Live from Apex ?

[mling]

So I am diving deeper into the Apex under world.

Now I am trying to figure out the best way to get live video of the tank on the internet using Apex. What do you guys use to achieve this ?

Do you need an additional Apex Module for this or can you just plug the camera into one of the USB ports in the EB ?

Is it easier / cheaper to just use one of the many security web cameras and point it at the tank ?

[starionesir]

I'm not 100% sure how you setup up the camera but I know you have to go into the setup and add the link code but from everything I've read you NEVER plug anything usb into the apex except apex modules. You will damage anything plugged into it and possibly damage the apex as well.

[slief]

You get a webcam. I use a Cisco WCV210. You them setup port forwarding on your router so you can access it remotely. If you are using DSL, some sort of dynamic DNS solution is important because the IP address of your DSL gateway may change. For that I use DynDns Pro which I pay an annual subscription for. DynDns then provides you with a URL to access the devices in your home. This is also useful for the Apex is you are using the iPhone app or the Apex's internal web gui as opposed to Fusion. I use the app, the internal web interface as well as fusion to access my Apex from anywhere.

Once that is all setup, there is a script you use to embed the video stream into your Apex web interface as well as Fusion interface. The scipt incorporates the external url for your webcam and some additional script for MJpeg or Mpeg video.

This is an example of the script for an MJpeg web cam.
http://scott.homeip.net:1024/img/video.mjpeg

"scott.homeip.net" is the url to the home gateway. Obviously your's would be different

":1024" is the port of the webcam. (different ports can be used and this port gets setup as part of port forwarding in your DSL router)

"/img/video.mjpeg" is the script that tells the webpage what kind of video stream it is.

I do believe the Apex manual available at Neptunesystems.com covers that.. You will want an Mjpeg or MPeg 4 capable web cam. There have been several threads in the neptune section here discussing which cams people are using which would be worth reading.

Here are a couple search results for you:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/search.php?searchid=15005265
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/search.php?searchid=15005272

Here is the webcam discussion page at the Neptune Systems forum.
http://forum.neptunesystems.com/forumdisplay.php?45-Camera-amp-Media-Integration-with-APEX-Fusion-amp-Classic-Dashboards

[kurt_n]

...NEVER plug anything usb into the apex except apex modules. ...

Just wanted to reiterate that. That is *not* a USB port on the EBs.

[Patrick Cox]

You get a webcam. I use a Cisco WCV210. You them setup port forwarding on your router so you can access it remotely. If you are using DSL, some sort of dynamic DNS solution is important because the IP address of your DSL gateway may change. For that I use DynDns Pro which I pay an annual subscription for. DynDns then provides you with a URL to access the devices in your home. This is also useful for the Apex is you are using the iPhone app or the Apex's internal web gui as opposed to Fusion. I use the app, the internal web interface as well as fusion to access my Apex from anywhere.

Once that is all setup, there is a script you use to embed the video stream into your Apex web interface as well as Fusion interface. The scipt incorporates the external url for your webcam and some additional script for MJpeg or Mpeg video.

This is an example of the script for an MJpeg web cam.
http://scott.homeip.net:1024/img/video.mjpeg

"scott.homeip.net" is the url to the home gateway. Obviously your's would be different

":1024" is the port of the webcam. (different ports can be used and this port gets setup as part of port forwarding in your DSL router)

"/img/video.mjpeg" is the script that tells the webpage what kind of video stream it is.

I do believe the Apex manual available at Neptunesystems.com covers that.. You will want an Mjpeg or MPeg 4 capable web cam. There have been several threads in the neptune section here discussing which cams people are using which would be worth reading.

Here are a couple search results for you:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/search.php?searchid=15005265
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/search.php?searchid=15005272

Here is the webcam discussion page at the Neptune Systems forum.
http://forum.neptunesystems.com/forumdisplay.php?45-Camera-amp-Media-Integration-with-APEX-Fusion-amp-Classic-Dashboards

Hi,
Thanks for posting this. I have a related question. I have a webcam setup and running and I am able to view the video from within my network and also using an iPhone app outside of my network. So I have the internal IP address + "/img/video.mjpeg" loaded in my Apex browser and I can also type that same string in a web browser within my network and I see the feed. But I would also like to be able to view the webcam feed from a web browser outside of my network and I have not been able to figure this out. Do you know how to do this?

Thanks!

[msderganc]

Hi,
Thanks for posting this. I have a related question. I have a webcam setup and running and I am able to view the video from within my network and also using an iPhone app outside of my network. So I have the internal IP address + "/img/video.mjpeg" loaded in my Apex browser and I can also type that same string in a web browser within my network and I see the feed. But I would also like to be able to view the webcam feed from a web browser outside of my network and I have not been able to figure this out. Do you know how to do this?

Thanks!

You'd need to set up port forwarding to your webcam in your home router, and probably some type of dynamic DNS if you don't have a static IP.

[Patrick Cox]

You'd need to set up port forwarding to your webcam in your home router, and probably some type of dynamic DNS if you don't have a static IP.

Hi,
I have all of that setup. I can access my webcam using my iPhone outside of the network via a webcam viewer app on the iPhone. What I can't do is access the webcam outside the network via a web browser from a computer. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks

[msderganc]

It depends on your port forwarding. Have you tried going to http://yourip:port?

[Patrick Cox]

It depends on your port forwarding. Have you tried going to http://yourip:port?

Yes I have. When I type in my DYNDNS web address with port, just get an error. However when I type in my web address only I get my router logon page. So the web address is working, I just can't get to the webcam.

Thanks.

[msderganc]

Yes I have. When I type in my DYNDNS web address with port, just get an error. However when I type in my web address only I get my router logon page. So the web address is working, I just can't get to the webcam.

Thanks.

Do you have a different external port forwarded to the internal port?

[Reefvet]

There are all sorts of tools (http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/) available to help you forward ports.

Check open ports here (http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/).

[msderganc]

Yes I have. When I type in my DYNDNS web address with port, just get an error. However when I type in my web address only I get my router logon page. So the web address is working, I just can't get to the webcam.

Thanks.

Btw, are you testing this while on your home network? You may want to test it from outside your network.

[Patrick Cox]

Btw, are you testing this while on your home network? You may want to test it from outside your network.

Hi. This was the problem. For some reason I can't use the DNS address from within my network. I tried outside and it worked. Thanks!