ABUS TVIP21560

[cmosfet]

Model ABUS TVIP21560
Firmware-Version V5.2.0 build 150505
Cod.-Version V1.0 build 140714

Web access to this nice WLAN / LAN camera is login / password protected, also to the raw video access.
After login the "Live View" only shows "No plug-in detected."

I activated all video formats at Firefox 41.0.2 (about:config) and installed all video-codecs on my Linux computer (OpenSuse 13.2) from the Packman repository. The video testing page http://www.youtube.com/html5 says, that these formats (6 from 6!) are supported by my firefox browser:
HTMLVideoElement
H.264
WebM VP8
Media Source Extensions
MSE & H.264
MSE & WebM VP9

But the ABUS camera "Life View" still doesn't show up!
I tried the vlc media player with these parameters (554 is the port, could be found on the internal website of the camera):
vlc rtsp://192.168.0.100:554
This works fine after entering the password and then shows a good video stream!
Interestingly: Under Firefox/Android the cam stream shows up!

The pro's:
Internal web server to configure (nearly) all
The internal camera web server driven GUI is pristine
Nice hardware
High video quality
Good documentation in several languages

The flaws:
The password protection can't be disabled. In the first view, my Zoneminder Version 1.27 doesn't offer a password handling ... but Zoneminder can handle it!
Tilt and pan controls doesn't show up, I assume, they are Active-X controls which don't work under Firefox.
Firefox with all new codecs enabled can't show a video stream, but this seems to be a Firefox Problem!
It's a pitty!

In the meanwhile I returned this camera the shop. Regrettably after that I learned the existence of ONVIF and how to deal inside Zoneminder with user names and passwords. I think, I will give this camera another chance and buy it again!
(With apps like Onvifer 8.53 I may have access to this cam after all, because in the documentation (http://www.abus.com/uk/Security-at-Home ... oor-Camera) is stated, that this cam will support ONVIF profile S.)

[cmosfet]

In the meanwhile I returned this camera the shop. Regrettably after that I learned the existence of ONVIF and how to deal inside Zoneminder with user names and passwords. I think, I will give this camera another chance and buy it again!
(With apps like Onvifer 8.53 I may have access to this cam after all, because in the documentation (http://www.abus.com/uk/Security-at-Home ... oor-Camera) is stated, that this cam will support ONVIF profile S.)

[cmosfet]

In the mean time I bought this camera again and tried it's examination with several tools.

First I tried the following genuine Abus Tools:
1. Abus IP Cam Viewer
This tool may be suitable, if you know anything about your cam, like IP address, HTTP-Port, RTSP-Port and so on. But how should you, especially if you're a novice? Even the drop down box to choose a model doesn't offer this one. So this tool is needless, it doesn't help at all.
2. Abus App2Cam
This tool promise to find Abus cams in the wireless LAN, but it doesn't! I tried everything: cam in LAN, cam in WLAN, cam reset to factory defaults and so on. Senseless tool!

Second I tried the Android Opensource app Onvifer. Onvifer found the cam after some search in the WLAN. The tool then asks for a username and password, after entering that I had full control (PTZ) over the cam! Beside that Onvifer is a good Opensource tool, it sometimes nerves with advertising!

After that, I tried to find the URL/path "magic URL" which is necessary to establish a new camera at Zoneminder.
1. I found, that this Abus cam is compatible or at least comparable with this cam: Foscam FI8608W.
2. I searched the web and found some additional information here:
http://www.camera-sdk.com/p_134-how-to- ... onvif.html
but not explicit for this model. So I tried some paths, these are the settings, that worked perfectly:
General / Source Type: Ffmpeg
Source / Source Path: [url]rtsp://username:password@IP-name-or-IP-address-of-camera/video.mp4[/url]
Source / Remote Method: RTP/Unicast
Source / Capture Width: 1280
Source / Capture Height: 720
Control / Control Type: Foscam FI8608W
All other settings left default

After mounting the cam into Zoneminder I made the following observations:
1. The cam is very sensitive to poor Wifi. It will stop operation immediately and does not try to reconnect to the WLAN. The LED then blinks blue, and the cam does not return to normal operation, even if a Wifi repeater or Wifi base station is next to it. At normal operation the LED is glowing continuously in dark red. Besides that, the LEDs also can blink green, while the cam is initializing. But there is no documentation about the LED colours and blinking codes in the web or in the provided documentation!
2. After stopping operation, you have to unplug and plug the current supply. The cam then reboots and makes some tilts, panning and then mostly stops suddenly at one of this directions: Block to the right, block to the left or block to vertical. It doesn't return to straight ahead or the last position it had, when shutting down. You then have to align the cam with Onvifer, with a browser or verbatim manually.
3. After entering the build-in web server via Firefox, I also found out, that the TPZ controls are not Active-X Controls, as I supposed in a former article, they are just a little bit hidden. They are located on the first page when logged in, on the right upper corner behind an out-greyed button. If you press this button, a menu bar with PTZ-Controls will appear from the right side!
4. I tried to initiate a firmware update within the build-in web server that may solve the issues above. There is a possibility to do so but it didn't worked at all. Maybe this is an Active-X- issue? I will ask the Abus Support.

After all, this is a fine web-cam, suitable for use in Zoneminder and with some limitations also with Linux. But it's indispensable, that your Wifi field strength is high enough (>50dB) and that you find a way to remotely reboot and align the camera! For analysing your Wifi I recommend this app: "FRITZ!App WLAN" at least if you have a Fritz!Box Wifi infrastructure.