New Foscam Camera: FI9821W - Cannot connect

[Bytorok]

Hi:

I am a new Vitamin D user and I like the software. I have been using it successfully with the Foscam FI9810W MPEG cameras. I now have the new Foscam FI9821W H.264 camera, and I cannot connect to it with the Vitamin D software.

For the 8910, I had to set it up as "Other IP Camera" and set the Stream Path to "videostream.cgi?user=MY_USER_NAME&pwd=MY_PASSWORD" in order to make the connection. That does not seem to work with the 8921.

Does anyone know how to make the Foscam FI9821W connect to the Vitamin D software?

Thanks so much

[ryan]

Hiya Bytorok,

Foscam recently gave me access to a FI9821W in their offices and I was able to successfully connect from VDV via the following:

Foscam FI9821W, FI9801W, and FI9802W
Protocol: http
Stream path: cgi-bin/CGIStream.cgi?cmd=GetMJStream&usr=YOURUSERNAME&pwd=YOURPASSWORD
Notes: Must have latest firmware. Must configure stream to broadcast MJPEG. For details, see - http://foscam.us/forum/how-to-fetch-sna ... t4328.html

Information about the 8921, 8910, and other cameras not yet integrated into VDV can be found at this post: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5

[Bytorok]

Thanks so much. I have successfully connected!

When the FI9821W video is displayed in the Vitamin D video window, it appears "squeezed" from side to side as though the video taken from the FI9821W is the same height but wider than the Vitamin D window. Is there any way to have the Vitamin D window display at the same aspect ratio as the video received from the FI9821W?

I appreciate your help!

[ryan]

Glad you got it working!

There is not currently a way to change the aspect ratio of the playback windows in VDV. However, the video should be aspect ratio scaled rather than "squeezed" (which to me implies one dimension is being stretched). Please let me know if that is not the case.

[Bytorok]

Thanks. The video does not seem to be being scaled proportionally. I setup an FI8910 and an FI9821 right next to each other and took some screen shots to show you what I'm seeing (I'm trying to attach the pictures to this post, but I don't know how to do it...). I put a couple of wheels next to each other, and in the last picture where the FI8921 is being displayed via Vitamin D, the wheels appear to be more oval and the picture quality is much worse. The top two pictures are the FI8910 and the FI9821 shown through the Foscam web interface (looks nice, but the recording scheduling and searchable playback is not in the same league as what Vitamin D does). The bottom two are the same cameras and settings through the Vitamin D software.

I'd love to get the quality of the Foscam viewer through the Vitamin D software, because the Vitamin D software is a 1000 times better for recording everything and then finding what you are looking for.

I appreciate your help!

[ryan]

Hi Bytorok,

What resolution is the camera set to stream at? And when you set up the camera what resolution did you select as "Scale video to"? If you export a clip from vdv (from search view Tools->Export Clip...) and open the file in an external video player or inspect it from the file system, what resolution is it reporting the clip to be?

[Bytorok]

Hi Ryan:

When I go into the web interface for the camera, the Video settings are:
- Resolution = 720p
- Bit Rate = 4M
- Frame Rate = 30
- Key Frame Interval = 30

The "Scale Video to" setting in Vitamin D is "SXGA (1280x1024)"

The exported video clip came out at 1280x960

The video looks more like the 1280 x 960 aspect ratio when viewed in the web interface, but I don't see that as an option in the "Scale Video to" setting in Vitamin D.

Do you think there is a way for me to get the HD video quality out with Vitamin D?

Thanks!

[ryan]

Can you email me a screenshot of the full VDV app window? ryan @ this domain. Your previous picture was helpful, just wanna make sure I have a clear/exact view of what is going on.

[james.elson]

I've just set this up on my FI9821W camera and also get the squashed view. However I then looked at the video in Foscam's web client, and Stream 1 (the VGA mjpeg steam) is squashed there too. Stream 0 (the 720p H.264 stream is the correct aspect ratio). So I guess VDV is doing the right thing, and it's Foscam's software that isn't.

Are there any plans to support the H.264 stream in VDV?

James

[ryan]

Hi James,

Are you using the OSX version of VDV? There is indeed a bug that can occur that causes VDV to stretch the playback rather than do the expected letterboxing. In Bytorok's scenario viewing exported videos confirmed that the video was indeed being sent and saved at the expected size. Is this the case for you as well?