0mp-3-6mm-lens-wireless-ip-camera-support-onvif-two-way-audio-192vipcam-eu-plug/

I bought it from a local shop not the link above, so I do not want it to seem like I am advertising/vouching for them.

The box has no information on it about the manufacturer, only the model number "A192V2N01," which is not even listed on the configuration page. The instruction manual has a URL (http://vip.ipcam.hk) in tiny print on one page; it merely links to an Android APK, the iTunes store, and a PC executable.

The instruction manual merely provides steps to get the camera working with their mobile app — which I was not particularly interested in. Rather than going through that, I plugged the camera into my router and looked to see which IP address it grabbed through DHCP. Once I had that information, I pointed my browser to the address and successfully logged in.

As you might expect from a cheapo Chinese IP cam, the software has occasionally awkward phrasing and is buggy. After connecting it to my wireless network I wanted to get motion detection working. No matter what options I selected, I was not initially able to accomplish this; audio triggers were working and e-mailing my pictures as expected, but not motion. I moved onto some other things and decided to revisit the motion problem later — or perhaps use a third-party app to accomplish the same thing.

The web viewer relies on Flash, which was a major disappointment since I uninstalled it long ago. Chromium (Chrome) includes a sandboxed version of Flash, but my preferred browser is Firefox. Regardless, I did not want to leave a browser window open to keep an eye on the cam. The camera's web interface indicates that ONVIF runs on port 8080, RTSP on port 554, and RTMP on port 1935. I first tried to connect to either the RTSP or RTMP using VLC, but was unsuccessful. Given that the camera seemed to have ONVIF support, I assumed I would be compatible with any app that supports ONVIF. I tried SecuritySpy for OS X — since that's my platform of choice. I could not connect using ONVIF. I decided to open Wireshark at that point, began streaming from the web viewer, and attempted to find the full URL to the RTMP stream.

While doing so I noticed a URL with "hi3510" in it. This seemed like it could be a model number, so I Googled it. I found a link to this manual, which is for a Foscam FI9821W:

http://www.themadhermit.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/FI9821W-CGI-Commands.pdf

With this new info I went back to SecuritySpy to see if that particular model was supported — and it was. Sure enough, the camera worked perfectly using the FI9821W profile, including its PTZ controls.

Now let's get back to the firmware-based motion detection, which I had previously given up on.

After figuring out how to get the camera working in general and discovering its quirks, I decided to download the iOS app (named vipcam). To add the camera I had to scan the QR code on the box or input its UID manually. Ideally, I would have preferred to have just entered the camera's IP address. Once adding the camera I checked out the viewer, which worked generally as expected. I then noticed that the camera could be configured through the iOS app. This was not particularly interesting until I realized that there were options NOT PRESENT using the web interface, the most important of which being an explicit toggle for motion detection and the ability to adjust its sensitivity.

Motion detection was now working, but not particularly well. Rather than taking successive snapshots once motion has been detected, it takes one snapshot, and often barely catches whomever/whatever entered the frame. See the example below:

http://imgur.com/a/W9sHX

Other than the person's feet, it did not capture anything else. Ideally, it should take around 6 shots and then e-mail them all to me in a single message. Maybe lowering the motion detection sensitivity would help.

Another interesting feature present only through the mobile app is the ability to check for a firmware update (which might improve the motion detection). The app indicates that an update is available and offers to install it, but I am hesitant to do so. I would be less hesitant if (a) I could download a copy of the old firmware in case I want to revert back to it; (b) download the new firmware directly to my computer, so I could upload it through the web interface manually; and (c) if there was a means to contact the manufacturer for support in case the update bricked the device.

Another issue with the firmware is that time zone settings do not stick (at least with the version on my device, V9.1.4.1.5-20160331). The time/date in the snapshot above is actually correct, but the headers in the e-mails it sends out are GMT+8. That can be confusing when trying to locate a particular snapshot in your mail client.

