Watchman~SPARTA~ Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 (edited) Bit of a strange request and one that defo needs experience or knowledge of using IP cameras with a secure network. I have installed an IP camera for a friend, so that she can keep an eye on her dog whilst she is at work. The IP camera is wirelessly connected to her router and after port forwarding and setup of a Dyn DNS host works fine: I have accessed the camera from my own home and can see the real time footage from my friends. We got into work this morning and attempted to view the IP camera through our work PC's. Access is via the DynNDS host name and after downloading the relevant ActiveX control, up popped the IP camera viewer. Now this software viewer is part of the camera's firmware, so by default I know we are getting through the router to the camera. The issue is that we cannot see the streamed video, just get a message that says "Failed to connect to IPCam". A colleague uses a similar setup but with a different package, he has a Linksys system and my friends is Edimax. He can see his own IP camera streaming but even he can't see my friends. Trouble is, he can't remember if he needed our system guys to tweak something and personnel have changed and the current lot are clutching at straws. Anyone ever done something like this or know of a system setting or tweak that is required to allow streamed video over an internal network? We have the usual firewalls in place to detect for spurious web addresses and content but when this is activate we always get a message advising the connection has been blocked. The issue doesn't appear to be OS or Explorer dependant as it has worked on XP & Win7, with IE 6, 7, & 8. At work we've tried PC's running XP and Win7, with IE7 & IE8. Any help would be appreciated. Edited December 9, 2009 by BPR_Watchman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batwing~SPARTA~ Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 (edited) I installed in the past security cams a couple of times. I used a different set, with a VCR - HD unit and 15 cams connected. It was the VCR with his own software going on Internet through the router. I do assume the structure is almost the same. You said your camm has a software allowing you to see the stream. Just to recap a couple of points: 1) you said you tested the coonnectivity from your home. I do assume you did not have any problem to coonnect. install the active X when prompted and watch the stream, correct? 2) you say you are unable to watch the stream froom your work PC - You mean you work in your ownn company and you are responsible for your network security or you are in a corporation or elsewhere and your nnetwork security is company managed? I never met a problem like this, but i know some professional routers and Firewall deny stream video traffic based on incoming file extension, not only about the port traffic. If you are not the nnetwork admin at your job and you are not the one configured your job security router / firewall, you may ask to who is in charge for that. Symptoms you show are saying you get into the remote connection to your friend's home, getting through their router and getting to the Cam software, then when the cam start broadcasting, the stream is blocked, resulting in error message "cannot connect to IP cam". I would suuggest to disable any possible firewall you have at job to troubleshooot this problem. It is possiible you have multiple layers, your router there has a firewall and your PCs may have other firewalls or so called "internet security suite", especially if you are running antivir like Norton, McAfee, kaspersky and many other offering "full protection". If you totally shut down your "protection" and test the cam, if working you know who is the culpriit and you need to find what setting has to be set to allow the streaming traffic, probably wiith a call at the correct tech support. NOTE: it just came to my mind this, altough you said at job u tested also XP. Sometimes to install Active X correctly on Win 7 you NEED TO START IE AS ADMIN, whichh means right click the icon and choose Start as admin. I am sure you did it, but double check, sometiimes problems are way simpler than what they look like. Edited December 9, 2009 by Batwing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchman~SPARTA~ Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 No problems when connecting from home, installed the ActiveX and the stream was instant. I'm not connected with my employer's IT infrastructure so I have asked for their assistance but they themselves were stumped. We have made a small step forward in that the default video port for the camera is 4231 and this may be blocked at a company level. Although we can change the video port remotely for the camera, I don't think we can do it for the router so it may have to wait until tonight to check. I'll update if the problem gets fixed but any other suggestions greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batwing~SPARTA~ Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 yes, that make sense. if port 4231 is blocked at some firewall level, of course you r not gonna get the feed. firewall problem as I supposed. You should figure out what port you can use with your IT ppl there before changing it on your cam software. I think you just have to set a different port on the cam settings. No other changes, because usually commercial routers do not monitoor outbound connectivity, only inbound. Then if got the right open port, you should be able to see the feed at work. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xere Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Are you trying to connect to the camera or the pc. I use several ip cameras all hooked up to a single server, but i connect to the server and view everything on remote deskto, i dont connect to the cameras software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchman~SPARTA~ Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 (edited) Are you trying to connect to the camera or the pc. I use several ip cameras all hooked up to a single server, but i connect to the server and view everything on remote deskto, i dont connect to the cameras software The connection is straight to the camera via the router. The pc isn't actually switched on whilst my friend is at work. The point about seeing the "software" was just proving that I knew we were actually getting through to the camera, as the utililty we were seeing on screen is embedded in the cameras firmware, rather than anything downloaded to the pc's we were trying to view from. All we have to resolve is why thr streaming video doesn't show, which is hopefully tied to the video port we selected and that being blocked by our company. Edited December 9, 2009 by BPR_Watchman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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