P2P and port forward issues

[backyardPTZ]

Hello all,

Im having issues trying to view my camera remotely through use of an app (danale for p2p, or IP cam viewer for port forward) here is what i have;
-Vikylin ip-ptz camera model: ptz-4825-is onvif compatible
-Xfinity gateway xb7t router (internet speed tested at 684mb/s ethernet connected/ 25mb/s wifi)
-poe+ switch (camera to switch, switch to router all cat6 cable)
-Danale app for p2p viewing (limited success)
-IP camera viewer app for port forward setup (doesnt support p2p) limited success as well.
-Blue Iris for viewing feed and recording small video clips

**Im a super newb with no experience regarding IP cameras or anything computer techy, Ive just been researching all i can the past few days. I bought this camera for use of viewing wildlife, mostly owls in my backyard. I chose to go with a PTZ camera for the reason of being able to move the camera around and follow wildlife and it works great! This camera has excellent night vision. Ive setup the camera through my LAN and im able to live view on blue iris and control the camera no problem. I also downloaded and setup the recommended app from the manufacture, danale. I have enabled p2p through the cameras online user interface and it shows online and connected. When using the danale app from within my LAN, i can view and control the camera no issues at all. Once outside my LAN, the feed will only stream for a few seconds, around 600-800kb/s before freezing at 0kb/s. if i close and re open the app, the same thing just repeats. So with this frustration i looked into other ways of trying to be able to view the camera feed remotely. This is where i started to learn about port forwarding (and also a little about VPNs, although i didnt see an option for this within my router settings)

Trying the port forward method i first tried to find out if my internet ip was static or dynamic, which is was dynamic however it only seems to change if power to the router is lost, resetting the router doesnt change the public internet IP. Knowing this, i went into my cameras online UI and made sure to set the cameras IP as static. I then confirmed this setting within my router and made sure the cams IP was set to static. I then changed the HTTP/ONVIF port from default 80, to 8016 in my cameras online UI. Following this, i set my router to port forward my cam IP address to port 8016 with TCP/UDP protocol, which i confirmed the port was open with an online port checker tool. I then tested to see if i could access my cameras UI without being connected to my LAN, so i turned off my wifi on my phone and was able to type in my public IP followed by port 8016 and was able to log into the cameras UI successfully. I also tested this with blue iris and changed the IP configuration to that of my public IP instead of LAN, and changed the port to 8016 and was able to connect, control and view my cameras live feed.

Following the setup of port forwarding, i downloaded and installed IP camera viewer app on my phone. I did a manual onvif setup which had me fill in the following: HOST/IP: (my external IP) PORT: 8016 USERNAME/PASSWORD for my camera. If i was connected to my LAN wifi, i would not be able to log in, if i was disconnected from my wifi, it would log in and the camera would connect. however, when trying to view the camera feed i would get this message "your input cant be opened, IPcams is unable to open the camera stream" when looking at the stream info i get this URL "rtsp:/10.0.0.147:554/stream0?username=admin&password=(32 digit random letters and numbers)" comparing this stream url to the one in blue iris that is working it shows the same. Im sure im doing something wrong. Any help/ advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

 

[wittaj]

See the excellent advice you got in your intro post.

New PTZ user for backyard wildlife

Hey all, My name is Tony from southeastern MA. I recently bought a Vikylin IP-PTZ cam that im using for viewing wildlife, more specifically the great horned owls that hunt in the yard, and its fascinating! Im very new to anything technical/ computer/ IT etc. Setting up the camera wasn't too...

ipcamtalk.com

Even if it is just for wildlife, it is never a good idea to P2P or port-forward. Hackers don't care about your video stream, they want to use your internet for DDoS attacks or to get into your system to steal bank info.

That camera appears to be a Dahua OEM. Appears to be the 49825. If so, the DMSS app will probably work and will probably be more functional than the Vikylin app.

https://www.amazon.com/EmpireTech-Starlight-5mm-125mm-Protection-SD49825XB-HNR/dp/B0B3HM1JRR/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=ptz&m=A329YQ83EBQGJF&qid=1670171759&s=merchant-items&sr=1-9

 

[backyardPTZ]

See the excellent advice you got in your intro post.

New PTZ user for backyard wildlife

Hey all, My name is Tony from southeastern MA. I recently bought a Vikylin IP-PTZ cam that im using for viewing wildlife, more specifically the great horned owls that hunt in the yard, and its fascinating! Im very new to anything technical/ computer/ IT etc. Setting up the camera wasn't too...

ipcamtalk.com

Even if it is just for wildlife, it is never a good idea to P2P or port-forward. Hackers don't care about your video stream, they want to use your internet for DDoS attacks or to get into your system to steal bank info.

That camera appears to be a Dahua OEM. Appears to be the 49825. If so, the DMSS app will probably work and will probably be more functional than the Vikylin app.

https://www.amazon.com/EmpireTech-Starlight-5mm-125mm-Protection-SD49825XB-HNR/dp/B0B3HM1JRR/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=ptz&m=A329YQ83EBQGJF&qid=1670171759&s=merchant-items&sr=1-9

Thank you, i am reading those articles right now. after the advice and what ive read so far ive turned off port forwarding and will read about the VPNs more. Also ill look into the dahua DMSS app. I appreciate the help

 

[backyardPTZ]

So after reading those posts im going to use my TPlink 3000 router since my xfinity gateway doesnt offer VPN and the tplink offers open vpn within the router. Im currently researching more but im curious as how i can access the camera via mobile app, or can i only access the camera with a computer with VPN?

 

[wittaj]

When you VPN back into YOUR network, it is just like you are sitting on the couch. You would set up the mobile app for the internal LAN address that you use when at home, and then once you VPN back in, it works just the same.

 

[backyardPTZ]

When you VPN back into YOUR network, it is just like you are sitting on the couch. You would set up the mobile app for the internal LAN address that you use when at home, and then once you VPN back in, it works just the same.

oh ok, i think i understand now. let me know if this is right, the danale app that works with the camera but only while connected to my LAN, with the vpn configured, should work as if im connected to my LAN even when im not?

 

[wittaj]

That is correct because the VPN is putting you back onto your system.

 

[backyardPTZ]

That is correct because the VPN is putting you back onto your system.

Gotcha! excellent, thank you for taking the time to help me out, i appreciate it.

 

[backyardPTZ]

Has anyone had any luck with using open vpn with iPhone? I’ve set up open vpn with my router but I’m not able to open the config file through the open vpn connect app :/ I’ve also tried downloading the connect client on my windows 10, and tried to load the config file with no luck

 

[Mike A.]

Has anyone had any luck with using open vpn with iPhone? I’ve set up open vpn with my router but I’m not able to open the config file through the open vpn connect app :/ I’ve also tried downloading the connect client on my windows 10, and tried to load the config file with no luck

Should be fine on iPhone. Tons of people use it. What error do you see when you go to import it?

 

[backyardPTZ]

Should be fine on iPhone. Tons of people use it. What error do you see when you go to import it?

I generate the config file from my pc, then email the .ovpn file to myself. When I then go and open my email on my iPhone to try and share the file to open vpn, I don’t see the app in the suggested apps to share and can’t figure out how else to get it to open vpn app.

UPDATE: I figured it out. First of all I think the mail application I was using on my iPhone did not support the file type so I used the native mail iPhone app and that worked, all is working well I can enable openvpn and view my cameras. Thank you!