I only toyed with the FTP/video recording/SD card functionality briefly. They seemed to work well enough, but I did not use them extensively. Your mileage may vary. Video clips cannot be e-mailed, only saved to FTP or the SD card. The web interface allows you to define three separate users (admin, user, and guest). While these accounts can be used to login to the web interface, user and guest do not work with the mobile app — which is annoying if you want someone to be able to view the camera without having admin access. The web interface allows you to change the username for these accounts; unfortunately, the PC software (which I tested in VMWare under Windows 7), only allows you to make administrative changes using the "admin" username. I only toyed with the PC software briefly, namely to see if it granted me access to any additional configuration options like the mobile app did. It was not aesthetically appealing.

This was my first IP camera. I wrote this review because while in the shop debating whether I should purchase it, I could not find ANY information about it online other than the link above. If I could have found a post detailing what I did above, I would have been extremely grateful. Yes, I realize it is a cheap camera and that my expectations should be realistic, but depending on location and socioeconomic status, inexpensiveness is retaliative. If anyone has additional information about this camera I would be interested in hearing it, as it appears to be a clone of another.
 

ramleaf

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It's rated IP66 but the connectors are not even waterproofed. If you put that camera outside will die with the first rain.
 

bedouin

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complete garbage
The products I have available to me locally are limited. I paid the equivalent of $67 for it. The next day I bought a D-Link 932L for inside the apartment. I paid the equivalent of $107 for it, which is more than twice its actual value. Imagine how much just "good" products end up costing . . .

The D-Link's firmware is markedly better and less buggy, and the motion detection and resultant e-mails actually fulfill their intended purpose. The picture quality is inferior to the other cam though, and its day/night detection useless (unless it's in near direct sunlight, it sticks in night mode).

If you couple the vipcam with decent third-party software, it's actually not that bad. That's assuming you manage to get it working with said software though . . .

It's rated IP66 but the connectors are not even waterproofed. If you put that camera outside will die with the first rain.
Yeah, from one glance it is abundantly clear that this thing is not suitable for outdoor use.
 

bedouin

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I found yet another quirk in the firmware. One cannot upload video files to an FTP server unless a memory card has been inserted. Perhaps it does not have enough on-board storage space to handle this.
 

Jorabi

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Bedouin, I bought 4 of these cams because they were so cheap and 2 were for a friend who had no money. They have been working adequately for our needs, but I cannot get the web interface to work reliably. I am using Chrome 49 on Win 7 and camera firmware V9.1.4.1.18-20160708. The picture freezes after 5 to 30 seconds. I have to wait about 15 seconds until I can reconnect again. The camera is still online through this, because the phone app doesn't even hiccup. Have you seen this problem?

Since there is no identifying info on the cams, I don't even know where to look for later firmware. The Android app is called CamHi and it has almost no controls. There is no firmware upgrade option like you mentioned. The web interface does have an upgrade page. The web pages all work correctly except the live video that freezes.
 

bedouin

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Looks like you have a newer firmware version than me. I have no intention of updating the firmware on mine since I have no way of going back to the old one. I know the quirks in this particular version and do not want anything to break.

I do not use the web interface to view the camera, but a third-party OS X app that is a lot less clunkier (and with many more features). I would look and see if you can find something similar for Windows. It will need to support the Foscam FI9821W. I do not have Flash installed on my system, but opened the web interface just now in Chrome 54.0.2840.98 for OS X, which has its own version of Flash built in. I've been streaming from the cam for about five minutes now through it with no problems. You can see what it looks like and compare it to your own in the link below.


As for the mobile app, try the one I linked to above instead (i.e., http://vip.ipcam.hk/). My wife has it on her Android device and it is nearly identical to the iOS version. I believe it is in the Google Play store as well.
 

y2hector

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Dear Bedouin i bought that same camera used from ebay, but the zoom is not working, isnt working from the app on android cell neither from the pc.
i cant return the item cause i am in Honduras.

Any idea ?? thanks for your time

Regards
 

bedouin

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As far as I know the camera does not have an optical zoom. The best you can do is use a third-party app with software zoom.
 

y2hector

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As far as I know the camera does not have an optical zoom. The best you can do is use a third-party app with software zoom.
Thanks Bedouin
The android app has a zoom option and also a focus option, i was worried thinking this one was bad, so mine its ok ??

