yorkie
Young grasshopper
Hello,
I have a dirt cheap Besder branded IP turret cam (3004PW-XMTG201) which is basically a rebadged Xiongmai thing. I can connect it to my network with a reserved DHCP address, and I can access it through iSpy on my main PC - though oddly it shows the ONVIF port as being 8899. But both the audio feed from the camera and audio to the camera speaker are working.
If I navigate to the IP address of the camera using a browser, the page after login shows basic PTZ controls but no feed from the camera. At first I thought this may be the standard procedure of chinesium cameras only using ActiveX controls so I logged in to the camera using Internet Explorer, but get the same result despite the window showing a prompt to activate the ActiveX plugin. If I navigate the browser to the camera ONVIF port I get a timeout result. It seems that the only way to alter parameters and settings on the camera is to use the ICsee mobile app, but even then the options offered are somewhat basic - for example, I would have liked to see options for adjusting the lux level at which the camera switches to night mode as well as an option to adjust the brightness of the white light illuminator (at present it is about as bright as one of those lightbars you get on top of a mudplugging 4x4 pickup!) but these options are not available. I went to the XMeye website and logged in there and found settings to adjust the camera - but this has the very odd outcome in which going to the relevant settings page for camera parameters (day/night, exposure, DNR, WDR, etc) and not making any adjustments at all but clicking 'OK' then disables the IR and white light illuminators completely, and there are no settings at all which will get them working again so then I have to go to a seperate menu option to reset those parameters back to default.
So my first question is simply this:- is there a means of setting parameters on the camera LOCALLY over the LAN connection without needing to use an app or remote website? Could this be done using Teraterm or PuTTY?
Alternatively, can settings be adjusted with a direct connection to the camera using a Serial connection? I have attached a photo of the top board on the camera, of which there are two different sets of empty terminals which look like they could be data points - one set is right at the top of board slightly to the right, with points numbered 1 to 5; the other is on the left of the board just above the connection for the wifi antenna, of which there are 4 points. To me, it looks like the top connection with points 1-5 could possibly be a serial connection (ground, Tx+, Tx-, Rx+, Rx-) - so would it be worthwhile soldering in some flying leads to try with a Serial connector? If I were to put a test meter on these connections, would the data ground be a direct connection to board ground or would there be a specific voltage to see which would be a giveaway as to what type of connection this is?
My other main question is about security:- if we assume that my current settings for the camera cannot be adjusted any further, such as for lux levels and illuminator brightness, what would be the absolute minimum ports that would need to be open for the camera to operate ONLY on my local network - both for providing a feed to iSpy and to a Hikvision NVR - so that the camera cannot phone home or connect to the mothership? Would closing ports be done using Teraterm/PuTTY or through the LAN router? (I currently use an Amazon Eero router).
Any thoughts or help appreciated.
I have a dirt cheap Besder branded IP turret cam (3004PW-XMTG201) which is basically a rebadged Xiongmai thing. I can connect it to my network with a reserved DHCP address, and I can access it through iSpy on my main PC - though oddly it shows the ONVIF port as being 8899. But both the audio feed from the camera and audio to the camera speaker are working.
If I navigate to the IP address of the camera using a browser, the page after login shows basic PTZ controls but no feed from the camera. At first I thought this may be the standard procedure of chinesium cameras only using ActiveX controls so I logged in to the camera using Internet Explorer, but get the same result despite the window showing a prompt to activate the ActiveX plugin. If I navigate the browser to the camera ONVIF port I get a timeout result. It seems that the only way to alter parameters and settings on the camera is to use the ICsee mobile app, but even then the options offered are somewhat basic - for example, I would have liked to see options for adjusting the lux level at which the camera switches to night mode as well as an option to adjust the brightness of the white light illuminator (at present it is about as bright as one of those lightbars you get on top of a mudplugging 4x4 pickup!) but these options are not available. I went to the XMeye website and logged in there and found settings to adjust the camera - but this has the very odd outcome in which going to the relevant settings page for camera parameters (day/night, exposure, DNR, WDR, etc) and not making any adjustments at all but clicking 'OK' then disables the IR and white light illuminators completely, and there are no settings at all which will get them working again so then I have to go to a seperate menu option to reset those parameters back to default.
So my first question is simply this:- is there a means of setting parameters on the camera LOCALLY over the LAN connection without needing to use an app or remote website? Could this be done using Teraterm or PuTTY?
Alternatively, can settings be adjusted with a direct connection to the camera using a Serial connection? I have attached a photo of the top board on the camera, of which there are two different sets of empty terminals which look like they could be data points - one set is right at the top of board slightly to the right, with points numbered 1 to 5; the other is on the left of the board just above the connection for the wifi antenna, of which there are 4 points. To me, it looks like the top connection with points 1-5 could possibly be a serial connection (ground, Tx+, Tx-, Rx+, Rx-) - so would it be worthwhile soldering in some flying leads to try with a Serial connector? If I were to put a test meter on these connections, would the data ground be a direct connection to board ground or would there be a specific voltage to see which would be a giveaway as to what type of connection this is?
My other main question is about security:- if we assume that my current settings for the camera cannot be adjusted any further, such as for lux levels and illuminator brightness, what would be the absolute minimum ports that would need to be open for the camera to operate ONLY on my local network - both for providing a feed to iSpy and to a Hikvision NVR - so that the camera cannot phone home or connect to the mothership? Would closing ports be done using Teraterm/PuTTY or through the LAN router? (I currently use an Amazon Eero router).
Any thoughts or help appreciated.