Im using this apk that i downloded from here vipcam Apk Download 1.0.3

The one on the page vip.ipcam.hk dosnt work
 

bedouin

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It's likely that the same app works with other cameras they sell that do have optical zoom.
 

bedouin

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From a security standpoint there is one thing that worries me about this camera. I assumed that the mobile app only worked when connected to the same network as the camera, but found out that is not the case — despite the fact that no holes have been punched through my firewall to allow inbound connections to it. I know functionality like this exists for cameras from other manufacturers (like D-Link), but it is usually something you specifically opt into. The traffic in such cases is being routed to some unknown server whose long term existence is questionable. The app seems smart enough to not connect over the Internet when on the same network at least. Too bad there's no packet analyzers for iOS (at least without jailbreaking), because I'd like to see what kind of data is being sent and to where.
 

bedouin

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By the way, a new version of the mobile app for iOS was released yesterday. The changelog says that some bugs were fixed, but all I noticed was a slightly different interface and the introduction of an annoying dialog box before playing a video.
 

bedouin

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I managed to get streaming working in VLC. Here is the URL you need:

rtsp://username:password@ip.address:554/11

There is a colon between the username and password, but the forum's software is inserting a smiley and I don't know how to disable that.

Both audio and video work.
 

Jorabi

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THANKS bedouin! I have not been able to figure out the rtsp URL. So now I got it working in VLC, but VLC is not cooperating. The video keeps going black, as if it lost connection, but there is no error msg. I then have to right-click and select Play to get the video back. When I do that, VLC loses it's window size and position! Very annoying. I just want to leave it on the corner of my screen all day with the minimal interface. Have you run into this, and/or what player are you using with the rtsp stream?
 

bedouin

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Like I mentioned earlier, I use an app called SecuritySpy. I got the RTSP URL by opening SecuritySpy and looking at the traffic using a packet analyzer. I was thinking of maybe using the camera with a Linux machine, so thought the info would come in handy. I never have dropouts unless there is a problem with the wireless signal.

Given the problem you mentioned before, it seems likely that the issue is network related. Try connecting the camera using an Ethernet cable and see if the dropouts still occur. I've tested the URL with VLC on my Mac as well with the iOS and Android versions of VLC.
 

bedouin

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Always finding new quirks in this thing :)

I keep my framerate for the first stream set to 20 FPS. Perhaps every few weeks the camera lowers its framerate a bit, maybe because of a weak wireless signal or something.

What's interesting is that, unlike most cams, it doesn't seem to increase the FPS after it lowers it. Even more strange, if you look at the config page, your chosen FPS is overridden by whatever the camera throttled itself to. If you restart the camera, it reverts back to the FPS you originally selected.
 

Jorabi

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I have wondered how the app can possibly find the camera when outside the network, since there is no config necessary for port, router config, etc. I was going to hook up a sniffer to find out how it's resolving the name and realized as you did, the traffic must be routing through a baked-in server, which is not exposed in the ui. It looks like the server is used by several no-name cameras, so it probably won't disappear.

I much prefer the standard ddns method so I picked a port and set a name up with no-ip.com. The annoying part is that even though the cam supports no-ip, you still have to manually renew the name every month if you want the free dns. The 'main ddns' option (hipcam.org) is probably free, but I cannot figure out how to register or what the default username/password is. All the online docs say the info is supplied, but AFAICT it isn't.

Have you found any of the supported ddns's work, auto-update and are free? I tried registering with 3322.org by translating every page to English, but got struck at the mobile text confirmation code. I had a ridiculous live chat with China before giving up LOL.
 
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bedouin

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Does your router support DDNS? That might be a better option. Alternatively, if you have any devices running on your network 24-7 you could install a DDNS client on one of them. That's my approach.

I moved to Duck DNS when dyndns quit offering their service for free. Once you create a subdomain there it exists indefinitely, even if you never update the IP.

I recently acquired a jailbroken iPod Touch, but it's pretty low spec. I might see if I can get a packet analyzer running on it. Even though it cannot go beyond iOS 6 the vipcam app works.

Have you done any firmware updates, and if so what version are you on? If you're on a newer version than me have you noticed if any of the issues I mentioned above have been resolved?
 
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